Russian invasion of Ukraine | Fewer tweets, more discussion

Carolina Red said:
And why would you let that guy go?
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I wouldn't. Surely at the end of the war a distinction would be made between pows and criminals. But handing out life sentences while the war is ongoing, russians will probably start doing the same in retaliation.

Again, I have nothing against the whole thing (if he did it, lock him up) except the timing, which might bring unnecessary trouble for captured ukranians.
 
maniak said:
I wouldn't. Surely at the end of the war a distinction would be made between pows and criminals. But handing out life sentences while the war is ongoing, russians will probably start doing the same in retaliation.

Again, I have nothing against the whole thing (if he did it, lock him up) except the timing, which might bring unnecessary trouble for captured ukranians.
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Considering what we know the Russians have done to captured civilians, I’m not so sure I’d worry about this leading to a change in policy towards captured Ukrainian soldiers.
 
Carolina Red said:
Considering what we know the Russians have done to captured civilians, I’m not so sure I’d worry about this leading to a change in policy towards captured Ukrainian soldiers.
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Fair enough. I guess civilians also need to see that something is being done to the criminals.
 
harms said:
Like father like son. Soldiers are stealing washing machines, their superiors are stealing tons of grain.


The grim thing is that both armies seem to be doing much, much better at defending than they are at offensive actions. And it looks like Russia is doing much better tactically now than they did at the very beginning (although it's hard not to). My only hope at this point is that the internal system will eventually crumble under the immense pressure — when common folk will recognise just how costly this war had been to them, both financially and in terms of very literal human lives.
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I would have thought when the Ukrainian counter attacks come they likely won't go directly for the cities, they'd be more likely to target the open ground between settlements using any new advanced weaponry / aerial kit they might have and try to encircle the cities. Same as the Russians but without ploughing troops into the meat grinder to score political points. Once the cities are surrounded they will be aiming to cut off their supply lines and force them to give up. Won't be pretty whatever happens - a lot of civilians will likely die anyway sadly.
 
I don't know if this has been discussed any time earlier, but there is now concrete evidence of Russia stealing stolen Ukrainian grain and the possibility of them shipping it off like pirates making profit on loot. Where are we in international discussions at the moment on how to deal with that problem? In any case, Putin is behaving like former Somali warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid, using hunger as a weapon.



Shameless cnut.
 
This upset the Russians who responded that Trump is also a fascist. Which is true! Which is why he lost the elections!


 
Here is an excellent interview of Prof. Timothy Snyder from March. He basically answers all the questions one might have about this war. I really don't see how anyone could disagree with anything he says.

 
frostbite said:
Here is an excellent interview of Prof. Timothy Snyder from March. He basically answers all the questions one might have about this war. I really don't see how anyone could disagree with anything he says.

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Really good interview, thank you for sharing.
 
Revan said:
Why on Earth would a major general fly in risky areas (although if I am not mistaken, MG is just one star general in Russian military, unlike in the US when they hold two stars)?
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Regardless, he should be coordinating ops from the ground not flying. Some desperate stuff.
 
The Firestarter said:
Regardless, he should be coordinating ops from the ground not flying. Some desperate stuff.
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Aye. I would have thought that even a colonel is too high to do such things. An 1-star ranking general, in the US, is someone who assists a higher-ranking general. I think that in the US, even a two-star general commands 10K or so people.

Even a colonel commands a thousand or so people. So why was this guy flying aircrafts?
 
Revan said:
Aye. I would have thought that even a colonel is too high to do such things. An 1-star ranking general, in the US, is someone who assists a higher-ranking general. I think that in the US, even a two-star general commands 10K or so people.

Even a colonel commands a thousand or so people. So why was this guy flying aircrafts?
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I think in the airforces it is a bit different than the army , it is usual for top pilots to be eg. colonels. Still, general is a bit too high. Except for places like Andrews AFB.
 
frostbite said:
Here is an excellent interview of Prof. Timothy Snyder from March. He basically answers all the questions one might have about this war. I really don't see how anyone could disagree with anything he says.

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Can't take him too seriously given his resemblance to Phil Thompson
 
Revan said:
Why on Earth would a major general fly in risky areas (although if I am not mistaken, MG is just one star general in Russian military, unlike in the US when they hold two stars)?
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He could fly around all he wants if Russia had air superiority. The fact that they don't (which is a massive fail on their part, but that's for another topic) suggests a combination of bravado and desperation.
 
The Firestarter said:
I think in the airforces it is a bit different than the army , it is usual for top pilots to be eg. colonels. Still, general is a bit too high. Except for places like Andrews AFB.
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It depends on who owns the skies. For instance in Iraq, US Generals flew around the country at will, in what would appear to civilians as private jets. Not having a SAM threat is a massive factor on whether or not high level people fly in war zones.
 
Not to worry as they have allegedly have millions of troops who haven't yet been used as cannon fodder.

 
Revan said:
Why on Earth would a major general fly in risky areas (although if I am not mistaken, MG is just one star general in Russian military, unlike in the US when they hold two stars)?
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He wasn’t “retired”, he was dismissed without honors after crashing a plane he didn’t even have a required expertise to fly on in an attempt to perform some showboating trick.

So, most likely, he was recruited by some private military company like Wagner, although, as you can imagine, there’s not a lot of information open to the public.
 
harms said:
He wasn’t “retired”, he was dismissed without honors after crashing a plane he didn’t even have a required expertise to fly on in an attempt to perform some showboating trick.

So, most likely, he was recruited by some private military company like Wagner, although, as you can imagine, there’s not a lot of information open to the public.
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Maybe somebody should recommend them Francesco Schettino as the captain of their new blacksea flagship.
 
harms said:
He wasn’t “retired”, he was dismissed without honors after crashing a plane he didn’t even have a required expertise to fly on in an attempt to perform some showboating trick.

So, most likely, he was recruited by some private military company like Wagner, although, as you can imagine, there’s not a lot of information open to the public.
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Was not aware contractors had jets.
 
The Firestarter said:
Was not aware contractors had jets.
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You have to understand that they’re very much intertwined with the Army (and Putin’s elite). In the BBC podcast that discussed this general they’ve talked about it as well, apparently they have an option to “lease” them.
 

If anyone has means to chip in feel free. Since the morning we have collected 1 MEUR out of the 5 MEUR necessary to buy a Bayraktar for Ukraine. Lithuanian and Turkish defense ministries together with manufacturer have green lighted it. Paypal money guarantee is available. :)
 
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harms said:
You have to understand that they’re very much intertwined with the Army (and Putin’s elite). In the BBC podcast that discussed this general they’ve talked about it as well, apparently they have an option to “lease” them.
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So, if Ukraine hires some western private company like Blackwater, and they "lease" a few dozen F-35 aircraft for operation inside Ukraine, will that be something similar?
 
frostbite said:
So, if Ukraine hires some western private company like Blackwater, and they "lease" a few dozen F-35 aircraft for operation inside Ukraine, will that be something similar?
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I’m not sure. Wagner is essentially just another part of Putin’s enormous and complicated enforcer apparatus — they aren’t much different than the army itself but they’re more experienced, they get paid better and you can claim that any of their involvement in different conflicts abroad (like in CAR or in Syria) has nothing to do with Russia. Which is why they can, although I’m sure that it’s not done through legit sources, “lease” Russian planes and vehicles, use military airports etc.

When U.S. hires Blackwater I’d imagine that it somewhat similar, although, from the very little that I understand, Blackwater would probably have more autonomy. If Ukraine hires an outside military company they’re hiring someone who’s completely independent from them.
 
The BBC reports:

"The Russian parliament has passed a law raising the age limit for people signing up to the army to 50.

It follows ongoing attempts by Russian officials to recruit more soldiers as Russian casualties in Ukraine mount.

Under current legislation, only Russians aged 18 to 40 and foreigners aged 18 to 30 can enlist as professional soldiers in the Russian military.
“Highly professional specialists are needed to use high-precision weapons and operate weapons and military equipment” and such specialists may be aged 40 to 45, said a note accompanying the draft bill.

According to the new law Russian citizens and foreigners up to the age of 50 will be able to sign a contract with the military.
The note said the amendment would also help attract those in civilian professions to join the army, including medics, engineers and communications experts.
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, the Russian Ministry of Defence and the so-called Wagner private military company have launched a vast and persistent campaign to recruit new soldiers both officially and unofficially.

Based on open sources, BBC Russian has identified at least 46 Russians aged over 45 who have been killed in Ukraine after the start of the invasion. This includes a 63-year-old retired general, who was shot down operating a Su-25 fighter jet."
 
I heard that partisan warfare has already begun. Russians may gain some territory and right now it seems they're making some tactical advances in Donbas but keeping the occupied territory will be a new problem in itself.
 
The news coming out of Ukraine feels depressing. Feels as if Russia are beginning to slowly grind the Ukrainian defensives in the Donbas down. Not sure the West has the same enthusiasm and collective resolve as it did the immediate months.
 
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