Ukraine Invasion: Part 32

[MagicFox]

Gosh, that last one filled up quick! Welcome to 32, all 🇺🇦

Sky News reporting that Russia has announced a partial evacuation of civilians from annexed areas.

New Commander of the Special Operation announced. Doesn’t he look like a friendly and approachable sort of a fellow?

It absolutely won't be another Chernobyl. Worse case scenario is a similar event to Fukushima but with less radiation leakage.

Is this good or bad?

Good - they're giving those areas up and want Russian civilians back to Russia.

Bad - they're going to use far worse weapons in those areas thus contaminating them and rendering them unusable to the Ukranians.

Good Russians are fleeing in such numbers that they have to make an excuse?

Russia states the bridge will reopen for traffic at 4, I wouldn't fancy driving across it

If it’s that or stay?

If it’s that or stay?

I think this one.

The bridge may not be structurally safe. Russia would have to restrict the number of the vehicles on the bridge at any one time travelling from either side. From the pictures, the bridge is reduced from dual lane to single lane. But can you imagine the back ups and if the vehicles all pile on without crowd control, then the other section may collapse. Thinking bridgy thoughts.

Excellent bridgy thoughts @blueshoes 😂

Maybe restrict the weight of vehicles as well as the number? It could be safe for cars without being safe for HGVs.
Car traffic on one lane would seem to me to be a good thing- make it easier for civilians to leave. It’s the train traffic I am most interested in.

I posted on a few hours ago about people on Twitter a few days back saying the obvious thing would be to take out the railway but leave the road intact. Might it be deliberate to destroy the railway and one lane of the road?

Phillips P. OBrien AT PhillipsPOBrien
Also worth noting that once again, when given the opportunity to escalate against Ukraine because of a supposed red line being crossed, the Russian government actually tries to act like everything is fine. Nothing to see here.

In other words, they really really don’t want to escalate to tactical nukes: despite all the Putin apologists claiming he’s all ready to so that so Russia must be given major concessions.

^^

This in spades!

Somebody did give Putin a dog for his birthday a few years ago, but I can't remember who it was who did it.

Websearch search search.... Turkmen president Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, that's who. Five years ago.

But there was also a black Lab from Sergei Shoigu, which Putin used to terrorise Angela Merkel in 2007. Only he does seem to like dogs, so he may genuinely just have had his dog with him at his summer residence, which was where that happened. Possibly.

Yes, waiting for a goodwill gesture to end all goodwill gestures.

Two quick grabs

Crikey!!!

@MagicFox interesting there were no birthday wishes to Putin from Xi or Modi. I remember reading somewhere that the concerns both China and India expressed to Putin at the recent Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit could be window dressing with Putin's blesssing to allow China and India to put some bluewater between them and the war to a Western audience.

But the failure to send birthday wishes to Putin seems more personal. Almost as if China and India don't expect Putin to remain in power.

Waiting with bated breath what this all means. This is striking so close to Putin's home.

Yes we can't know. There could have been a back channel birthday extravaganza. However, the optics underscore Russia's pariah status even if it's the case that Russia have agreed to it

The only coverage I can find mentioning arrests is on Unian. Here's the link in case anyone is interested!

www.unian.net/world/v-moskve-nachalis-aresty-voennyh-razvedka-12004305.html

It's all over Twitter as well.

twitter.com/TpyxaNews/status/1578753112709308416

This is bad though isn't it? If Kadyrov and Prighozhin are given leadership roles then they're going to advise escalation.

Well this is an unfortunate dog !