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

 

[Rezza]

The Ukraine crisis is a major challenge for China

Hours before Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a military operation in eastern Ukraine, the US accused Moscow and Beijing of combining to create a "profoundly illiberal" world order.

The Ukraine-Russia crisis is posing a major challenge for China on many fronts.

The ever-closer diplomatic relationship between Russia and China could be seen at the Winter Games with Mr Putin coming to Beijing as one of only a handful of known world leaders to attend.

Significantly, Mr Putin waited until just after the Games were over to recognise the two breakaway regions of Ukraine and send in troops to back them.

In its public pronouncements, the Chinese government has urged all sides to de-escalate tensions in Ukraine.

But now that Russia has dispensed with all such restraint, where does that leave China's official position as clashes escalate?

The Chinese government thinks it cannot be seen to support war in Europe but also wants to strengthen military and strategic ties with Moscow.

Ukraine's number one trading partner is China and Beijing would ideally like to maintain good relations with Kyiv but this could be difficult to sustain when it is clearly so closely aligned with the government which is sending its troops into Ukrainian territory.

There is also the potential for trade blowback on China from Western Europe if it is judged to be backing Russia's aggression.

A shift in China's foreign policy?
Furthermore, a constant refrain from China's leaders is that it does not interfere in the internal affairs of others and that other countries should not interfere in its internal affairs.

But last week, in a surprising move, China abstained from a UN Security Council vote condemning the invasion of Ukraine.

Some analysts had expected Beijing to join Russia in voting against the motion, but the fact that it did not has been described as a "win for the west" - and is a sign of Beijing's non-interference.

China however, is still far from condemning the situation, with Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin refusing to refer to what is happening there as an "invasion".

There are also unconfirmed reports that Beijing had been aware of the situation and had deliberately turned a blind eye.

According to a New York Times report citing unidentified US officials, the US had over the past months repeatedly urged China to intervene and tell Russia not to invade Ukraine.

However, the report adds that officials later found out that Beijing had shared this information with Moscow, saying the US was trying to sow discord and that China would not try to impede Russian plans.

Drawing parallels on Taiwan
For the Communist Party, what will worry it most is where that may leave its own people and their world view.

For this reason, it is manipulating and controlling talk about the Ukraine situation in the press and social media.

It wasn't going to be long before Taiwan was dragged into the mix.

The self-governing island is seen by the Party as essentially a rogue province that must be unified with the mainland.

On Weibo, China's version of Twitter, Chinese nationalists have used Russia's invasion of Ukraine to call on their own nation to follow suit with comments like: "It's the best chance to take Taiwan back now!"

When the Chinese government rejected the imposition of sanctions on Russia in recent days it knew it could face similar treatment if it moves to seize Taiwan by force, in what would be a bloody, costly exercise.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a regular press briefing in Beijing that China has never thought that sanctions were the best way to solve problems.

But if Chinese citizens start joining the dots with Russia's justification for invading Ukraine and applying it to their own country, this could upend the Chinese government's entire explanation for its current borders.

Censorship and criticism on social media
Vladimir Putin says he's liberating Russian speakers inside Ukraine. What of the ethnic Mongolians, Koreans, Kyrgyz and the like who are now part of China? More potentially explosive for Beijing, what if Tibetans or Uyghurs renew calls for greater autonomy or even independence?

That this does not happen is more important to Xi Jinping's administration than anything.

Given that, you only have to look at the remarks on Chinese social media to see the direction the Party's media is driving the population in terms of the way it should view Mr Putin's moves in Eastern Europe.

On Monday, state linked Beijing Daily reposted a statement from the Russia Embassy in Beijing, which called on the world not to assist the "neo-Nazi" government in Kyiv.

On social media, comments on Ukraine and Russia are also tightly controlled.

Here is a flavour of the comments:

"Putin is awesome!"

"I support Russia, oppose US. That's all I wanna say."

"America always wants to create mess in the world!"

But there is clearly still amount of caution on China's part.

It has walked back on an initial proclamation in which the Chinese embassy in Kyiv initially advised Chinese citizens to fly Chinese flags on their cars, to help one another out while "showing China's strength".

A few days into the war, this changed to recommend that people do not "freely reveal your identity or display identifying signs".

Some are speculating that this change has been because of fears that Chinese people could be in danger as news reaches Ukraine of the Communist Party's media pumping up support for Mr Putin's actions.

However, there have been critics that still manage to make their voices heard.

Over the weekend, five prominent Chinese academics wrote an open letter denouncing Russia's actions.

"This is an invasion. As the Chinese saying goes: you cannot call a deer a horse," said historian Xu Guoqi, according to a Reuters report. Hours after the letter was posted it was taken down by internet censors.

It's difficult to get a true sense of how many people in China are calling for peace, when its unclear how many such posts have been censored - and how many posts criticising the US have been promoted.

One social media user writes: "I don't understand why so many people support Russia and Putin. Is invasion to be seen as justice? We should oppose any form of war!"

According to another: "Putin recognises the independence of Ukraine separatist regions, which is obviously interfering in the domestic affairs of another country."

And there you have it. That last post is expressing precisely the conclusion which Beijing does not want its people coming to.

It is the essence of the minefield the Chinese government is walking through.

Asked if what is occurring right now in Ukraine amounts to an invasion, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a press conference that the "historical context is complicated" and that the current situation is "caused by all kinds of factors".

There is a major upheaval unfolding in Europe. Xi Jinping has some big choices to make in terms of how his country will deal with it.

A day's old opinion piece, but still interesting to read. And yes, I know it's BBC, but the dude who wrote it was the first western journalist to learn and wrote about Covid, so I believe him

 

[KiwiFuzz]

Sometimes the world brings you into hard places saddly.

Oh no if it was the 30s and 40s before nukes. I'm sure America would invade Russia head on just like Japan after Peral Harbor. But suddenly things change drastically in war combat after nukes were introduced.

America never invaded Japan, that's what the nukes were for.

"A study done for Secretary of War Henry Stimson's staff by William Shockley estimated that invading Japan would cost 1.7–4 million American casualties, including 400,000–800,000 fatalities, and five to ten million Japanese fatalities. The key assumption was large-scale participation by civilians in the defense of Japan."

Operation Downfall - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Morbid fact: "During World War II, 1,506,000 Purple Heart medals were manufactured, many in anticipation of the estimated casualties resulting from the planned Allied invasion of Japan. By the end of the war, even accounting for medals lost, stolen or wasted, nearly 500,000 remained. To the present date, total combined American military casualties of the seventy years following the end of World War II—including the Korean and Vietnam Wars—have not exceeded that number."

I mean this time last week we were all clowning on the little old ladies training with wooden guns, but invading an ethnically homogenous nation where little old ladies are drilling to murder GIs with awls, it's ugly.

Even the Japs who weren't training to kill our boys were willing to commit suicide rather than be captured.

Battle of Saipan - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

It would have been a meat grinder.

 

[Oats12345]

America never invaded Japan, that's what the nukes were for.

"A study done for Secretary of War Henry Stimson's staff by William Shockley estimated that invading Japan would cost 1.7–4 million American casualties, including 400,000–800,000 fatalities, and five to ten million Japanese fatalities. The key assumption was large-scale participation by civilians in the defense of Japan."

Operation Downfall - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Morbid fact: "During World War II, 1,506,000 Purple Heart medals were manufactured, many in anticipation of the estimated casualties resulting from the planned Allied invasion of Japan. By the end of the war, even accounting for medals lost, stolen or wasted, nearly 500,000 remained. To the present date, total combined American military casualties of the seventy years following the end of World War II—including the Korean and Vietnam Wars—have not exceeded that number."

I mean this time last week we were all clowning on the little old ladies training with wooden guns, but invading an ethnically homogenous nation where little old ladies are drilling to murder GIs with awls, it's ugly.

Even the Japs who weren't training to kill our boys were willing to commit suicide rather than be captured.

Battle of Saipan - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

It would have been a meat grinder.

I shouldn't have said Japan my bad. I ment Japan occupy territory.

 

[KiwiFuzz]

I shouldn't have said Japan my bad. I ment Japan occupy territory.

No apology needed.

 

[KeyserBroze]

Russian Pantsir S1 on the barbie

Well that's time well spent boys, Show me you don't have HE without telling me



Me cracking brewskies since the Ruskies decided to replay their campaign

 

[northstar747]

So can we reboot the movie short circuit only the robots get dropped into Ukraine?

 

[LORD IMPERATOR]

Russian Pantsir S1 on the barbie

View attachment 3032830

Well that's time well spent boys, Show me you don't have HE without telling me



Me cracking brewskies since the Ruskies decided to replay their campaign

View attachment 3032833

What did they expect? If you move around that much armor and artillery across unfriendly territory where the enemy is armed to the teeth with anti-armor weapons, you'll get a painful lesson in humility.

A Pantsir S1 costs somewhere between $13.15 million to $14.67 million dollars. All it takes to destroy it is a well-placed Javelin missile that costs $175,203.

Pantsir missile system - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

FGM-148 Javelin - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Never underestimate mankind's penchant for hubris. Just because you can lug around armored vehicles that costs millions of dollars each, doesn't mean they can't be destroyed by anti-armor weapons that cost less than $200K.

 

[biscuitscilia]

You've fucked up somewhere along the road quite bad when even the Taliban start to think that this isn't okay. Then again they might actually, for once, have genuine sympathy towards Ukrainians, having themselves fought Soviet Union in the past.

Found an article for it. Hopefully it hasn't been posted before.

Afghanistan, Myanmar to vote against Russia at UN​

United Nations (United States) (AFP) – Afghanistan and Myanmar are vote for a United Nations General Assembly resolution denouncing Russia's invasion of Ukraine, according to diplomats.


Afghanistan -- ruled by the Taliban -- and Myanmar, which is run by a military junta, are represented at the UN by ambassadors appointed by the countries' previous democratically elected governments that were overthrown last year.
The Taliban and Myanmar's military rulers have named their own UN ambassadors but they have not been recognized by the world body.
The resolution is being led by European countries in coordination with Ukraine.
Afghanistan and Myanmar are co-sponsors, according to a preliminary list of speakers seen by AFP, showing the two countries intend to support the resolution rather than vote against or abstain.
General Assembly resolutions are non-binding, unlike those approved by the Security Council, but a strong vote in favor will highlight Russia's isolation on the world stage.
Almost 100 out of the 193 countries at the UN have co-sponsored the resolution, which was sparked by Russia using its veto to block a similar resolution at the Security Council last week.
Moscow will not be able to rely on the support of its ally Venezuela during the meeting, as the South American country's right to vote has been suspended for several years because of debts owed to the UN that today exceed $40 million.
The resolution, obtained by AFP, "condemns" Russia's "decision to increase the readiness of its nuclear forces."
It also calls for an immediate withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine and reaffirms Ukraine's sovereignty.
Two-thirds of members must vote in favor for the motion to pass.

---

Link to the article.

Taliban urges restraint in Ukraine, 6 months after it took over Afghanistan by force

The Taliban, which has a brutal history, expressed concern over the "real possibility of civilian casualties" in Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

www.businessinsider.com

I just looked it up and apparently it is true that the Taliban is asking for restraint from Russia.
Imagine being told by the same people that made playing music a crime punishable by death to calm the fuck down lmao

 

[IAmNotAlpharius]

But the moment that lone nuke goes off, the west launches theirs. And Russia as a nation will cease to exist.

Yes, but even losing DC or a major city like NY would be devastating.

---

Captured Russian Troops Call Home While Filmed by Ukrainian Officials, Raising Geneva Convention Questions​

Richard Sisk
Tue, March 1, 2022

Several demoralized Russian troops captured in Ukraine were allowed to call home over the weekend to tell their families they were safe and profess confusion about why they were sent to war.
"Mama and Papa, I didn't want to come here. They forced me to," a Russian soldier said in videos purporting to show the phone calls that were taken by Ukraine's Interior Ministry and posted on YouTube. Videos and stills of captured or surrendered Russian troops also were posted on the Ukrainian Security Service's Facebook page.
The posting of the videos showing captured Russian troops raised questions about whether Ukraine had violated Article 13 of the Geneva Conventions, calling for the protection of prisoners of war "against acts of violence or intimidation and against insults and public curiosity."
Read Next: Biden to Spotlight Vets Health in Address to Congress, Pushing Burn Pit, Mental Health Help
The captured Russian soldiers, and any Ukrainians captured by the Russians, were entitled to humane treatment and protections under the law of war and the Geneva Conventions, said Gary Solis, a Vietnam veteran, retired Marine judge advocate general and author of the book, "The Law of Armed Conflict."
"It's a violation" of Geneva to post the videos, but not what would be considered a "grave breach" to be taken up by a war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Solis said.
"Anybody who is captured is a prisoner of war" and must be shielded from abuse and provided medical treatment as a lawful combatant, he added. "Clearly, the Russians who were captured were wearing uniforms."
He compared what the Ukrainians had done more to a misdemeanor than a felony, and also noted that there was a positive humanitarian aspect of the videos in showing "proof of life" to the families of the captured troops.
The International Criminal Court in The Hague has made no mention of Ukrainian actions since Russia invaded last week, but on Monday, ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan said in a press release that he planned to begin an investigation "as rapidly as possible" into possible war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Russia tied to the bombing and shelling of civilian buildings.
In English subtitles added to one video by Ukrainian authorities, another Russian soldier tried to explain his plight to his mother: "Hello, hello, Mom? Hi, did you recognize me? I am in the territory of Ukraine. I've been taken captive but I'm alright."
In addition to the videos of soldiers calling home, the Interior Ministry showed off-camera interrogators questioning the troops who mostly appeared to be unharmed and speaking freely, but some had cuts and bruises on their faces.
One soldier appeared under sheets in what was either an aid station or hospital bed and said "I got here not knowing" what the mission was, according to the Ukrainian translation. "I didn't imagine what will happen here. There was no need to come here."
He said "our convoy got under fire" and now "my legs are broken." He had a wife and two children back in Russia, the soldier said, and "I pray to God to recover."
A common theme among the soldiers was that they were conscripts, with little concept of why they were sent into Ukraine and-or what their mission was once they crossed the border.
One Russian soldier said: "We came here under the pretext of doing military exercises. We were not planning to make war on Ukraine. I am alive and healthy as a captive, and my message is to stop the war in Ukraine. It is nonsense; people are dying."
Ukrainian officials gave no overall figure for how many Russian troops may have been captured, but Ukraine's Interior Ministry reported Tuesday that 5,710 Russian troops had been killed since the Feb. 24 invasion began.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov declined Sunday to give numbers on how many Russian troops had been killed or captured but said more Ukrainians than Russians had been killed, Russia's Tass news agency reported.
"There are dead and wounded among our comrades," Konashenkov said without giving any figures, but added that Ukraine's losses were "many times" more than Russia's -- again without giving specifics.
Although they may not be wearing uniforms, the civilians would be considered lawful combatants so long as they were wearing a sign or symbol of their allegiance, and simply carrying a weapon would qualify as such a sign, Solis said.
Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com https://www.yahoo.com/news/captured-russian-troops-call-home-192433490.html https://archive.md/FEGT4

Anyone have a compilation of POW videos?

 

[Seventh Star]

Russia smaller than Texas/NYC/Baltimore/Papua New Guinea because uhhh... I guess some funny numbers told me so. Nevermind that the Ruble is undervalued or that Russia is a large country with a large amount of valuable, natural resources.

I can agree that Russia isnt as mighty militarily as it seems, even if not considering theyre sending fresh recruits to the meat grinder. But to assume that their nukes dont work, that they are North Korea tiers of incompetent and technologically disadvantaged, and that their economy is pathetic and US-state tier while pumping up the US chest thumping is a very idiotic take. Its an extreme knee-jerk reaction to the war and not really justified in anything but blind nationalism.

 

[LORD IMPERATOR]

Russia smaller than Texas/NYC/Baltimore/Papua New Guinea because uhhh... I guess some funny numbers told me so. Nevermind that the Ruble is undervalued or that Russia is a large country with a large amount of valuable, natural resources.

That's the problem. Russia's got lots of natural resources that should, in theory, make it so that the country produces enough GDP to rival America and China. But the economy there is so stagnant, and the corruption there is so bad, that they never bothered to go full-throttle into tapping these resources to the extent America would; and that's why a country that has as much, if not more natural resources than America, doesn't even make as much money per year as New York State. That's why all the oil money they can have makes less yearly $$$ than the economy of a "failing" blue state.

I can agree that Russia isnt as mighty militarily as it seems, even if not considering theyre sending fresh recruits to the meat grinder. But to assume that their nukes dont work, that they are North Korea tiers of incompetent and technologically disadvantaged, and that their economy is pathetic and US-state tier while pumping up the US chest thumping is a very idiotic take. Its an extreme knee-jerk reaction to the war and not really justified in anything but blind nationalism.

That's not knee-jerking. That's the truth of it. They're sending unmotivated high-school boys who are barely trained, armed with spurced-up Cold War-era weaponry against a nation stocked to the brim with NATO weapons and zealous defenders. And considering that they make less money than New York or California, yes, it is not unreasonable to assume that Russia's nuclear capabilities are falling behind. Especially when they also have to raise and equip an army large enough to protect an area several times the size of the United States.

 

[Snekposter]

>Afghanistan and Myanmar to vote against Russia at UN
What the fuck?

You've fucked up somewhere along the road quite bad when even the Taliban start to think that this isn't okay. Then again they might actually, for once, have genuine sympathy towards Ukrainians, having themselves fought Soviet Union in the past.

What the US did to Afghanistan for 20 years is nothing compared to what Russia did to them in half that time. Soviet-era butterfly bombs were a not-insignificant casualty risk to US troopers since its not like the Russians marked their mass drop sites.

People please think on this with any sense. Unless you speak Ukrainian or Russian you will be useless in combat and linking up with Ukrainian forces is even dangerous because they are really worried about saboteurs right now. If you want to help contact your nearest Ukrainian embassy they’ll probably know better than whether you are useful there or better served getting their message out locally. You don’t have to play big damn hero.

English is a common second or third language in most of the world, and a substantial amount of Europeans are multi-lingual. Segregating units by nationality/language and then having dedicated liaison personnel who can speak either/or is a not-terrible way to make use of manpower, especially if they're deployed in rear area or secondary tasks that don't require full integration with the military proper. Not like the Hessians spoke English, after all, and I don't think many English at the time spoke German.

*Downloads Duolingo*

Don't do it man! You'll have a better quality of life as a Russian PoW than if you miss a Duolingo lesson.

It is so rare that anything good comes out of the UN, that truly exceptional moments like the Kenyan Ambassador's speech need to be heard and remembered. This is actually stunning in it's rationality. This dude isn't a politician he's an actual Statesman.

From my understanding of Kenya they're a shithole that's desperately trying to become a functioning country, unlike the rest of Africa which compete with each other over who can be the bigger shithole.

Based on intelligence and what we’ve seen so far; does Russia even have working nukes?

What i’m wondering is when is everyone (the west) going to drop the pretense and just say what the situation is: we’re at war with Russia.

Their economy has essentially been vaporized due to sanctions, we’re sending billions of dollars worth of military equipment to Ukrainians; who are going to use it to kill Russian soldiers. At this point does it even matter who’s pulling the trigger or flying the fighter jet?

Because nobody is actually pulling the trigger, so it technically isn't war. Besides, I can't think of anything else that would feed into Putin's obvious paranoia and deteriorated mental state than Europe declaring war on him. "Ah ha, you see! They really were out to get me all along!"

Nowhere near as bad as Samir Al-Hajeed.

Or cyborg warlord Samuel Hayden.

 

[Rezza]

Russian troops land in Kharkiv - reports
Russian troops have reportedly landed in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second most populous city, according to the Security Service of Ukraine.

Ukrainian authorities said at approximately 3am local time, Russian airborne troops landed and engaged in heavy fighting with Ukrainian forces.

“A Russian landing party landed in Kharkiv,” an alert from Ukraine’s State Special Communications agency read just before 3am.

The agency said the soldiers attacked the military medical clinical centre hospital, adding that a “battle broke out between the invaders and the Ukrainian defenders.”

The city, with a population of about 1.5 million, has been encircled for days and saw at least six people killed when the region’s administrative building on Freedom Square was hit with what was believed to be a missile.

The attack on Freedom Square — Ukraine’s largest plaza, and the nucleus of public life in the city — was seen by many Ukrainians as brazen evidence that the Russian invasion wasn’t just about hitting military targets but also about breaking their spirit.

The bombardment blew out windows and walls of buildings that ring the massive square, which was piled high with debris and dust.

“People are under the ruins. We have pulled out bodies,” said Yevhen Vasylenko, an emergency official.

Zelenskiy pronounced the attack on the square “frank, undisguised terror” and a war crime. “This is state terrorism of the Russian Federation,” he said.

By The Guardian liveblog

 

[Exterminatus]

But by the sametoken you cannot allow a nuclear armed mobster to extort theworld tosimply steal what he wishes.

Putin's aggression has become a self-fulfilling prophecy, he fears NATO for "national security" but his actions against Ukraine has given NATO a gift; for years now there have been arguments that NATO was irrelevant and a waste of money and military resources but now pro-NATO people can just point to Ukraine as a consequence of not being part of the alliance.

Even now this has caused rumblings in Sweden and Finland about joining NATO despite decades of neutrality on matters regarding Russia.

It'll be interesting in the coming days to see how things shake out whether they get a ceasefire/peace deal or Ukraine just gets stomped.

 

[LORD IMPERATOR]

By The Guardian liveblog

Hopefully this ends the fiction that Russia is just being nice and holding back. Even from day one of this war, they've been hitting civilian targets left and right.

This is just a fear op made to break people by killing civilians.

Putin's aggression has become a self-fulfilling prophecy, he fears NATO for "national security" but his actions against Ukraine has given NATO a gift; for years now there have been arguments that NATO was irrelevant and a waste of money and military resources but now pro-NATO people can just point to Ukraine as a consequence of not being part of the alliance.

Even now this has caused rumblings in Sweden and Finland about joining NATO despite decades of neutrality on matters regarding Russia.

It'll be interesting in the coming days to see how things shake out whether they get a ceasefire/peace deal or Ukraine just gets stomped.

Putin can't see that. All he sees is NATO being a "threat" to Russia.

The man has no clue. If he thought NATO was a threat to Russia before, he hasn't seen anything yet.

 

[HumanHive]

Putin's aggression has become a self-fulfilling prophecy, he fears NATO for "national security" but his actions against Ukraine has given NATO a gift; for years now there have been arguments that NATO was irrelevant and a waste of money and military resources but now pro-NATO people can just point to Ukraine as a consequence of not being part of the alliance.

Even now this has caused rumblings in Sweden and Finland about joining NATO despite decades of neutrality on matters regarding Russia.

It'll be interesting in the coming days to see how things shake out whether they get a ceasefire/peace deal or Ukraine just gets stomped.

Putin could have waited for NATO to collapse as EU federalization pushed for a European Army that would de facto be a rival to the US. But nope, gotta have a nigger moment.

 

[RodgerDodger]

Taliban urges restraint in Ukraine, 6 months after it took over Afghanistan by force

The Taliban, which has a brutal history, expressed concern over the "real possibility of civilian casualties" in Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

www.businessinsider.com

I just looked it up and apparently it is true that the Taliban is asking for restraint from Russia.
Imagine being told by the same people that made playing music a crime punishable by death to calm the fuck down lmao

The Taliban HATES the Russian's. Almost as much as they hate the Bush family. Remember the Mujahideen? The Taliban sprang from them. They're not Putin fans.

 

[biscuitscilia]

Hopefully this ends the fiction that Russia is just being nice and holding back. Even from day one of this war, they've been hitting civilian targets left and right.

This is just a fear op made to break people by killing civilians.

It won't sadly. Delusional retards will keep pretending that Russia is avoiding collateral damage (unlike those filthy, bloodthirsty American dogs) despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

 

[Blewberry Nausea]

I mean Russians are avoiding casualties because they literally sent the recon force in who were a bunch of dudes not looking to make some atrocities happen. Maybe some incident happened maybe not we don’t who did what right now but the more regular guys are coming and they probably know the score is to end this shit so the days of just politely waiting at a traffic stop so Lozh can make it to work are over.

 

[Rezza]

I'm much more willing to believe that they at first were trying to avoid civilian casualties, evident from the battleplan entirely relying on hoping the Ukrainian military would just gave up. The hint was the words Putin used for the declaration of war, and the deleted propaganda article, they're actually thinking of a quick decisive war that lasts only hours

But then as their advances are stopped, even nowhere near achieving day-one objectives (as many have reported), they're resorting back to the Grozny/Syria playbook since they knew the only way to break the Ukrainians' morale is by scorched earth tactics