Ukraine

[Animalmother]

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-60592658
The world's most hated games company removes the world's most hated country from Fifa 22

[eny]

Great thread on the implications of Russia's flight ban and sanctions, which will effectively wipe out Russia's aviation industry in 3 weeks or so. From void insurance, no part supply and lapsed maintenance schedules, it will have to start from scratch, after the war is over.

[Wrathbone]

That 3 mile Russian convoy closing in on Kyiv which grew and grew to a 40 mile convoy has apparently not been able to advance for a couple of days and there is speculation that they can't get enough fuel or food. Putin has successfully created Ukraine's biggest ever traffic jam. Regardless of whether he eventually manages to take Ukraine (let alone hold it for any length of time), this is going to be the future textbook for how not to launch an invasion. It's clear now that Putin doesn't have a strategic thought in his head - he's just another cult-of-personality lunatic.

EDIT - The more I think about this, the more I realise exactly how insane it is. This invasion was being prepared for months. I can understand Russia underestimating the resistance they'd meet from Ukraine as I think that's amazed everyone, but did they seriously not plan for the possibility that they'd have to arrange basic logistics for reserve forces? Fuel and food are considerations you'd make for a family day trip to the beach, for crying out loud!

[Alan]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/20 ... pt-foiled/

The Russians may have tipped off Ukraine about a Russian plot to assassinate Zelensky….

[Raid]

I dread to think of the logistics of a convoy that size. If one vehicle breaks down (and I reckon that happens a lot when the Russians still make use of Soviet-era vehicles), the whole convoy stops as they move it out of the way. Do they all stop for refuelling at once? How long does it take to refuel a 40 mile convoy? How does the road surface react to that much armour driving over it? Do areas of the road become impassable? It's pretty easy to predict the path of a convoy like that, so how often do they have to stop to remove booby traps set by the locals?

While I wouldn't put it past the poorly-trained Russian military to have simply not brought enough petrol with them, I suspect it's vastly more complicated to move that many vehicles at once than we realise.

[Wrathbone]

While I wouldn't put it past the poorly-trained Russian military to have simply not brought enough petrol with them, I suspect it's vastly more complicated to move that many vehicles at once than we realise.

I'm sure you're right, but when your principal military advantage is in sheer numbers, logistics should not be a surprise factor in an invasion that has had extensive preparation time.

[Raid]

Sorry, I only half made my point there, which was that it may appear to have ground to a halt, but in fact it's just slow-going with a convoy that size. These stoppages may be planned. It's the only way I can make sense of it.

[Sly Boots]

See, I think the latter point is the most likely.

[Wrathbone]

I don't think they are planned. Yesterday the US said they believed it was due to supply problems and today the MoD seem to agree, adding that there are signs of mechanical breakdowns. If this is planned or a deception, they're doing a great job of looking hapless.

I don't see how stopping makes any strategic sense either. If their intent is to bomb the hell out of Kyiv before moving in, why wouldn't they be moving the convoy to encircle the city or at least move closer? If the convoy suddenly springs into action, the rear end of it is going to be 40 miles behind the assault.

[Animalmother]

I think this whole thing hinged on the cold weather making the ground frozen and passable to vehicles. It's turned into mud by now so they're stuck to the roads which are now clogged full of half knackered trucks and tanks. That convoy wasn't supposed to happen. Apparently it's not even properly defended by aircraft, a disaster just waiting to happen.

I've watched so many videos now of Russian conscripts crying to their mothers over the phone that I think my brain is broken. It's just fucking cruel what's happening.

[Lenny Solidus]

Lukashenko’s infamous ‘accidental battle map exposing’ a clear indicator this was an invasion attempt months and months in the making stepping stone to Moldova and beyond, yet something feels off about the entire thing. Sure, they have already proved a decent degree of incompetence but that?

Does anyone have word on the proposed one million bounty a Russian businessman is said to have put on Putin? It's harder and harder to discern anything from outright propaganda at this point.

[eny]

Some strange stirrings are afoot: Russia is possibly preparing a false flag attack towards its own territory. Russian missile systems within Ukraine have been oriented towards Russia, and there are reports of kidnapping Ukrainian civilians, and "strange busses"—the premise being they are replacing the population of the targeted settlements...

[Achtung Englander]

I dread to think of the logistics of a convoy that size. If one vehicle breaks down (and I reckon that happens a lot when the Russians still make use of Soviet-era vehicles), the whole convoy stops as they move it out of the way. Do they all stop for refuelling at once? How long does it take to refuel a 40 mile convoy? How does the road surface react to that much armour driving over it? Do areas of the road become impassable? It's pretty easy to predict the path of a convoy like that, so how often do they have to stop to remove booby traps set by the locals?

While I wouldn't put it past the poorly-trained Russian military to have simply not brought enough petrol with them, I suspect it's vastly more complicated to move that many vehicles at once than we realise.

Fucking Operation Market Garden had a greater level of success than these lot

[Achtung Englander]

listen guys - get off Twitter, there is a lot of bullshit flying around and in war most of the stories are crap. The Russian soldiers calling home in desperation are verifiable because you can see who they are.

This is really fascinating

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/03/02/euro ... index.html

[eny]

Get off Twitter? Really? Some of the most incise and up to date reporting is on there...It just depends on your power of discernment and choice of who to follow, and how you receive the information presented. I tend to trust ex-service of all levels when they backup info with their own on-hand experience, similarly with intelligence sources and certain people on the ground in Ukraine. There are many accounts on there recording events and OSINT locating all the evidence. It's not the information that is the problem, it is the interpretation of it.