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

 

[Pocket Dragoon]

Russian commander has a choice to follow the plan from higher up, even if means to burn through conscripts, or use own initiative and risk court martial if shit goes bad (who has time for that?) Chernobayevka meme was pure Russian army ethos. Keep repeating to put troops and helis on already well marked territory by enemy artillery and hope something different happens. They lost a lot of equipment but guess what? ... no Russian officer will be court martialed for not following his orders (and also because they are dead).

I've noticed an inordinate number of officers belonging to brigade & divisional staff are getting greased, like this guy. These are the types who would normally be nowhere near the front(s), but they're being sent to unfuck things at the local level & are dying in convoys instead.

And on top of that, the attrition rate for their NCOs must be absolutely horrific; nevermind all the company & battalion commanders burnt up in their BMDs and Tiggers. And at their current burn rate, they're going to be conscripting generals & promoting peasants for the next 20 years, just to replace the losses from this war.

In any case, I expect to see Russia go all-in on unmanned vehicles & drones next, and that'll need a lot of circuitboards....

Oh.

 

[Vince McMahon]

https://archive.ph/ghIuU

West to send ‘more lethal aid’ to Ukraine, UK defence secretary says​

Ben Wallace says donor conference of over 35 countries discussed the need to change the type of weaponry supplied


Britain’s defence secretary has said western nations have agreed to send armoured vehicles and long-range artillery to Ukraine, at a special donor conference attended by more than 35 countries, including the US.
Ben Wallace, who convened the event, said there would be “more lethal aid going into Ukraine” but that it would not include tanks or some of the other more deadly weapons that Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, had asked for in the past week.

He said Ukraine needed longer-range artillery to counter Russian attacks on its cities, including Mariupol in the south, which has been subjected to relentless shelling.
“The best counter to that is another long-range artillery, so they’ll be looking for and getting more long-range artillery, ammunition predominantly,” he said in an interview after the conference concluded.
Ukraine was also “looking for armoured vehicles of some types, not tanks necessarily, but certainly protective vehicles, and more anti-air,” Wallace said. “All of this will be forthcoming as a result of this conference.”
The commitments to provide artillery pieces, shells and armoured vehicles represent a step up from the weaponry previously supplied, which has been characterised by Nato members as defensive.
Nato countries led by the US, UK and Turkey had previously agreed to supply Javelin surface-to-air missiles, next-generation light anti-tank weapons (NLAWs), Stinger anti-aircraft missiles and TB2 drones, all of which have helped blunt the Russian invasion over the past five weeks.
Zelensky has repeatedly asked Western nations in the last fortnight for tanks, fighter jets and sophisticated anti-missile and anti-aircraft weaponry so his country’s forces can try to force Russia’s troops out of the country.
He pleaded for “military assistance without restrictions” at Nato’s summit last week, asking specifically for “1% of all your planes, 1% of your tanks” because Russia was using “its entire arsenal against us”.
Western leaders, however, have been nervous about supplying offensive weapons, most notably fighter jets, fearing that it would unnecessarily provoke a nuclear-armed Russia and could invite some form of retaliation from Moscow.
More than 35 countries participated in the donor conference, including European nations, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand, but their individual commitments were not immediately clear.
Some countries intend to supply Ukraine with their own stocks, while others have offered Kyiv money to buy its own arms. Those present discussed “whether we need to change the type of aid we give, which of course we will do now as the tactics on the ground change”, Wallace said.
Russia abandoned its attempt to capture Kyiv this week after an unexpectedly chaotic assault on the country. Instead, it has refocussed its efforts on capturing the southern port city of Mariupol and gaining ground against Ukraine’s main fighting force in the eastern Donbas region.
Ukraine’s most obvious military problem is its inability to counter the ceaseless Russian shelling that has caused so many civilian casualties in Mariupol. Ukraine estimates that 5,000 people have been killed in the city, but the figure cannot be verified because of the ongoing fighting.
The countries present also agreed to supply coastal defence systems, the UK Ministry of Defence said, which could help defend the southern city of Odesa and disrupt Russian warships in the Black Sea from launching cruise missiles.
Several western countries have been running down their own stocks to supply Ukraine, but David Williams, the permanent secretary of the MoD, said British arms manufacturers supplying NLAWs and other kits being used in the war had been asked to increase production to replenish what had been used.

 

[Pocket Dragoon]

https://archive.ph/ghIuU

West to send ‘more lethal aid’ to Ukraine, UK defence secretary says​

Ben Wallace says donor conference of over 35 countries discussed the need to change the type of weaponry supplied


Britain’s defence secretary has said western nations have agreed to send armoured vehicles and long-range artillery to Ukraine, at a special donor conference attended by more than 35 countries, including the US.
Ben Wallace, who convened the event, said there would be “more lethal aid going into Ukraine” but that it would not include tanks or some of the other more deadly weapons that Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, had asked for in the past week.

Oh hell yeah. Now we'll finally get to see some old Cold War beef settled; M1A2s vs. T-80s, Bradleys vs. BMP-3s; how well our armor performs vs. their ATGMs (and cope cages), etc.

All we need to do now is sell/lend them some A-10s, and the internet would collectively coom all over itself.

 

[Tovarisz]

We're not talking about a communist state though. Russia has been a shittiest possible form of a capitalist state for 30 years. And while yes, the elite is from the communist times the idea can be separate from the implementers.

Communism and socialism in themselves are noble ideas of eradicating inequality and making everyone separate but equal. It's just...I don't think humanity is quite there yet and definitely, Russians weren't there yet. Hell, they've skipped some evolutionary steps to an actual representative democracy/republic and they jumped from feudalism straight to manufacturing capitalism to communism. We know the result.

You can hate on implementations of the communist theory but you can admire the idea and there were plenty of people, who gave their best to the Soviet regime because they believed that it was furthering those noble ideas and in a sense, they were.

It's just that the leaders were rotten from the start. Then again, leaders are a reflection of the people, so who knows.

I don't know. Commiebashing is fun but there's a reason why impoverished peasants took up arms and went for it. It's not because they just wanted to simply take and not give back.

Russia is communist in spirit and mind, only it's youngest generation, we're talking their zoomers (and even then, only the ones born in major cities like St. Petersburg or Moscow) got to experience any of that capitalism which, really, is closer to "Communism with Chinese Russian Characteristics" than capitalism as it's understood in the west, sure, you can own a private business! Good luck competing with state oligarch (basically state) owned monopolies and make sure you don't annoy daddy Putin.

They kept the worst parts of communistic statism and adapted the worst parts of predatory monopolistic capitalism.

Also, road to hell is paved with good intentions, IMO we can talk about implementing communism and utopian equality when those star trek replicators that turn random matter into whatever you wish start being a thing along with managing to secure stable, near unlimited energy generation. Until then it's up to the people whether they want rationing be done by commie breadlines and coupons (while the elites gorge themselves on finest dishes) or by capitalist fiat currency, which is largely similar and will probably fail soon but I feel better being able to earn money and get more out of it than i would a fucking state issued coupon for a loaf of bread (in the form of flour, water not included) and shot of vodka because who would need more comrade?

Communism has always failed, and still fails to this day, to take into account one thing, human nature, believing it could reshape and mold it as it pleased to go along with it's idealistic bullshit and it never managed that, if anything, whatever was good in nations it infected, it corrupted that good beyond recognition and in a place where worship of the state is probably a dominant genetic trait at this point (as everyone who didn't have it got gulag eugenics'd out of the gene pool), it will take generations to unfuck that.

Those impoverished peasants that took up arms? Their descendants are now dying in Ukraine while stealing random fucking cheap Chinese made plastic toys for their own kids because they're still impoverished and worthless far as their state is concerned.

 

[The Unbecoming]

Oh hell yeah. Now we'll finally get to see some old Cold War beef settled; M1A2s vs. T-80s, Bradleys vs. BMP-3s; how well our armor performs vs. their ATGMs (and cope cages), etc.

All we need to do now is sell/lend them some A-10s, and the internet would collectively coom all over itself.

What is probably more likely is former Warsaw Pact countries will just be sending stocks of T-72s or BMPs they've been looking to get rid of anyway, but don't let me rain on your parade.

 

[Rezza]

Some heavy stuff

---

This video basically debunked the whole idea "Russia wasn't sending their best" said by many Vatniks and Putinbros

---

Historical comparison would be the Doolittle Raid. Doesn't matter if its a tiny, tiny little pinprick, its right at the heart of the Russian War Machine. Wasting an oil depot like that (After the Russians themselves blew up one in Ukraine) means more tanks and vehicles coughing and spluttering as they run dry.

Its just a logical, extreme, extension of how the Ukies have run the war so far, which is hammer Russian logistics wherever, and whenever they can.



The russian military has always been made of gopniks scraped off the streets. The difference is they also had fairly intelligent generals that at least knew how to weild the hammer of the human wave effectively.

The difference now is, Russia has about 20% of the people in the military it used to and it still trying to human wave everything. Where sheer numbers, used to hand them victory.

Learning nothing from Checnya where it should've prompted widespread reforms towards a professional, all volunteer force, never happened.

Meanwhile, Ukraine after 2014 and being unable to retake Crimea and being shown ineffective against Donbass etc have now basically copy and pasted what everyone in the Baltics and former East Euro states have done, which is large scale reform to a volunteer force with heavily reformed logistics as a force multiplier.

You know, I was saying that the helicopters attack on Belgorod was a false flag by the Russian, but talking with someone made me think it was an actual attack by the Ukrainian, and a splendid one at that. Just like you said, it's like a Dolittle Raid

First, let's see the angle of using it as a justification for mobilization and and more brutal attack on Ukrainian civilians. The former is impossible since mobilization is highly damaging and basically destroys the facade that the "special operation" is going well. There's already rumours that people in Belgorod are angry they're being lied to that their place homes are safe from the Ukrainian. As for the latter, they're already killing civilians, why would they need justification to step it up?

Then the implications of this attack, whethere or not it's a flase flag. That's basically saying Russian air defense is crap, and it's going to look bad to whoever wanted to buy (if there's still are) and maintain their Russian toys. It's just pure bad optics

And then there's also the fact that Ukraine didn't deny nor confirm the attack was their doing or not, even trying to downplaying it. That means they want to send a message to Kremlin that the attack was real, that they can pull attacks of similar nature very easily, and they will do so in the future

So yeah, I think the attack was real
Some more stuffs that made me think so

https://twitter.com/RALee85/status/1509956742922313738


https://twitter.com/nexta_tv/status/1510146644926472192

 

[East_Clintwood]

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/vladimir-putin-running-missiles-because-155921121.html?guccounter=1

Vladimir Putin risks running out of viable tanks, missiles and fighter jets because the components they use are made in Ukraine, The Telegraph understands.

The engines for all Russian helicopters, ships and cruise missiles and a substantial portion of fighter jet engines and ground-to-air missile and tank components are made in Ukrainian factories, which no longer supply Mr Putin’s forces.

Oh, oh no....

Also article mentions first operational use of the Starstreak MANPADs we sent them, shooting down a helicopter, naturally we have footage because war in the 21st century is now a spectator sport:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXnjQmoV2D8

 

[thx1138]

What is probably more likely is former Warsaw Pact countries will just be sending stocks of T-72s or BMPs they've been looking to get rid of anyway, but don't let me rain on your parade.

And in return they get Abrams and whatever comes after Bradley (the M2 is a fine vehicle but it's 40 years old, it's time to move on)

 

[The Unbecoming]

And in return they get Abrams and whatever comes after Bradley (the M2 is a fine vehicle but it's 40 years old, it's time to move on)

The Abrams isn't a spring chicken anymore either, the design is 42 years old as of this year.

 

[Rezza]

What is probably more likely is former Warsaw Pact countries will just be sending stocks of T-72s or BMPs they've been looking to get rid of anyway, but don't let me rain on your parade.

And you are absolutely right, they're sending old Soviet vehicles instead of western ones

U.S. Will Help Transfer Soviet-Made Tanks to Ukraine (archive)

The transfer, a response to a request from Ukraine’s president, will mark the first time the Biden administration has helped send tanks in the five-week-old war

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration will work with allies to transfer Soviet-made tanks to bolster Ukrainian defenses in the country’s eastern Donbas region, a U.S. official said on Friday.

The decision to act as an intermediary to help transfer the Soviet-made tanks, which Ukrainian troops know how to use, comes in response to a request from President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, the official said. It marks the first time in the war that the United States has helped transfer tanks.
The official said the transfers would begin soon, but declined to say how many tanks would be sent, or from which countries they would come. They will allow Ukraine to conduct long-range artillery strikes on Russian targets in Donbas, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.

The tanks’ arrival could be another signal of a new phase in the war, which is five weeks old and has been dominated by Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities and installations from the air, and a stalled Russian advance on the ground. Earlier this week, Russian officials indicated that they were refocusing their efforts on eastern Ukraine, where Russian-backed separatists have been fighting Ukrainian soldiers since 2014.

Mr. Zelensky called on Sunday for NATO allies to provide tanks and planes, in addition to the antitank and antiaircraft weaponry that have become a staple of the arms transfers to Ukraine from the West. Frustrated at what he views as a slow pace of weapons transfers, Mr. Zelensky asked specifically for tanks, in remarks a day after President Biden met with senior Ukrainian officials in Poland.

An angry Mr. Zelensky criticized the West for what he called its “Ping-Pong” about weapons transfers. “I’ve talked to the defenders of Mariupol today,” he said, in a reference to the besieged city that has been under an onslaught from Russia for four weeks. “If only those who have been thinking for 31 days on how to hand over dozens of jets and tanks had 1 percent of their courage.”

In the past, the Biden administration has taken pains to call the weapons it is providing to Ukraine defensive, and has focused on smaller, easily portable arms. But as the war has progressed, the definition of defensive has become more elastic.

Ukraine had already found one source of tanks, capturing at least 161 from Russia on the battlefield, according to the military analysis site Oryx, though Russia has also destroyed a number of Ukrainian tanks. For its part, Russia has captured 43 Ukrainian tanks, according to analysts who study photos and videos on social media.

The decision to help transfer the tanks comes as the Ukrainian military has continued to turn back Russia’s ground advance. Pentagon officials have been quick to point out that Russia’s pivot to Donbas and away from capturing Kyiv, the capital, might be a necessity for Moscow after Russian forces stalled out in the central part of the country.

On Wednesday, Biden administration officials, citing declassified U.S. intelligence, said that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia had been misinformed by his advisers about the Russian military’s problems in Ukraine. The intelligence, American officials said, also showed what appeared to be growing tension between Mr. Putin and his defense minister, Sergei K. Shoigu, who was once among the most trusted members of the Kremlin’s inner circle.

Russian officials have disputed the allegations, with the Kremlin on Thursday calling it a “complete misunderstanding” of the situation that could have “bad consequences.”

Edit:
This mean, provided if the tanks they received are of substantial amount and model, Ukraine can finally stage a real offensive since now they also have force multiplier like the Russian did

 

[Astro Galactic Megalul]

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/vladimir-putin-running-missiles-because-155921121.html?guccounter=1

Oh, oh no....

Also article mentions first operational use of the Starstreak MANPADs we sent them, shooting down a helicopter, naturally we have footage because war in the 21st century is now a spectator sport:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXnjQmoV2D8

I thought Starstreaks were meant for more high velocity targets, shouldn't they be saving these for jets? They should still have Stingers for helis

 

[The Unbecoming]

I thought Starstreaks were meant for more high velocity targets, shouldn't they be saving these for jets? They should still have Stingers for helis

If a target comes up and you have the means to kill it before it gets away, you're not going to waste time trying to get someone to bring you the 'better' or 'cheaper' option, you're going to use what's on hand immediately.

 

[Tovarisz]

Some heavy stuff

---

This video basically debunked the whole idea "Russia wasn't sending their best" said by many Vatniks and Putinbros

---

You know, I was saying that the helicopters attack on Belgorod was a false flag by the Russian, but talking with someone made me think it was an actual attack by the Ukrainian, and a splendid one at that. Just like you said, it's like a Dolittle Raid

First, let's see the angle of using it as a justification for mobilization and and more brutal attack on Ukrainian civilians. The former is impossible since mobilization is highly damaging and basically destroys the facade that the "special operation" is going well. There's already rumours that people in Belgorod are angry they're being lied to that their place homes are safe from the Ukrainian. As for the latter, they're already killing civilians, why would they need justification to step it up?

Then the implications of this attack, whethere or not it's a flase flag. That's basically saying Russian air defense is crap, and it's going to look bad to whoever wanted to buy (if there's still are) and maintain their Russian toys. It's just pure bad optics

And then there's also the fact that Ukraine didn't deny nor confirm the attack was their doing or not, even trying to downplaying it. That means they want to send a message to Kremlin that the attack was real, that they can pull attacks of similar nature very easily, and they will do so in the future

So yeah, I think the attack was real
Some more stuffs that made me think so
View attachment 3136571
https://twitter.com/RALee85/status/1509956742922313738

View attachment 3136574
https://twitter.com/nexta_tv/status/1510146644926472192

I'll say I was initially fully convinced this was a false flag, thinking It's legitimately impossible to just go in, over the front lines and Russian borders, do a boom and get out, I guess I really have a problem registering the sheer incompetence of Russia but this and various other stuff I read today really gets me thinking it might be a legitimate Ukrainian operation.

It's one thing to fuck up an invasion that everyone and their mother was convinced will be a week long operation at most so spectacularly, it's quite another to somehow allow a helicopter hit 'n run within your borders.

If Ukrainians had more air defenses and a solid way of dealing with Russian artillery it almost looks like they could mount a counter-offensive that would restore their borders to 2013 status, Russians are that shit optically.

Really the toughest thing about mounting a counter offensive would be needing to shell/bomb positions within Russia and Belarus and dealing with the optics and diplomacy of doing that, especially since we all know Russia would do exactly what it accuses Ukrainians of doing and it would make certain that civilians die if their military positions are attacked.

 

[Astro Galactic Megalul]

Hilarious, this is the most meme war of them all:

https://www.youtube.com/post/UgkxRZbdVEA6VlSNd5726Fh5Vb3M4uUpE9OI

Dude is both Ukrainian youtuber and TDF trooper, basically says that he's going to put donations of his viewers toward catching Russian soldiers so they could bomb them
He bought a drone

Community participation FTW. Throw them a few bucks if you want to contribute to eradication of russian filth.

 

[Oats12345]

Some heavy stuff

---

This video basically debunked the whole idea "Russia wasn't sending their best" said by many Vatniks and Putinbros

---

You know, I was saying that the helicopters attack on Belgorod was a false flag by the Russian, but talking with someone made me think it was an actual attack by the Ukrainian, and a splendid one at that. Just like you said, it's like a Dolittle Raid

First, let's see the angle of using it as a justification for mobilization and and more brutal attack on Ukrainian civilians. The former is impossible since mobilization is highly damaging and basically destroys the facade that the "special operation" is going well. There's already rumours that people in Belgorod are angry they're being lied to that their place homes are safe from the Ukrainian. As for the latter, they're already killing civilians, why would they need justification to step it up?

Then the implications of this attack, whethere or not it's a flase flag. That's basically saying Russian air defense is crap, and it's going to look bad to whoever wanted to buy (if there's still are) and maintain their Russian toys. It's just pure bad optics

And then there's also the fact that Ukraine didn't deny nor confirm the attack was their doing or not, even trying to downplaying it. That means they want to send a message to Kremlin that the attack was real, that they can pull attacks of similar nature very easily, and they will do so in the future

So yeah, I think the attack was real
Some more stuffs that made me think so
View attachment 3136571
https://twitter.com/RALee85/status/1509956742922313738

View attachment 3136574
https://twitter.com/nexta_tv/status/1510146644926472192

I was wondering if it was a false flag at first too. But than it got me thinking what would the Russians gain form it? It makes them look weak as fuck that a country that they don't even consider real is able to fucking pull a counter strike like that and also the Russians been trying to convince people that Ukraine doesn't have a airforce anymore. So now I think the ukranian government really did pull it off.

At first I wasn't sure about Zelensky. But now he is really starting to grow on me especially as he is showing more courage than i had orginally thought screw what the putin simps think. I really wish Trump was still President simply because I have a feeling him and Zelenskiy would have started to get along more if he had gotten his second term. Simply because both men were known as somewhat entertainers who later became President of their countries. Screw what SJWs say about that.

Just my opinion

 

[Tovarisz]

Anyone knows of a place that has translated transcripts (or subbed) of all of those captured "Russian soldat (not a POW) calls mom/wife" phonecalls?

I mean like this one - [Twitter - ServiceSsu]

In this one supposedly the soldat is talking about how putin is an idiot, millions(!?) have died and for what and the only way he goes back to Russia is on a KIA/WIA transport truck. Woman tries to console him telling him she saw a fortune teller that foresaw the war in 2020 on TV saying the war will end with victory on 13th of April.

I can believe it, what little I know of Russian kinda maybe sorta checks out but I understand maybe every 5th word, wish I had a place that translates those.

Edit: Idk what to think about those, I'm 65% convinced they may all be staged, they're interesting to listen to regardless.

 

[дядя Боря]

Anyone knows of a place that has translated transcripts (or subbed) of all of those captured "Russian soldat (not a POW) calls mom/wife" phonecalls?

I mean like this one - [Twitter - ServiceSsu]

In this one supposedly the soldat is talking about how putin is an idiot, millions(!?) have died and for what and the only way he goes back to Russia is on a KIA/WIA transport truck. Woman tries to console him telling him she saw a fortune teller that foresaw the war in 2020 on TV saying the war will end with victory on 13th of April.

I can believe it, what little I know of Russian kinda maybe sorta checks out but I understand maybe every 5th word, wish I had a place that translates those.

Edit: Idk what to think about those, I'm 65% convinced they may all be staged, they're interesting to listen to regardless.

I really doubt this is one is staged, as many others, too much effort for little gain. There are tens of thousands of soldiers, whoever can steal/loot a phone would try to call back. Keep in mind, some haven't really talked to their folks back home in over a month. SBU intercepts all cell traffic, there is nothing out of the ordinary.

I'm a native speaker, there are a lot of swearing and figures of speach which may be hard to translate automatically, simply because swearing can be extremely flexible and depends a lot on a region.

"millions have died" is a figure of speach, he doesn't mean that many soldiers, just that there a lot and he had seen trucks after trucks loaded with bodies.

 

[Ponderous Pillock]

I thought Starstreaks were meant for more high velocity targets, shouldn't they be saving these for jets? They should still have Stingers for helis

No, they're just high velocity missiles. Because fuck you. Ideally they're short-range missiles against helicopters and low flying jets. It was designed as a replacement for the British/Canadian Javelin which was a short-range anti-air missile system.

Most hilariously terrifying part is they're immune to IR countermeasures. So they can hurl chaff out as much as they like, you're still fucked.

 

[Astro Galactic Megalul]

Something people fail to consider when it comes to reasons for this war

 

[Rezza]

Big if true.

The bodies of at least 20 men in civilian clothes were found lying in a street on Saturday after Ukrainian forces retook the town of Bucha, near Kyiv, from Russian troops, according to the AFP news agency.

It reported that the hands of one of the bodies were tied, and that the corpses were strewn over several hundred metres of the residential road in the suburban town north-west of the capital.

The causes of death were not immediately clear, although at least one person had what appeared to be a large head wound.

(link) (archive)

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Sad news for all space aficionados.

Russia to halt cooperation over International Space Station (archive)

Director of space agency Roscosmos says partnership will be restored only when ‘illegal sanctions’ are removed

Russia says it will end cooperation with western countries over the International Space Station until sanctions are lifted.

Russia’s space director said on Saturday that the restoration of normal ties between partners at the ISS and other joint space projects would be possible only once western sanctions against Moscow were lifted.

Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Roscosmos, said in a social media post that the aim of the sanctions was to “kill Russian economy and plunge our people into despair and hunger, to get our country on its knees”. He added that they “won’t succeed in it, but the intentions are clear”.

“That’s why I believe that the restoration of normal relations between the partners at the International Space Station (ISS) and other projects is possible only with full and unconditional removal of illegal sanctions,” Rogozin said.

Rogozin said Roscosmos’ proposals on when to end cooperation over the ISS with space agencies of the US, Canada, the EU and Japan would soon be reported to Russian authorities. He has previously said that the sanctions could “destroy” the US-Russian partnership on the ISS.

The west has introduced sweeping sanctions against Russia over what Moscow calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine, launched on 24 February.

Despite the tensions, a US astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts safely landed in Kazakhstan on Wednesday after leaving the space station aboard a Russian Soyuz capsule.

The European Space Agency said last month it was suspending cooperation with Roscosmos over the ExoMars rover mission to search for signs of life on the surface of Mars.

The British satellite venture OneWeb said last month it had contracted with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to send its satellites into orbit after calling off a 4 March launch of 36 satellites from Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan because of last-minute demands imposed on it by Moscow.

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I guess Brain Drain is real. This is not a good thing for any self-respecting nation, especially one that still desires to be relevant on the global stage, especially for a Nuclear Power.

No hope for science in Russia’: the academics trying to flee to the west (archive)

Russian scientists are turning to partners abroad to help them escape, but face an uncertain future even if successful

Prof John Duggan*, a climate scientist at a Russell Group university, had a Zoom call a few weeks ago with two Russian research partners shortly after their country invaded Ukraine. Duggan, who has worked with the academics for a while, suddenly found them “unusually quiet and hesitant”. He sensed that “they were worried someone was looking over their shoulder”.

In Russia, expressing opposition to the invasion is risky. But in subsequent calls Duggan says his friends have become bolder. Now they have given up hope for their work at home. They feel there is “no future for science in Russia” and are seeking positions abroad so they can flee.

Given that criticising the war can now lead to 15 years in prison in Russia, Duggan describes all communications with the scientists he is trying to help as deliberately “ambiguous”. But he says: “They feel shame at what is being done in their name in Ukraine.”

UK academics say this is becoming a familiar story. Russian scientists are turning to partners abroad to help them escape, but academics in the UK say even the most talented may struggle to find positions at short notice in British universities.

Last Sunday, the science minister, George Freeman, announced that the UK would follow other European countries in cutting the bulk of its research ties with Russia and switching off funding for any research with links to the state and its “institutional collaborators”.

The Russian government last week prohibited its scientists from taking part in international conferences or publishing research in international journals. Russian scientists say there is some appetite to ignore this, but there are reports that they are being blocked from publishing abroad anyway because some western academics are refusing to review research papers with Russian names on.

Duggan’s university, which the Guardian is not naming in order to avoid risk to the Russian academics, is making sanctuary for Ukrainian scholars and students its top priority, along with supporting staff and students already affected by the war. The university is also exploring whether it could offer positions to any Russians. Duggan says: “The university is keen to be as supportive as possible. It will work within government guidelines, but recognises that many individual Russian academics and researchers have publicly criticised this invasion, often at great personal risk.”

Science is considered a global endeavour with researchers partnering up with colleagues all over the world. Now many in Russia feel their work, shut off from international collaborations, will wither.

Dr Alexander Nozik, a physicist at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, told the Guardian: “I believe and most of my colleagues believe that it just isn’t possible to do isolated science. In physics the science journal system in Russia is mostly dead.”

Nozik says “most younger academics, including me” are talking to contacts in Europe and formulating a “backup plan”. He adds: “A lot of world-class scientists I know here can’t work on their research because they are so depressed. They can’t understand how we can live with all this.”

Nozik says he intends to ignore the government statement banning publishing in international journals and many colleagues will follow suit. But he adds that researchers there are “complaining a lot that academics [in the west] are blocking [journal] papers by refusing to review them if they have a Russian collaborator”.

Prof Erica Brewer*, an environmental scientist at a northern research university in the UK, fears for the safety of research partners in Russia who are speaking out against the war. “I have received requests from two very talented Russian colleagues asking if I know of opportunities to work abroad,” she says. “A colleague and I have put out feelers for them but it is currently not possible to find a place for them in the UK or Europe.”

Dr James Ryan, a senior lecturer in modern Russian history at Cardiff University, says: “I’ve been in contact with academic friends in Russia. Some of them have already fled, and have no intention of returning any time soon. That’s the situation with many more.”

However, he says, while some Russian academics may be able to use their reputations and academic contacts to secure short term research funding at European universities, finding longer-term jobs in the fiercely competitive academic job market will be much harder.

His own work is affected. Before the invasion Ryan relied on using libraries and archives in Russia for his research, but now he has no idea when he will be able to go back there.

Thousands of academics in Russia have signed open letters condemning the war. Last Friday, Russia’s ministry of justice declared the popular Russian science newspaper Troitsky Variant “a foreign agent” following its publication of a letter by scientists and science journalists opposing the invasion that was signed by about 8,000 people. The paper’s website is now blocked in Russia.

The majority of Russian universities are run by the state and last month the Russian rectors’ union, representing nearly 700 university chancellors and presidents, horrified British universities by issuing a statement echoing Vladimir Putin’s propaganda on the “denazification” of Ukraine and supporting “our president who … made the most difficult, hard-won but necessary decision in his life”.

Ryan says that after this, “it would be ethically problematic to seek a formal invitation from a Russian institution [to do research there]”.

He firmly supports the British government’s decision to cut formal ties with Russian higher education institutions, but intends to maintain informal personal connections with colleagues in Russia. Last week, as an “act of solidarity”, he attended an online conference with mostly Russian historians who he says “were certainly not supportive of the Russian war”.

He adds: “I would be horrified if academics are refusing to review papers written or co-written by Russians. This is racism.”

Terry Callaghan, a professor of Arctic ecology at Sheffield University, says: “We have very strong collaborations with Russian scientists and the invasion is a huge blow to our work.”

Callaghan has helped establish 89 environmental research stations in the Arctic, 21 of which are in Russia, but says “lots of our research is now frozen because of the invasion”. “I’m absolutely sure many scientists will leave Russia. Putin has divided the nation, but scientists tend to speak English and they also read the internet so they understand what is really happening in Ukraine.”

Callaghan paused his professorship at the National Research Tomsk State University in Siberia after the Russian rectors’ statement. He says he has halted all formal commitments with Russia but will not abandon personal connections with scientists that he has been fostering for 30 years.

However, he says this is more difficult to do in other places where he conducts research. “In Finland we are not allowed even to email a Russian, and where I am now [in Arctic Norway] we can’t have a Russian on a Zoom call.”

Individual academics in Russia are still welcome to attend the British Association for Slavonic and East European Studies’ annual conference in Cambridge next weekend, albeit not representing their institutions.

Dr Ben Phillips, a historian of modern Russian at Exeter University and a member of the society’s executive committee, says: “We discussed whether we should exclude Russian participants but decided against it.”

He says that instead the conference, which will feature a keynote address from a Ukrainian academic, will have a “strict code of conduct” and panel chairs will ask anyone who expresses support for the invasion of Ukraine to leave. But he adds: “Anyone harassing Russian academics on account of their nationality will be treated the same way.”

* Some names have been changed to avoid identifying academics who are trying to leave Russia.