Russian invasion of Ukraine | Fewer tweets, more discussion

[Foxbatt]

Its is good that they are setting up a war crimes tribunal for the illegal invasion of Ukraine? But I wonder about the illegal invasion of Iraq, Libya, Syria etc?

 

[RedDevilQuebecois]

Macron seems to like doing these things for public consumption. He knows there won't be any meaningful negotiations as long as Russian troops are in Ukraine.

If going through Opération Serval was fairly popular in the eyes of the French, why would giving Putin the middle finger be a step too far? And besides, doesn't Macron have a military industrial complex to satisfy after a bunch of contracts were lost to the British and the Americans?

Since there is no election on the horizon, nothing should stop him from telling it like it is to the cnut in the Kremlin.

 

[MoskvaRed]

Horrible images, though I'm unsure whether they've been verified yet.

Anyone who can translate what the Russian signs say?

The one on the left says traitor to the Lugansk people, the one on the right says they passed on information to the enemy. Under all of them is the Soviet acronym “SMERSH” (Death to Spies).

 

[frostbite]

Having weapons available is standard part of military readiness so whatever has been donated to Ukraine this year will need to be replenished on the US side, which will of course cost money.

Of course! But it is not an emergency. Sometimes it is presented like it is a critical problem that needs to be solved asap.

 

[Rajma]

 

[frostbite]

The one on the left says traitor to the Lugansk people, the one on the right says they passed on information to the enemy. Under all of them is the Soviet acronym “SMERSH” (Death to Spies).

Back to the Soviet Union.

Once a KGB agent, Always a KGB agent.

Here is an article by Khrushchev's granddaughter. It is from 2014, part of her book (The Lost Khrushchev: A Journey Into the Gulag of the Russian Mind).

It is shocking for me that the European Union had no idea what was going on in Russia, and took zero measures back then. Zero preperation. What were the foreign ministries and the spy agencies of the European countries doing all this time? Why they did not warn Merkel and the other European leaders that Russia is turning into the Soviet Union?

https://www.newsweek.com/once-kgb-agent-always-kgb-agent-251120

 

[harms]

Horrible images, though I'm unsure whether they've been verified yet.

Anyone who can translate what the Russian signs say?

1. A traitor to people of Luhansk
2. Leaked info to the enemy. SMERSH

 

[VorZakone]

 

[nimic]

Of course! But it is not an emergency. Sometimes it is presented like it is a critical problem that needs to be solved asap.

To be fair to Raytheon, they're not living unless they're supplying missiles to hit weddings or funeral processions. This is an emergency to them.

 

[Raoul]

 

[Raoul]

To be fair to Raytheon, they're not living unless they're supplying missiles to hit weddings or funeral processions. This is an emergency to them.

The reality is the US is a free market nation and doesn’t have the luxury of nationalizing industries to suit its needs like China and Russia do. Therefore weapons have to be procured through private industry instead. So when you have a situation like the Ukraine war where the US is donating a lot of weapons to repel Putin, it’s the private companies that have to replenish what has been lost in existing stockpiles.

 

[Simbo]

 

[the hea]

If this is in fact from the explosion at the airbase it took the projectile about 27 seconds to travel the distance to the target so it flew at a speed of around 800km/h

 

[goalscholes]

Engels is pretty far from the border (maybe even further away than Moscow?) Is that the furthest target the Ukrainians have hit?

 

[stefan92]

Engels is pretty far from the border (maybe even further away than Moscow?) Is that the furthest target the Ukrainians have hit?

Considering currently occupied areas Engels is a striking distance of about 800-850km from Ukraine, Moskau about 700-750km, so yes it is a bit further than Moscow.

And I wouldn't be sure that thus actually was an Ukrainian strike. Yes, you can hear something flying overhead and than see the explosion, but as you can't see what it is I currently wouldn't rule out an out of control Tu-160 or Tu-95 crashing.

 

[Dans]

Back to the Soviet Union.

Once a KGB agent, Always a KGB agent.

Here is an article by Khrushchev's granddaughter. It is from 2014, part of her book (The Lost Khrushchev: A Journey Into the Gulag of the Russian Mind).

It is shocking for me that the European Union had no idea what was going on in Russia, and took zero measures back then. Zero preperation. What were the foreign ministries and the spy agencies of the European countries doing all this time? Why they did not warn Merkel and the other European leaders that Russia is turning into the Soviet Union?

https://www.newsweek.com/once-kgb-agent-always-kgb-agent-251120

I honestly think that after 50 years of cold war, the Europeans were hoping the threat of Russia would just dissolve as they transitioned to a "normal" market economy. They almost buried there heads in the sand expecting it to be over allowing everyone to concentrate on making money, Russia included. Of course, that the money making concentrated itself in the hands of a few thanks to the remnants of the rotten communist system and the general lack of consideration for the populace (something I feel we see more and more in US and UK btw) has led to full on corruption and control although China has been a more palatable, better thought out version of Russia. Remember, the EU had as one of it's original goals (as the EEC) to counter the economic prowess of the US and Japan (later then China of course). The way China grew was to European advantage though (cheap goods, cheap labour for multinationals), the way Russia grew was as a Mafiosi state, but also to our advantage - bountiful resources. In both cases, we are still economically bound to both, but have been doing so well in Europe that it was easier to ignore all the unsavoury aspects of both China and Russia which have unfortunately proven to be much more sinister and troublesome than I think anyone wanted to believe they would be.

 

[Rajma]

Considering currently occupied areas Engels is a striking distance of about 800-850km from Ukraine, Moskau about 700-750km, so yes it is a bit further than Moscow.

And I wouldn't be sure that thus actually was an Ukrainian strike. Yes, you can hear something flying overhead and than see the explosion, but as you can't see what it is I currently wouldn't rule out an out of control Tu-160 or Tu-95 crashing.

It’s certainly not a drone then as was initially speculated given the speed of the object? It would either be a cruise missile or malfunctioned Tu?

 

[stefan92]

It’s certainly not a drone then as was initially speculated given the speed of the object? It would either be a cruise missile or malfunctioned Tu?

At least not the typical propeller drone like a Bayraktar. The calculated speed matches a typical cruise missile, but also the travelling speed of those bombers.

However Ukraine does possess some old jet powered Tu-141 reconnaissance drones, which could in theory carry a warhead for a suicide mission and would fly at that speed, so a modified Ukrainian drone is indeed a possibility, and considering that Ukraine gets a lot of intel from NATO as well as from their more modern drones this would be a useful way to bin this old stuff.

 

[VorZakone]

 

[Rajma]

At least not the typical propeller drone like a Bayraktar. The calculated speed matches a typical cruise missile, but also the travelling speed of those bombers.

However Ukraine does possess some old jet powered Tu-141 reconnaissance drones, which could in theory carry a warhead for a suicide mission and would fly at that speed, so a modified Ukrainian drone is indeed a possibility, and considering that Ukraine gets a lot of intel from NATO as well as from their more modern drones this would be a useful way to bin this old stuff.

The reason I’m inclined to reject the idea of some out of control Tu Russian bomber is because there was another incident at another airbase hosting these strategic bombers around the same time. Meaning it was definitely a planned and coordinated attack from Ukrainian side.

 

[stefan92]

The reason I’m inclined to reject the idea of some out of control Tu Russian bomber is because there was another incident at another airbase hosting these strategic bombers around the same time. Meaning it was definitely a planned and coordinated attack from Ukrainian side.

Good point, somehow I missed that there were two incidents

 

[Simbo]

There's been talk of a so called 'black box' project by Ukraine to develop their own deep strike capability. Rumoured to be a 1000km range drone. So, I think that is what is driving the drone speculation.

 

[Simbo]

Appears it didn't stop their plans for the day.

 

[the hea]

Air defenses are active in most of the major cities in Ukraine right now.

 

[VorZakone]

 

[The Firestarter]

Why he driving an S class and not some Russian Lada

 

[phelans shorts]

Why he driving an S class and not some Russian Lada

 

[VorZakone]

Why he driving an S class and not some Russian Lada

Too many backup Lada's would make the bridge collapse?

 

[The Firestarter]

Too many backup Lada's would make the bridge collapse?

Maybe they had only waterproof mercs

 

[the hea]

 

[the hea]

 

[VorZakone]

 

[VorZakone]

Interesting...

 

[Raoul]

This is very revealing. If the Ukrainians can cobble together new capabilities from disparate sources contributed by many nations then each nation can claim they aren't responsible for it.

 

[Raoul]

Appears it didn't stop their plans for the day.

Surprised the Russians still have enough missiles to keep these attacks up, especially given that most get shot down. Seems like an act of late stage desperation to cripple Ukrainian infrastructure before the worst of winter sets in. Either that or they've simply been reduced to pointless terrorism.

 

[Raoul]

If going through Opération Serval was fairly popular in the eyes of the French, why would giving Putin the middle finger be a step too far? And besides, doesn't Macron have a military industrial complex to satisfy after a bunch of contracts were lost to the British and the Americans?

Since there is no election on the horizon, nothing should stop him from telling it like it is to the cnut in the Kremlin.

I think he's trying to frame the French position as the rational diplomatic option that is perceived as the interlocutor that pushed the peace process. It won't work of course since neither RU or UKR sides are going to back down from their positions anytime soon.

 

[Raoul]

 

[Rajma]

 

[Rajma]

Not too bad, when those additional 6 NASAMS and 3 IRIS-T systems will be delivered in the upcoming months that percentage might enter into 90+% territory.

 

[The United]

Surprised the Russians still have enough missiles to keep these attacks up, especially given that most get shot down. Seems like an act of late stage desperation to cripple Ukrainian infrastructure before the worst of winter sets in. Either that or they've simply been reduced to pointless terrorism.

It's not exactly surprising though because the western intelligence estimations are not always accurate. Plus spouting shites on internet by various people can make it worse.

It's why I said, 1 to 6 ratio or whatever men power loss should not be used to predict the combat capability of the Russians.