Ukraine Invasion: Part 23

[MagicFox]

Welcome all, thanks for the company

By the way its going, Russia may not have the budget to be able to invade Poundland let alone reparations.

Yachts and flats in London and Paris will not be enough. The natural resources of Russia are enormous though I can't see these being available and put to the task.

I’ve always thought that Israel isn’t an enemy I’d want to have.

Enemy operations center and three ammunition depots destroyed in southern Ukraine
Ukrainian defenders have destroyed an enemy command operations center, three ammunition depots and several groups of Russian troops and military equipment in southern Ukraine

Another command centre, if this true this is amazing.

Seen speculation that the attack that killed 200 officers in the Eastern Command centre is why Russia has been struggling to advance the last couple of days. They've made small gains in one area in the south, lost ground in another area further North around Kharkiv and indeed have been pushed back 40 miles east of Kharkiv in one spot.

The aircraft bombings seem to be using less intelligent bombs now, which to an untrained person like me seems to hint that they may be running short of stuff?

Unfortunately the Steelworks are still being bombed and in fact it's increased and there are still many hundreds of civilians in there according to several reports.

I was being slightly tongue in cheek when I talked about Russia paying reparations

In fact, I'd already said to dh that I thought that Zelenskyy would be prepared to forgo reparations if Russian got the fuck out of all of Ukraine.

But somehow I don't see Putin being prepared to retreat as he sees it

Frozen Russian reserves can cover that.

Israel. With some of best military tech in the world (that they had previously refused to supply to Ukraine).

Slow handclap

The iron dome i believe was one of the things they refused to supply...

The aircraft bombings seem to be using less intelligent bombs now, which to an untrained person like me seems to hint that they may be running short of stuff?

FWIW there were reports/rumours circulating that the Russian Air Force was low on "smart" bombs a couple of months back ( and that they weren't working particularly well any way)..

www.airforcemag.com/air-war-ramps-up-in-russia-ukraine-conflict-as-russian-pgms-run-out/

I hope it's true about the Iron Dome. Only seen it in one report, needs to be confirmed really.

U.K. Families of Ukrainian refugees taking family member refugees into their homes to live with them, are not eligible for the £350 allowance.

It is hardly a ‘windfall’ amount of money that would mean people would invite Ukrainian family over to live with them for the sake of it.

It it so mean spirited and stupid.

Woman hosting brother’s Ukrainian family left struggling to pay bills | Refugees | The Guardian

www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/03/woman-hosting-brothers-ukrainian-family-left-struggling-to-pay-bills
amp.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/03/woman-hosting-brothers-ukrainian-family-left-struggling-to-pay-bills

NB Even when paid, the £350 allowance is not even per person. (I think some people may assume it is per person.) It is very little.

Looks like the Iron Dome thing may have been wishful thinking, after doing a bit more digging.

Sorry for not checking first :/ Was too good to be true ...

I wish it were true, but it doesn't appear to be. The Israeli press says they won't send the Iron Dome.

www.timesofisrael.com/israel-reportedly-leaning-toward-sending-defensive-military-aid-to-ukraine/

originally they said it wouldn’t work very well in Ukraine

“Explained: Why Israel's Iron Dome Won't Help Ukraine Against Russia
Ukraine's large land mass and the sophistication of Russia's projectiles mean an export of Israel's coveted Iron Dome defense system would be unlikely to protect the country from bombardment”

www.haaretz.com/israel-news/explained-why-israel-s-iron-dome-won-t-really-help-ukraine-against-russia-1.10690475

Lavrov really messed up there.

That's one country you really don't want to get on the bad side of because they give zero fucks about appeasement and de-escalation.

Ah I see no iron dome

Reports of explosions in Lviv and that there are power outages due to substations being hit. I get the feeling the only reason for this is for Russia to show that they can.

A few generations back, one branch of my family escaped from Russia, just barely. The USSR was not noted for decent treatment of Jews either. (Joke: Border official: "Why do you want to leave the country, Comrade Isaacs?" Comrade Isaacs: "I've heard there is going to be trouble for Jews and dentists." Border official, surprised: "Why dentists?" Comrade Isaacs: "That's why I want to leave...") And Jews have had to have good memories.

Really very stupid to remind them about that history, I feel.

Iron Dome's gets good press coverage but ( as the haaretz.com article says) it's optimised for point defence of relatively small areas against what these days are considered fairly dumb/slow/simple shortish range missiles..

You'd need a lot of units to protect all the potential targets (civil/mil) in Ukraine and even then it would struggle against some of the missiles the Russians still have available.

@notimagain d'you think the Russians -are- running short of the more high tech stuff like cruise missiles etc and that's why the aircraft are using dumber bombs?

TBH it's been frustrating trying to work out what's going on with the air side of this war because probably quite understandably a lot is being left unsaid.

If reports are to be believed it appears the Ukrainians have fairly firm control of the air over most of their home soil, so if the Russians want to perform long range strikes on places to the west of Ukraine they will have to continue to use missile/cruise missiles. It's anybody's guess how many of those the Russians have left.

Conventional bombing is I think a separate issue. I suspect if the Russians are doing that anywhere on a significant scale it will be very much in the East and probably in direct support of ground forces...

FWIW there were images kicking around very soon after the invasion that appeared to show Russian ground attack aircraft (e.g. Su-34s) loaded up with "dumb" bombs, that led to a lot of chat/querying a couple of months back about the possibility of either the Russians not having many "smart" bombs at the start of the conflict or that those that they had were not working.....

I have to emphasise all the above s very much my speculation

Just seen on Twitter that the CEO of the company that makes the switchblade drone is an Afghan refugee from the Soviet invasion

@Ijsbear
it's just occurred to me that effective sabotage must be a skill all of its own.
Oh, it is. The SOE spent a lot of World War II developing it, sending demolitions experts in to train recruits how to blow up viaducts and so on. Plastic explosives, time-delay fuses and similar kit were used extensively against the Axis. Techniques can only have been honed since then.

I am always awestruck by the courage of people who take on roles like that.

@notimagain understood it's speculation. But it does seem odd ... suppose they must be saving the smart bombs for specific targets :s

@EdithStourton I read there are some extremely solid bridges, must take a lot to blow them up. Also if the SOE types are caught they can't expect any mercy at all ...

Biden hoping to enact a sort of flip:

www.cnn.com/europe/live-news/russia-ukraine-war-news-05-03-22/index.html
Excerpt:
24 min ago

President Biden asked the US Congress to loosen visa restrictions on highly educated Russians
^From CNN's Natasha Bertrand
US President Joe Biden has asked the US Congress to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to make it easier for highly educated Russians to obtain visas to work in the United States, according to a section of the White House’s Ukraine supplemental budget request submitted to lawmakers last week and reviewed by CNN.^
The request, if enacted, would allow Russians with a masters or doctoral degree in the fields of science, technology, engineering or math to apply for a visa without first obtaining an employer sponsor in the US.

The amendment would also require the Department of Homeland Security “to expedite consideration of such applications,” the document says, “as appropriate” and with the necessary vetting.

The administration explained in the document that the authority “would help the U.S. attract and retain Russian STEM talent and undercut Russia’s innovative potential, benefitting U.S. national security.” The authority would expire four years after the date that it is enacted, according to the document.