I know a way to increase the support even more than that:

Donate to u24.gov.ua

And we want to keep living, so we need to be prepared.

I keep hoping the Palestinians will get their hands on one for the same reason.

This is the best thing about a Donald Trump presidency: sometimes good things happen by accident, and it's definitely a good thing for the EU to be depending less on the US.

Is your point that Russia should be allowed to steam roll through Ukraine? Europe shouldn't help their allies and neighbors defend themselves? Standing up to bullies is worse than being a bully?

Genuinely curious if you even have a point to make at all. I hope I'm just interpreting you wrong.

It's the same investment fund. I assume that's the main reason for it's existence. Donald Trump and his MAGA baffoons are driving America in the ground faster than a plane during his administration. They need to be ready and they will fight unlike many cowards here.

Numbers are growing in the U.S. but the time needed is also fighting the time that his administration devours media sources and telecommunication systems. Surveillance today is near insurmountable, but not yet

Eh, America would ally itself with Russia anyways. Might as well invest into weakening the Eastern front first.

Some of it is definitely bots, but don't discount the human factor either. Russia had an entire branch of the military dedicated to trolling the Internet at least as far back as 2015. Something tells me that hasn't gotten smaller since then. No doubt they work in tandem with bots as well, constantly editing their output, maybe even making posts from the same accounts.

The fediverse may be small compared to the behemoths, but I don't think we're so small as to be ignored.

They also need to cut the US out of any involvement in Ukraine

We (EU) should have unleashed our defense industry 3 years ago. Hopefully, the US MIC received the message, their profits are going to sink unless the orange turd starts to provide military aid to fucking Russia.

I already have him flagged as a troll, so you can just ignore him.

So since adjusting by PPP Russia has spent over a trillion in USD on the war, that makes Russia the aggressor?

considering the meeting that just took place in Saudi Arabia, I fear that is entirely possible.

All of Europe? All EU leaders? Just the EU president, who has a mostly ceremonial role?

I'm being nitpicky, no state is anyone's friend and no superpower (or wannabe) comes even half as close as a state to being on your side.

It seems a move that’s not only intended to help Ukraine repel Russia, but end defense dependence on the US, on the premise that the partner no longer is reliable.

Which is a good thing IMO. From this side of the large pond the USA looks more and more like a bully on par with Russia and China.

East of UA is fucked for decades but Russia is fucked too. Both countries burnt through quite a lot of their arsenal from Soviet times and struggle to keep their troops supplied. UA has it easier because the European countries help with weapons, munitions and other equipment.

Unfortunately Russia can sustain the current attrition rate by another 5-10 years before the situation becomes truly unbearable for them. My fear is that by then the UA might have collapsed.

The best case scenario is that Putin dies shortly and his successor ends this stupid war.

You have to spend money on weapons in order to have the privilege of sitting peacefully with those weapons rather than dying on your enemies.

Russia literally said they want to take an entire list of places where 100M people live and make them Russia. The US said it intended to take CA and Greenland.

Anyone willing to stand up to defend these places would end up in a war. If everyone abandons their neighbors then there is absolutely no reason for Russia, the US, and China to divide up the world between them. These are people with their own plans, nations, cultures who don't want to choose whose boot to live under. The only way to do this is to be able to fight.

Finally Ukraine is getting the help they need! Kick out Russia once and for all!

Could do that if tanks weren't rolling across the border, and missiles weren't raining down.
Could avoid the whole thing by just kneeling and kissing the ring, capitulating to economic and cultural domination by a foreign mafia.
Could really simplify life by abandoning European identity, self-respect and agency to become a pawn to the East instead of looking to the West for help.

Too bad they are top strong a people for that.

The thing is, there are no ideal options here. While the 700bn goes to violence, at least in my country I know for a fact it goes to defense, since we very explicitly have no general armed forces, only defense forces. The same is not true for Russia or the US.

But I suppose you are right in that it depends on the specific country. I’m from a progressive social democracy, the world’s happiest people multiple years in row according to some studies, so it’s easy for me to say I’d rather choose the current situation over getting Russia or US conditions here… but maybe the same is not true for all European countries. There are many, after all, and in case of Hungary, for example, I would probably feel the same as you. There wouldn’t be much of a difference, just the flavor of who gets to oppress you and your people.

But there is no choice here, in my country, in which the current social situation remains as good as it is here, and in which we also do not spend any money on defense, local as well as Europe at large.

If the choice is between oppressive leadership, I’d much rather choose my current flavor. People can be who they are here, there’s no militia silencing our voices, and while things could be better in a million different ways, they also could be so much worse, as demonstrated by the two dickswingers, Russia and USA.

In an ideal world we would not spend on violence. I agree with that. It’s a waste. It leads to people dying, especially innocents. But it’s not an ideal world. And until it is, the choice has to be between different flavors of bad, I suppose, and personally I would 100% always choose the flavor in which I feel safe, happy and supported as a gender identity and sexual minority with mental health problems and adhd. And I would hope that most would do the same.

Because the alternative is just going to be fatal for me, at least, and a lot of people like me.

Edit: And yeah, you can pick out my points and their details in many ways, but the fact that the alternative can be picked out in so many more ways, remains. It’s all relative. I don’t see it as a good option to sacrifice good, just because it is not perfect, and get an outright horrible outcome. I’d much rather just try and help things remain at least good…

Edit2: Also, to address the “everybody wants to invade you” part: The US has declared it will start expansion and assimilate parts of other sovereign countries. One of those being part of Europe… An European country is currently deep in a defense war against a nation that has also declared that letting my country gain independence was a mistake and that is listed in multiple writings of prominent leadership members as one of the next countries that will be part of Russia “again”. So I don’t think everyone wants to invade us, not by a long shot. But there are countries that have been very explicit in their want, or even need, to fucking invade us and start enrussificating us.

The fact that you aren’t even considering these things, things that are well known and plainly and openly broadcast by these dickswingers, in some cases for many decades now, just tells me that you fail to understand what it actually is like being an openly stated target of assimilation. You make it a joke, as if nobody ever wants to conquer anyone, but it’s just fucking fantasy to think that. Right now, the same country that has stated my country “is in fact” part of their country, is, in real time, fighting a war of assimilation not too far from our borders… I get that this might not be close to you, you may live somewhere far away and don’t know this, but it hits a bit different when you are actually here. I can’t even imagine what it is like for Ukraine…

I do hope you could also try and expand your point of view and gain some perspective. The world is fairly shit in terms of things like this. Pretending otherwise won’t change that. The moment you blink, the nazis and oligarchs just do what they already have told you, over and over, what they will do. And next thing you know, you are being raped in a prison for being “a deviant” and your murder is then hidden away as your peers continue to face this reality.