Russian invasion of Ukraine

[Easo]

https://www.france24.com/en/europe/2...idents-trapped

Failed again.

So they blame each other again, what a surprise.

[MCMLXXXII]

So they blame each other again, what a surprise.

Would you expect less?

[Saradain]

So they blame each other again, what a surprise.

But only Russia has been targeting ukrainian civilians like every single time

It's pretty common russian tactic to deny, divert and blame everyone else but themselves. Thankfully reliable media sources agree with this.

[Poopymonster]

Yeee, this guy has been spewing bad take after bad take. From "gaiz, will P00teen invade Europe omg am so scared" to this. Really not sure if he is being serious right now.

You missed the gallop from "Gaiz sanctions work!" to "ZOMG I OUTSOURCED SHIT TO A SHITTY COUNTRY RUN BY A KNOWN MURDEROUS DICTATOR AND WHEN IT GOT SACTIONED BECAUSE OF MURDEROUS DICTATOR SHIT IT COST ME MONEY! STAHP STAHP STAHP!"

[jonnysensible]

russia slaughtering russian speaking people, must be nazis : https://twitter.com/loogunda/status/...137664/photo/1

fire the planes up

[MCMLXXXII]

You missed the gallop from "Gaiz sanctions work!" to "ZOMG I OUTSOURCED SHIT TO A SHITTY COUNTRY RUN BY A KNOWN MURDEROUS DICTATOR AND WHEN IT GOT SACTIONED BECAUSE OF MURDEROUS DICTATOR SHIT IT COST ME MONEY! STAHP STAHP STAHP!"

That one really made me think he is 14 years old. What else did he think the sanctions meant?
Since my company sometimes buys lumber from Belarus and Russia, we got a letter last week from the government. Already closed deals before March 1st are allowed to go on but everything after that are prohibited.
Shame because the russians produce superior plywood but we'll manage to find another source.

[Elegiac]

You missed the gallop from "Gaiz sanctions work!" to "ZOMG I OUTSOURCED SHIT TO A SHITTY COUNTRY RUN BY A KNOWN MURDEROUS DICTATOR AND WHEN IT GOT SACTIONED BECAUSE OF MURDEROUS DICTATOR SHIT IT COST ME MONEY! STAHP STAHP STAHP!"

I think I'm gonna save some time and just sum up the list of Kremlin talking points.

- Euromaidan was a western-backed coup and not an instance of a Putinista stooge fleeing the country in the face of mass protests.
- The referendum in Crimea was totally legitimate despite Sevastopol alone returning 124% turnout and its population being held at practical gunpoint by Russian agents and their local collaborators.
- The little green men were not unmarked agents of the Russian state even though Putain himself later confirmed they were.
- MH-17 was shot down by Ukraine using a missile that isn't even used by the Ukrainian military but was being used by Russian backed separatists.
- Ukraine has been secretly developing nukes in their invisible nuclear development labs with their secret Ukrainian powers.
- NATO violated an agreement not to expand eastwards despite Gorbachev himself confirming there was no such agreement.
- Ukraine hit one of their own apartment buildings with a Buk missile despite Buks being anti-air munitions that self-destruct if they miss their target.
- The Ukrainian government is full of Nazis despite Zelensky being Jewish, please ignore the fact the separatist "governments" in Donbas are actually full of far right extremists.

And, finally:

- We have always been at war with Eastasia.

[Breccia]

If you’ve reached the point where you’re abandoning your tank in those circumstances, I think you’ve accepted the war is over for you. The tank is no longer your concern.

I hadn't thought of it like that. Interesting point.

[Corvus]

These videos might be fake, but it seems unlikely. If true then the Russian supply problem must be far worse than thought.

https://twitter.com/JimmySecUK/statu...77643504910337
https://twitter.com/JimmySecUK/statu...05677872795652

[Elegiac]

These videos might be fake, but it seems unlikely. If true then the Russian supply problem must be far worse than thought.

https://twitter.com/JimmySecUK/statu...77643504910337
https://twitter.com/JimmySecUK/statu...05677872795652

If true, as a commenter in the second link points out - this is a short term fix. These are nonstandard vehicles so it means any damage, mechanical failure, or sabotage will require parts that they simply don't have. A lot of them probably lack 4WD capacity, too.

To say nothing of the fuel situation. Or the food.

[Easo]

Would you expect less?

No, this is war, anything goes.

But only Russia has been targeting ukrainian civilians like every single time

It's pretty common russian tactic to deny, divert and blame everyone else but themselves. Thankfully reliable media sources agree with this.

I see only claims by both sides because it serves them both. Russia bad and all that, but take realistic view on the ground and realities of war. One nervous tired dude with shitty trigger finger can easily start fire exchange escalating into something much bigger.

- The referendum in Crimea was totally legitimate despite Sevastopol alone returning 124% turnout and its population being held at practical gunpoint by Russian agents and their local collaborators.

I personally don't remember anything about 124% in Sevastopol (and I am the one using 146% meme all the time). But you have to understand - Crimea absolutely would have joined Russia if an actual referendum would have happened.

These videos might be fake, but it seems unlikely. If true then the Russian supply problem must be far worse than thought.

https://twitter.com/JimmySecUK/statu...77643504910337
https://twitter.com/JimmySecUK/statu...05677872795652

Pretty sure it is isnt' because Russia is running out of trucks. But damn me, I don't remember the reason for using civilian cars.
Russia has tens of thousands of army trucks. If they were needed, they would be going in.

[Afrospinach]

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.

Tanks are diesel >.>

Usually.

I think there have been American tanks that use turbine gas engines.

Diesel engines do not use spark plugs

I do not think gas turbine engines do either as they are similar to jet engines though they extract "shaft power" vs using the exhaust energy. You can actually make one of these engines out of a regular turbo found in a car lmao. It sounds EXACTLY like a plane taking off when in use, one of my university friends did this as an engineering project about 20 years ago.

[Corvus]

Pretty sure it is isnt' because Russia is running out of trucks. But damn me, I don't remember the reason for using civilian cars.
Russia has tens of thousands of army trucks. If they were needed, they would be going in.

Most of them seem stuck in that stalled column north of Kyiv. Reports are that it is mostly made up of trucks.

[Elegiac]

I personally don't remember anything about 124% in Sevastopol (and I am the one using 146% meme all the time). But you have to understand - Crimea absolutely would have joined Russia if an actual referendum would have happened.

It's been well reported that voter turnout in the referendum was well above what was possible without shady shit like letting Russian troops vote.

And I don't agree. There might be a majority of Russian speakers, but it's disingenuous to assume that they all would have favored annexation by Russia had there not been political and military pressure to do so. To say nothing of the fact that the referendum itself would not have happened or been enforceable without Russia's interference.

- - - Updated - - -

Pretty sure it is isnt' because Russia is running out of trucks. But damn me, I don't remember the reason for using civilian cars.
Russia has tens of thousands of army trucks. If they were needed, they would be going in.

They have tens of thousands of army trucks - on paper.

We have no way of knowing if even a majority of that fleet is usable. Same goes for their nuclear arsenal.

[Saradain]

No, this is war, anything goes.



I see only claims by both sides because it serves them both. Russia bad and all that, but take realistic view on the ground and realities of war. One nervous tired dude with shitty trigger finger can easily start fire exchange escalating into something much bigger.



I personally don't remember anything about 124% in Sevastopol (and I am the one using 146% meme all the time). But you have to understand - Crimea absolutely would have joined Russia if an actual referendum would have happened.



Pretty sure it is isnt' because Russia is running out of trucks. But damn me, I don't remember the reason for using civilian cars.
Russia has tens of thousands of army trucks. If they were needed, they would be going in.

You see what you want to see. One nervous tired dude wanting to annihilate all genocidal invaders doesn't mean shit if Russia is proved to be shelling civilians anyway. Russia could, you know...Fuck off Ukraine so their presence is not inviting a firefight. Not that ukrainians would endanger their civilians. Reality of war is that Russia is waging one and every single casualty could have been averted if they would be more of a human, less of a monkey.

[Easo]

It's been well reported that voter turnout in the referendum was well above what was possible without shady shit like letting Russian troops vote.

And I don't agree. There might be a majority of Russian speakers, but it's disingenuous to assume that they all would have favored annexation by Russia had there not been political and military pressure to do so. To say nothing of the fact that the referendum itself would not have happened or been enforceable without Russia's interference.

And you not agreeing shows that you do not understand this whole mess, you do not understand Ukraine and Russia. Of course "not all of local Russians", no major place would ever have 100% support for literally anything. And there is no "might be a majority of Russian speakers", it is IS a majority of Russian speakers. 80% in 2013, before takeover.
Referendum would not have happened because Ukraine would not have ever allowed it. 1994, there was another referedum, without Russian soldiers enforcing it. Remember how that one ended? No central goverment would ever allow something like that unless they had no other choice.

Most of them seem stuck in that stalled column north of Kyiv. Reports are that it is mostly made up of trucks.

By this point that convoy is a meme and do you really think tens of thousands of trucks are there? Reinforcements are coming from east and south, too. Why do those not get stuck? Who is fueling (literally) Russian advance in south west and south east? Here is your answer.

They have tens of thousands of army trucks - on paper.

We have no way of knowing if even a majority of that fleet is usable. Same goes for their nuclear arsenal.

Omfg, pure memes and stereotypes. I guess Iskanders and Kalibrs are the exception because... reasons? Vinnitsa airport, like 1h ago, probably do not think so now.

[Breccia]

These videos might be fake

Not that I went through frame-by-frame, but they seem real to me, in that those pictures appear to actually show a real train with real trucks.

Which then brings up the question, for what other purpose would a mixed bag of used trucks with Z's on them all be going to the same place?

There's no good answer for the Russians. Whether these trucks are to be loaded up with food, gas, or troops, all of it means they had a week to fix the original launch and still didn't get it right.

I suppose the poster could be lying and that those are false flag Ukraine vehicles. It's not like a Z in white paint is hard to fake.

[Easo]

Not that I went through frame-by-frame, but they seem real to me, in that those pictures appear to actually show a real train with real trucks.

Which then brings up the question, for what other purpose would a mixed bag of used trucks with Z's on them all be going to the same place?

There's no good answer for the Russians. Whether these trucks are to be loaded up with food, gas, or troops, all of it means they had a week to fix the original launch and still didn't get it right.

I suppose the poster could be lying and that those are false flag Ukraine vehicles. It's not like a Z in white paint is hard to fake.

There were false Z flags already, even edited videos from 2014, showing "destroyed Russian equipment".
Also not all equipment is marked with Z, V, and so on.

[postman1782]

I first supported Zelensky but it now looks like this is not a white/black situation, Ukraine has committed serious violations during the past 8 years that no modern EU state would ever do, the government handled unprofessionally the situation on Donbas, the maidan events looked more like a coup/civil war with tanks running on the streets and militias taking over.

I'd say that Ukraine is still right but they don't deserve a spot in the EU yet, I wouldn't call it a normal democratic country. They lost too much diplomatic leverage for nothing, if they handled the south properly, nothing would have happened. They have done all of this just to have free trade with the EU, why would someone like Ukraine want that in the first place, totally pointless.

What a load of Russian propaganda bullshit.

[Easo]

Blinken confirms that F-16's for MiG-29's deal is being actively discussed.
28 planes in total. It still leaves no less questions than before about logistics of the whole thing.