Ukraine Invasion: Part 17

[MagicFox]

A new place for us to convene, thread 17.

@Igotjelly

Carrying nuclear weapons or nuclear capable?

My thoughts exactly..

The violation of Swedish airspace was mentioned here at the time…

Correction: the Russian jets entered Swedish airspace on March 2nd (around the time there was lots of chatter surrounding Finland and Sweden joining NATO). Apparently the jets took off from Kaliningrad. So Russia can have nuclear weapons in Kaliningrad but Ukraine can't even join NATO?

@Sorryfornamechanging

The “nukes” carrying incident seems to be days after they threatened military action in Sweden and Finland, so would tie in with their intimidation strategy then. This isn’t a recent development as in the last few days.

I’m interested in whether it was carrying nuclear weapons or nuclear capable as that’s very different…

Yes I was wondering that too. I'll look for the original source but I don't trust the DM article to get that information accurate.

I think Sweden jets who went up to intercept or keep a watch took photos (according to DM) but I could be wrong and it’s the DM which loves to deliberately sensationalise everything. I haven’t had time to see if any other media outlets are reporting similar

@Sorryfornamechanging

I think Sweden jets who went up to intercept or keep a watch took photos (according to DM) but I could be wrong and it’s the DM which loves to deliberately sensationalise everything. I haven’t had time to see if any other media outlets are reporting similar

I had a quick look and couldn't find any of the more reliable news outlets reporting it, but I'll have a deeper dig later.

I'm only seeing translations of the story, so can't verify their accuracy, but TV4 in Sweden is saying the Swedish military photographed nuclear warheads. (According to the translations.)

iNews, express, sun all reporting it now too. INews refers to a news report on a Swedish tv network.

Long thread on Abramovich, spoiler he is not a nice guy.

There is an elephant in the negotiation room. Its name is Roman Abramovich. Allow me to give you some context on who this guy actually is and how his participation in the Ukraine-Russia peace talks should be viewed.
twitter.com/pevchikh/status/1509186801688211456?t=ImYgbKsGKKSUjGY9g01OpA&s=19

I mean. That’s insane if true.
I don’t think it means any further escalation as of now, but just shows how far they are willing to go to intimidate.

The TV4 news programme that broke the story seems to be a credible mainstream show.

TBH I’d need to see the actual text from the Swedish mil, not a journalists version and preferably images of the devices before giving this any credibility..if we don’t get that I’m calling it BS.

It’s pretty much unheard of for aircraft to fly around with nuclear weapons on full display, for all sorts of reasons….

@notimagain

TBH I’d need to see the actual text from the Swedish mil, not a journalists version and preferably images of the devices before giving this any credibility..if we don’t get that I’m calling it BS.

It’s pretty much unheard of for aircraft to fly around with nuclear weapons on full display, for all sorts of reasons….

I've just found the TV4 article in Swedish and run it through a translator and it says 'according to their sources'. The Swedish armed forces don't want to comment on whether they were carrying nuclear weapons or not. The violation of their airspace lasted for about a minute. But something may have been lost in translation.

It is crazy, but Russia is doing lots of things that we would call crazy. They are operating by completely different standards.

Unless I'm looking at the wrong story though, this happened on March 2 and there hasn't been a second violation today.

@shreddednips

many thanks..

If the violation genuinely lasted for about a minute (which is credible and ties in with initial reports..basically a quick rush across the border into Swedish sovereign airspace and then a hard U turn and out again) I don’t see how anybody on the Swedish Air Force side of this event would have been in a position to get up close and personal with the Russian aircraft, let alone have time to photograph any ordnance being carried.

[quote notimagain]@shreddednips

many thanks..

If the violation genuinely lasted for about a minute (which is credible and ties in with initial reports..basically a quick rush across the border into Swedish sovereign airspace and then a hard U turn and out again) I don’t see how anybody on the Swedish Air Force side of this event would have been in a position to get up close and personal with the Russian aircraft, let alone have time to photograph any ordnance being carried.[/quote]
I'm a bit confused because it says they sent a plane up to have a look. Unless they saw them coming via radar and had someone ready and waiting in the air? (I don't know how plausible that is but the article refers to being able to monitor because the Swedish airforce is in a state of increased preparedness)

Esma one hopes that's not the case , re Nuclear weapons in Kaliningrad what else do they have there!

I still just can’t get my head around them destroying the towns and killing civilians in the areas which they want to be part of Russia

Because the towns can be rebuilt and new people can be settled easily enough in the “new part of Russia”. The previous citizens would be a troublesome inconvenience.

@Onceuponatimeinalandfaraway

Anyone else thinking something hasn’t been reported today (yet?) ? It seems strangely quiet in the horrid attack front. Other than I saw that Kremlin calling for their “ partner trump” to be re-elected.

There has been problems with journalists in recent days after a crack down on disclosing information for security reasons.

Chernihiv got hit very badly last night. As did Kharkiv. Noises out of Kherson have been getting quieter following a crack down there.

It has been weirdly quiet all round on the Belgorod incidents.

I recommend either Tim White @twmcltd or Zarina Zabrisky @zarinazabrisky for good daily round ups (though I urge a little caution on zarina as I think she is less reliable than Tim White as a source). Both are collating information on whats happening across the country.

Peter Alexander @PeterAlexander
NEW: “We have information that Putin felt misled by the Russian military,” the U.S. official tells me. “There is now persistent tension between Putin and the MOD (Ministry of Defense), stemming from Putin’s mistrust in MOD leadership.”

Kevin Rothrock @KevinRothrock
Sitting in his gold-plated office, Chechen dictator Ramzan Kadyrov publicly criticizes Russian head negotiator Vladimir Medinsky for supposedly being too accommodating to Ukraine. The cracks are starting to show.

Re Tiktok Evil Gnome tweet above

max seddon @maxseddon
An odd thing: Kadyrov was one of a tiny number of people in Russia who knew about the invasion well in advance – unlike seemingly the entire cabinet and even several security officials. The Chechens failed in early special ops and since then have mostly been posing for selfies

Now even fewer people around Putin seem to have any idea what he wants, which is why Peskov and Lavrov briefed opposite things about the talks again today – and why you get people at cross purposes like this.

Also, what's with the gold scissors? How do you cut anything?

More on the Tiktok Evil Gnome comments:

Kevin Rothrock @KevinRothrock
Worth mentioning that these remarks are now technically illegal in Russia, where Putin just signed a law banning speech that “discredits” diplomats representing the nation abroad. (It’s the least of Kadyrov’s many crimes.)

Thanks for the links and suggestions for Twitter follows.

I’ll have a little faith in the peace talks when Russia stops bombing civilian targets and food stores.

I’m disappointed in the statement that uk won’t provide any commitment to aiding Ukraine in the future. No they’re not nato, if they were they’d not need those assurances and pacts making. They don’t need America if they can get uk and at least some of Europe to agree to be their back up. Without that they’ll only be here again but with less support to assist them in winning. That doesn’t sit comfortably with me.

@shreddednips please accept my apologies... it took me a good few minutes and several reads of the posts above to realise 'DM' was NOT your mother... (Blame MN!)

Thanks for all the updates, I'm off ill so happily lurking :)