I'm inclined to say EU officials, as it is in their best interest (of the three) to provide an accurate and internationalist representation of the war. That being said, most of what president Putin has argued—especially before the Tucker interview—has been simply dismissed in the West.

Communicating to the world an accurate account of the war is not what either president intends to do. Their priorities are to galvanize morale, acquire supplies, and justify their side to the rest of the world.

@thepurplebull "most of what president Putin has argued [...] has been simply dismissed in the West": about the state of the war or the justification of the war?

• justification of the war: denazification, war against satanism and degeneracy, protection of Russian speakers (just before bombing, oppressing, razing Russian speaking cities to the ground), nothing but shallow excuses for imperialism and uprooting of THE democratic offshoot of the former Russian-speaking core of the USSR.

• state of the war: a three day victory was announced; destructions of material greater than what Ukraine had were reported. Nothing but psychological warfare here.

Why should we care that much about what Putin says? We know his playbook. His career in the KGB and wars didn't start yesterday.

I prefer to get my evaluations from weirdos on the internet. These options are all just data to feed to the weirdos.

ISW[0] have been pretty good throughout

https://www.understandingwar.org/

Al Jazeera or another news source that is generally reliable and not allies of a country in the conflict would be a good source. Other suggestions are appreciated. News sources from India are pretty good.

“Difficult to answer”: evaluation in which terms? Political, military, historical? Who are “EU officials” and do they all say the same thing?

VZ: "if you don't give us more weapons, we're gonna lose Avdiivka"

EU: "nah bro, we think you got this, so no weapons for you"

VZ: loses Avdiivka

EU: 😮🐭⚡

Manifold: 😮🐭⚡

@BrunoParga even with more weapons, they probably would have lost Avdiivka, they simply don't have the manpower and the new draftees don't have the same kind of morale and organisational advantages we saw work so well for Ukraine earlier in the war

@Creagle there is probably some level of materiel advantage that would have saved them the town, Zelensky asked the EU for that level and wasn't given it.

What's actually happening over there, I have this vibe that I'm not as likely to hear as much happenings as much as I hear propaganda, so I don't listen to news about it. War is bad, hope it ends soon

@VAPOR you can access several detailed maps of where the frontlines are at any given moment with an effortless Google search.

@BrunoParga as if that will let you understand the situation 🙄

@jim that will certainly give enough information to make "I'm not as likely to hear as much happenings as much as I hear propaganda" utterly and completely false.

@BrunoParga you're right news is terrible, I should just read maps

Ftr, my “difficult to answer” is between Zelensky and the EU. Obviously Zelensky has the best information, but can’t always be open as he needs to put a good, and pro-Ukrainian spin on the information. The EU can be more pragmatic, and give a more dire and realistic take on bad news, but their information is likely not as sharp as Zelensky’s.

Generally, I broadly trust both.

@mattyb you can also argue that the EU is comprised of heads of state that have their own interests at stake and have to justify why they don't go all in against Putin without telling the real reasons - budget, own population not caring, military incapability, economic interests, ... - , so they tend to depict a less catastrophic situation than the reality.

@mattyb In war, the first casualty is truth.