They could have always moved back and have given up and this would all be over.

Ukraine could surrender at any time and this would all be over

The one country that is escalating things is Russia. They could have always moved back and have given up and this would all be over.

Are you fucking serious

What do you call expanding NATO? You think that isn't escalation because, what, "it's a defensive pact"? You really don't see how a country like Russia could view an encirclement of "defensive" pacts as aggressive, when it has constantly stated that Ukraine joining NATO is a red line?

You don't think NATO discussing sending NUKES TO UKRAINE, putting them within MINUTES OF MOSCOW, is in any way an escalation?

What the FUCK is wrong with you fucking people

NATO could have simply not attempted to expand, Ukraine could have simply honored the Minsk agreement and stopped genociding Russians in the Donbas, but you don't say shit like that, you think it's entirely on Russia. Brainwashed ass motherfucker

• NATO Expansion: What Gorbachev Heard U.S. Secretary of State James Baker’s famous “not one inch eastward” assurance about NATO expansion in his meeting with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev on February 9, 1990, was part of a cascade of assurances about Soviet security given by Western leaders to Gorbachev and other Soviet officials throughout the process of German unification in 1990 and on into 1991, according to declassified U.S., Soviet, German, British and French documents posted today by the National Security Archive at George Washington University.
• The Ukraine Mess That Nuland Made Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland engineered Ukraine’s regime change without weighing the likely consequences.
• Leaked audio reveals embarrassing U.S. exchange on Ukraine, EU
• US Imperialism and the Ukraine Coup
• Former German Chancellor Merkel Admits that Minsk Peace Agreements Were Part of Scheme for Ukraine to Buy Time to Prepare for War With Russia
• Zelensky admits he never intended to implement Minsk agreements
• The West’s Sabotage of Peace in Ukraine In May of [2022] Ukrainian media reported that then-British prime minister Boris Johnson had flown to Kiev the previous month to pass on the message on behalf of the western empire that “Putin is a war criminal, he should be pressured, not negotiated with,” and that “even if Ukraine is ready to sign some agreements on guarantees with Putin, they are not.”

• History of Fascism in Ukraine: Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV
• BBC, 2014: Ukraine underplays role of far right in conflict
• Human Rights Watch, 2014: Ukraine: Unguided Rockets Killing Civilians
• The Hill, 2017: The reality of neo-Nazis in Ukraine is far from Kremlin propaganda
• The Guardian, 2017: 'I want to bring up a warrior': Ukraine's far-right children's camp – video
• WaPo, 2018: The war in Ukraine is more devastating than you know
• Reuters, 2018: Ukraine’s neo-Nazi problem
• The Nation, 2019: Neo-Nazis and the Far Right Are On the March in Ukraine
• Jacobin, 2022: A US-Backed, Far Right–Led Revolution in Ukraine Helped Bring Us to the Brink of War
• Consortium News, 2022: Evidence of US-Backed Coup in Kiev
• Al Jazeera, 2022: Why did Ukraine suspend 11 ‘pro-Russia’ parties?

• The Intercept, 2021: Meet NATO, the Dangerous “Defensive” Alliance Trying to Run the World
• CounterPunch, 2022: NATO is Not a Defensive Alliance
• Noam Chomsky, 2023: NATO “most violent, aggressive alliance in the world”
• Thomas Fazi, 2024: NATO: 75 years of war, unprovoked aggressions and state-sponsored terrorism

Edit: coming back to all the reactions. Just wow, hilarious.

It's okay to admit you're incapable of grappling with reality and prefer to stay inside your NATO mind palace

The path to victory lies not in symbolic acts of defiance, but in the methodical, relentless pursuit of territorial liberation.

That's just stupid. Are they really suggesting Ukraine should focus solely on grinding through fortified Russian defenses? War is more complicated than "just liberate the occupied territory". And while it's true that this counteroffensive has its risks. Everything they do or don't do has its risks.