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

 

[Astro Galactic Megalul]

Just checking if we are still singing our praises for Ukraine given recent events.

Seems like most still are.

Man, I wonder how badly this thread will age in due time...

Pretty sure you said something similar before, and since then Ukraine had a successful major offensive and continues retaking its territory daily pretty much.

 

[LORD IMPERATOR]

People that convinced themselves over the years that Russia was a battle hardened power are really reluctant to give up that view of Russia's military.

No matter how pathetic Russia's military appears to be they're reluctant to just accept that they had been wrong for years. I think a large part of this is they believe the US military must be incredibly weak because of all the woke shit, so a country that doesn't have it must be better.

The Russians are still using their old Communist-era tricks of subversion and indoctrination of foreign assets. Except instead of appealing to liberals, this time, it's appealing to conservatives. Russia is macho, Russia is rugged, Russian military is strong because it's masculine and not bogged down by politics, bureaucracy, and corruption, blah, blah, blah.......

Those who have listened to Yuri Bezmenov wouldn't really be surprised that many modern internet warriors have fallen into the trap of believing Russia's military is truly powerful, to the point where those like Styx are unable to give it up despite reality slapping them in the face. You could say the same of many Commie-loving college illiterati whose minds have been poisoned by Soviet propaganda, to the point where, even after the Soviet Union fell, they still believed Communism could work. Now, we're seeing the same drama play out, this time with Russia's right-wing simps instead of the USSR's left-wing simps. They still believe Russia's military strength is greater than America's, despite tons of evidence to the contrary.

America loses wars in Iraq and Afghanistan due to exhaustion. They triumph, they conquer, then they get tired of holding the place and skedaddle, the same as Vietnam. Russia is losing their war in Ukraine due to their forces not being good enough to even conquer it in the first place.

Styx has the coldest takes once again. I know that he's bizarre even by the standards of the anti-interventionist libertarian/conservative community, but he represents their views quite accurately. Even when the Bear's claws are stained red from the blood of its enemies, these fucking people whine about how mean the West is for not caring about the poor wittle Bear's security concerns. If we don't abandon Ukraine this very instant, Putin will be forced to blow up more people and it will be our fault.

The funny thing is, being libertarians, they'd probably hate it if the USA spent more money caring for its poor, calling it socialism, welfare state, enabling the lazy, etc. You can't win with these people.

-Spend money on public works projects or welfare? These yahoos hate FDR for doing such things, and they sure as hell will hate you for that.
-Spend money on helping international allies against a country that's been talking shit about you and bullying its neighbors? Interventionism! Which again, will make these people hate your guts. They act as if the world didn't learn anything from appeasing Hitler. If these people lived in WW2, they'd have been happy with all of Europe getting swallowed by the Austrian Painter or Uncle Joe.

Styx claims in his latest video that Putin is still only sending his worst troops to Ukraine. In fact, many of the Russian soldiers are probably enemies of Putin's regime, who have been identified by Putin's very efficient intelligence service. Eventually, Putin's penal battalions are going to retreat to the new 'Russian' territories, and then Putin will blast the pursuing Ukrainians with thermobaric weapons. The only reason he hasn't done so yet is that the Ukrainian units in 'Russia' are not large enough. A masterful plan, just like the attack on Kyiv, which Styx also still believes was a feint.

View attachment 3724380

Full vid: https://youtu.be/0KyEFfE-qYY

Damn, where does this guy get his copium? This idiot still thinks the attack on Kyiv was a faint? He thinks that the Russian intelligence agencies are efficient instead of the bumbling idiots that they are?

Russia itself is falling apart from this war, and he still thinks Putin is holding back the real muscle? The VDV and the Spetsnaz would love to hear this man's opinion.

 

[76LD910]

Styx has the coldest takes once again. I know that he's bizarre even by the standards of the anti-interventionist libertarian/conservative community, but he represents their views quite accurately. Even when the Bear's claws are stained red from the blood of its enemies, these fucking people whine about how mean the West is for not caring about the poor wittle Bear's security concerns. If we don't abandon Ukraine this very instant, Putin will be forced to blow up more people and it will be our fault.

Styx claims in his latest video that Putin is still only sending his worst troops to Ukraine. In fact, many of the Russian soldiers are probably enemies of Putin's regime, who have been identified by Putin's very efficient intelligence service. Eventually, Putin's penal battalions are going to retreat to the new 'Russian' territories, and then Putin will blast the pursuing Ukrainians with thermobaric weapons. The only reason he hasn't done so yet is that the Ukrainian units in 'Russia' are not large enough. A masterful plan, just like the attack on Kyiv, which Styx also still believes was a feint.

View attachment 3724380

Full vid: https://youtu.be/0KyEFfE-qYY

This thermobaric scenario reads like science fiction.

Its not the first time he's said this, he's under the impression that thermobaric weapons are some kind of insta-win tool that requires special permission to use rather than a common non-conventional explosive used regularly by the Russian airforce and integrated all the way down the ground forces structure to the squad level.

Its just a slightly different variant of the "if Ukraine gives Russia a proper casus belli the real fight begins" narrative. As if they don't already have every excuse imaginable from their own perspective to have gone all in over the last month at least.

 

[Sinner's Sandwich]

Russian military is strong because it's masculine

It's also gay, VERY GAY. Not figuratively but literally. These tards are simping for a bunch of degenerate sodomists to own the libs.

 

[Astro Galactic Megalul]

Its not the first time he's said this, he's under the impression that thermobaric weapons are some kind of insta-win tool that requires special permission to use rather than a common non-conventional explosive used regularly by the Russian airforce and integrated all the way down the ground forces structure to the squad level.

Its just a slightly different variant of the "if Ukraine gives Russia a proper casus belli the real fight begins" narrative. As if they don't already have every excuse imaginable from their own perspective to have gone all in over the last month at least.

They've already been using it whenever they could by the way, I've certainly seen it before.
Their main argument at this point is "Russia could definitely win if they just turned territory they want to conquer into an empty wasteland". But that wouldn't be much of a victory.
If that was the bar, US could've easily won any conflict they've been involved in.

Witness the petty Russian retribution.

At least 17 civilians dead.

 

[RandomTwitterGuy]

Witness the petty Russian retribution.
View attachment 3725328
At least 17 civilians dead.

Shit like this is why they are losing the war.

Were any of these 17 people soldiers, or generals, or had anything to do with the military?
No, but now you have given Ukraine more propaganda that will turn into more support for the Ukrains war effort, and the Russians now have fewer positions and missiles to fire at specific targets like power plants, ammo dumps, and enemy gatherings.

Ukraine is hitting the ammo depo, critical infrastructure, and enemy combatants, and so on.

If you look at history. The bombing of Tokyo, the Blitz, the bombing of Dresden, and so on. They did not break the people, only complete military defeat works.

 

[trent]

Shit like this is why they are losing the war.

Were any of these 17 people soldiers, or generals, or had anything to do with the military?
No, but now you have given Ukraine more propaganda that will turn into more support for the Ukrains war effort, and the Russians now have fewer positions and missiles to fire at specific targets like power plants, ammo dumps, and enemy gatherings.

Ukraine is hitting the ammo depo, critical infrastructure, and enemy combatants, and so on.

If you look at history. The bombing of Tokyo, the Blitz, the bombing of Dresden, and so on. They did not break the people, only complete military defeat works.

Also, this is in one of the cities they annexed. So basically, they murdered a bunch of what they are claiming are their own citizens.

I'm sure they'll try to blame Ukraine for it somehow.

 

[Ghostse]

I don't think we should undersell the actual strategic ability of Ukraine. The feint that preceded their retaking of most of the occupied land in the Kharkov region was tactically and strategically brilliant, and one of the best strategic victories of the entire war. We also cannot forget that Ukraine is being directly supported by U.S. military advisors, who are directly aiding and assisting the Ukrainian high command, and they are far better military commanders than anyone Russia has at the moment.

They are still Slavs.

There are reports from news media, Reuters or AP iirc not Russian Mouthpieces, where they were allowed to interview wounded soldiers from the Kherson offensive and they had very high morale but were reporting horrendous casualty rates from Russian artillery and mortars when caught.
If Russia could just stop fucking up for like 5 to 10 minutes, they could stall out the Ukrainian advance. Odds are pretty good that they used up all their competence after the first week, but dismissing the risk is just dumb.

You forget two things:
1) The Russians aren't going to get those raw materials because they are cutoff from the global economy and nobody wants to run afoul of American embargoes.
2) Ukraine is already importing most of, if not all, its equipment from the west, so any lost industrial capacity is immaterial.

My nigga, while they were vowing to destroy the West and have Washington DC plowed under and turned into park dedicated to great communist heroes, Pepsi was trading them syrup concentrate. Since 1991 Russia has been a corrupt mob-run hell hole, and corporations couldn't pay bribes to the local criminals fast enough if it got them set up in Russia as soon as the Iron curtain opened a crack.
Much like China, Russia too big of a market to not exploit. They'll find a way.

Regarding your second point, that's the problem. Ukraine is eventually going to have to pay for this shit, and with their economy in the shitter and their intrastructure ruined, that's going to be ruinous.

Europeans are not going to run back to Russia for their energy needs; that ship has sailed, and everybody sees how stupid it is to rely on the Russians for anything now, so that will probably be a permanent change. A more likely scenario is that Europeans realize that this going green bullshit is just that, bullshit, and demand that their countries reinvest in their own domestic energy production, such as bringing their nuclear power plants back online.

There are not enough rainbows.
You say this, but remember in 2014 when Russia DID invade Ukraine successfully, and the German/Dutch response was to condemn this blantant act of unproved aggression, join in on economic sanctions, and then immediately shut down their coal plants and replace them with natural gas plants run by Russian natural gas? And when told by Orange Man this wasn't a great idea, Germany doubled down and shut down their nuke plants too.

Eurocucks are too dumb to learn. We need to be happy they rediscovered something close to a spine for as long as it lasts, but it won't last forever. Russia abused half of Germany for nearly half a century, but instead of being pissed about it like the Poles, they became gimpsuited "Please may I have another" FinDom simps. It's only a matter of time before they return to their roots.

They have identified the perpetrator:
View attachment 3723640

He can't keep getting away with it!

With all due respect, I, the faggot who disagreed with you, demand an explanation.

No, I am Faggicus.

I never get the claim that Russia is sending their worst troops.
I have one simple question: Why?
Why would you use your worst troops, the worst weapons and/or tanks in an invasion?
What do you gain from that? Sure, you get rid of your old stuff, but there are better way to do that (sell it to morons, recycle them for scrap etc).
What do you gain from sending in your worst troops either? Nothing. you gain nothing and the enemy gets everything.
This is not a damn video game.
It is war.

I'll take this one.

Lets get a few things cleared up.
First, you need to start thinking like a Russian. Specifically, life - especially the lives of others - is cheap. Life is hard until you die, so if you live a little more comfortably for a little bit but die earlier, that's fine. If you live a little more comfortably for a little and SOMEONE ELSE dies earlier, all the better.

Second, you need to remember that if you are in power in Russia, your greatest threats aren't external they are internal. There are basically two militaries in Russia - the conscript one, and the professional one. The conscripts are in the main army and navy units (though the Navy is a little better about being a sense of culture into theirs) , the professionals are units like their Rail Logistics and Nuke units. Russia likes it this way because Conscripts are disposable, and lead by people would can't use them to be a real threat. The specialist units are too small and separated to likewise be an internal threat.

Third, especially if you're using separatist proxies, you can deny involvement

Forth, you also need to remember this strategy worked before in 2014 - you infiltrate some of your more skilled units in, and then follow it up with a bunch of conscripts parading separatists. And if they had stuck to just securing the strategic areas around Donbas, it probably would have worked this time too.

So, take the key factors:
Complete disregard for the lives of your own troops/citizens, you need to keep your best units domestic to prevent coup attempts (and they'd probably mutiny), you can shift blame and keep the west off balance and slow to respond if you make it look like its rebels, and knowing you'd already done this successfully before.

You have your main thrust screened by a bunch of dumbdumb Donbros and conscripts you gave surplus equipment to. You send in a few conscript units to cover them and provide additional confusion for western forces.
They are a distraction while your Z-force types push on to Kiev. And again, this half-way worked. They were launching rockets into Kiev for being forced to fall back.

Continuing to believe this after 6 months is utter folly though.
I was one of the people who was pleasantly surprised to see Ukraine holding back the Russians after seeing how 2014 went, but thought for sure when the Russian 40-mile long armored thrust hit Ukraine that it would be all she wrote, that Putin was being foxy by waiting for the Ukrainians to abandon their positions before curb stomping them with the armored fist of the Soviets. This never materialized.
Seeing the collapse of their forces on two fronts, seeing the sinking of their Black Sea flagship go without answer... this isn't playing possum. This is an in ability to respond.

tl;dr:

You incorectly assume that Conscript Lives Matter.

 

[Blatant hypocrite]

Just checking if we are still singing our praises for Ukraine given recent events.

Seems like most still are.

Man, I wonder how badly this thread will age in due time...

Yeah, many predictions in this thread have aged badly...

 

[Rezza]

Yeah, many predictions in this thread have aged badly...
View attachment 3725524View attachment 3725525

You should have compiled the one on the other thread(s), many that aged like milk ever since before the invasion, like the "there's no invasion, it's just the Russophobe West being doomposting"

 

[MG-34]

You should have compiled the one on the other thread(s), many that aged like milk ever since before the invasion, like the "there's no invasion, it's just the Russophobe West being doomposting"

I really need to go in there and get all those well aged gems about the Russians outpacing the US in Gulf II or how the invasion will be counted in days, all international aid is either being destroyed as soon as it enters the country or is sold on the deep web, the chechens aren't retarded or how all the international volunteers were either killed in Lyiv or got spooked war isn't call of duty while they post videos of them smoking vatniks with M2s or popping Russian AFVs. Oh and some retard claimed the Ukies were on the cusp of losing Odesa. Hope they didn't put any money on that prediction. It's like vatniks and their fanboys are cursed to experience the opposite of whatever they expect.

 

[WhiteNight]

You should have compiled the one on the other thread(s), many that aged like milk ever since before the invasion, like the "there's no invasion, it's just the Russophobe West being doomposting"

The pro-Russian space was filled with memes about how the notion that Russia would invade Ukraine was nothing but western fear-mongering.

 

[thx1138]

Also, this is in one of the cities they annexed. So basically, they murdered a bunch of what they are claiming are their own citizens.

When has Russia ever not enthusiastically murdered as many of their own citizens as they can get their hands on?

 

[Quindoll]

@Ghostse
There was no significant buildup of gas powered power plants in Germany and there was a reduction of gas powered plants in the Netherlands from 2014 onwards.


In Germany from 29 GW to 32 GW
In the Netherlands from 19 GW to 18 GW

You will use Power-to-Gas as longterm storage in a renewable energy system. Therefor gas capacity, which is flexible, is needed. The real issue of gas usage, at least for Germany, is households for heating and industry, not power generation.

Here is where the buildup of capacity is actually happening. Wind and Solar. Which, to my understanding, are not provided by Russia.

 

[RandomTwitterGuy]

Also, this is in one of the cities they annexed. So basically, they murdered a bunch of what they are claiming are their own citizens.

I'm sure they'll try to blame Ukraine for it somehow.

Well, it is not like they care.

When the Russians arrived, a lot of men were forced into the army, and in return, the Russian soldiers raped, stole, and pillaged the locals they were "protecting."

 

[The handsome tard]

Yeah, many predictions in this thread have aged badly...
View attachment 3725524View attachment 3725525

I'm impressed to see someone went the extra mile. I feel appreciated.

 

[Super Saiyan Hitler]

Witness the petty Russian retribution.
View attachment 3725328
At least 17 civilians dead.

Even English-speaking vatniggers are calling for extreme retaliation now. I'm glad that they are letting the mask slip more and more with every defeat. When this war started, they were presenting it as a war of liberation that Ukrainians secretly yearned for. When Ukraine didn't surrender immediately, they said that Ukraine had been brainwashed by the West, and like a good older brother, Russia had to save them.

Spoiler

I've already smashed half my apartment from pure rage.

Russians Without Aptitude hasn't gone that far in this case, but after Lyman was liberated, he mentioned that popular Russian Telegram channels called for 50 Ukrainian POWs to be executed for every dead civilian. While he didn't explicitly endorse that proposal, he said that the problem could only be solved by 'war-crimey' means.

 

[biscuitscilia]

Even English-speaking vatniggers are calling for extreme retaliation now. I'm glad that they are letting the mask slip more and more with every defeat. When this war started, they were presenting it as a war of liberation that Ukrainians secretly yearned for. When Ukraine didn't surrender immediately, they said that Ukraine had been brainwashed by the West, and like a good older brother, Russia had to save them.

Spoiler

View attachment 3725844
View attachment 3725847
View attachment 3725848

Russians Without Aptitude hasn't gone that far in this case, but after Lyman was liberated, he mentioned that popular Russian Telegram channels called for 50 Ukrainian POWs to be executed for every dead civilian. While he didn't explicitly endorse that proposal, he said that the problem could only be solved by 'war-crimey' means.

View attachment 3725842

>We should kill POWs based on supposed massacres in Lyman.

This isn't the Russian army, the press can enter Lyman and can report on what's happening and this is quite literally the first I'm hearing of this. But regardless it's funny that their answer to war crimes is more war crimes.

 

[Astro Galactic Megalul]

I'm impressed to see someone went the extra mile. I feel appreciated.

You should be the one keeping track of your own statements so you don't look stupid later on by making even more of them, just saying.

Regarding retaliation for the bridge... It's not like Russia has been bombing important Ukrainian infrastructure all along, especially after they started losing territory in the Ukrainian counteroffensive? Nor was it even proven that Ukrainians did it, or how it was even done.

 

[LORD IMPERATOR]

I'm impressed to see someone went the extra mile. I feel appreciated.

It still proves your predictions were horribly wrong.