War Invasion of Ukraine News Megathread - Thread is only for articles and discussion of articles, general discussion thread is still in Happenings.

President Joe Biden on Tuesday said that the United States will impose sanctions “far beyond” the ones that the United States imposed in 2014 following the annexation of the Crimean peninsula.

“This is the beginning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine,” Biden said in a White House speech, signaling a shift in his administration’s position. “We will continue to escalate sanctions if Russia escalates,” he added.

Russian elites and their family members will also soon face sanctions, Biden said, adding that “Russia will pay an even steeper price” if Moscow decides to push forward into Ukraine. Two Russian banks and Russian sovereign debt will also be sanctioned, he said.

Also in his speech, Biden said he would send more U.S. troops to the Baltic states as a defensive measure to strengthen NATO’s position in the area.

Russia shares a border with Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

A day earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered troops to go into the separatist Donetsk and Lugansk regions in eastern Ukraine after a lengthy speech in which he recognized the two regions’ independence.

Western powers decried the move and began to slap sanctions on certain Russian individuals, while Germany announced it would halt plans to go ahead with the Russia-to-Germany Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

At home, Biden is facing bipartisan pressure to take more extensive actions against Russia following Putin’s decision. However, a recent poll showed that a majority of Americans believe that sending troops to Ukraine is a “bad idea,” and a slim minority believes it’s a good one.

All 27 European Union countries unanimously agreed on an initial list of sanctions targeting Russian authorities, said French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, and EU foreign affairs head Josep Borell claimed the package “will hurt Russia … a lot.”

Earlier Tuesday, Borell asserted that Russian troops have already entered the Donbas region, which comprises Donetsk and Lugansk, which are under the control of pro-Russia groups since 2014.

And on Tuesday, the Russian Parliament approved a Putin-back plan to use military force outside of Russia’s borders as Putin further said that Russia confirmed it would recognize the expanded borders of Lugansk and Donetsk.

“We recognized the states,” the Russian president said. “That means we recognized all of their fundamental documents, including the constitution, where it is written that their [borders] are the territories at the time the two regions were part of Ukraine.”

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Putin said that Ukraine is “not interested in peaceful solutions” and that “every day, they are amassing troops in the Donbas.”

Meanwhile, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday morning again downplayed the prospect of a Russian invasion and proclaimed: “There will be no war.”

“There will not be an all-out war against Ukraine, and there will not be a broad escalation from Russia. If there is, then we will put Ukraine on a war footing,” he said in a televised address.

The White House began to signal that they would shift their own position on whether it’s the start of an invasion.

“We think this is, yes, the beginning of an invasion, Russia’s latest invasion into Ukraine,” said Jon Finer, the White House deputy national security adviser in public remarks. “An invasion is an invasion and that is what is underway.”

For weeks, Western governments have been claiming Moscow would invade its neighbor after Russia gathered some 150,000 troops along the countries’ borders. They alleged that the Kremlin would attempt to come up with a pretext to attack, while some officials on Monday said Putin’s speech recognizing the two regions was just that.

But Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters Tuesday that Russia’s “latest invasion” of Ukraine is threatening stability in the region, but he asserted that Putin can “still avoid a full blown, tragic war of choice.”

Article

 

[Bold&Brash]

Funny side thing of the war is the absolute seeth of Muzzie cells on social media since their beloved Palestine doesn't get enough attention. The entitlement of these people kek.

 

[Useful_Mistake]

https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1497961434914988044

BREAKING: Jen Psaki just said that we need to reduce our reliance on foreign oil, but doesn’t want to increase American gas and oil production

 

[Lards and Lasses]

As if we needed more proof that the Russian Church is a Kremlin mouthpiece run by ex-KGB goons.

They're not gonna give a shit about their flock sinking into alcoholism or committing abortions en-masse, but they are going to care if someone stops their dear leader from taking over another country.

What a joke.

Tbf, every catholic church around the world is a mouth piece.

 

[Useful_Mistake]

Meacham Lumps Jackson Nomination in With Ukraine, WWII As Important For Democracy​

Presidential historian, sometimes Biden speechwriter, and frequent MSNBC Jon Meacham joined The 11th Hour on Friday to recap what turned out to be a very eventful week. For Meacham, the week both the defense of Ukraine and the nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court are critically important for democracy, just like winning World War II.

Responding to questioning from host Alicia Menendez about how critical the week was for President Biden, Meacham declared, “It’s a remarkable week for both the President and for all of us.”

Meacham declared that every generation of Americans is judged by how well they defend freedom, “and what we’re seeing abroad is tragically another chapter in the oldest story in humankind which is the will to power. Putin wants something. He wants it for economic power, for global power, for raw power, and he is allowing his ambitions, his appetite, to overrun the rule of law.”

Being a historian, Meacham recalled:

Winston Churchill came to the United States in 1943, in the middle of the Second World War. He gave a speech at Harvard in which he, was speaking basically to the isolationist impulse in the United States which had kept America, of course, out of the Second World War from September 1939 all the way until the middle of December 1941. And he said, you can’t become the greatest nation in the world, and say, we are not going to be interested in what happens elsewhere and he said, with greatness comes responsibility. And the generations that understand that and act on that are the ones we tend to honor the most.”

Meacham should’ve concluded there, but he didn’t, adding:

And then, of course, at home, you see with the—the-- appointment, of—of-- the nomination of—of--Judge Jackson, again this attempt to make us a more partner with union. To have this immensely important institution, reflect the diversity of the America that we are and that we’re becoming and so I think when people like me look back, and—and-- write about President Biden and write about this phenomenal era that really has been unfolding since the end of the Obama Administration unto this hour where there is a crisis of democracy and faith at home and now there’s a hot crisis of democracy and of faith abroad. I think we’re going to be looking at this pretty closely.”

Meacham is within his rights to be happy to see more Supreme Court even if diversity for its own sake is what matters for the Court, but that is not in the same universe as Ukrainians defending their homeland or victory in World War II.

Meacham Lumps Jackson Nomination in With Ukraine, WWII As Important For Democracy

Presidential historian, sometimes Biden speechwriter, and frequent MSNBC Jon Meacham joined The 11th Hour on Friday to recap what turned out to be a very eventful week. For Meacham, the week both the defense of Ukraine and the nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court are...

newsbusters.org

 

[LORD IMPERATOR]

Tbf, every catholic church around the world is a mouth piece.

At least they're not a mouthpiece for a failing government that makes less money than New York.

 

[Overly Serious]

At that point, anyone will prefer peace over the nukes flying. This delusional war will go down in history books as Putin's defeat.

But what the hell did Putin expect? Russia's economy is smaller than TEXAS. Its total GDP is 1.483 trillion USD, which lags behind Texas' GDP of 1.772 trillion USD. He thinks that can fund a war machine that can conquer a NATO-armed country? Was he mad? Smacking around the Chechens is one thing, but Ukraine is another, and he's learning that painfully now.

I'm trying to figure out Putin's behaviour. He has never appeared a fool to me, quite the contrary. But current course seems reckless at best, a catastrophic error quite probably. I think his attempt to capture Kiev is an attempt to put himself in a strong bargaining position before negotiations begin. Then he can fall back to the breakaway regions and take them under Russia's wing for evermore. When haggling, you always ask for more than you're willing to settle for or you don't even get that. This is what I think he wants to achieve. And if so then he likely thinks Russian forces can capture Kiev before negotiations begin. But, I could be wrong - maybe he wants the whole country. I don't know what Ukraine's forces and distribution are like - it may be that if he can capture Kiev and if the bulk of the Ukranian forces are isolated and cut off in the South like someone suggested last night, perhaps he thinks he can roll up the rest of the country once Kiev is occupied. But, the former goal seems more rational to me.

All of the above what I think Putin's game plan is, not necessarily what I think will work or how it will play out.

The deeper point is why go so far in the first place. I think Putin feels Russian sovreignty is genuinely under threat. We all speculate on these forums about "globohomo" and the globalist agenda is undeniable. It's also undeniable that there has been very aggressive economic and military pressure on Russia for a long time now. Whether that being US going all out on stopping Nordstream 2 or when they backed and formented the 2014 revolution that ousted the elected Ukranian govt. Or if it be encouraging Ukraine to be a "client state of the globalist agenda" as someone called it and raise NATO membership as a possibility. All of these things are real. The USA went pretty beserk when the Soviets started moving military forces into Cuba. And though it's surely largely a post-fact justification, Ukraine does have actual Nazis there (and not the "I believe there are two genders" kind) and around 14,000 people have died in the region's conflict in the last eight years or so.

My TL;DR of all this is that when you see someone acting irrationally or taking massive gambles, it's usually because they're desperate. It's in the endgame when you start trying desperate Hail Mary's. I'm not saying that the current course of action is right but I'm saying that the forces that have been encroaching on Russia are obviously real and that Putin's behaviour can perhaps be explained as a desperate gambit by a losing country player. What's the alternative? Slowly watch Russia collapse inward under Western backed NGOs, sanctions, fomented colour revolutions and missile bases on all sides? He's a Judo practitioner. He recognizes that the moment of defeat is when your opponent gets the lock on you, not when you actually pass out.

 

[Neodymium-60]

I have only one wish to make. I wish for a nuclear winter.

 

[Bum Driller]

I agree with everything except this notion that Ukrainians are doing well. What is the evidence?

That Russia didn't run over them roughshod in two days. I mean, Russia has total superiority in manpower, equipment, airforce, tanks, you name it. While Ukraine is big in landmass, for example the distance from the Belarussian border(one of the initial points of assault) to the Kyiv is relatively small, and Russian troops are seemingly bogged down in the suburbs of Kyiv right now. It seems that after the smoke from the initial assault settled, Ukrainians seem to be holding their positions quite well. Russia has thus far failed to take any of the big cities, and earlier today Ukraine commented that they had driven the invading forces out from Kharkiv for now.

Compare this to for example the later Iraq war, where USA basically ran over any opposition in a matter of days with it's superior technology and doctrines, something that Russians should be on paper almost on par with.

I'm trying to figure out Putin's behaviour. He has never appeared a fool to me, quite the contrary. But current course seems reckless at best, a catastrophic error quite probably. I think his attempt to capture Kiev is an attempt to put himself in a strong bargaining position before negotiations begin. Then he can fall back to the breakaway regions and take them under Russia's wing for evermore.

My TL;DR of all this is that when you see someone acting irrationally or taking massive gambles, it's usually because they're desperate. It's in the endgame when you start trying desperate Hail Mary's. I'm not saying that the current course of action is right but I'm saying that the forces that have been encroaching on Russia are obviously real and that Putin's behaviour can perhaps be explained as a desperate gambit by a losing country player. What's the alternative? Slowly watch Russia collapse inward under Western backed NGOs, sanctions, fomented colour revolutions and missile bases on all sides? He's a Judo practitioner. He recognizes that the moment of defeat is when your opponent gets the lock on you, not when you actually pass out.

If your assumption about Russian objectives would be true, why didn't they just march the whole assault force to the Donbass right away? I mean, since that area already was basically under their puppets control more or less, they could've just put more boots on the ground there and Ukraine could've done absolutely nothing against it. Instead, they attacked all across Ukraine simultaneously, which to me feels more like that they expected the defences to fall under a very fast blitzkrieg. Reasons for this can be speculated, but my money is either on a) Russia having erroneous intelligence on Ukrainian defence capabilities due to internal corruption, or b) Russian military command having elements that are secretly sympathetic to Ukrainian cause and who sabotage Russian effort from within.

 

[LettuceMan]

What floors me here is that Putin essentially undid two decades of division among western allies in the span of a week.

Don’t you DARE think of joining NATO.

If there ever was a NATO membership sales pitch, this was it. Ukraine, Finland and Sweden are probably getting ready to start talks to join in the near future. That or the EU.

Ol’ Vlad went from illusive villian to geo-political lolcow

 

[Reverend]

That Russia didn't run over them roughshod in two days. I mean, Russia has total superiority in manpower, equipment, airforce, tanks, you name it. While Ukraine is big in landmass, for example the distance from the Belarussian border(one of the initial points of assault) to the Kyiv is relatively small, and Russian troops are seemingly bogged down in the suburbs of Kyiv right now. It seems that after the smoke from the initial assault settled, Ukrainians seem to be holding their positions quite well. Russia has thus far failed to take any of the big cities, and earlier today Ukraine commented that they had driven the invading forces out from Kharkiv for now.

Compare this to for example the later Iraq war, where USA basically ran over any opposition in a matter of days with it's superior technology and doctrines, something that Russians should be on paper almost on par with.

Operations Desert Storm was run in the Iraqi desert which is relatively flat, desolate, and relatively free of obstacles. Contrast this with the wooded areas of Ukraine where there are more trees than people by a 1000:1 ratio and shitty roads to travel on because LOLI-Infrastructure.

 

[Useful_Mistake]

Unconfirmed. The Russian site works only in Germany and only barely.

Ukraine says it will not surrender to Russia​

The country will not “give up a single inch” of its territory, the foreign minister has said

Ukraine will not “capitulate” to Russia, Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said on Sunday ahead of negotiations between Moscow and Kiev.

The two delegations are due to meet at an undisclosed location in Belarus, close to the borders of both countries.

“There is nothing bad in talks as such and, if the outcome of these talks will be peace and the end of war, that should be welcomed. But I want to make it very clear: we will not surrender, we will not capitulate, we will not give up a single inch of our territory,” Kuleba said during a press conference in Kiev.

He said that Ukraine agreed to send a delegation to the border “to listen to what Russia wants to say” and to say what Ukraine thinks of “this war and Russia’s actions.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin explained the military offensive against Ukraine by the urgent need to “demilitarize” the country, to protect the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, and to ensure that Russia would not be placed under threat by NATO from Ukrainian territory. Ukraine and the West consider the attack completely “unjustified” and “unlawful.”

https://www.rt.com/russia/550772-ukraine-russia-meeting-capitulation/

 

[NJBear]

Yes NATO and leftist assholes, keep poking the Bear in the ass instead of trying to make peace.

See what happens.

 

[bebopsingh]

https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1497961434914988044

BREAKING: Jen Psaki just said that we need to reduce our reliance on foreign oil, but doesn’t want to increase American gas and oil production

View attachment 3024177

Way to contradict yourself you dumb bitch

 

[biozeminadae1]

That Russia didn't run over them roughshod in two days. I mean, Russia has total superiority in manpower, equipment, airforce, tanks, you name it. While Ukraine is big in landmass, for example the distance from the Belarussian border(one of the initial points of assault) to the Kyiv is relatively small, and Russian troops are seemingly bogged down in the suburbs of Kyiv right now. It seems that after the smoke from the initial assault settled, Ukrainians seem to be holding their positions quite well. Russia has thus far failed to take any of the big cities, and earlier today Ukraine commented that they had driven the invading forces out from Kharkiv for now.

Compare this to for example the later Iraq war, where USA basically ran over any opposition in a matter of days with it's superior technology and doctrines, something that Russians should be on paper almost on par with.

It's been just 4 days, and Ukraine is not Iraq, which took the US and allies 3 weeks to blitz over. Sure, Iraq is far away, but like Ukraine - it's mostly flatland and the Arabs poor soldiers. The Ukrainians have beaten off several assaults in engagements we have no details of.

If your assumption about Russian objectives would be true, why didn't they just march the whole assault force to the Donbass right away? I mean, since that area already was basically under their puppets control more or less, they could've just put more boots on the ground there and Ukraine could've done absolutely nothing against it. Instead, they attacked all across Ukraine simultaneously, which to me feels more like that they expected the defences to fall under a very fast blitzkrieg. Reasons for this can be speculated, but my money is either on a) Russia having erroneous intelligence on Ukrainian defence capabilities due to internal corruption, or b) Russian military command having elements that are secretly sympathetic to Ukrainian cause and who sabotage Russian effort from within.

Blitzkrieg is a doctrine that requires air and ground forces to be sort of in sync and the presence of heavy armor - lots of it. They're mostly using motorized regiments, not tank brigades or anything close to that as far as I know.

I doubt there's a single person in the intelligence division who cares about Ukraine more than about Russia... but it is very strange why the Russians are using so much restraint. I honestly believed they would have leveled at least one city as an example of fearmongering.

There's no reason to think the Russians aren't making acceptable progress.

 

[biscuitscilia]

https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1497961434914988044

BREAKING: Jen Psaki just said that we need to reduce our reliance on foreign oil, but doesn’t want to increase American gas and oil production

View attachment 3024177

God damn, Democrats are fucking stupid.

 

[Bum Driller]

It's been just 4 days, and Ukraine is not Iraq, which took the US and allies 3 weeks to blitz over. Sure, Iraq is far away, but like Ukraine - it's mostly flatland and the Arabs poor soldiers. The Ukrainians have beaten off several assaults in engagements we have no details of.

Blitzkrieg is a doctrine that requires air and ground forces to be sort of in sync and the presence of heavy armor - lots of it. They're mostly using motorized regiments, not tank brigades or anything close to that as far as I know.

I doubt there's a single person in the intelligence division who cares about Ukraine more than about Russia... but it is very strange why the Russians are using so much restraint. I honestly believed they would have leveled at least one city as an example of fearmongering.

There's no reason to think the Russians aren't making acceptable progress.

Look, when the war started, every major media, and politicians in Europe was of the opinion that Ukraine might, and most likely will fall in the first days of combat. That Russia would just curbstomp them right away, and everyone was already considering about what happens after that. Now, four days later, Ukraine hasn't fallen, it hasn't even lost a single city despite Russian attempts, Putin has gone from "this is a peachkeeping operation" to threatening with nukes. According to some estimates the whole assault force comprises of roughly 60% of the whole military capacity of Russian federation; essentially everything that isn't tied to defending some position has been sent there. Considering the percentage of troops there, we have no reason to assume that majority of Russian tank forces wouldn't be present also.

You can split hairs all you want about whether this officially counts as "blitzkrieg", but it sure looks, or at least looked like an attempt at such. It also looks like Russia is faring surprisingly badly against much smaller opponent. They haven't even established air superiority yet, despite Ukraine having only 29 ancient MiGs in it's airforce.

 

[Hollywood Hitler]

https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1497961434914988044

BREAKING: Jen Psaki just said that we need to reduce our reliance on foreign oil, but doesn’t want to increase American gas and oil production

View attachment 3024177

How could they be this retarded? Seriously.

 

[biozeminadae1]

Look, when the war started, every major media, and politicians in Europe was of the opinion that Ukraine might, and most likely will fall in the first days of combat. That Russia would just curbstomp them right away, and everyone was already considering about what happens after that. Now, four days later, Ukraine hasn't fallen, it hasn't even lost a single city despite Russian attempts, Putin has gone from "this is a peachkeeping operation" to threatening with nukes. According to some estimates the whole assault force comprises of roughly 60% of the whole military capacity of Russian federation; essentially everything that isn't tied to defending some position has been sent there. Considering the percentage of troops there, we have no reason to assume that majority of Russian tank forces wouldn't be present also.

You can split hairs all you want about whether this officially counts as "blitzkrieg", but it sure looks, or at least looked like an attempt at such. It also looks like Russia is faring surprisingly badly against much smaller opponent.

These are the first days of combat. What does it matter what politicians have said? Only geo-political and military analysts can make projections that can even considered somewhat accurate. I don't know anything about those estimates.

 

[LORD IMPERATOR]

Yes NATO and leftist assholes, keep poking the Bear in the ass instead of trying to make peace.

See what happens.

The west is the one asking for peace. Russia's the one that fooled men who thought they were making drills into invading another country:

And now they're getting their teeth smashed in.

It's hard to feel sorry for anyone aside from the people whose lives were ruined by this war, and those poor saps who were tricked into invading another country.

God damn, Democrats are fucking stupid.

There's always the nuclear option, although I doubt the Democrats are smart enough to grasp it.

Look, when the war started, every major media, and politicians in Europe was of the opinion that Ukraine might, and most likely will fall in the first days of combat. That Russia would just curbstomp them right away, and everyone was already considering about what happens after that. Now, four days later, Ukraine hasn't fallen, it hasn't even lost a single city despite Russian attempts, Putin has gone from "this is a peachkeeping operation" to threatening with nukes. According to some estimates the whole assault force comprises of roughly 60% of the whole military capacity of Russian federation; essentially everything that isn't tied to defending some position has been sent there. Considering the percentage of troops there, we have no reason to assume that majority of Russian tank forces wouldn't be present also.

You can split hairs all you want about whether this officially counts as "blitzkrieg", but it sure looks, or at least looked like an attempt at such. It also looks like Russia is faring surprisingly badly against much smaller opponent.

If you look only at the borders and Russia's propaganda about their military might, you might be surprised at the fact that Ukraine hasn't lost a single city yet. But after looking at their yearly GDP and their economic/social problems, this shouldn't be all that surprising. They're a pretend-superpower that makes less money than Texas or New York; meaning all that large landmass they're holding is more of an economic burden than a blessing, since they have to hold all that space with a military budget that's smaller than the yearly income of a crime-ridden blue state.

Wars burn through money like napalm, and Russia doesn't have as big a war chest as America does. And America was forced to retreat from Afghanistan. The same went for the Soviet Union, and the Soviet Union was far more powerful and economically viable than modern-day Russia. The Soviets could compete with America back when America was a genuine superpower. Modern-day Russia can't even make more money per year than New York or Texas.

These are the first days of combat. What does it matter what politicians have said? Only geo-political and military analysts can make projections that can even considered somewhat accurate. I don't know anything about those estimates.

The fact that the Russians went from "this is just peacekeeping" to "FUCK YOU, WE HAVE NUKES" in a matter of days shows that they're far from going optimally. Couple that with military riots and Russia's internal problems (an economy smaller than that of Texas being given a death blow through sanctions) and you can bet your ass the Russian bear just walked into a bear trap.

 

[AntiSchwuletteAktion]

To all the people saying, "what happened? Putin used to be so smart and calculating!"

He's always been this dumb, what you're feeling is just the illusion shattering.