Russian invasion of Ukraine

[Gabriel]

On a related note - Russian have announced that soldiers who destroy Leopard tanks get a bonus of about 1k$.

Oh good. Motivating soldiers to die doing some stupid shit for a bunch of money.

And that is how you get inflated claims. Kind of like the Luftwaffe in ww2 - you got medals for every X number of kills. And so they tended to pad their numbers, like one pilot in north Africa who claimed to have shot down 5 hurricanes in one day. Problem was the RAF lost no hurricanes that day.

And the system is based on superiors reporting their subordinates destroying said tanks.

>"Happy to hear you destroyed that tank, comrade Mobik."
>"I-I did? Yes of course comrade sir."
>"Here's your $300 reward as promised."
>"I thought it was $1000?"
>"Ohh sorry my mistake here is your $200 reward as promised, or would you prefer a bullet to the back of your neck and $100 to your next of kin?"
>"Thank you comrade sir."

[Cynical Asshole]

And the system is based on superiors reporting their subordinates destroying said tanks.

>"Happy to hear you destroyed that tank, comrade Mobik."
>"I-I did? Yes of course comrade sir."
>"Here's your $300 reward as promised."
>"I thought it was $1000?"
>"Ohh sorry my mistake here is your $200 reward as promised, or would you prefer a bullet to the back of your neck and $100 to your next of kin?"
>"Thank you comrade sir."

No need for that. All the bonuses are to be paid at the end of the war...provided any survivors are entitled to it.

[YUPPIE]

Should Hungary be considered one of Russia's firmest allies now? Orban has long been a sycophant of Putin's, but now Hungary is holding Ukrainian POWs hostage.

Ukraine said it has established the location of 11 captured defenders who, after being captured by the Russians, are being held on the territory of Hungary.

This is reported by Oleh Kotenko, Commissioner for issues of persons missing under special circumstances.

[Gabriel]

Should Hungary be considered one of Russia's firmest allies now?

In the same sense that you should be considered the foremost expert on geopolitics.

[YUPPIE]

In the same sense that you should be considered the foremost expert on geopolitics.

Why is Hungary providing passage for Ukrainian POWs at the hands of Russians? That's beyond merely treasonous for an EU member.

[Gabriel]

Why is Hungary providing passage for Ukrainian POWs at the hands of Russians? That's beyond merely treasonous for an EU member.

Because Orban is a piece of shit.

[Cynical Asshole]

Because Orban is a piece of shit.

I can't argue with that.

Austria, Hungary, Serbia and Turkey seem to have an unhealthy affinity for Putler.

[YUPPIE]

Why do you want war to be exciting?

I don't want it to be exciting in the sense I'd find it entertaining. I just thought the counteroffensive would be like a metaphorical fireball explosion that'd completely catch the Russians offguard, complete one-sided slaughter and advance.

[Poopymonster]

True, my point was just that using drafted soldiers wasn't a good indicator of that; since large countries have used that before in unsuccesful unpopular minor wars.

Specifically since Russia has a conscript army the general idea is that you have trained the conscripts in advance and have equipment in storage ready before a major war. That's why officially Russia had about 3k Tanks in 2022 and 10k in storage ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia...ipment_summary ).

However, since the war isn't that popular in Russia it wasn't possible to mobilise the personnel that was already trained, and instead they drafted new ones.
To be mostly trained in place, since Russia doesn't have a tradition of separate training regiments.

And most of the tanks in storage were actually not usable and Oryx did already in February report that they lost at least 2k tanks - https://www.oryxspioenkop.com/2022/0...equipment.html https://edition.cnn.com/2023/02/09/e...-ml/index.html


The second part is an important consideration for a total war. You don't only need people in uniform, but also people making the military hardware.

Currently the US is spending 3.6% of GDP on defense; SIPRI estimated that Russia spent 4.1% during 2022, and Ukraine spent 3.1% in 2021.
Both of those figures may look impressive, but only for peace-time.

During WWII the US figure was above 40%; in Germany it reached 75% - for comparison Ukraine was at 34% in 2022 (with a smaller GDP) - but that doesn't include foreign donations as far as I understand.

Russia is trying to increase their spending - but not those levels, due to a number of reasons - corruption, and that the war isn't popular enough in Russia.

- - - Updated - - -


On a related note - Russian have announced that soldiers who destroy Leopard tanks get a bonus of about 1k$.

I know it predates it, but that sounds so American it's almost a bullet ridden elementary school child.
No, we can't pay you more. There is no money to do it.
There is a financial bonus for achieving X.

[Azadina]

I don't want it to be exciting in the sense I'd find it entertaining. I just thought the counteroffensive would be like a metaphorical fireball explosion that'd completely catch the Russians offguard, complete one-sided slaughter and advance.

You thought. There's the whole problem. There's no success to be had with that premise.

[enigma77]

In the same sense that you should be considered the foremost expert on geopolitics.

Hahaha what a world that'd be

[YUPPIE]

Putin has made a number of alarming threats today, all of which won't be cited for too much fearmongering. But he basically said he can kill Zelenksy (or anyone specific) at any point, any time, but didn't give an answer to why he hasn't.

Russian President Vladimir Putin assures that he can "destroy any building in the centre of Kyiv" without nuclear weapons, but does not do this "for a number of reasons"; yet, the Russian dictator refused to reveal those reasons.

"If we destroyed five Patriot systems near Kyiv, what would stop us from destroying any building or structure in the centre of Kyiv? There are no such restrictions. We don't do that for a number of reasons." Responding to a question on why won’t the Russians do it, Putin replied: "There are many of them [reasons – ed.]. I'll tell you later."

[Calfredd]

Putin has made a number of alarming threats today, all of which won't be cited for too much fearmongering. But he basically said he can kill Zelenksy (or anyone specific) at any point, any time, but didn't give an answer to why he hasn't.

So once again he's full of crap and once again you lap it all up.

[YUPPIE]

These two sentences kinda seem at odds with each other. What was that thing about not looking at this war like a video game...

It's not but remember Zelenksy said it's important for people to keep remembering this war is happening. I'm extremely vigiliant, borderline obsessed, with keeping up in every news feed

[Forogil]

"If we destroyed five Patriot systems near Kyiv, what would stop us from destroying any building or structure in the centre of Kyiv? There are no such restrictions. We don't do that for a number of reasons." Responding to a question on why won’t the Russians do it, Putin replied: "There are many of them [reasons – ed.]. I'll tell you later."

The operative word in that quote is "If".

BTW I tried to search for recent statements by Putin on Kiev and also got the following gems:

And, as [Russian President Vladimir] Putin said yesterday, one of the objectives was to demilitarize Ukraine. In fact, this objective has largely been achieved. Ukraine is using fewer and fewer of its weapons. And it is using more and more weapons provided by Western countries,” Peskov said.

https://www.thezimbabwemail.com/worl...-accomplished/

President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that any further mobilisation would depend on what Russia wanted to achieve in the war in Ukraine, adding that he faced a question only he could answer - should Russia try to take Kyiv again?

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world...in/ar-AA1cwFzX

I think they are genuine, but they could be parody for all I know.

[Elder Millennial]

And, as [Russian President Vladimir] Putin said yesterday, one of the objectives was to demilitarize Ukraine. In fact, this objective has largely been achieved. Ukraine is using fewer and fewer of its weapons. And it is using more and more weapons provided by Western countries,” Peskov said.

The Russians really are ...ripped straight out of 1984.

"We have demilitarized Ukraine of Russian weapons...so Ukraine could become way more militarized with Western weapons."

What does the word "de-militarize" even mean for the Russians? Are they suggesting that modern Western weapons are somehow not weapons?

The Russians have really completely given up on making any sense at all, like you truly have to drink the Russian double-think Kool-Aid for anything to make sense. Or you have to be an absolute fucking idiot.

[YUPPIE]

African leaders only came to Ukraine to ask for suspension of Putin's arrest warrant

https://kyivindependent.com/podolyak...nt-suspension/

[Elder Millennial]

African leaders only came to Ukraine to ask for suspension of Putin's arrest warrant

https://kyivindependent.com/podolyak...nt-suspension/

Do you even read your own fucking sources? Do you?

That's not what the article says.

What is says was that it was their number one priority at this time, but reason it is their number one priority is because they have serious issues tied to the lack of food and the constraints on Russian fertilizer shipments.

[YUPPIE]

Do you even read your own fucking sources? Do you?

That's not what the article says.

What is says was that it was their number one priority at this time, but reason it is their number one priority is because they have serious issues tied to the lack of food and the constraints on Russian fertilizer shipments.

that's exactly what it said. They should be looking to turn against Putin for this, not rationalize it

[Corvus]

The African leaders had their meeting with pootie and told him the war must stop, only for him to interrupt and lecture them, saying everything was the West's fault. They and Ukraine had started the war, they were responsible for rising food prices as Ukraine was shipping grain to rich countries. And when told all children must be returned pootie said they were 'saving' them.