Russia v Ukraine

[TheSire]

They should behave and only do what America says is allowed. Stay on their own turf and gradually get glide bombed to the west.

[littletedwest]

I think this nuclear power station stuff is overstated. In the US they have a bloke recruitment through President Fords project bootstrap initiative as a safety inspector at one place.

[Red Phoenix]

2 hours ago, Curly said:

I think it’s more the not so subtle implications in the way you talk about it. Makes it seem like suggesting that it’s hard to know, but that it’s Ukraine who are the aggressors in all this

 

I'm just hoping the nuclear power plants in Russia and Ukraine can be safe from war. Ukraine headed in the direction of Kursk then I saw it start getting mentioned and I'd prefer it if another one wasn't dragged into a warzone, that's all.

 

3 minutes ago, TheSire said:

Who says Ukraine are interested in the power plant? Are they anywhere near it? Are they shelling it like Russia did with Za.... ah fuck typing the whole word!

 

I might start calling it Zaph.

 

1 minute ago, TheSire said:

They should behave and only do what America says is allowed. Stay on their own turf and gradually get glide bombed to the west.

 

Well we've gone from certain weapons being an escalation to Ukraine invading Russia so things have definitely progressed a bit.

 

That's still not enough though apparently and Ukraine want to hit further into Russia with Storm Shadow missiles and maybe other stuff. In a recent Guardian article they're saying it's so that the Kremlin can be shown that sites near Moscow can be in danger and the aim is to force Russia into negotiations. It seems hard to work out what the fuck is going on to be honest.

[TheSire]

3 hours ago, Red Phoenix said:

 

I'm just hoping the nuclear power plants in Russia and Ukraine can be safe from war. Ukraine headed in the direction of Kursk then I saw it start getting mentioned and I'd prefer it if another one wasn't dragged into a warzone, that's all.

 

 

I might start calling it Zaph.

 

 

Well we've gone from certain weapons being an escalation to Ukraine invading Russia so things have definitely progressed a bit.

 

That's still not enough though apparently and Ukraine want to hit further into Russia with Storm Shadow missiles and maybe other stuff. In a recent Guardian article they're saying it's so that the Kremlin can be shown that sites near Moscow can be in danger and the aim is to force Russia into negotiations. It seems hard to work out what the fuck is going on to be honest.

It pretty much is that to be honest. You can't really negotiate with a bully so you have to take the initiative as they only respect force.

[Red Phoenix]

21 minutes ago, TheSire said:

It pretty much is that to be honest. You can't really negotiate with a bully so you have to take the initiative as they only respect force.

 

Fair enough, I really hope that whatever they're doing works out for Ukraine soon though if they're really after having something to work with in negotiations (if that happens) because Russia seem to be taking more territory quickly in the Donbas area now.

[TheHowieLama]

4 minutes ago, Red Phoenix said:

Russia seem to be taking more territory quickly in the Donbas area now.

 

Why are they doing that?

[cochyn]

45 minutes ago, TheHowieLama said:

 

Why are they doing that?

Show of force for the domestic audience? Distracts from the fact Ukraine are running rampant in the Kursk region with relative impunity. It's a baller move by Ukraine and goes counter to the Russians' expectation that UKR will only act in accordance with what their western suppliers will sanction. But, the russians fight dirty and the Kursk push shows the Ukrainians can too. FWIW, I still say the Donbas is (temporarily at least) a lost cause for UKR given the heft of RU military 'assets' concentrated there and the lack of partisan action (that we are aware of at least) to counter it. I doubt that UKR will push toward the Kursk NPP but so far, swapping green mobniks for trained UKR POWs is yet another samll but significant win that typifies UKR's efforts in this direction so far.

[Red Phoenix]

6 hours ago, TheHowieLama said:

Why are they doing that?

 

They're trying to take Pokrovsk.

 

Pokrovsk: Ukraine's vital eastern town in Russian sights

[TheSire]

They need to learn to dig and continually fortify positions. It's one of the simple and cheap things that Ukraine aren't doing that would be a big help. Basements are useless and unsafe unless they're just used to store equipment etc and rest further back.

[TheHowieLama]

A British safety adviser for the Reuters news agency was killed and two journalists injured when a Russian strike hit a hotel in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine, on Saturday night.

Reuters had a six-person crew staying at the Hotel Sapphire as part of its team covering the war in Ukraine. A spokesperson for the news agency identified the killed safety adviser as Ryan Evans, a 38-year-old British citizen who was assigned to its reporting team in Ukraine.

[Section_31]

Just watching that Edinburgh tattoo and pondering what it'd look like if they invited the Russians.

 

"Next up comes the 3rd released from the gulag rapist regiment, followed by the glow in the dark Chernobyl trench-digging battalion. Hot on their heels are the Chechen "we all look like a bearded Neil Mellor' detachment with their rendition of the Tetris threme played on old turps bottles."

[Red Phoenix]

A member of Azov and a paramedic speaking out on the situation in Ukraine :

 

Situation in Donbas Spiraling Out of Control, Azov Brigade Officer Says

[SasaS]

Mediazona updated Russian KIA count, but again, as last time, it's not particularly informative, since a 50 percent hike is the result of processing backlog. Other than giving us an approximate insight what a blood bath this invasion continues to be.

 

Plus 4,640 for four weeks to the total of 66,471 with earlier estimates this is 40 to 60 percent of the actual number.

 

https://en.zona.media/article/2022/05/11/casualties_eng

 

Ukrainian obituaries count at 52,562 as of yesterday, estimate of actual number unknown to me.

 

https://ualosses.org/en/soldiers/

[TheSire]

8 hours ago, Red Phoenix said:

A member of Azov and a paramedic speaking out on the situation in Ukraine :

 

Situation in Donbas Spiraling Out of Control, Azov Brigade Officer Says

Uncle Tom also says that Ukraine are slow to adapt and learn from mistakes, similar to Russia where commanders are too scared to bring bad news to their superiors. There's a lack of autonomy with lots of micromanagement etc. It does make me wonder if most promised military aid never arrives partly because of the perception of poor leadership. Hearing things about units not being reinforced and newly trained troops being used to create new units so depleted ones are left to rot.

[SasaS]

With each day I understand less and less what is the actual point of the Kursk offensive.

[Red Phoenix]

10 hours ago, TheSire said:

Uncle Tom also says that Ukraine are slow to adapt and learn from mistakes, similar to Russia where commanders are too scared to bring bad news to their superiors. There's a lack of autonomy with lots of micromanagement etc. It does make me wonder if most promised military aid never arrives partly because of the perception of poor leadership. Hearing things about units not being reinforced and newly trained troops being used to create new units so depleted ones are left to rot.

 

3 hours ago, SasaS said:

With each day I understand less and less what is the actual point of the Kursk offensive.

 

Yeah the Kursk thing seems to have diverted a good amount of their forces/equipment. I read recently that the Russian offensive started getting worse soon after they hit a place called Ocheretyne that had a rail line running through it back in late April/early May, a Ukrainian troop rotation that didn't go to plan is also said to have been a factor there. This explains a good amount of it I think : Frontline report: Ukrainian defensive line breached by Russian flanking maneuver near Avdiivka

 

Once they did that the Russians are supposed to have mainly followed that railway line to end up where they are now whilst branching off from it as they went, they're still following it now near Pokrovsk. Maybe if that Kursk group had tried to retake Ocheretyne instead or at least defended the Pokrovsk area it might have been a better idea.

[TheSire]

Information maybe? Thousands of POWs to grab Intel from.

[TheSire]

We may see similar in other areas, the border is probably poorly secured all over. Possibly puts pressure on putin too, bringing the war to Russia makes it seem more real to them.

[Red Phoenix]

17 minutes ago, TheSire said:

We may see similar in other areas, the border is probably poorly secured all over. Possibly puts pressure on putin too, bringing the war to Russia makes it seem more real to them.

 

That could help, there's surely more Russian people that are sick of it now and if they're having to dilute forces in Donbas more as they wonder about the rest of the border area it could help slow them down at least.

[SasaS]

1 hour ago, TheSire said:

Information maybe? Thousands of POWs to grab Intel from.

 

They destroyed like three battalions of third rate units, they took hundreds not thousands. What intel can you gather like this, from this soldiers? Where to buy the cheapest vodka?

[TheSire]

24 minutes ago, SasaS said:

 

They destroyed like three battalions of third rate units, they took hundreds not thousands. What intel can you gather like this, from this soldiers? Where to buy the cheapest vodka?

What units are where, where positions are, who controls what unit, operational information etc. Some will lie or twist the truth but you'll notice enough patterns to build a picture of how the Russians are operating, plans etc. They're also useful for prisoner swaps, that's probably a major factor.

[SasaS]

10 hours ago, TheSire said:

What units are where, where positions are, who controls what unit, operational information etc. Some will lie or twist the truth but you'll notice enough patterns to build a picture of how the Russians are operating, plans etc. They're also useful for prisoner swaps, that's probably a major factor.

 

But they knew all that in advance, that is why they attacked. And if you don't, this is what special forces are for, not ground offensives. They already have enough POWs Russia is not doing anything to get back.

 

I really hope that down the line this would be proven to be a master strike and not some attempt at a Tet offensive out of desperation.

[TheHowieLama]

The conscription efforts must be having troubles:

 

A white Beluga whale named “Hvaldimir,” first spotted in Norway not far from Russian waters with a harness that ignited rumors he may be a Moscow spy, has been found dead.

The Norwegian public broadcaster NRK reported that the whale carcass was found floating at the Risavika Bay in southern Norway Saturday by a father and son who were fishing.

The 4.2-meter (14-foot) long and 1,225-kilogram (2,700-pound) whale was first spotted by fishermen near the northern island of Ingøya, not far from the Arctic city of Hammerfest, in April 2019 wearing a harness and what appeared to be a mount for a small camera and a buckle marked with text “Equipment St. Petersburg.”

That sparked allegations that the beluga was “a spy whale.” Experts said the Russian navy is known to have trained whales for military purposes.

Over the years, the beluga was seen in several Norwegian coastal towns and it quickly became clear that he was very tame and enjoyed playing with people, NRK said.

[Mudface]

The whale fell out of a 4th storey window.

[SasaS]

There is just no end of bad news now.