Ukraine

[Solitaire]

I wonder if we'll see something similar happen in Taiwan in the coming days or weeks.

Very good point. Obviously Russia and China are chums now, enough that Putin moved so much hardware and troops away from their border in order to invade Crimea. Why wouldn't China make a move now?

btw, interesting to bring up China. Russia wouldn't win a conventional war against the US and NATO combined forces, they simply don't have enough soldiers - unless China got involved. Then it's WWIII for sure, with the threat of atomics. Imagine how WWII would have played out, had all the major actors had thousands of atomics and global reach via ICBMs? We might have gotten off easy in wars, last century, compared to what we may be facing.

One more thing: I've been corresponding for quite some time with a lovely young Ukrainian lady. She's a kindergarten teacher, and a sweet person overall. As of yesterday, my text messages are not being delivered. She's in a town to the east of Kyiv, and near the northern border.

It's easy to forget that this isn't the first time Russia has invaded Ukraine in recent years; Crimea is still officially recognised as being part of Ukraine, and that's been occupied since 2014.

I had mentioned it, pages ago now - this, and the Donbass region being terrorized by puppet Ukrainian separatists, obviously funded and supplied by Russia. There were many, many civilian deaths at the time, many more than the media saw fit to bother reporting. Sure, Crimea was in the news for a bit, but then it was all forgotten about. Just how things are, Crimea belongs to Russia now, they even built a long bridge onto the mainland of Ukraine, back then, how convenient. Surely that bridge was just so babushi could get their piroshki to market on time? Fact is, nobody gave a shit about all this, eight years ago, despite the devastating loss of life. I'm not at all surprised that this is happening. Putin just needed to revamp his military, add in some modern hardware, and here we go.

Was nice knowing you all, indeed, said just in case

[Hatredsheart]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-60515626

[Achtung Englander]

this is poignant and has a chilling ending

[Animalmother]

So the Russian's have captured Chernobyl and I was wondering why the fuck would they want that. You set up a base there and nobody it going to attack or shell it for fear of damaging the reactor, sneaky cunts.

[eny]

They are trying to find the Wish Granter, they must be stopped!

[Solitaire]

The live newsfeed from RT is absolutely fucking insane. White dudes with both American and British accents talking up putin, trump, the GOP, etc, saying how the poor Russians were brutalized in the Donbass region all these years - I mean, there's just an endless stream of idiotic propaganda that's being spouted out. I don't even know what to say. Let me off this goddam planet.

[Lenny Solidus]

Ukraine retakes crucial airfield near Kyiv

Ukrainian troops have recaptured an airfield in the north-west suburbs of Kyiv, a presidential adviser has told the Reuters news agency.

Our security and defence editor Deborah Haynes writes that control of the Hostomel Airfield "is thought to be key to Russia's ability to assault the capital".

She adds: "It could be used to land transport aircraft carrying troops."

https://news.sky.com/story/russia-invad ... eblog-body
There are as yet unspecified reports of Russian soldiers losing engagements ditching gear and vehicles then quickly disappearing. Mass protests all across Russia and in other countries, yes it's only been a day but perhaps things are not going exactly how Putin planned that they would when you attempt to take something by pure brute force.

[Wrathbone]

I have a couple of Russian friends, one who has lived in the UK for a long time and one who moved back there about 10 years ago, and both are ashamed of what Putin has done. It seems that huge portions of Russia at all levels are against this. Would it be too much to hope for this to unexpectedly backfire on Putin to the point where he’s yanked from power in disgrace? Or is the network of oligarch corruption so entrenched that it’s never going to happen?

[Lenny Solidus]

I'm sure you've all heard the story of the The Ghost Of Kyiv by now. Could be false, could be true.


Either way, it is giving the people of Ukraine a symbol of hope and strengthened defiance.

[Pew-Pew]

Yeah I wouldn't trust that at all. Probably propaganda.

[Animalmother]

There's stories of Russian soldiers just giving up once they talk to the locals, finding out that they aren't liberating the country. Probably not true either. I really wouldn't want to be a soldier on either side trying to surrender, I can imagine your chances of survival are pretty low.

[eny]

Yeah, the Russian Army is very poorly trained and led. There are many young conscripts who are finding out that they aren't on the training mission they were told they were. A whole pathfinder platoon surrendered yesterday. There is footage of a grandmother challenging a non-plussed soldier as to why he is there, and offering him sunflower seeds (national flower of Ukraine) to put in his pocket so that something good will grow from his dead body once he dies on Ukrainian soil.

13 soldiers on Snake Island were killed because they told the Russian ship that asked them to surrender to go fuck itself.
The Ghost of Kyiv is very much a thing, and there is footage of him shooting down a Russian jet.
1000 Russian soldiers reported having been killed so far.

There is also footage of a tracked carrier swerving to run over the top of a civilian car, then reversing back over it. Later footage shows civilians trying to bend the wreckage and get the elderly driver who survived out. There are other reports that saboteurs appropriated the vehicle to do this, and civilian conscripts captured them.

The Klitchko brothers have taken up arms too, one of them is the Mayor of Kyiv.

Putin is a madman and is fully aware and paranoid of the fate that faces him...sooner or later...which is worrying.

[Achtung Englander]

I am not a military strategist but if the Ukranian army was a walkover shouldn't the Russian army now be in control of Kyiv?

Its approaching 48 hours with over 150K troops.

This is perfect army intelligence for NATO. They are learning a lot about Russian tactics. Putin is such a fool.

[Achtung Englander]

The live newsfeed from RT is absolutely fucking insane. White dudes with both American and British accents talking up putin, trump, the GOP, etc, saying how the poor Russians were brutalized in the Donbass region all these years - I mean, there's just an endless stream of idiotic propaganda that's being spouted out. I don't even know what to say. Let me off this goddam planet.

why the fuck are you watching RT?

[Achtung Englander]

I have a couple of Russian friends, one who has lived in the UK for a long time and one who moved back there about 10 years ago, and both are ashamed of what Putin has done. It seems that huge portions of Russia at all levels are against this. Would it be too much to hope for this to unexpectedly backfire on Putin to the point where he’s yanked from power in disgrace? Or is the network of oligarch corruption so entrenched that it’s never going to happen?

It boils down to the military. If the Ukranian army humuliates them, than yes I can see the generals looking to find a scapegoat, ie, Putin.