Russian invasion of Ukraine

[Breccia]

I find it hilarious to see the videos of farmers stealing tanks, apc's and nother military equipment.

I mean...who abandons a tank but leaves the keys in the ignition, so to speak? Why would you leave the equipment in working order? At least take the spark plugs out of the engine or something. A tank can't possibly use standard spark plugs.

[PhaelixWW]

And yes I know about the shit the US left in Afganistan to the Talibans.

Almost all of the "American" stuff left in Afghanistan belonged to the Afghan Army, not the US troops.

[Torched]

Almost all of the "American" stuff left in Afghanistan belonged to the Afghan Army, not the US troops.

I know, I just said that because there is def someone going to point that out to make their Russian military look better.

[Zaydin]

Almost all of the "American" stuff left in Afghanistan belonged to the Afghan Army, not the US troops.

And anything the US couldn't bring with it was 'demilitarized'. That is, the important components were sabotaged and left the equipment little more than a roadside decoration.

[dextersmith]

Russian army idiocy knows no bounds but the results always bring a smile to my face. Always use the stairs in a country you are invading, lads.

Too lazy to walk but ambitious enough to invade...

[jonnysensible]

'9 Russian aircraft are confirmed through visual evidence to have been shot down over Ukraine in the last 24 hours. Russia claims to have shot down 7 Ukrainian aircraft but no evidence has been released.'

damn thats mean.

Wonder what the flight time on alot of these Russian jets are? @Thekri will know. How hard is this shit to keep in the air because of maintenance and how expensive is it?

[Poopymonster]

'9 Russian aircraft are confirmed through visual evidence to have been shot down over Ukraine in the last 24 hours. Russia claims to have shot down 7 Ukrainian aircraft but no evidence has been released.'

damn thats mean.

Wonder what the flight time on alot of these Russian jets are? @Thekri will know. How hard is this shit to keep in the air because of maintenance and how expensive is it?

Well, as far as aircraft go, you know when they're out of fuel. They become lawn darts.

[dextersmith]

Not sure if that counts lol. Interesting question... embassies are technically not foreign soil. They are leased space on which foreign law applies and national law doesn't apply, but technically the land doesn't change ownership. The US embassy in Germany isn't actually US soil. It's German soil granted to the US to use as they see fit. So, I think a good case could be made for an attack on an embassy not triggering Art. 5.

But this is just me making a half-assed guess at the legality of things.

Despite land ownership, attacking the US embassy would be attacking the US.

[Shadowferal]

Too lazy to walk but ambitious enough to invade...

Troops that weren't even certain where they were going can be hardly described as "ambitious."

[PhaelixWW]

Despite land ownership, attacking the US embassy would be attacking the US.

Eh, there's nobody there. The US embassy in Kyiv has been closed for weeks, since before the start of the war.

Neither the US nor NATO are going to view damage to a closed embassy as grounds for direct involvement.

[Belize]

Large convoy still not moving

And now there is a NSFW video of a 35+ vehicle supply convoy destroyed near Kharkiv. There are reports Russia is now resorting to using civilian vehicles to try and bring supplies forward.

And according to Bellingcat this is a genuine leak from within the FSB, painting a picture of just how fucked Russia is. They even say 10,000 dead may actually be true but there is no way of knowing given how bad everything has broken down

https://www.reddit.com/r/UkrainianCo...nline_we_have/

The mostly interesting part of this is that that ending bit seems to conform with the general assessment of the state of Russia's nuclear armament.

It's been speculated for years that its fallen into disrepair, and that it had effectively become an empty threat, and this post adds details that I hadn't seen before to back it up (the bit about the warhead charges needing to be swapped out every decade or so).

[PhaelixWW]

Troops that weren't even certain where they were going can be hardly described as "ambitious."

So the lazy Russian planners were ambitious on behalf of the lazy troops.

What could go wrong, eh?

[Kaleredar]

The mostly interesting part of this is that that ending bit seems to conform with the general assessment of the state of Russia's nuclear armament.

It's been speculated for years that its fallen into disrepair, and that it had effectively become an empty threat, and this post adds details that I hadn't seen before to back it up (the bit about the warhead charges needing to be swapped out every decade or so).

Personally I wouldn’t take chances when it comes to nuclear weaponry.

Bleeding Russia dry with sanctions is probably the best way to deal with this, until such a time that people other than Putin within Russia realize that their soldier’s deaths and economic collapse aren’t worth this half-cocked attempt at rebuilding the USSR.

Because even if Russia is “successful” in taking over Ukraine, it doesn’t mean that the sanctions magically disappear or that the public will have been “controlled.” This isn’t a situation that has a foreseeable end for Russia, outside of them basically just withdrawing.

[Corvus]

The site tracking all this is confident of 5 jets, 4 helicopters and a drone lost by Russia yesterday.

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zon...y-over-ukraine

[Kallisto]

Personally I wouldn’t take chances when it comes to nuclear weaponry.

Bleeding Russia dry with sanctions is probably the best way to deal with this, until such a time that people other than Putin within Russia realize that their soldier’s deaths and economic collapse aren’t worth this half-cocked attempt at rebuilding the USSR.

Because even if Russia is “successful” in taking over Ukraine, it doesn’t mean that the sanctions magically disappear or that the public will have been “controlled.” This isn’t a situation that has a foreseeable end for Russia, outside of them basically just withdrawing.

This is why I think we're doing the right thing (well the least bad). The moment that Ukraine didn't fall in days like was planned was the moment victory for Russia long term just wasn't going to happen. Even if they defeated the military, take Kyiv etc, they can no longer hold onto it. Especially with a determined insurgency that will happen. Add to that being cut off from the world economy is going to hurt Russia up and down. Putin pretty much needs an out now. I think taking Muripol and Kyiv he'll look for the out of Crimea+ sea of Azov regions for a ceasefire. Even if not 100% recognized by the rest of the world, he could turn around and say "I saved these people and Ukraine can't do anything for XYZ years."

[Belize]

Personally I wouldn’t take chances when it comes to nuclear weaponry.

Whatever the truth is, it's a moot point since Putin doesn't have the sole say in launching nukes, and the rest of those that need to stamp their approval won't like the idea of wiping themselves out for the pissy piss party of lunatic. They're already grumbling about their yachts being taken away.

[NED funded]

Visa and Mastercard not working on Russia

Does this mean they can only use credit union?

[snebb]

Visa and Mastercard not working on Russia

Does this mean they can only use credit union?

No, only Russian Visa/Mastercard cards will work inside Russia. Russian cards will not work outside of Russia.

[PhaelixWW]

Visa and Mastercard not working on Russia

Does this mean they can only use credit union?

They're not working for transactions crossing Russia's border. They don't impact transactions made entirely within Russia's border.

- - - Updated - - -

The site tracking all this is confident of 5 jets, 4 helicopters and a drone lost by Russia yesterday.

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zon...y-over-ukraine

Oof, that pilot they captured was apparently one who bombed cities in Syria, too.

He's not likely to see the outside of a prison anytime soon, I guess.

[Kathranis]

Large convoy still not moving

And now there is a NSFW video of a 35+ vehicle supply convoy destroyed near Kharkiv. There are reports Russia is now resorting to using civilian vehicles to try and bring supplies forward.

And according to Bellingcat this is a genuine leak from within the FSB, painting a picture of just how fucked Russia is. They even say 10,000 dead may actually be true but there is no way of knowing given how bad everything has broken down

https://www.reddit.com/r/UkrainianCo...nline_we_have/

Really interesting read. I'm still taking everything with a grain of salt since there's been so much propaganda, but it's members of the FSB that have been leaking intel to Ukraine so it certainly seems believable.

It paints a much more bleak picture than I had even imagined, but it all makes sense and seems to jive with everything we're seeing play out, and other analysis.