Russia's War Against Ukraine

[GDS_Starfury]

I have no reason to think that a mid 80s soviet army was no less corrupt and poorly maintained.
I want a 1987 do-over!  >:(

If you can find a copy of the book "Mig Pilot" by John Barron, about the defection of Viktor Belenko who flew his Mig 25 to Japan in 1976, it has a ton of anecdotes about how corrupt the Soviet military was at that time. It is kind of a biography of Belenko and covers a bunch of ground about what it was like to be a Soviet fighter pilot at that time. Unfortunately, the book is now pretty expensive, but copies are available on ebay and abebooks.

I have it and Ive read it a few time.  one of the takeaways was the protests of wives over there husbands being drunk on hydraulic alcohol from the planes they "serviced".

[MengJiao]

I have it and Ive read it a few time.  one of the takeaways was the protests of wives over there husbands being drunk on hydraulic alcohol from the planes they "serviced".

  People will drink some odd stuff:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torpedo_juice

[GDS_Starfury]

that was also a huge problem is the soviet navy

[steve58]

Ukrainian medieval armorer contributes to war effort

Very cool... :clap:

[Uberhaus]

The UK Ministry of Defence has reported that the Russians have used a thermobaric weapon:
https://twitter.com/DefenceHQ/status/1501621370614173701?s=20&t=MlNNyIQs05JPucb64P7EHA

The Russian MoD has confirmed the use of the TOS-1A weapon system in Ukraine. The TOS-1A uses thermobaric rockets, creating incendiary and blast effects

Perhaps, in an attempt to justify Russian actions, nonsense of US DOD developing biological weapons in Ukraine are being promoted by Russia and now China.  https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/china-peddles-russia-s-claim-that-u-s-has-bioweapons-in-ukraine/ar-AAUMOsc?ocid=uxbndlbing 
The experts on destroying the world at the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists can explain best what the truth is.  https://thebulletin.org/2022/02/us-official-russian-invasion-of-ukraine-risks-release-of-dangerous-pathogens/

The labs in Ukraine are not bioweapons facilities. The US government maintains that they are public and animal health labs operated by host countries. Although a long-running Russian disinformation campaign has painted a picture of a network of US military labs in Ukraine, Georgia, and other former Soviet republics involved in bioweapons or risky research, Pope said the labs conduct peaceful scientific research and disease surveillance. Outside experts have also said Pope's program is not a covert bioweapons operation.
...
The pathogens in Ukrainian labs vary by facility, Pope said, but some can be characterized as presenting a concern in the Ukrainian environment. As an example, he cited African swine fever virus, which is highly contagious in pigs and has caused hundreds of outbreaks in Ukraine since 2012. Some labs, he said, may hold pathogen strains left over from the Soviet bioweapons program, preserved in freezers for research purposes.
...
"What we have today and what these countries maintain are small amounts of various pathogens that by and large are things that are collected out of their environment that they need for research to be able to legitimately surveil disease and develop vaccines against," [Robert Pope, the director of the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program, a 30-year-old Defense Department program] said.

Then there are the allegations about CW that Russia is making about Ukraine.  A military that will attack a maternity hospital https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-60675599 is capable of anything and the White House is warning of escalation.  https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-60683248

Russia could be planning a chemical or biological weapon attack in Ukraine - and "we should all be on the lookout", the White House has said.

Press secretary Jen Psaki said Russia's claims about US biological weapon labs, and chemical weapon development in Ukraine, were preposterous.

She called the false claims an "obvious ploy" to try to justify further premeditated, unprovoked attacks.

It comes after Western officials shared similar concerns about fresh attacks.

They said they were "very concerned" about the risk the war could escalate, and particularly the possibility of Russia using non-conventional weapons.

This most likely refers to chemical weapons although the term also covers tactical (small-scale) nuclear weapons, biological weapons and dirty bombs.

[GDS_Starfury]

.

[Sir Slash]

I saw Ms. Nuland testifying under oath before the Senate saying the Ukrainians had Bio-Research Labs and she was very concerned over the Russians getting possession of the materials there. So if the labs aren't doing anything potentially harmful, then why is she so concerned? And why is everyone in DC now denying there are Bio Research Labs there, claiming that the labs that are there aren't American, and aren't any danger? But whatever they are, we can't let the Russians have them. Kind of reminds me of Wuhan all over again.  ^-^

[Uberhaus]

I saw Ms. Nuland testifying under oath before the Senate saying the Ukrainians had Bio-Research Labs and she was very concerned over the Russians getting possession of the materials there. So if the labs aren't doing anything potentially harmful, then why is she so concerned? And why is everyone in DC now denying there are Bio Research Labs there, claiming that the labs that are there aren't American, and aren't any danger? But whatever they are, we can't let the Russians have them. Kind of reminds me of Wuhan all over again.  ^-^

Denying that they are bioweapons facilities, not that there are labs.  https://thebulletin.org/2022/03/in-ukrainian-cities-under-russian-attack-us-linked-research-labs-could-provide-fodder-for-future-russian-disinformation/

[GDS_Starfury]

the fox news is strong in some 

[Jarhead0331]

the fox news is strong in some 

Starfury...give up the Fox news shit already. If someone says something that you disagree with, say something intelligent, or keep your mouth shut. Nobody is accusing you of being a jedi of MSN or CNN. 

[GDS_Starfury]

Im finding it interesting to be on the other side of the whole "yellow cake" story line.

[Toonces]

I read MiG Pilot donkeys ago, and I remember it to be a fantastic book.  Gosh, that must have been 30+ years ago at this point. 

[Toonces]

I got to see that doctrine in action at the US Army's National Training Center (NTC) where the OPFOR used it in an "attack" on the US 3rd ACR in October, 1987. It was awesome. And even though I knew it wasn't "real" it was a little scary. Echelons of OPFOR tanks (read "Soviet") behind a massive rolling curtain of smoke, advancing up a wide valley.

I can't even imagine what that must have been like.  Impressive seems to be inadequate to describe it.

[MengJiao]

I saw Ms. Nuland testifying under oath before the Senate saying the Ukrainians had Bio-Research Labs and she was very concerned over the Russians getting possession of the materials there. So if the labs aren't doing anything potentially harmful, then why is she so concerned? And why is everyone in DC now denying there are Bio Research Labs there, claiming that the labs that are there aren't American, and aren't any danger? But whatever they are, we can't let the Russians have them. Kind of reminds me of Wuhan all over again.  ^-^

It's always bad when war zones and bio-research overlap.  Pretty much any lab at all would have some things that should not be messed with by untrained people.

Meanwhile:

Russia's Ministry of Defense has confirmed that Russian military conscripts have been involved in the invasion of Ukraine and that some were taken prisoner by Ukrainian forces, just a day after President Vladimir Putin insisted conscripts were not part of the assault.

[ComradeP]

Footage from yesterday (March 9th) showed street fighting in Voznesenk, a city with the first road bridge across the Southern Bug north of Mykolaiv.

There's a rail bridge at Pisky, closer to Mykolaiv, but the Ukrainians seem to be able to hold the Southern Bug line for now.

Other footage showed a train moving into Kherson presumably from the Crimea. It looks like it's doing a test drive to check the track, but it's hard to tell.

As a wargamer and armchair general, I have WWII footage in mind of the last "friendly" train wrecking the track as it moves back, but in this case little damage seems to have been done to the infrastructure in the area. Just like not blocking/blowing the Dnieper bridges, it's either a political decision or a military oversight.

Both the Russians and Ukrainians are clearly damaging infrastructure on purpose. In what remains a problematic area for Ukrainian forces, the Kherson-Dnieper-Southern Bug front, infrastructure damage seems less extensive.

A week ago the Ukrainians did drop an overpass with a Russian tank on it on the rail line heading north-east from Mykolaiv.