The main difference as I see it is that Russians are programmed to accept tough times, the rest of Europe isn't. The average Russian will knuckle down and take economic hardship because their government tells them to, that it's a war for their very survival, and they believe it. West of the Urals we don't like hardship if it comes courtesy of a war in a land we know next to nothing about. 

Trump administration redirects 20,000 anti-drone missiles meant for Ukraine, Zelensky confirms

President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that U.S. President Donald Trump's administration diverted 20,000 anti-drone missiles originally intended for Ukraine to American forces in the Middle East, in an interview with ABC News published on June 8.

Zelensky said Ukraine had counted on the missiles to help counter relentless Russian drone attacks, which include swarms of Iranian-designed Shahed-type drones. On June 1, Russia launched a record 472 drones in a single night.

"We have big problems with Shaheds… we will find all the tools to destroy them," Zelensky said. "We counted on this project — 20,000 missiles. Anti-Shahed missiles. It was not expensive, but it's a special technology."

Zelensky said the plan had been agreed upon with then-U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and was launched under President Joe Biden's administration.

The Wall Street Journal reported on June 4 that the Trump administration had redirected the munitions, which include special fuzes used in advanced rocket systems to intercept drones, toward U.S. forces stationed in the Middle East.

The Pentagon reportedly informed Congress in a classified message that the reallocation of the fuzes for the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System was deemed an "urgent issue" by current Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

A Ukrainian military intelligence (HUR) source told the Kyiv Independent on June 4 that Russia is preparing to launch more than 500 long-range drones per night in future attacks, as Moscow rapidly scales up drone production and constructs new launch sites.

The Trump administration has halted the approval of new military aid packages to Ukraine since the start of his second term in January.

Trump has repeatedly expressed skepticism about continued assistance to Kyiv and temporarily suspended military shipments earlier this year, only resuming them after Ukraine agreed to a ceasefire framework during peace talks in Jeddah on March 11.

Hegseth, who ordered the temporary halt, did not attend the most recent Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting on June 4 — the first such absence by a U.S. defense chief since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.

Ukraine has urgently called on Western partners to expand investments in domestic arms production and deliver more air defense systems, including U.S.-made Patriots, to counter intensifying Russian airstrikes.

Despite growing international appeals and Kyiv's offer of a 30-day ceasefire as the basis for peace talks, Moscow continues to reject the proposal.

Trump, who spoke by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin on June 4, has refused to impose new sanctions on Russia, saying he is focused on pursuing a negotiated ceasefire.

Trump is so far up Putin's arse that you can't even see his shoes.

He has thrown Ukraine like a piece of meat to our enemies.

He has lost complete trust from all of his allies in the free world and now wants to only sleep with communists. Many people see this as just more of America's steady down fall as a world power.

Not really, both sides have delegations ready to start, but Putin terms are, in effect, a Ukrainian surrender first. Trump comes very badly out of this - ending the war on "day one" was one of the many stupid things he's said. It's clear now that Trump respects power and will align himself with the stronger of the two, regardless of right and wrong. Plenty of talk of further sanctions on Russia, but no sign of anything actually being done. It's looking more and more as if Putin really has got some hold over Trump, filthy videos that kind of thing. 

He said it throughout the election campaign, setting himself up as the great peace maker, how wrong he was/is. He's quick to pick on and criticize Zelensky for practically everything he does, but barely a word against the real villain Putin, why is that?