Россия invades Україна | UPDATE (27 June 2024) - US/Israel in talks to supply 8 Patriot systems to Ukraine

[CitizenVectron]

 

[Jwheel86]

Obviously low on the importance scale, but

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

More indisputable evidence of Russian war crimes committed as they withdrew from the Kyiv suburbs:

 

Spoiler

Hundreds of murdered civilians discovered as Russians withdraw from towns near Kyiv (GRAPHIC IMAGES)

KYIVINDEPENDENT.COM

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As towns of Bucha and Irpin were retaken from withdrawing Russian forces, horrific photos and videos began to flow in. Ruined houses, burned-down cars, and bodies of civilians scattered around the streets. The photos appear to prove that the Russian forces carried out targeted, organized killings of civilians in Bucha, […]

 

 

[CitizenVectron]

Odessa was just hit by multiple Russian cruise missiles:

 

 

 

[Air_Delivery]

I think it goes without saying that the sactions can't be lifted until Russia acknowledges its war crimes, the soldiers are brought to justice and reparations are paid.

[CitizenVectron]

 

[CitizenVectron]

 

[PaladinSolo]

 

[PaladinSolo]

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

How the West Got Russia’s Military So, So Wrong - The Atlantic

WWW.THEATLANTIC.COM

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Good equipment and clever doctrine reveal little about how an army will perform in a war.

 

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Let me tell you a story about a military that was supposedly one of the best in the world. This military had some of the best equipment: the heaviest and most modern tanks, next-generation aircraft, and advanced naval vessels. It had invested in modernization, and made what were considered some of Europe’s most sophisticated plans for conflict. Moreover, it had planned and trained specifically for a war it was about to fight, a war it seemed extremely well prepared for and that many, perhaps most, people believed it would win.

 

All of these descriptions could apply to the Russian army that invaded Ukraine last month. But I’m talking about the French army of the 1930s. That French force was considered one of the finest on the planet. Winston Churchill believed that it represented the world’s best hope for keeping Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany at bay. As he said famously in 1933, and repeated a number of times afterward, “Thank God for the French army.”

 

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

ISW analysis for 02 April 2022:

 

Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, April 1 | Institute for the Study of War

WWW.UNDERSTANDINGWAR.ORG

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ISW assesses that the Kremlin has revised its campaign plan in Ukraine after the failure of its initial campaign to capture Kyiv and other major Ukrainian cities and its subsequent failure to adjust its operations in late March. ISW previously assessed

 

 

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Continuing Russian operations along their new main effort in eastern Ukraine made little progress on April 2, and Russian forces likely require some time to redeploy and integrate reinforcements from other axes. Ukrainian forces repelled likely large-scale Russian assaults in Donbas on April 2 and inflicted heavy casualties. Russian forces continued to capture territory in central Mariupol and will likely capture the city in the coming days. Russian units around Kyiv and in northeastern Ukraine continued to successfully withdraw into Belarus and Russia, and heavy mining in previously Russian-occupied areas is forcing Ukrainian forces to conduct slow clearing operations.

 

However, the Russian units withdrawn from northeastern Ukraine for redeployment to eastern Ukraine are heavily damaged. Russian forces likely require an extensive operational pause to refit existing units in Donbas, refit and redeploy reinforcements from other axes, and integrate these forces—pulled from several military districts that have not yet operated on a single axis—into a cohesive fighting force. We have observed no indicators of Russian plans to carry out such a pause, and Russian forces will likely fail to break through Ukrainian defenses if they continue to steadily funnel already damaged units into fighting in eastern Ukraine.

 

Key Takeaways

• Russian forces continued to capture territory in central Mariupol on April 2 and will likely capture the city within days.
• Ukrainian forces repelled several possibly large-scale Russian assaults in Donbas, claiming to destroy almost 70 Russian vehicles.
• Russian forces will likely require a lengthy operational pause to integrate reinforcements into existing force structures in eastern Ukraine and enable successful operations but appear unlikely to do so and will continue to bleed their forces in ineffective daily attacks.
• Russian forces in Izyum conducted an operational pause after successfully capturing the city on April 1 and will likely resume offensive operations to link up with Russian forces in Donbas in the coming days.
• Russia continued to withdraw forces from the Kyiv axis into Belarus and Russia. Ukrainian forces primarily conducted operations to sweep and clear previously Russian-occupied territory.
• Ukrainian forces likely repelled limited Russian attacks in Kherson Oblast.
• The Ukrainian General Staff reported that Ukrainian forces have rendered two-thirds of the 75 Russian Battalion Tactical Groups it assesses have fought in Ukraine either temporarily or permanently combat ineffective.

The Ukrainian General Staff reported on April 2 that out of the 75 Russian Battalion Tactical Groups (BTGs) it assesses have participated in operations in Ukraine, 16 BTGs have been “completely destroyed” and 34 more are currently combat ineffective and recovering.[1] ISW cannot independently confirm these numbers, but Russian forces will be unlikely to be able to resume major operations if two-thirds of the BTGs committed to fighting to date have been rendered temporarily or permanently combat ineffective.

 

The Ukrainian General Staff stated on April 2 that Belarusian forces are increasing the pace of ongoing training, but that Ukraine does not observe any indicators of preparations for a Belarusian offensive.[2] Belarusian social media users observed Belarusian air defenses redeploying towards Luninets and Slutsk (in central Belarus) on April 2, but no Belarusian forces were observed moving near the Ukrainian border.[3] ISW assesses Belarusian President Lukashenko will continue to resist Russian efforts to involve Belarus in the war in Ukraine.

 

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

"Enlightening" interview with a former Putin advisor:

 

“Russia cannot afford to lose, so we need a kind of a victory”: Sergey Karaganov on what Putin wants - New Statesman

WWW.NEWSTATESMAN.COM

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A former adviser to the Kremlin explains how Russia views the war in Ukraine, fears over Nato and China, and the fate of liberalism.

 

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A former presidential adviser to both Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin, Sergey Karaganov is honorary chair of the Moscow think tank the Council for Foreign and Defence Policy. He is associated with a number of key ideas in Russian foreign policy, from the so-called Karaganov doctrine on the rights of ethnic Russians living abroad to the principle of “constructive destruction”, also known as the “Putin doctrine”. Karaganov is close to both Putin and his foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, and he formulated many of the ideas that led to the war in Ukraine – though he has also expressed disagreement with the idea of a long-term occupation of the country.

Karaganov has promoted the concept of “Greater Eurasia” and has defended a closer partnership with China. He is known as a foreign-policy hawk, and has argued that the long reign of the West in world politics is now at an end. On 28 March the New Statesman columnist Bruno Maçães interviewed Karaganov about his views on the war – including controversial statements on Ukrainian nationhood and denazification that would be disputed by those outside Russia – and the future of the liberal international order.

 

 

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BM What do you think would be the final goal for the Kremlin at this point? What would be considered a successful outcome for the invasion?

 

SK I don’t know what the outcome of this war will be, but I think it will involve the partition of Ukraine, one way or another. Hopefully there would still be something called Ukraine left at the end. But Russia cannot afford to “lose”, so we need a kind of a victory. And if there is a sense that we are losing the war, then I think there is a definite possibility of escalation. This war is a kind of proxy war between the West and the rest –  Russia being, as it has been in history, the pinnacle of “the rest” – for a future world order. The stakes of the Russian elite are very high – for them it is an existential war.

 

 

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BM If there is a partition, would the Russia-controlled section of Ukraine preserve a nominal independence, or would it be absorbed by Russia?

 

SK If the operation is to turn Ukraine into a “friendly” state, then absorption is clearly not necessary. There might be some kind of absorption – which has happened, effectively – in the Donbas republics. Whether they will be independent or not – I think they might be. Certainly there are calls for referendums there, but how you could run referendums during a conflict I do not know. So my judgement would be that some of Ukraine will become a friendly state to Russia, other parts may be partitioned. Poland will gladly take back some of parts in the west, maybe Romanians and Hungarians will, too, because the Hungarian minority in Ukraine has been suppressed along with other minorities. But we are in a full-on war; it is too hard to predict. The war is an open-ended story.

 

 

[CitizenVectron]

 

[CitizenVectron]

 

[CitizenVectron]

These atrocities in Bucha and Irpin and other places aren't accidents or madness by overwhelmed soldiers, they were part of the plan.

 

 

[CitizenVectron]

 

[CitizenVectron]

 

[CitizenVectron]

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

2 hours ago, CitizenVectron said:

 

 

Just can't bring yourself to even mildly criticize the Kremlin, Tel Aviv?

 

I suppose that's not entirely surprising considering you're responsible for similar scenes in Gaza and Lebanon.

 

[CitizenVectron]

 

I hope this shuts up the people wanting a "compromise" ceasefire that grants Russia a bunch of new land.

[Jason]

This convinces me that the Russian conscripts really are fragging their officers by making them visible for enemy snipers. The galaxy brain genius in charge of the troops that took Chernobyl had the troops start digging trenches in the Red Forest and then, surprise, they all got radiation poisoning! 

 

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Energoatom has said Russian troops left the site after digging trenches and building fortifications in the Red Forest — an area it says is the most heavily polluted in the entire zone. Without providing details, the company said a panic broke out when the first signs of radiation sickness emerged. On Friday, the company reiterated that the greatest threat to the occupiers was likely posed by inhaling radioactive dust disturbed by their actions.

 

'Russian mutants lost this round,' Ukraine says after troops leave Chernobyl

WWW.NPR.ORG

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Ukraine's defense ministry cited two reasons for the Russian exit: military losses and radiation exposure. They likely disturbed polluted soil in the Chernobyl zone's contaminated Red...

 

[CitizenVectron]

 

 

[b_m_b_m_b_m]

5 hours ago, CitizenVectron said:

These atrocities in Bucha and Irpin and other places aren't accidents or madness by overwhelmed soldiers, they were part of the plan.

 

 

 

[CitizenVectron]

 

[CitizenVectron]

 

 

Knowing what we do about the Russian forces...I don't see how they intend to take the Ukrainian-occupied Donbas, especially with Ukrainian forces redeploying there from the north. 

[CitizenVectron]

Good thread on how Russia can't sustain this war effort without full national mobilization. And even then, the situation still favours Ukraine. Maybe it's time for Russia to be called Little Ukraine, instead of Ukraine being called Little Russia?

 

 

 

Further down the chain:

 

 

And:

 

 

[Jason]

Ukrainian Bees Attack Kills 3 Russian Soldiers, Injures 25 More: What Makes Bee Sting Deadly?

WWW.SCIENCETIMES.COM

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A swarm of bees in Ukraine attacked Russian soldiers, killing three and injuring 25 others. Read more to know why bee stings can be deadly.

[silentbob]

 

21 minutes ago, Jason said:

Ukrainian Bees Attack Kills 3 Russian Soldiers, Injures 25 More: What Makes Bee Sting Deadly?

WWW.SCIENCETIMES.COM

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A swarm of bees in Ukraine attacked Russian soldiers, killing three and injuring 25 others. Read more to know why bee stings can be deadly.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Hungary's pro-Putin PM Orban claims victory in national vote | AP News

APNEWS.COM

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BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungary's nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban declared victory in Sunday's national elections, claiming a mandate for a fourth term as a still incomplete vote count...

 

 

 

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While votes were still being tallied, it appeared clear that the question was not whether Orban’s Fidesz party would take the election, but by how much.

 

With around 91% of votes tallied, Orban’s Fidesz-led coalition had won 53%, while a pro-European opposition coalition, United for Hungary, had just over 34%, according to the National Election Office.

 

It appeared possible that Fidesz would win another constitutional majority, allowing it to continue making deep unilateral changes to the Central European nation.

 

 

[CitizenVectron]

 

[Uaarkson]

5 minutes ago, CitizenVectron said:

 

This is one of the greatest men of the 21st century, hands down.

[CitizenVectron]

Sumy Oblast now liberated

 

 

[CitizenVectron]

 

 

Zelenskyy doing a world tour of this, and no one can stop him:

 

[PaladinSolo]

 

[PaladinSolo]

Another page from the book of "Russia is shit at war" just some indiscriminate fire from a helicopter lobbing rockets into the air and using it as propaganda, lol.