Russia's War Against Ukraine

[JasonPratt]

I saw that reprisal strike, in the neighborhood of the nuclear plant (!!), going by on a news crawl while watching something else, and I thought I saw something about how the missiles were ANTI-AIR??!

I haven't seen further information along that line, and I'm left trying to decide how plausible that is. (I assume it's possible.)

[bobarossa]

Ruskies have been using S-300 missiles for ground attack for a couple months, at least.  They are very low on regular ones.  Heck, they've even used anti ship missiles to attack ground targets.

[GDS_Starfury]

so heres some trivia.
with the most recent command change, Surovikin is the ninth commander of RU's invasion of Ukraine and few have lasted longer than 30 days.
its good to maintain a coherent chain of command.
while at the same time canning the top two people whos name I cant be bothered to remember.

[Pete Dero]

Regional authorities across Ukraine report missile and rocket attacks (From CNN's Tim Lister and Julia Kesaieva)

Authorities in several Ukrainian cities are reporting rocket and missile attacks Monday morning.

In central Dnipropetrovsk, Valentyn Reznichenko, head of the regional military administration, said there had been a "massive rocket attack on the region. There are dead and wounded."

Authorities in northeastern Kharkiv also reported attacks. Oleh Syniehubov, head of the Kharkiv military administration, said there were explosions in the city.

Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said "initial reports indicate three strikes on Kharkiv."

"The impact was at an energy infrastructure facility. Some areas of the city lost power, there is no water supply," he said.

In the south, Vitalii Kim, head of the Mykolaiv region civil military administration, said Tu-95 bombers had launched waves of missile attacks, with 47 "projectiles" fired. 

Air defenses had shot down three rockets, he said. The Russians were also using Iranian-made attack drones, he added.

Explosions were also reported early Monday in the western city of Lviv and the capital, Kyiv, where at least five people were killed. Casualties were also reported in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia after a Russian missile strike destroyed an apartment block.

A children's playground was among the sites hit by a rocket or missile attack on Ukraine's capital Kyiv on Monday morning.

[Anguille]

All civilian targets...the Russians have just no honor. Shame on them.

[JasonPratt]

Retired Major-General Tim Cross, speaking on Times Radio, opined that Russian ordnance handling has been so sloppy, that a truck transporting ammo might have detonated while crossing the bridge:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/kremlin-under-scrutiny-as-bridge-blast-could-have-been-result-of-military-logistics-error/ar-AA12LDPj?ocid=entnewsntp&pc=U531&cvid=0361b199a0944a14b325231b98e982f0

That would still be a freakish coincidence to ignite the oil tankers parked on the bridge, but it does open up some more possibilities of direct sabotage.

[Gusington]

'Military logistics error.' Oh vey.

A BBC anchor ran for cover in Kiev as Russian missiles were raining down around him live on tv.

[Gusington]

Is anyone taking the saber rattling from Belarus with anything more than a grain of salt?

[GDS_Starfury]

no

[GDS_Starfury]

if anything, their direct involvement might lead to lubi being overthrown by another revolution.

[Skoop]

I would agree, belorus wants no part of this war.  It would be political suicide.  I think lukashenko sees his fate tied to Putin and he's trying to do something short of war, but it's worthless at this stage.  I've talked to several belos on dcs servers while flying, and none of them want anything to do with an attack on Ukraine.  In fact after Ukraine war is over, look to belorus as the next pro west join nato and the join eu hotspot.  Hell, if we all survive this, it may bring radical change to russia where 20 years from now we're talking about pro west governments in Russia and Russia being part of the EU.

[FarAway Sooner]

I'd love to see that.  My sense is that the reactionary and imperialist elements are much more firmly embedded in Russia than they were in those countries that Russia has occupied (or "befriended" or whatever they're calling it), but one thing they say about Russia is "No matter how much you know about Russia, you're probably going to be surprised by something that happens there soon".

[Skoop]

If nukes can be averted, Ukraine could very well be like a new wave of democratic vigor spreading through Europe, like the Arab spring 10 years ago.  Women are even rebelling in Iran, Taiwan is claiming to be inspired by Ukraine.....as we all knew this has global reach and possible setting the table for the next century.

[Gusington]

I clearly remember as I am sure you all do the mid 1990s when there was talk of Russia joining the EU and even NATO. Feels like that was 1000 years ago.

[Skoop]

Yeah I remember that as well, it's been brought up a lot this year with the "how did we come to this" discussion.

Also would add, I'd love to see some work go into US domestic politics.  Went to the Reagan library last week to see a limited time WWII exhibit and the most resonating thing for me was walking into the Reagan Presidency section and just seeing the big words "the great communicator".  I feel the bipartisan politics were what truely made Reagan successful and we should really get back to that.  I'd like to see things more purple than red vs blue.

It's tough to sell the world on democracy when our right and left are extremely toxic to each other.