Russian invasion of Ukraine

[Elder Millennial]

A realistic way for NATO (or some NATO countries, especially Poland and Romania) to aid Ukraine with direct use of force, but without necessarily escalating to a direct engagement would be the signing of a 3 way treaty between willing NATO countries (like France), those bordering Ukraine, and Ukraine + Moldova which would allow NATO or NATO aligned countries to interdict using air defenses Russian ballistic missiles, drones and armed flights near their borders.

Ukraine and Moldova would grant permission to its neighbors to shoot down Russian missiles, drones and armed flights, let's say 100km near the border. NATO countries could simply state that this is a purely defensive measure meant to prevent any stray Russian ordinance from entering their airspace. This would restrict Russia's ability to bomb Ukraine, allow Ukrainian air defenses to concentrate on fewer areas and the Ukrainian air force to focus in other areas.

At the same time, NATO countries continue to respect the territorial sovereignty of every country involved, as they'd operate exclusively over sovereign and internationally recognized Ukrainian and Moldovan territory with those countries permission. There would be no NATO "boots on the ground" inside Ukraine and any Russian ordinance, missile or plane shot down by NATO air defenses near their border would be shot down over Ukraine with Ukraine's permission, not over internationally recognized Russian territories.

Hell, NATO could further explicitly create air corridors inside those areas where civilian Russian flights could operate, of course as long as said flights have requested and been given permission to operate there by Ukraine. huehuehue

[Deus Mortis]

Looks like several oil depots are on fire in Russia
https://twitter.com/NOELreports/stat...42631263473773

and

Freedom of Russia Legion, The Russian Volunteer Corps and the Siberia Batallion have entered the Kursk and Bilhorod regions in Russia. Heavy fighting is reported in the border area.
https://twitter.com/NOELreports/stat...40937385390357

[Wilian]

With Russias """"elections"""" coming I expect to see a lot of extra action in coming couple of weeks to shame Putin.

[Corvus]

You'd think the mobiks and conscripts would be welcoming liberators, not fighting then. Just shows how much the average russian agrees with pootie and his actions.

[Iphie]

1. Brainwashing is one hell of a drug,
2. The liberators could be painted as terrorists,
3. The people might just be afraid of putin.

[Wilian]

1. Brainwashing is one hell of a drug,
2. The liberators could be painted as terrorists,
3. The people might just be afraid of putin.

Its primarily brainwashing. Its been a project in Russia since at least 2005, subtle at first, now at its full force.

[Iphie]

Its primarily brainwashing. Its been a project in Russia since at least 2005, subtle at first, now at its full force.

Yep, to really undo that programming would take at least 2 generations after the current one.

[Gorsameth]

Its primarily brainwashing. Its been a project in Russia since at least 2005, subtle at first, now at its full force.

I'd say this goes back way way further back to at least Stalin and arguably earlier still.

[Gaidax]

2005? Stalin? This shit is going on for centuries. The only thing that really changes is the title of the head despot and the ways to suppress and control the populace.

[Wilian]

I'd say this goes back way way further back to at least Stalin and arguably earlier still.

While true, Finnish researchers noted sharp contrast in how Russia and neighboring countries present&history were taught in Russia between 1991 and 2005; afterwhich the tone of education quickly turned more and more hostile and nationalistic especially in rural backwards regions whereas there was a brief decade when it seemed to go into better after immediate collapse of Soviet Union

[Corvus]

An Il76 has caught fire and crashed in russia. Authorities are blaming a bird strike. Wonder what calibre of bird it was.

[Wilian]

Also powerplant is on fire in St. Petersburg.

[Iphie]

While true, Finnish researchers noted sharp contrast in how Russia and neighboring countries present&history were taught in Russia between 1991 and 2005; afterwhich the tone of education quickly turned more and more hostile and nationalistic especially in rural backwards regions whereas there was a brief decade when it seemed to go into better after immediate collapse of Soviet Union

That probably is the reason there's an actual school for the russian embassy in Helsinki: The School of Russian Federation Embassy (In russian), can't have them kids be infected by wrong-think.

[Jessicka]

An Il76 has caught fire and crashed in russia. Authorities are blaming a bird strike. Wonder what calibre of bird it was.

I didn't know Ukraine had put those Falcons into active service yet.

[Wilian]

Rumour is that Free Russia Legion liberated the village of Tyotkino in Kursk Oblast. If true, even if it doesn't last its pretty big, the village is of some 3000 people large.

[alach]

Sounds like Ukraine is attacking russia in multiple directions. Seems to be ongoing as well.

[Odinfrost]

So, I woke up 10 hours ago and watched news while eating breakfast, and it was reported that the Russian offense was halted, which is cool.
But I'm assuming it isn't the major spring offensive that theres been talking about that just so unceremoniously died.
But any dead offensive from the russians is good.

[Iphie]

Biden admin finds 300 million for Ukraine

Well, that's good news.

[Karreck]

Big hits by Ukraine.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...drone-strikes/

RIGA, Latvia — Ukrainian drones hit nine Russian cities and towns — some deep inside the country — as three groups of anti-Kremlin Russian fighters claimed a cross-border attack in southern Russia on Tuesday.

The drone strikes caused fires at petroleum facilities in Nizhny Novgorod, 480 miles from the Ukrainian border, and in Oryol, 95 miles from the border, Russian media reported.

The largest oil refining unit at Lukoil’s Norsi refinery at Kstovo in the Nizhny Novgorod region was shut down due to the drone attack and subsequent fire, the Kommersant-Privolzhye newspaper reported, citing an official at the plant. The refinery is Russia’s fourth largest, with a production capacity of 340,000 barrels per day. The company’s news service decline to comment.

A drone shot down near Kirishi in Leningrad region appeared to be targeting another large refinery that, according to Russian market research group B2B, is among Russia’s top five in terms of capacity.

Explosion at rail bridge deep inside Russia shows Ukraine’s reach

With Russian presidential elections just days away, the attacks on key oil facilities once more brought the war to Russian soil, and follow attacks on infrastructure far from Ukrainian battlefields, including railways, fuel storage depots, pipelines, oil facilities and airfields.

The drone attacks underscored Ukraine’s capacity to keep Moscow off-balance and to penetrate deep within Russian territory, despite Russia’s superior manpower and supplies of equipment and ammunition. Commenting on the drone attacks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, “Our forces are doing what’s necessary.” He described the attacks as “terrorist activity.”

However, Ukraine’s ability to stop, much less expel, Russian forces in eastern Ukraine has been hampered by the stalling of a U.S. military aid package in Congress.

Russian officials maintained that the border attacks by the Ukraine-based fighters were thwarted. Roman Starovoit, governor of Russia’s Kursk region, said the fighters failed in their attempt to cross into Russia and penetrate the border town of Tetkino.

“There was an attempt by a sabotage and reconnaissance group to break through. There was a shooting battle, but there was no breakthrough,” he said on Telegram.
Children climb on a Russian tank in a military park in Kursk, Russia, some 100 miles from Ukraine's border, in May. (Olga Maltseva/AFP/Getty Images)

Fighters from the Freedom of Russia Legion, the Russian Volunteer Corps and the Siberian Battalion, who all claim to be Ukraine-based Russians battling President Vladimir Putin’s government, released statements and video about their attacks. It was not possible to verify the videos.

“We crossed the Rubicon. We crossed the border,” the Freedom of Russia Legion said in a statement on Telegram. The group and the Russian Volunteer Corps have announced previous such incursions.

Anti-Putin militias mount cross-border incursion in western Russia

According to its Telegram channel, the Siberian Battalion was formed in May last year. The three groups appear to be small armed formations, judging by their videos posted on Tuesday and earlier.

The Freedom of Russia Legion posted video showing several armored vehicles on a dirt track, but the location and date were unclear.

“We are liberating. Putin occupied Russia and forcibly seized power. And we are liberating our homeland,” said Alexey Baranovsky, who described himself as a drone operator with the legion in a video call. He said he was speaking from Russian territory.

He said the attack was timed to coincide with Russia’s presidential election, from March 15 to 17.

The election is certain to deliver Putin a fifth term, allowing him to rule until at least 2030 with an option for a further six-year term. Two antiwar candidates were barred from running against Putin, and his major rival, opposition leader Alexei Navalny, died in prison last month.

The crackdown on the opposition continued Tuesday with the detention of 15 activists after Federal Security Service agents raided their homes in Moscow, St. Petersburg and other cities. Three members of the activist group Pussy Riot were among those swept up by the raids.

Describing the election as a “so-called electoral procedure,” Baranovsky said: “We understand that these are not real elections. It’s another stage of power usurpation by Vladimir Putin.”

He said the group faces “certain resistance,” and he declined to outline plans. “Let’s see how events unfold further. In any case, we want to explain and show that elections in Russia are fundamentally illegitimate,” he said.

Baranovsky said that when the three groups were on Ukrainian territory, they were subordinate to Ukraine’s military but that in Russia, “we are truly autonomous and only follow our own command.”

Andriy Yusov, a spokesman for Ukraine’s military intelligence, told Ukrainian Pravda that the units consist of Russian citizens. “On the territory of the Russian Federation, they act completely autonomously, independently, fulfilling their sociopolitical program tasks,” he said.

In Moscow, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported that an Ilyushin Il-76 military transport plane with eight crew and seven passengers crashed shortly after takeoff at around 1 p.m. in the Ivanovo region northeast of the capital after one of the engines caught fire. All 15 people onboard were killed, according to local reports.

Video posted on local media showed the plane attempting to return to the airport, slowly losing altitude with one engine on fire.

Korolchuk reported from Kyiv. Natalia Abbakumova contributed to this report.

[Corvus]

Another day, another russian oil refinery struck, this at Ryazan, almost 500km from Ukraine. This might be the largest one is russia, processing 340,000 barrels a day.

About 10% of russian capacity has been struck in just the last 2 days.