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The Invasion is ongoing...Part 8

999 replies

Damnloginpopup · 04/03/2022 22:14

Following on...

OP posts:
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EezyOozy · 04/03/2022 23:09

Anyone else following Ukrainecast on bbc iPlayer ? Todays episode was so chilling.

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0bslz0q

Greattimestroubledtimes · 04/03/2022 23:09

Putin may even have designs on Berlin says Anne Applebaum…

FOJN · 04/03/2022 23:09

Fiefofum

Thank for Kremlin victory statement. It's fascinating reading. I think Putin is surprised at how united Europe and the wider world is over his invasion of Ukraine. His references to China and the story published yesterday about Xi Jinping asking Putin to delay the invasion until after the winter Olympics makes me think we should be cautious about relying on China to broker peace.

HiandWhatsThat · 04/03/2022 23:10

Thank you for these informative and weirdly calming threads Thanks Wine

DirectionToPerfection · 04/03/2022 23:10

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Booklover3 · 04/03/2022 23:12

Hmmm. Brew

FatFredsFriedEgg · 04/03/2022 23:18

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Damnloginpopup · 04/03/2022 23:18

Still a bit unnecessary and unwanted on these threads though. To misquote President Merkin Muffley:

"Ladies, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room!"

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Peregrina · 04/03/2022 23:19

From the previous thread:

It would be akin to Scotland and Wales just suddenly declaring independence from the UK , starting an internal civil war and then America coming along and saying "hush Westminster, they are clearly now independent states"

Don't say this couldn't happen. If Johnson's Government carries on the way it is doing, it could, especially with Scotland.

alltheapples · 04/03/2022 23:20

I agree with damn. I am not a fan of slinging insults around.

Damnloginpopup · 04/03/2022 23:20

Anyway, you're both wrong. It's ODFOD! Firar word is Oh

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RedToothBrush · 04/03/2022 23:20

Sergi sumlemmy @sumlemmy
THREAD I know it sounds contra-intuitive, but it feels that Russia and its army are about to collapse. RU obviously has no reserves left: the tanks they send to the front are very old, without active armor, look like training machines. They do not have trucks, using civilian ones

Russian flat-bombing of Ukrainian cities is the opposite of what a nation which is about to conquer its wealthy neighbor (and Ukrainian province is wealthier than Russia's one) It is a sign of desperation. Exactly as the attempt to use Red-Cross-marked trucks as ammo transports/2

Within the last days, the amount of Russian warplanes and helicopters shot by Ukrainian army, is increased: at least 4 warplanes and 1 helicopter. We are in the 10th day of war, and Ukrainian air defense is still working, and Russian pilots (the elite of the elite) are dying /3

Reports on Russian higher commanders KIA are proven and numerous. The highest Russian officer KIA is a General-Mayor of Airborne Troops. According to the reports, commanders are forced to move very close to fighting lines, as Russians cannot coordinate their actions - and die /4

Russia has changed in a rush its legislation, allowing imprisonments (starting from tomorrow!) for up to 15 years for spreading truth about this war. Facebook is blocked in Russia starting from now. This is not what a winning autocracy with full control over its media does. /5

According to Ukrainian intelligence (and they get much info from the US I guess) Russia has already used 95% of all its ground forces gathered for the invasion, and it makes almost 100% of Russia's active ground forces. Effectively, Ukraine has eliminated Russian ground forces /6

Combined with economic sanctions, free-fall of Russian currency, pull-back of Western companies (essential for any part of Russian economy) and the consequences of having a highly corrupt and militarized economy, Russia will face also internal troubles very soon /7

What does Putin have left? Of course, he may nuke Ukraine. We all know he can. He also can continue to terror-bomb Ukraine (Russians use now free-fall bombs they have them a lot, and rocket artillery - most cruel and stupid weapons), in a hope Ukrainians will be afraid and fall/8

Russia will also pressure the West to force Ukraine into a "peace" out of "humanitarian reasons". I already see these attempts. This would be death for hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian, a true genocide, and slavery for dozens of millions. And it is Putin's last hope /9

If Ukraine would resist several more days, I am sure Russia will face the biggest defeat in its history. Nothing comparable. It will also trigger independency movements in Russia-occupied countries of Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, Ichkeriya, Sakha, Komi and others /10

Russian occupation forces in these regions are holding only because of allegedly strength of Moscow. When Moscow army will be eliminated (and it nearly is), nobody can force the Bashkortostan to follow orders from the Kremlin. Nobody will stop Chechens to avenge their dead /11

Of course, the next days will be hard. And the nuclear threat remains very real (nukes seem to be the only weapons Putin can rely on). But I am also sure - very soon we will face a shiny glorious future without the Prison of Nations. Thank to brave Ukrainians. Слава Україні! END

Not sure if this is to just keep up moral or not, but im mindful of the 'hold off for 10 days tweet'

In that it said they had 3 to 4 days worth of rockets. Well I think theyve done that and some more, so that might be very optimistic.

But potential evidence about lack of maintenance, guns from the 50s and 70s being issued and 'technicals' (bastardised improvised military vehicles) are building up.

So I've got rather a large amount of salt handy.

I am not convinced by this thread, but its gaining so traction. And i think its value is more about people just needing something positive to believe more than it being true.

MissConductUS · 04/03/2022 23:20

There will be ample evidence of war crimes.

‘Dad, please don’t die’: Horrifying video shows Ukrainian family mowed down by Russian troops

aweekoldnow · 04/03/2022 23:21

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aweekoldnow · 04/03/2022 23:23

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EezyOozy · 04/03/2022 23:24

What's happening with the mega-convoy? Is it still static ?

dreamingbohemian · 04/03/2022 23:27

John Bolton tells ⁦*@washingtonpost*⁩ Trump was just waiting for 2nd term before pulling out of NATO and destroying the alliance now trying to counter Putin’s war…

Fucking hell
I mean John Bolton is a snake but this is probably true

twitter.com/sbg1/status/1499815016891138054?t=DSFikjvVY3JUmJI1cWDPIw&s=19

HiandWhatsThat · 04/03/2022 23:28

@Greattimestroubledtimes

Putin may even have designs on Berlin says Anne Applebaum…
Interview with Anne Apllebaum

edition.cnn.com/videos/tv/2022/03/04/vladimir-putin-russia-ukraine-anne-applebaum-amanpour.cnn/video/playlists/amanpour/

Gingerwarthog · 04/03/2022 23:28

I don't normally go to church but my local one held a service for Ukraine this evening. We all went and lit a candle.
There were lots of people there, just sitting quietly. It was really moving and it helped.
I've never known that response to a world event before (in our community).

alltheapples · 04/03/2022 23:31

I see so many people wanting to help by donating. There is a lot of support in Britain for Ukraine and Ukranians.

dreamingbohemian · 04/03/2022 23:33

Anne Applebaum has some very good historical books (Red Famine, Gulag) but she is rather alarmist generally. I just mention because I know some people on these threads are feeling very anxious.

alltheapples · 04/03/2022 23:36

This graphic from the New York Post shows the current state of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.

The Invasion is ongoing...Part 8
Justanotherlurker · 04/03/2022 23:38

I don't know why these threads are trying to still relate this current situation to brexit by proxy, Russia has played both sides of the divide for generations, it was known in the 80's that Russian optics on playing the long game on western institutions via left ]and right wing was already happening.

After the election of Trump and the hysteria of Russian collusion Reddit decided to deep dive into some of their subs (with the backing of gov intelligence), it caused a moment of clarity for a millisecond that the subs that had the most russian bots were on the 'left' side of the spectrum that was regularly reaching the front page and was profoundly anti trump/pro clinton etc, it's the same as the UK, in the run up to the Invasion and UK/US lets remember the ex shadow front bench who removed their names from the stop the war list that said this situation was solely down to western/nato aggression (they valued keeping there ministers job well paid job instead of sticking by principles when things got a little awkard), also lets not forget Corybn running a press conference based on 'evidence' of the tories waning to sell of the NHS which was based on a Russian troll. Thats ignoring the subject of Russian interference in support of the SNP

Putin hasn't been emboldened by anything in the UK, it's quite ironic that the most fervent FBPE crowd on here are thinking we are that relevant after the past 5 years spouting how insignificant we are, this is Putin.

The fact that a lot of the ex shadow cabinet had to remove their support on the stop the war statement is why Corbyn is brought up, it's not a case of brushing over one situation and focusing on the other.

Trying to eqaute twitter likes or comments is not a metric to base an assumption on.

FatFredsFriedEgg · 04/03/2022 23:38

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RedToothBrush · 04/03/2022 23:40

This is MN. Maybe still not banned in Russia (we don't know, its not important enough to be mentioned as being on a banned list). Death threats are definitely not the done thing. Its a passive aggressive dear.

Anyway

Justine Bronk @justine_brOnk
It has now been more than a week since Russia invaded Ukraine. At this stage, early explanations are no longer sufficient and analysts need to ask the big question: Is the Russian Air Force Actually Incapable of Complex Air Operations?

rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/rusi-defence-systems/russian-air-force-actually-incapable-complex-air-operations
Is the Russian Air Force Actually Incapable of Complex Air Operations?

Inactivity in the first few days could be ascribed to various factors, but the continued absence of major air operations now raises serious capability questions.

And
An initial analysis of the possible reasons for this identified potential Russian difficulties with deconfliction between ground-based surface-to-air missile (SAM) batteries, a lack of precision-guided munitions and limited numbers of pilots with the requisite expertise to conduct precise strikes in support of initial ground operations due to low average VKS flying hours. These factors all remain relevant, but are no longer sufficient in themselves to explain the anaemic VKS activity as the ground invasion continues into its second week.

It concludes

While the early VKS failure to establish air superiority could be explained by lack of early warning, coordination capacity and sufficient planning time, the continued pattern of activity suggests a more significant conclusion: that the VKS lacks the institutional capacity to plan, brief and fly complex air operations at scale. There is significant circumstantial evidence to support this, admittedly tentative, explanation.

Thats pretty bold. Its basically saying it doesn't have enough people with the right skills to run the airforce!

Thats nuts.

Is it possible?

They sent in the VDV in by parachute so were sitting ducks. Theyve lots of relatively senior officers, their comms are shite, their guns are worst, some of their vehicles are improvised, they didn't have rations, their wheels failed due to lack of maintenance (one tweet today by Trent Telenko showed an example of tires which could only be in that state if they hadn't been moved in over a year) and they've been forced to canbalise some of their vehicles for parts as they don't have spares.

In that context, that might well be a believeable hypothesis.

Re: the a no fly zone. Why establish one if your enemy aren't flying as much as you thought and you think you can get enough pilots and new equipment?

Whats left in the warehouses?