Ukraine Invasion: Part 23

[MagicFox]

Welcome all, thanks for the company

Are the peace talks still taking place and has there been any positive progress?

Exactly this. Nostalgia for “good old days” when everything always stayed the same and no one had to think for themselves.

This was on Radio 4 a short time ago and is well worth listening to because he speaks to someone who lives in Odesa.

He vividly describes the character of Odesa. By all accounts a melting pot of many nationalities - if New York is the Big Apple, this is a Small Apple he explained.

A memorable part of his description is his saying how the usually wonderful spring weather has been grey and overcast beginning from February 24th shortly after which there was unseasonal snow - as if the sky over Odesa is expressing the oppression of the country as a whole.

Don't Log Off - Blown Away - BBC Sounds

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0016x8h

“This was on Radio 4 a short time ago”
about noon today

@RedToothBrush · 02/05/2022 11:57
“Lavrov's comment on Italian Tv. “

I can’t post what Lavrov said from your screenshot post but others can refer back to it.

Re: Labrov’s remark and saying that Hitler was partly Jewish, I gather from the news on Radio 4 that Israel is angry.

That's what I was trying to suggest would happen a couple of threads ago, though I was assuming they would go for a plane from another country and make it look like Ukraine were responsible.

I'm just not thinking enough like the Russian army...

Israel wants apology after Russia’s Lavrov compares Zelensky to Hitler
By Steve Hendrix9:18 a.m.
Link copied

JERUSALEM — Israeli officials reacted with fury Monday after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Ukraine’s Jewish president, Volodymyr Zelensky, of supporting Nazism and asserted that “Hitler also had Jewish blood.”

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said Russia’s ambassador to Israel would be formally summoned to explain the comments, which Lapid called “both unforgivable and outrageous.” He said Israel would demand an apology from the Russian government for employing a discredited antisemitic trope: that Adolf Hitler, the leader of the Nazis’ Third Reich and perpetrator of the Holocaust, was of Jewish ancestry.

^In a statement, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Lavrov’s “words are untrue and their intentions are wrong.”
“The goal of such lies is to accuse the Jews themselves of the most awful crimes in history, which were perpetrated against them, and thereby absolve Israel’s enemies of responsibility,” he said. “The use of the Holocaust of the Jewish people as a political tool must cease immediately.”^

Lavrov made the comments in an interview Sunday on Italian television as he sought to justify Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he was compelled to launch a “special military operation” in February in part because, he claimed, Ukraine is dominated and ruled by neo-Nazis. Pressed on reconciling these “denazification” claims with Zelensky’s Jewish identity, Lavrov waved off its relevance.

“So what if Zelensky is Jewish,” Lavrov said, according to a translation of his remarks, which he made in Russian. “The fact does not negate the Nazi elements in Ukraine. I believe that Hitler also had Jewish blood.”
“Some of the worst antisemites are Jews,” Lavrov said

Excerpt from The Washington Post:
www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/05/02/russia-ukraine-war-news-putin-live-updates/

I'm just not thinking enough like the Russian army...

dipping into that mindset to try and predict what they might do is a scary thing and beyond most of us, luckily. I can't get over Esma's post late last night. I can vaguley see the utter lack of empathy, having dealt with certain individuals, but cannot imagine how human ingenuity can be applied to create a situation like that.

Oops. Boom-maker go boom, but in the wrong place for the Russians

www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/05/02/russian-explosives-plant-fire-kills-2-a77559

I appreciate Russia is a big place, but how many accidental industrial fires can you have in two weeks?

Interesting thread from @Toni T Ahoninon Twitter. Using what we now know about the Russia set up, forces and equipment, he has been busy estimating the cost of waging war. He lays out his workings (I think they are conservative). Russia is burning 1/2 billion a day, emphasising how much the gas revenue is helping them.

Realistic daily cost:
Fuel $10M*
Artillery $119M**
Mortar $24M** Missiles $120M
Oth ammo $8M**
Compensation $23M
Mercenaries $1M
Equipment lost $230M
Total daily cost: $539M

2/3 of maximum daily 1/4 of maxium daily

I think in the case of today's explosion you'd have to consider that it might well be an accident - presumably that plant would be under pressure to produce a lot of product quickly, so corners cut etc.....

OTOH I suspect lots of the others that have been reported may well be down to owner/management/interested party action 🤐perhaps as a consequence of sanctions reducing cash flow.

Phillips P OBrien AT PhillipsPObrien
The increase of Ukrainian attacks in Russia, now evident, show actually how reluctant the Russian government is to fully mobilise or escalate up the NBC chain. There was lots of talk early in the war about the Russians staging a false flag operation to justify escalation

The idea was they would need an incident. Well, that seems now unnecessary. The Ukrainians are blowing up vital facilities in a large Russian more than 350k people (Belogorod)

Heck the Belgorod Governor is openly discussing these attacks.

Putin doesn’t need a false flag, the Ukrainians are providing him with an enormous, explosive banner, should he want to use it. But as of now he doesn’t want to. And that is interesting.

The Ukrainian push north of Kharkiv would put Belogorod in range of artillery.

Cutting corners and speeding up production whilst unable to get parts for proper maintenance?

Remember the internet got cut to Kherson? Its now been reconnected to the Russian network. This also means they may have greater ability to monitor the network. Some warnings have gone out about it.

Iullia Mendal AT iuliiamendal
Since the war started, half of all Ukrainians have lost their jobs. Only 2% were able to find temporary earnings. It is crucial that investment into re-education and skills development will help improve this situation.

@RedToothBrush

Cutting corners and speeding up production whilst unable to get parts for proper maintenance?

Yep, I'm guessing of course but I wouldn't be surprised if that's a factor.

Then they would be able to monitor any Airbnb bookings?

According to Igor... countless fire's all over Russia!
I'm hopeful it's an insurgency and interior resistance?
I mean thousands have relatives in Ukraine ...

The Ukrainian push north of Kharkiv would put Belogorod in range of artillery.

Belogorod is about 70km from Kharkiv so it would already be in range of some artillery models the UA operate. In fact some artillery and MLRS can exceed 450km which would (theoretically) put them in range of Moscow.

Ramjet artillery rounds are available, but it is not clear if they are being made available to the UA. With a maximum speed of about 3,000 kmh they could hit Smolensk and Moscow in less than 30 seconds and have an accuracy rate to within 1.5 metres. This would be a good theatre in which to test them.

The 183,000 rounds of 155mm artillery the US is providing will assist the UA to eventually hold their borders where there is no ceasefire. I read today that the US is deferring its munitions production for other nations due to the need to fulfil production for Ukraine.

For Ed Sheeran fans

www.independent.ie/world-news/europe/russian-state-tv-simulates-nuclear-attack-on-ireland-41607244.html

These male Russian TV pundits really are useless.

First they say a single Sarmat with nuclear warheads would reach the UK in 200 seconds and set the nation on fire in a single detonation. Then they are saying a single Poseidon underwater drone could trigger a tidal wave 1,650 feet high which could wash us all away.

Even your average year 4 primary school kid knows that a wave that high would put out all the fires created from the first bomb. I really do think these Russian TV pundits are not that razor sharp. They should either raise their game and give us a fitting ending that does what it says on the tin, or stick to what they do best - smoke weed, drink black market vodka and wear vintage ladies underwear beneath their suits while strolling round Gorky Park on Thursday evenings.

😂 got to say previously these things unnerved me, this time I found myself mildly entertained at the fact that this time it was a killer tidal wave!

In all seriousness are we assuming that it’s all bollocks?

Fascinating article. An insight into a Ukrainian family and the Russian troops that resided with them in their basement:

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/05/putin-war-propaganda-russian-support/629714/