Ukraine Invasion: Part 24

[MagicFox]

Welcome one and all and thanks again to everyone contributing

I agree with @TheCountessofFitzdotterel they simply don't operate the same way our politicians are meant to. They can effectively say whatever they want, contradictory or not, and there is no one who will question it.

At least when Boris claimed he didn't know he was at a party there were a raft of people from other politicians to newspapers who were able to call him out on his bullshit without fearing for their lives.

My MP still seems to be peddling the lie that Boris doesn't know what a party is.

Excellent thread! Thankyou @MagicFox

Maybe he gets confused because life is one big party for Boris

mobile.twitter.com/KyivIndependent/status/1522469450506817536

⚡️ Yermak: Almost 500 civilians evacuated from besieged Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol.
“The next stage of rescuing our people from Azovstal is underway at the moment,” Andriy Yermak, head of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office reported on May 6.
9:52 AM · May 6, 2022·Twitter Web App

Excellent news!

Pmk

@Natsku amazing news! There are more civilians than we thought? Although how anyone can really know how many are hiding in such a vast underground space.

The 500 are from Mariupol more generally I think. My understanding is that evacuation of the steelworks is still underway.

putin did it first. For over 20 years

But Trump did it overtly and dramatically, didn’t even talk sense half the time, made outrageous statements of all sorts, ran his Presidency like a surreal TV reality show, totally captured the Republican Party, incited citizens to lawbreaking and violence and still only just managed to lose an election. It was gaslighting on a grand scale, out in the open. Putin’s method was to pretend to be a sane, responsible politician and he kept a veneer of respectability. It must have been astonishing to realise that you don’t even have to pretend.

Really? I mean I'm not fussy, I want everyone to get out of Mariupol but I thought it was referring specifically to the steel plant.

All this speculation about the soldiers keeping the civilians as human shields continues. I do not believe it, but if there is a kernel of truth, many civilians are the family of the soldiers and I imagine they don't want to leave their soldiers behind. I wonder if protection has ended up two way. Safety in numbers...

Oh no I lie sorry, Kyiv Independent reporting its from the steelplant.

What do we think of the reports that 'most' Russian soldiers have left Mariupol with only a couple of small battalions left (all over Twitter). Sounds very ominous.

Yes. Praying for them to rescue all.

Are you thinking a chemical attack? Aren't they planning a parade there in two days time?

Would that stop them?

That's made me nervous - clear their soldiers out then chemical attack maybe

Trouble is now every time the Russians thin out a perimeter or draw back in numbers from an area some in the Twittersphere start raising anxiety levels in the west by wittering on about it being prep for a Chemical attack.

Now of course that is a possibility that can't be ignored but the other option is that the Russians don't feel they actually need to take the location in question. They might feel they can contain the defenders indefinitely with a (relatively) small number of troops...

We will have to wait and see.

I think its difficult to be sure. From what I can gather they've left enough soldiers there to still pretty effectively prevent anyone from getting out without their say so and obviously the aerial bombardment continues. I wonder if its more about being short on troops and needing to redeploy.

Cross post with @notimagain

Every morning I wake up and hope that a miracle has happened and the invasion has ended.
That somehow the Russian leaders have seen sense.

Man's inhumanity to man. I despair.

Re: idea that civilians were being used as a ‘human shield” by the soldiers.

Given the Russians have been bombing the steel works relentlessly for a long time, and openly bombed civilians in Mariupol before that, it seems unlikely these particularly brave soldiers have been using civilians as a shield.

Some civilians evidently had worked at the steel works and thought they’d be safer there. Other. Mariupol civilians must have gone there for the same reason.

The terror of her time at the steelworks was fresh for Elina Tsybulchenko, 54, who used to work at the site doing quality control. Tsybulchenko sought shelter there after shelling destroyed her home and water was running short in the city, yet even getting water inside the plant carried immense risks. (Guardian report Tue 3 May 2022 21.14 EDT)

The commander of the soldiers was asking for the civilians to be evacuated, not asking on soldiers’ behalf, until the very recent call when he asked for dying and wounded soldiers, to be evacuated.

Here's that excellent Mart Kuldkepp thread unrolled: unrollthread.com/t/1522271404829425664/

One of the replies to that thread is also spot on and explains that nagging feeling of "what's wrong with this picture" I keep getting at the Putinistas' blethering about NATO:

twitter.com/garbidz/status/1522466600523345924
Martti Suomivuori
Replying to

@ KuldkeppMart
Even the question of NATO expansion is represented as if those joining the organization have no say as NATO wants to expand no matter what.

In reality, most recent members have joined to have security against Russian aggression, like Finland and Sweden are about to do as well.

From Sky News:

"Russia will not use nuclear weapons in Ukraine, the Kremlin has insisted.
Foreign ministry spokesman Alexei Zaitsev told reporters the use of nuclear weapons by Russia - a risk that Western officials have publicly discussed - was not applicable to what Moscow calls its special military operation in Ukraine.
For context: A number of experts have warned that Russia's struggles to overcome staunch Ukrainian resistance and achieve any notable military successes following its invasion could see Vladimir Putin resort to some form of nuclear strike.
^^
Last month, CIA director William Burns said that given the setbacks Russia had suffered in Ukraine, "none of us can take lightly the threat posed by a potential resort to tactical nuclear weapons or low-yield nuclear weapons."

I suspect that the Russians may be removing from Mariupol because they are struggling in the Donbass. The removal of troops started a week ago iirc.

🤥 Chairman of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin assures that mobilization in Russia is not expected and that a nuclear strike by Russia is possible only as a response

Here we go again! rolls her eyes so we can expect another threat tomorrow. Or even later today if they surpass themselves.

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⚡️News digest for the night:

▪️Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the UN Serhiy Kyslytsya spoke about Russia's war crimes in Ukraine and called for tougher sanctions against it. He also criticized the UN Security Council for failing to end the war in Ukraine.

▪️Thanks to the UN operation, a total of about 500 people were evacuated from Mariupol. This was stated by UN Secretary General António Guterres.

▪️The creation of a food crisis in Ukraine, and the world is probably one of the intentional goals of the Russian war, — stated the Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the UN Serhiy Kyslytsya

▪️The United States is helping Ukraine with intelligence to eliminate Russian generals, according to "The New York Times".

▪️"Google" has already provided $55 million in assistance to Ukraine — head of "Google" Matthew Brittin reported.

▪️The Pentagon sees no sign that Belarus is ready to openly join Russia's war against Ukraine. This was stated during a briefing by the US Secretary of Defense John Kirby.

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British intelligence report:

▪️Russian forces in Mariupol have continued their ground assault on the "Azovstal" steel plant for a second day, despite Russian statements claiming they would seek only to seal it off.

▪️The renewed effort by Russia to secure "Azovstal" and complete the capture of Mariupol is likely linked to the upcoming 9 May Victory Day commemorations and Putin’s desire to have a symbolic success in Ukraine.

▪️This effort has come at personnel, equipment and munitions cost to Russia. Whilst Ukrainian resistance continues in "Azovstal", Russian losses will continue to build and frustrate their operational plans in southern Donbas.

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rather cute but serious support from Estonia. I hope that some rich someone somewhere dobs them some money - they aren't the biggest of countries.

🇪🇪 Estonia will issue a €2 coin with the inscription "Glory to Ukraine"

The design of the coin has already been approved by the Supervisory Board of the Central Bank, but has yet to be approved by the European Commission and the countries of the European Union

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