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

 

[Corette]

It's a skill they picked up from the Drumpf Years - Recklessly spread rumors about "A", then report "objectively" on that rumor going around about "A" , which feeds the rumor mill since "all the papers are talking about it, so it must have some truth"

Before long, there's an entire narrative about "A" that's completely divorced from reality that sustains itself merely from the circular game of telephone being played by editors and reporters constantly passing it to their friends until it gets back to them, is thus labeled "confirmed" or "credible" and does another lap.

Be what it may. Apparently Putin is still one manlet sized point of failure in Russian Federation.

 

[Thomas Talus]

All this "End of Russia" talk is premature and unfounded - much like China, they have the raw numbers to tank the losses from bad sociopolitical and military decisions for long enough that things just peter out instead of causing the country to collapse. Both could (and have) embroiled themselves in disastrous vainglory wars before on their borders that they "escaped" any penalty for by simply sending men into the grinder until the world got tired of complaining about it since being nuclear-equipped meant nobody could force them to stop.

The thing is that they may be running out of militarily meaningful men. Their population demographics are in the process of falling off a cliff. Are they going to slap Mosins into the hands of a 70 year old man? Or a 45 year old woman?

 

[teriyakiburns]

like, we've been getting variations of this story for months now. "puting has cancer" "putin has parkinsons" "putin has early stage alzheimers" etc. all worthless nonsense as far as i'm concerned.

The only thing Putin had in the last six months was a massive rush of shit to the brains.

All intended to drive home that Putin doesn't have publicly proven heir apparent.

The problem with a designated heir, in a strong-man dictatorship at least, is that he might get bored of waiting.

 

[Corette]

The problem with a designated heir, in a strong-man dictatorship at least, is that he might get bored of waiting.

When I saw years ago pictures where Putin was riding a tiger, I thought those were apt metaphor on him being in a position where he couldn't never rest or get off back of that kitty without getting mauled.

 

[RodgerDodger]

Didn't see sunken Raptors or patrol boats; but one of them is a sunken landing-craft, which was videoed being blasted by a drone, during the most recent Ukrainian attacks on the island.

Found the video, so I reposted it in the other thread.

Directly up from the dock is a raptor patrol boat. It helps it you go find the drone footage of the landing boat being missile struck. There was also a raptor hit right around that object in the water.

 

[The Demon Pimp of Razgriz]

All this "End of Russia" talk is premature and unfounded - much like China, they have the raw numbers to tank the losses from bad sociopolitical and military decisions for long enough that things just peter out instead of causing the country to collapse.

I'm sure everybody thought the same about the Russian Empire...and the British Empire...and the Roman Empire...and...

 

[Pocket Dragoon]

Directly up from the dock is a raptor patrol boat. It helps it you go find the drone footage of the landing boat being missile struck. There was also a raptor hit right around that object in the water.

Still not seeing it, except for maybe something smaller than a Raptor. I thought those got smoked some distance from the island, in a seperate engagement (but same operation).

According to the Space article, the two landing-craft visible are Serna-class, one of which is the sunken vessel. I figure the crane-barge was used to drag the wreck off the launch ramp.

I want to know the story about all the wrecked & sunken AFVs; like when & how, and who they belonged to. Because if they're Russian, I'm sure it hasn't instilled much confidence in their Marines conducting landings elsewhere on Ukraine's coast.

And then there's this:

On Thursday (May 12), for example, Maxar Technologies' GeoEye-1 spacecraft snapped a series of photos of Snake Island, one of which appears to capture a Ukrainian attack on a Russian Serna-class landing craft.

Which is in reference to this image:

There appears to be a liferaft in the water as well, upper left. And the smoke at center isn't from a missile, it looks more like smoking wreckage.

 

[TowinKarz]

I'm sure everybody thought the same about the Russian Empire...and the British Empire...and the Roman Empire...and...

Empire is one thing, the home nation is another. Empires are unsustainable money sinks now that the Colonial model no longer works, but, as bad as modern Russia is at running things, I don't see them shrinking inside their own borders any time soon.

Especially because the "Modern" history of the Federation (Yeltsin-Putin) has had them do stuff like this at least a half-dozen times (get in dustups with their neighbors or ethnic enclaves near them, Crimea, Chechnya, Georgia, Ukraine) and whether they went good or bad, it hasn't ever seriously threatened the existence of Russia, though it HAS threatened the existence of another 500 of their tanks each time.

 

[RodgerDodger]

The UK and USA have had satellites flying over the Russians taking continous photographs and beaming them home since the fucking 70s and 80s. While the Cold War came to an end they didn't waste a shitload of fuel repositioning them towards the next mythical threat, they just kept flying them around the way they always have been,

200,000 people as used in the invasion is a city the fucking size of Dudley in the United Kingdom and Salt Lake City in the USA. You're going to fucking spot them. A massive build up of troops and material for an exercise and an invasion are also significantly different. Leading to more ability for someone to make the call an invasion is likely.

There was also the 4 loaded landing ships that they sailed down from the Baltic and kept floating out in the Black Sea. They had to put those troops ashore somewhere before they ran out of food and toilet paper.

i dont think its a sign about "sources in moscow are leaking profusely"
i think its just a sign that media clowns like to repeat baseless rumors and speculation a lot when it fits their narrative

like, we've been getting variations of this story for months now. "puting has cancer" "putin has parkinsons" "putin has early stage alzheimers" etc. all worthless nonsense as far as i'm concerned.

The more interesting thing in todays story is less the yet again refrain of Putin has Cancer. And more the FSB responding to it internally and telling everybody to not believe it and ignore it. Which has apparently put the halls of power and Russian chattering classes into a state of panic. If the FSB is telling them its a lie then in their minds it must be true.

 

[Snekposter]

They said the same thing about Ukraine when this kicked off. So far it seems pretty defensible.

Only because the Russian military is proving to be the world's biggest, cruelest joke, and the only punchline to the joke is itself. There's a reason the world, the Farms included, was initially predicting this would be over in three days, after all.

The more interesting thing in todays story is less the yet again refrain of Putin has Cancer. And more the FSB responding to it internally and telling everybody to not believe it and ignore it. Which has apparently put the halls of power and Russian chattering classes into a state of panic. If the FSB is telling them its a lie then in their minds it must be true.

I mean, even if its the truth, probably the first time the FSB has ever had the truth pass their lips.

 

[No. 7 cat]

MINSK, Belarus (AP) — Belarus’ authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko defended Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in an interview Thursday with The Associated Press, but he said he didn’t expect the 10-week-old conflict to “drag on this way.”

He also spoke out against the use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine but wouldn’t say if Russian President Vladimir Putin had plans to launch such a strike.

Lukashenko said Moscow, which launched the invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24 — partly from his territory — had to act because Kyiv was “provoking Russia.”

“But I am not immersed in this problem enough to say whether it goes according to plan, like the Russians say, or like I feel it,” he said, speaking at Independence Palace in Minsk. “I want to stress one more time: I feel like this operation has dragged on.”

View attachment 3283124


Lukashenko’s support of the war has prompted international criticism and sanctions against Minsk. Some Russian troops were sent from Belarusian territory into Ukraine, and Lukashenko has publicly stood by his longtime ally, who has pumped billions of dollars into shoring up his Soviet-style, state-controlled economy with cheap energy and loans.

But in his comments to the AP, Lukashenko said he and his country stand for peace and repeatedly called for the end of the “war” — a term the Kremlin refuses to use, calling the invasion a “special military operation” instead.

The 67-year-old president struck a calm and more measured tone in the nearly 90-minute interview than in previous media appearances in which he hectored the West over sanctions and lashed out at journalists.

“We categorically do not accept any war. We have done and are doing everything now so that there isn’t a war. Thanks to yours truly, me that is, negotiations between Ukraine and Russia have begun,” he said.

Lukashenko said using nuclear weapons in Ukraine was “unacceptable because it’s right next to us — we are not across the ocean like the United States.”

“It is also unacceptable because it might knock our terrestrial ball flying off the orbit to who knows where,” he said. “Whether or not Russia is capable of that — is a question you need to ask the Russian leadership.”

Russia “can’t by definition lose this war,” Lukashenko said, noting that Belarus is the only country standing by Moscow, while “as many as 50 states have joined forces” on Ukraine’s side.

He added that Putin isn’t seeking a direct conflict with NATO, and the West should ensure that one doesn’t happen.

“He most likely does not want a global confrontation with NATO. Use it. Use it and do everything for that not to happen. Otherwise, even if Putin doesn’t want it, the military will react,” the Belarusian leader warned.

Lukashenko called Putin his “big brother” and said the Russian leader doesn’t have “closer, more open or friendlier relations with any of the world leaders other than the president of Belarus.”

Their relationship has been particularly close recently but was rocky in earlier years. Before a disputed 2020 election sparked mass protests and a domestic crackdown by Lukashenko, he often accused the Kremlin of trying to force him to relinquish control of prized economic assets and abandon his country’s independence.

Faced with tough economic sanctions after he brutally suppressed the protests, the Belarusian leader started emphasizing a need to jointly counter Western pressure and met with Putin regularly, stressing their close ties.

Lukashenko’s support of the invasion has stopped short of deploying his own troops there, but it still has drawn criticism from the Belarusian opposition and calls for more sanctions on him and the country. Opposition figures say ordinary Belarusians don’t support the invasion. Hundreds of them who live in Ukraine have been affected by the war, and some have become volunteers, fighting alongside Ukrainian forces.

Top Belarus opposition activist Pavel Latushka dismissed Lukashenko’s calls for peace on Thursday, saying they “look absurd after more than 600 missiles were fired from the territory of Belarus, and the country became a platform for aggression.”

He added: “Minsk deserves the harshest Western sanctions.”

Opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya echoed Latushka’s sentiment, calling Lukashenko a “co-aggressor” and saying he is “trying to change his image of an arsonist into that of a firefighter and peacekeeper.”

Lukashenko told AP that his country poses no danger to others, even as its military conducted drills this week.

“We do not threaten anyone and we are not going to threaten and will not do it. Moreover, we can’t threaten -- we know who opposes us, so to unleash some kind of a conflict, some kind of war here ... is absolutely not in the interests of the Belarusian state. So the West can sleep peacefully,” he said.

He blamed the West — especially Washington — for fueling the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

“The U.S. wants to seize the moment, tying its allies to itself, and drown Russia in the war with Ukraine. It’s their goal — to sort out Russia, and then China,” he said.

Lukashenko said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was taking orders from the United States.

“Today it’s not Zelenskyy who’s running Ukraine – no offense, that’s my point of view, maybe I’m wrong,” Lukashenko said, adding that if U.S. President Joe Biden said so, “everything will stop within a week.”

___

source

Lukashenko has at times made pushes away from Putin, so this could be one of these things, and an adjustment for officers and people who are distinctly uninterested in dying for the manlet trillionaire. Potentially it is a sort of kite flying, probably not by Putin, but perhaps some in his circle want a face saving way to end this. Lukashenko is very cunning, so it could be one of those things or perhaps more than one thing at a time.

One of the replies seems informs and supplies what Turkey are reacting:

Let me provide some info about how the mine threat is handled: -The 9 Aydın class minehunter ships are patrolling in the Black Sea -The 9 Maritime Patrol planes are also patrolling -Added to these, Bayraktar TB2, Anka and Aksungur UAVs are also flying and trying to detect mines. The latter two have received synthetic aperture radars which makes spotting mines easier. The Aksungur UAV, which can stay in the air for 60 hours is of course ideal for this task Upon the spotting of a mine, a minehunter will secure it before Turkish Navy EODs (Sualtı Savunma) will defuse the mine.

Garry Kasparov certainly sounds tilted., saying that removing Putin will be good for Russia.

 

[TowinKarz]

I mean, even if its the truth, probably the first time the FSB has ever had the truth pass their lips.

Reminds me of old Soviet Union joke.

Telephone operator gets a call from Ivan, he wants to be put through to the KGB so he can denounce his neighbor.

"I'm sorry" says the operator " I cannot put you through, the local KGB office burned down last night"

5 minutes later, Ivan calls back, and again wants to be put through. Again, she tells him she cannot, "the KGB office burned down"

5 minutes later, Ivan calls again and the frustrated operator demands to know "Why do yo keep calling? I told you, the KGB burned down!"

"I know" says Ivan, "I just like hearing it"

 

[SBG]

All this "End of Russia" talk is premature and unfounded - much like China, they have the raw numbers to tank the losses from bad sociopolitical and military decisions for long enough that things just peter out instead of causing the country to collapse. Both could (and have) embroiled themselves in disastrous vainglory wars before on their borders that they "escaped" any penalty for by simply sending men into the grinder until the world got tired of complaining about it since being nuclear-equipped meant nobody could force them to stop.

I've known people that worked in the oil industry and one aspect I always found a bit goofy was the money some would get for "extraneous expenses" when visiting certain countries. It wasn't for playing around, but rather for paying bribes as necessary to ensure work was done or forms processed.

With the sanctions and limited travel, there's likely a lot of people in Russia that stopped receiving the regular bribes they were enjoying.

They may be able to handle the political consequences of losing a bunch of troops and military equipment, but it makes me wonder about how people that were used to cashing in from their positions managing military equipment are getting by now or in the future. Because you have the corruption with the military that was enriching people, the corruption with government offices, and the corruption within random companies doing business internationally, all coupled with a brain drain that would wipe out a lot of money that would have flowed into Russia (or at least Moscow and St. Petersburg) that would have made life more comfortable.

The money being cut off from a lot of these groups has to be frustrating a lot of people and I would think it'd only get worse as time goes on. While there may not be a spectacular crash for Russia, I feel like their problems don't really go away by just having the invasion end or peter out as it's not just a matter of their military succeeding or their military helping boost morale.

 

[RodgerDodger]

i dont think its a sign about "sources in moscow are leaking profusely"
i think its just a sign that media clowns like to repeat baseless rumors and speculation a lot when it fits their narrative

like, we've been getting variations of this story for months now. "puting has cancer" "putin has parkinsons" "putin has early stage alzheimers" etc. all worthless nonsense as far as i'm concerned.

Okay! You're right. Apparently one of the primary sources on the "Putin is Seriously Ill" barage today is... wait for it... Christopher "The Steele Dossier" Steele!

Ukraine war: Ex-British spy and Russia expert Christopher Steele backs claims Vladimir Putin is ill​

The former MI6 officer, who wrote the dossier on Donald Trump and alleged Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election, says his sources have told him the leader is "quite seriously ill" but it's "not clear what this illness is".

Philip Whiteside
News reporter
Saturday 14 May 2022 17:20, UK

Image:A number of experts have claimed Vladimir Putin is ill

• https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sha...her Steele backs claims Vladimir Putin is ill
• https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?te...e-backs-claims-vladimir-putin-is-ill-12612937
• https://kiwifarms.net/whatsapp://se...e-backs-claims-vladimir-putin-is-ill-12612937

Why you can trust Sky News
The former British spy who wrote a dossier on Donald Trump and alleged Russian interference in the 2016 US election campaign says sources have told him Vladimir Putin is "seriously ill".
Christopher Steele, who ran the Russia desk at MI6 in London between 2006 and 2009 and worked there in the 1990s, said Putin's illness was "an element" of what is happening in Ukraine.
He told Sky News: "Certainly, from what we're hearing from sources in Russia and elsewhere, is that Putin is, in fact, quite seriously ill.
"It's not clear exactly what this illness is - whether it's incurable or terminal, or whatever. But certainly, I think it's part of the equation."
His comments come after Ukrainian Major General Kyrylo Budanov, in an exclusive interview with Sky News, also said the Russian leader is seriously ill with cancer and that a coup to remove him is under way in Russia.
Speculation around Vladimir Putin's health has circulated for several years, but has only intensified since he ordered the invasion of Ukraine.
New Lines magazine reported it has obtained an audio recording of an oligarch close to the Kremlin who describes the Russian president as "very ill with blood cancer", although the type of blood cancer was not specified.
It says a "top-secret memo" was sent out by the headquarters of the FSB, Russia's domestic security agency, to all its regional directors instructing regional chiefs not to trust rumours about the president's terminal condition.
Mr Steele added: "When you see that happening, you think it's probably true. So, I think there is an element of his illness involved in this and his legacy."
Read more:
Confessions of former British spy Christopher Steele on Johnson, Putin, Trump, and James Bond
Former British spy Christopher Steele says Russia's leaders believe they are 'at war' with the UK
The rumours intensified on Wednesday when Vladimir Putin's address during Russia's Victory Day commemorations was closely scrutinised, and his movements and physical appearance were studied by observers.
Body language experts pointed out that the president's face was "puffy" and his walk "unsteady", which some have suggested could signify some form of medication for an illness.
'Very few prepared to stand up to Putin'
But Mr Steele said, even if he was ill, it may still be difficult for anyone else to have any impact on Mr Putin's approach, even though he agreed with the kind of sanctions now being employed, like those on his ex-wife and cousins.
The British government said its latest asset freezes and travel bans targeted the "shady network" of friends and allies who "owe Putin their wealth and power, and in turn support Putin and his war machine."
Among those hit by sanctions are Mr Putin's ex-wife Lyudmila Ocheretnaya; former Olympic gymnast Alina Kabaeva, who is "alleged to have a close personal relationship with Putin," according to the government; and several businessmen who are cousins of the Russian president.
Mr Steele added: "In general there are very few people who are prepared to stand up to or to argue with President Putin... I do think though that there are dissident voices, discordant voices, people telling him this is a disastrous war, that, particularly on the economy, will not play out well for Russia, and we can only hope that that will lead to some kind of change of policy, or even change in regime in due course, but it's certainly not a given."

1:53




Play Video - Analysing Putin's Victory Day speech

Sky's defence and security editor Deborah Haynes finds that Ukraine will be more interested in what Putin didn't say, than what he did
Further pressure to be placed on Russia
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who spoke at length by phone with the Russian leader on Friday, said in an interview published on Saturday that he had not detected any change in Mr Putin's stance recently.
Western military analysts say Mr Putin and his generals failed to anticipate such fierce Ukrainian resistance when they launched the invasion in February.
As well as losing large amounts of personnel and military equipment, Russia is having to deal with heavy economic sanctions.
The G7 pledged in a statement on Saturday to "further increase economic and political pressure on Russia" and to supply more weapons to Ukraine.

Related Topics​

• Vladimir Putin

Should we assume that the "Putin Pees on Obama's Bed" story to be forthcoming?

 

[ArthuriusMartyrius]

The reason Russia said "No, no we aren't going to invade you guise" like 30 times before they, well, invaded, was because they had to say something, because they KNEW they were being photographed amassing at the border.


All this "End of Russia" talk is premature and unfounded - much like China, they have the raw numbers to tank the losses from bad sociopolitical and military decisions for long enough that things just peter out instead of causing the country to collapse. Both could (and have) embroiled themselves in disastrous vainglory wars before on their borders that they "escaped" any penalty for by simply sending men into the grinder until the world got tired of complaining about it since being nuclear-equipped meant nobody could force them to stop.

Russia had 140 million people officially (in reality, it may actually be 10-20 million lower than that) with a huge aging population and a disastrous birth rate. China has around 1.5 billion people with a younger average population than Russia. What you are saying is nonsense, Russia has nowhere near the amount of fresh bodies to throw into the meat-grinder for a long period of time unless the entire nation is quite literally prepared to commit collective suicide.

 

[Tovarisz]

Russia had 140 million people officially (in reality, it may actually be 10-20 million lower than that) with a huge aging population and a disastrous birth rate. China has around 1.5 billion people with a younger average population than Russia. What you are saying is nonsense, Russia has nowhere near the amount of fresh bodies to throw into the meat-grinder for a long period of time unless the entire nation is quite literally prepared to commit collective suicide.

Meh, even if Ukrainian reports are 100% true and russia lost 30k troops it's really not that big a number, there's like 10x that many people in rf prison colonies alone, ripe for penal legions, they have plenty of meat they can toss at the enemy, including everyone in the occupied territory who will be willing to fight for russia under a lucrative "Either you do or we rape and kill your kids in front of you" contract.

What they can't do is replace the materiel losses quite as effectively so each zerg wave is going to be more demoralized and equipped woth more rotten uniforms and rusted gear leading to greater losses.

Whether russia as a country/nation can take these losses is irrelevant, Putin can accept them and it's all that matters until he dies or is booted out.

 

[The Demon Pimp of Razgriz]

Empire is one thing, the home nation is another. Empires are unsustainable money sinks now that the Colonial model no longer works, but, as bad as modern Russia is at running things, I don't see them shrinking inside their own borders any time soon.

Especially because the "Modern" history of the Federation (Yeltsin-Putin) has had them do stuff like this at least a half-dozen times (get in dustups with their neighbors or ethnic enclaves near them, Crimea, Chechnya, Georgia, Ukraine) and whether they went good or bad, it hasn't ever seriously threatened the existence of Russia, though it HAS threatened the existence of another 500 of their tanks each time.

This is nothing like any previous conflict Russia has been in and the amount of damage its doing to Russia as a whole is incalculable. The military losses, economic losses, losses in prestige...Russia hasn't been through anything like this since the last World War. This isn't a "dust up", this is a major war, and Russia is losing it handily. No, its getting its ass handed to it. Very few nations survive catastrophic lost wars. Hell, many nations don't survive successful wars (see France going through revolution after helping the U.S. win independence.

 

[KiwiFuzz]

I feel like perhaps the biggest spanner in the works for Russia is how much they seem to be lying to their own people. And maybe I'm naive about how internet blocks/shutdowns occur in other countries, but isn't this something a lot of people under, say, 50, can easily circumvent? Doesn't need to be everyone, but if 1 in 20 people are seeing it for the shitshow it is, that seems like enough critical mass so that when Monke tells the Russians "We need another 100,000 conscripts for a war that we are definitely winning and no don't ask what happened to the last 100,000," a double-digit percent of would-be soldiers are going to decide that they have pressing business elsewhere.

This seems like a very short term plan.

 

[Tovarisz]

I feel like perhaps the biggest spanner in the works for Russia is how much they seem to be lying to their own people. And maybe I'm naive about how internet blocks/shutdowns occur in other countries, but isn't this something a lot of people under, say, 50, can easily circumvent? Doesn't need to be everyone, but if 1 in 20 people are seeing it for the shitshow it is, that seems like enough critical mass so that when Monke tells the Russians "We need another 100,000 conscripts for a war that we are definitely winning and no don't ask what happened to the last 100,000," a double-digit percent of would-be soldiers are going to decide that they have pressing business elsewhere.

This seems like a very short term plan.

Welp, there is a reason they grabbed every able bodied man off the streets in Crimea and other occupied territories as well as why majority of russian front line soldiers are from middle of nowhere villages, when a bunch of conscripts serving on Moskva died their parents got pissed and made a lot of noise and I imagine russian navy is mostly people from the two big cities (it's more prestigeous, I'm sure only citizens of Moscow and St. Petersburg can afford the bribes needed to get their sons into any military service position that isn't digging holes or being the unit's slut) with that being the only reason noise was made.

Russia isn't this huge, continent sized country, russia is Moscow and St. Petersburg, the rest can be classified as a shithole kept for strategic resources on a very tight leash, ruled by putin's slaves and dickholsters like kadyrov and very expendable to the only russians that matter, the ones in Kremlin.

Edit: Also, yes, it was a short term plan, 3 days to a week maximum plan. We're past day 80 of that plan.

 

[Pocket Dragoon]

I thought this was another interesting glimpse of how Ukrainians are using 3D printing, small civilian drones, and readily available consumer electronics to construct what are essentially reusable flying IEDs (FlyEDs?).