Russia's War Against Ukraine

[GDS_Starfury]

oh please be true

[GDS_Starfury]

[Gusington]

^ :D I like that one  :dreamer:

[FarAway Sooner]

If that map is accurate and the Russians aren't able to counterattack that thrust into their side extending beyond Ivankiv, the Russkis are in some deep doo doo.  Does anybody know how many Russians are inside that pocket?

Star, in your map, what do the yellow and blue circles represent?

[Pete Dero]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-60946340

The heavy losses of an elite Russian regiment in Ukraine

The men in the 331st regarded themselves as the pick of Russia's army. In a video posted online last May, a general tells soldiers of the 331st Parachute Regiment that they are "the best of the best". The unit served in the Balkans, Chechnya, and the 2014 Russian intervention in the Donbas region of Ukraine, and regularly took part in Red Square parades in Moscow.
The 331st was also a showcase for Russia's policy of replacing national service soldiers with contraktniki - professionals under contract. It is understandable why the generals should have given it an important role in the invasion.

In these close-quarter battles, they have discovered what earlier VDV units learned in Afghanistan - that armoured vehicles designed to be light enough to be carried on planes do not give much protection from enemy fire.

As for the price of failure, it mounts daily. At the time of writing, BBC Newsnight had compiled a list of 39 named members of the 331st Parachute Regiment killed in Ukraine. But since none of those fatalities is more recent than the 13 March, it can be supposed that dozens more will emerge in the coming weeks.
Kostroma locals have told us they believe that around 100 members of the regiment may have died. And many families will never receive their loved one's body because it was left behind on the battlefield.

[GDS_Starfury]

another map update by Jomni.  look at those pretty blue arrows!
https://twitter.com/JominiW/status/1510116709839089664/photo/1

[MengJiao]

  More puzzles:

British high-precision weapons in Ukraine would be "legitimate targets," Russian ambassador to the UK says
From CNN's Radina Gigova in Atlanta

If Britain delivers long-range artillery weapons and anti-ship systems to Ukraine, they would be "legitimate targets" for Russian forces, Russian ambassador to the United Kingdom Andrei Kelin told Russian state news agency TASS in an interview published on Saturday.

"Any weapon deliveries are destabilizing, especially the ones mentioned by (Ben) Wallace (the British Defense Secretary)," said Kelin, according to TASS. "They exacerbate the situation and make it bloodier."


  Many questions here: 
1) usually such things are not legitimate targets?
2) what are the legitimate targets?
3) Are the Russians only hitting legitimate targets?
4) Giving the Ukrainians weapons is "destabilizing"?
5)  So what is the threat here?  The Russians might shoot at something?
6)  In what way is that unusual or worthy of remark?
7)  Isn't everything getting shot at already?
8)  Wouldn't blowing up a lot of Russian stuff actually be stabilizing?
9)   In fact, if say 87% of Russian stuff was blown up, wouldn't that be a stabilizing event?
10) if Ukraine gets enough weapons to blow up 87% of Russian stuff, wouldn't that be stability in a nutshell?
11) can the Russians guarantee things will be bloodier if their stuff gets blown up ?
12)  how?
13) can they guarantee things will be less bloody until the stuff gets there and blows up their stuff?
14) Really?
15) I think the basic dynamic is simpler: the more Russian stuff gets blown up, the more stability there will be

[GDS_Starfury]

there is no logic in how the soviets are conducting this war.
the shit thats come out of the retaken towns is soul crushing.

[Gusington]

Agreed - if you're looking for logic coming out of the Kremlin right now you will be disappointed.

[Gusington]

Hitler/Putin comparison:

https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/02/world/putin-invasion-mistakes-hitler-blake-cec/index.html

[MengJiao]

Agreed - if you're looking for logic coming out of the Kremlin right now you will be disappointed.

  I think we can translate the "Those weapons Ben Wallace mentioned are legitimate targets" to: "Now you are scaring us and we don't like it, but we have sort of run out of threats since we
have threatened everybody with anything we can think of and we are busy blowing up things and kidnapping people as fast as we can so you will just have to wait and we will blow up
your scary stuff later if we get a chance."

  Oddly enough, this sort of leaves the possibility open that the scary British stuff might do some "destabilizing" and even "bloody" damage before they are "legitimate" targets.

  The original NYT article where some of this about Ben Wallace appeared also pointed out that the US is helping "In days" to get T72 tanks into Ukraine for the Ukrainians.  It seems these
might be Polish T72s since Poland is getting the Abrams from the US to replace their T72s.  Eventually, maybe all the old stuff from the Cold War might find a home or a junkyard in the
Ukraine.

[Gusington]

A good basic breakdown of some of the anti-tank weapons Ukraine is using against Russia:

[Con]

Lots of reports coming in from the newly liberated Ukrainian villages of mass murder, rapes and summary executions of civilians with hands tied etc.
It's most likely true and if that's the case the Ukrainians are justifiably going to want Russian blood.  This will harden the Ukrainians to any kind of peace deal making the Russians pay will take precedence.
Con

[Dammit Carl!]

Lots of reports coming in from the newly liberated Ukrainian villages of mass murder, rapes and summary executions of civilians with hands tied etc.
It's most likely true and if that's the case the Ukrainians are justifiably going to want Russian blood.  This will garden the Ukrainians to any kind of peace deal making the Russians pay will take precedence.
Con

Egad.  See the Russians took the Nazis' "hearts and minds," approach to locals.

[planetbrain]

Who takes weapons & supplies from western borders into Ukraine & how is this achieved?  How do Ukrainians get training for these weapons?
Why are there any questions as to war crimes? This war was started by Putin for no valid reasons & laid much property to waste & many thousands of people have been murdered. Murder is a major crime. The perpetrators must be held to account!
Yet we are apparently gobsmacked that Biden says a regime change in Russia is in order.
There is nothing as inhuman as humans (some anyway).