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

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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.”

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Could be they ate their rations while waiting for "Commence the special operation" order, let's not forget they all sat on the borders like a bunch of homeless vodka addicts for a while, waiting for the olympics to end because Putin didn't want to piss Xi off which probably itself wasn't exactly to plan.

Oh another factor I forgot: their rations are apparently old and many expired. Mm mm nothing like opening up your tins of meat paste and black bread crackers to find it rancid, and then note the date on the box indicates your food was packaged in 1978.

Y'know the running joke on MASH:4077 was that they were feeding them expired food from the 1st and 2nd world war. Well here the Russians are actually proving the joke true.

Except without decent medical care because their combat medical supplies are all out of date/expired too.
 
Japan's economy was in tatters when it attacked Pearl Harbor in desperation (due to our oil embargo which if memory served tanked their economy 75%, this was in response to their war in China).

I don't quite understand how this works, but it does. There's always money for total war it seems.

(a big brain explanation would be greatly appreciated)
I know some other people have kinda answered this but there's always a good opportunity to post this as it's a really good article explaining some of the Japanese thinking regarding Pearl Harbor and the Japanese attitude during WW2. I assume the Russians have some similar mantras as those of the Japanese slightly before WW2.
 
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Could be they ate their rations while waiting for "Commence the special operation" order, let's not forget they all sat on the borders like a bunch of homeless vodka addicts for a while, waiting for the olympics to end because Putin didn't want to piss Xi off which probably itself wasn't exactly to plan.
They probably had field kitchens. MRE's are for when you don't have that option.
 
One of the things that's astonishing me is that the Russians don't appear to have more than a couple days worth of supplies with them. Like they were just expected to "forage" along the way, i.e. kick in the door of any supermarkets they come across and feed themselves from that.

Killing backyard chickens is not the most horrifying example of military "foraging" out there, but it speaks to a lack of planning that killing and cleaning five hens seemed like the best available option for whoever did that. And eating dogs has the stench of loserdom on it.

Russia as a whole seems to be whiffing at the kind of general military knowledge that even laypeople such as I know, and one of those is that an army marches on its stomach.
All the more proof that this was supposed to be a quick decapitation strike like Czechoslovakia was in 1968 and supplying an occupying army wasn't supposed to be a big deal because they'd be welcomed as liberators. As it turns out Russia is garbage at logistics in an active warzone and I'm now 100% convinced without lend-lease providing them their entire logistics chain in WW2 the Soviets would have never made it to the Vistula let alone Berlin.
 
They probably had field kitchens. MRE's are for when you don't have that option.
I can easily imagine them digging into the field rations because the field cook was shit or portions too small, I can also easily imagine they sold a shitton of rations to whatever locals that were in the area for some vodka and cigarettes.
 
I can easily imagine them digging into the field rations because the field cook was shit or portions too small, I can also easily imagine they sold a shitton of rations to whatever locals that were in the area for some vodka and cigarettes.
At the end of the day, it's clear they weren't prepared for a drawn out conflict. We had videos of russian troops hunting local chickens on like week two.
 
I can easily imagine them digging into the field rations because the field cook was shit or portions too small, I can also easily imagine they sold a shitton of rations to whatever locals that were in the area for some vodka and cigarettes.

I honestly don't know who would buy those rations, especially that they have expired 5 years ago. It's like Indian buying an Irish meal, Russian foods sucks as is.

They were also hunting for diesel, which is the most common way for military to actually trade, something they were noted doing in Belarus a lot ... in Ukraine, they outright walked into stores and took whatever they wanted (before the stores started to close down) I don't see any evidence that they traded anything, more like looting and taking phones from locals together with anything else of value. You'd typically give troops local currency if you want them to buy anything locally, most of them had Russian pocket change at most.

The prep is actually better judged by total lack of solid winter gear (you see a lot of troops with civilian sweaters and jackets to keep warm) and also reports of many troops with frostbite. Also it looks like even "elite" Russian troops had to steal Ukrainian .mil boots. It's not the only pic (I posted few more before), but Russian RIA News shows uber-soldier wearing Ukrainian issue boots ... these snow niggers suppose to be from cold Siberia for fucks sake!

1649257925349.png


i.e. there were no provision to stay overnight in a field (as seen by makeshift shelters from cardboards in the field) They did have field gear (tents, stoves) but we don't see that brought into Ukraine so Ivans were counting to sleep under a solid roof the first day of fighting.
 
i.e. there were no provision to stay overnight in a field (as seen by makeshift shelters from cardboards in the field) They did have field gear (tents, stoves) but we don't see that brought into Ukraine so Ivans were counting to sleep under a solid roof the first day of fighting.
Regarding the boots, prior to the war though wasn't a lot of Russian gear made in Ukraine? I'm not suggesting they aren't looting, I'm just wondering about that one part.

Also, I know soldiers tend to improvise, and PCs* can be like rolling multi-person bachelor pads but the photos of captured BMPs and whatnot in the interior it looks like some straight up Twilight 2000 level shit, like...I don't even know. Lots of flammable shit (cardboard, styrofoam, paper, plastic shopping bags) stuffed in corners. Maybe the average Russian combat team's sense of organization and personal hygiene is...different than in the west.

*=personnel carriers, jeeps, trucks, APCs, IFVs, even tank interiors.
 
Regarding the boots, prior to the war though wasn't a lot of Russian gear made in Ukraine? I'm not suggesting they aren't looting, I'm just wondering about that one part.

in 2014 there was a video of Ukrainian volunteer taking boots off a Russian dude they just cut down not 15min ago, winter gear was hard to come buy.

These days, typically army issues regulation gear (Ukraine literally has VCU marked underwear and socks) ... Russia, some soldiers are still using boots with foot wraps instead of socks.


Anyhow, the brave Kadyrov clowns looted a museum or a store and now LARPing hard. I am awaiting them on TikTok in full anime cosplay.

 
I honestly don't know who would buy those rations, especially that they have expired 5 years ago. It's like Indian buying an Irish meal, Russian foods sucks as is.

They were also hunting for diesel, which is the most common way for military to actually trade, something they were noted doing in Belarus a lot ... in Ukraine, they outright walked into stores and took whatever they wanted (before the stores started to close down) I don't see any evidence that they traded anything, more like looting and taking phones from locals together with anything else of value. You'd typically give troops local currency if you want them to buy anything locally, most of them had Russian pocket change at most.

The prep is actually better judged by total lack of solid winter gear (you see a lot of troops with civilian sweaters and jackets to keep warm) and also reports of many troops with frostbite. Also it looks like even "elite" Russian troops had to steal Ukrainian .mil boots. It's not the only pic (I posted few more before), but Russian RIA News shows uber-soldier wearing Ukrainian issue boots ... these snow niggers suppose to be from cold Siberia for fucks sake!

View attachment 3151030

i.e. there were no provision to stay overnight in a field (as seen by makeshift shelters from cardboards in the field) They did have field gear (tents, stoves) but we don't see that brought into Ukraine so Ivans were counting to sleep under a solid roof the first day of fighting.
It's no wonder, Russian army boots are absolutely awful. Considering there's no insulation, you're expected to wear extra pairs of socks when it gets cold.
We had to run in these every morning, a lot of guys would get horrible calluses that would eventually require medical intervention, putting them out of action.
More resourceful conscripts procured kirzachi (old issue sapogi) that were still in storage, because they're more comfortable to work in. From what I've seen, most russian soldiers had standard issue garbage.
wpid-berci.jpg18e68e1790.jpg
 
It's no wonder, Russian army boots are absolutely awful. Considering there's no insulation, you're expected to wear extra pairs of socks when it gets cold.
We had to run in these every morning, a lot of guys would get horrible calluses that would eventually require medical intervention, putting them out of action.
More resourceful conscripts procured kirzachi (old issue sapogi) that were still in storage, because they're more comfortable to work in. From what I've seen, most russian soldiers had standard issue garbage.
View attachment 3151123View attachment 3151127

he, he, yes, the ole "shit stompers" ... original boots (and for officers) were made from calf skin top, not all that bad, few centuries back they were even goatskin boots, more like high leather socks. The boots from WWII were basically rubberized top on rubber sole. Impossible to bend. You had to get at least two sizes up, no foot movement. After a few weeks you'd develop "spurs", callouses on back of your heel.


Russians in Greece blocked a train with aid to Ukraine, with commie red banners ... :story: why are you not in Voronezh but in NATO greece faggots!?

1649262736781.png
 
he, he, yes, the ole "shit stompers" ... original boots (and for officers) were made from calf skin top, not all that bad, few centuries back they were even goatskin boots, more like high leather socks. The boots from WWII were basically rubberized top on rubber sole. Impossible to bend. You had to get at least two sizes up, no foot movement. After a few weeks you'd develop "spurs", callouses on back of your heel.


Russians in Greece blocked a train with aid to Ukraine, with commie red banners ... :story: why are you not in Voronezh but in NATO greece faggots!?

View attachment 3151236
If they loved their country that much, they'd have gone home to fight for Mother Russia.
 
he, he, yes, the ole "shit stompers" ... original boots (and for officers) were made from calf skin top, not all that bad, few centuries back they were even goatskin boots, more like high leather socks. The boots from WWII were basically rubberized top on rubber sole. Impossible to bend. You had to get at least two sizes up, no foot movement. After a few weeks you'd develop "spurs", callouses on back of your heel.


Russians in Greece blocked a train with aid to Ukraine, with commie red banners ... :story: why are you not in Voronezh but in NATO greece faggots!?

View attachment 3151236
I still don't understand why people like that don't get deported. If they love Russia so much, they should live there.
 
he, he, yes, the ole "shit stompers" ... original boots (and for officers) were made from calf skin top, not all that bad, few centuries back they were even goatskin boots, more like high leather socks. The boots from WWII were basically rubberized top on rubber sole. Impossible to bend. You had to get at least two sizes up, no foot movement. After a few weeks you'd develop "spurs", callouses on back of your heel.


Russians in Greece blocked a train with aid to Ukraine, with commie red banners ... :story: why are you not in Voronezh but in NATO greece faggots!?

View attachment 3151236
Commies are like cockroaches, if you don't wipe them out entirely they will keep coming back. The king and the junta clearly didn't do a good enough job back in the day. Very sad!
 
he, he, yes, the ole "shit stompers" ... original boots (and for officers) were made from calf skin top, not all that bad, few centuries back they were even goatskin boots, more like high leather socks. The boots from WWII were basically rubberized top on rubber sole. Impossible to bend. You had to get at least two sizes up, no foot movement. After a few weeks you'd develop "spurs", callouses on back of your heel.


Russians in Greece blocked a train with aid to Ukraine, with commie red banners ... :story: why are you not in Voronezh but in NATO greece faggots!?

View attachment 3151236
And these people call me a draft dodger, lmao.
 
Japan's economy was in tatters when it attacked Pearl Harbor in desperation (due to our oil embargo which if memory served tanked their economy 75%, this was in response to their war in China).

I don't quite understand how this works, but it does. There's always money for total war it seems.

(a big brain explanation would be greatly appreciated)
I think when it comes to total war scenarios, especially in totalitarian nations, money becomes much less relevant compared to access to resources. Now, usually money is like a lubricant in an economy, if I want a PS5 I pay in money rather than finding some resource that Sony wants to have, as they know they can exchange that money for others things which they want.

If you control the money supply, then all you need to do is keep printing, and as long as those resources are within your own area of control then you will be able to get access to them and with them do what you want. Perhaps instead of doing this you just run the country on slave labour - which is what the USSR did for example. You tell people what they are going to accept and force them to work, or you pay them less and implement rationing. Point is, just because the economy falls to bits does not mean that war industry will necessarily grind to a halt. In fact, industry of advanced countries can be incredibly resilient, in WW2 Germany managed to sustain impressive war production whilst cut off from trade routes, and eventually under sustained aerial bombardment.

When Japan attacked Pearl Harbour, it was not just their declaring war against the United States - they invaded the Philippines, and set about conquering the colonies of other European powers. Some of these colonies produced oil and rubber, which Japan had short supply of - if any. Plus, the idea Japan had was that by knocking out the US Fleet they would not be able to challenge Japan in the short term in the Pacific, and this would allow them to consolidate on the Island chains to prevent further US incursions. Obviously, this was completely wrong, but hey.

Of course we are talking about a different era, where mass production of tanks and rifles can win you a war - these are things Russia could do. It had the population, the resources and the industry. Today, advanced - and far more effective weapons - require technology that Russia is reliant on from the West, and while China could probably sell them it too, they are not immediately able to provide such things. Russia relies on Western technology for their avionics, their advanced computers and their precision guided munitions - cut off from this they will not be able to field the kind of high end forces which they have - albeit with poorly trained and poorly motivated soldiers who seem unable to put them to best effect. If this war bogs down, and Ukraine is kept replete with Western weapon systems then they will win, however in the near future the danger is Russia manages to inflict a defeat on the Ukrainians. I highly doubt this is something we will see though now.
 
That's what makes it so fucking scary.

... and Trump was a halfwit as President compared to his former self 20+ years ago.

... and then we replace him with Biden, whose last good day was in 1986.

WHY
At least Biden had good days. I don't even wanna think about what will happen when they replace him with Kamala.
 
What the actual fuck is his endgame? Why is he trying to straddle his country to a dying horse?

I hope Hungarians are proud pissing away their free gibs from the EU
He probably knows something behind the scenes otherwise there's no reason for him to bend the knee like this when Russia has already shown that they will sell regardless of whether people pay them in rubles or not. Or perhaps Russia has kompromat on him like, I dunno, fucking kids or something.
 
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