Russian invasion of Ukraine

[Belize]

And Ukraine is claiming they didn't.

Is there any proof to either of the claims?

Yes, a blown up ship at the bottom of the Black Sea that was hit by 2 Neptune missiles.

[Kaleredar]

So if the battleship Moscow actually did get shot down by Ukraine, how come every single member of the 500 crew was not even scratched?

ah, so instead of Ukraine blowing up a Russian battleship because of how incompetent the crew was, the ship accidentally blew up... because of how incompetent the crew was?

Like, you can't really spin "Russia loses critical warship" as being a "Russian victory," here.

[Fuiking]

Yes, a blown up ship at the bottom of the Black Sea that was hit by 2 Neptune missiles.

working as intended, Comrade Moskva was promoted to submarine.

[PhaelixWW]

working as intended, Comrade Moskva was promoted to unmanned submarine.

Fixed that for you.

[Thekri]

working as intended, Comrade Moskva was promoted to submarine.

Moskva successfully destroyed two Nazi Ukrainian missiles. It didn't use any fancy "Air defenses" like those decadent westerners, it destroyed them with its hull.

[Nilinor]

Man..

A lot of fires suddenly happening on the Russian side.. first was the building in their country that was housing a lot of ammo/bombs.. next thing you know, their flag ship is caught on fire randomly.

I think they need better fire protection, it seems to be happening a lot more recently.

[gondrin]

working as intended, Comrade Moskva was promoted to submarine.

More like a new home for the fishes. We need new reefs anyway as quite a few are dying.

[Corvus]

Another general had reportedly been killed.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/lisakim...h=5b6bfc453d41

[Edge-]

Another general had reportedly been killed.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/lisakim...h=5b6bfc453d41

As of the end of March, around 14 Russian generals and senior colonels had been claimed to be killed...

Is losing this many senior officials a sign of special operation that's going smoothly and according to plan? I can't tell, so need someone with some military knowledge to help out.

[Kaleredar]

Is losing this many senior officials a sign of special operation that's going smoothly and according to plan? I can't tell, so need someone with some military knowledge to help out.

I'm sure if a certain copse of pro-russian advocates weren't on forum vacations, they'd respond to this evidence of Russian military failures such as KIA generals and destroyed battleships... by responding with how Russian fuel sources are still important to the EU, or going into pedantic spiels about how well Russia can upgrade its microchip infrastructure, or about how market shifts will allow them to sell oil to India, all before wrapping it up with how we're all just high on western "hopium."

I imagine, however, that the American who's mildly irate at having to pay ~30 cents more a gallon for gas is faring a lot better than the Russian sailor currently at the bottom of the black sea.

[Iphie]

Is losing this many senior officials a sign of special operation that's going smoothly and according to plan? I can't tell, so need someone with some military knowledge to help out.

Russia was listed as having 1107 generals in 2008, so if we use that then losing 8 generals is not too much in the grand scheme of things, however, I read somewhere that 20 generals had been deployed to Ukraine, losing nearly half of the deployed generals IS a big deal. Either way, Ukraine is killing generals and officers at a rapid pace.

[Breccia]

In the ongoing battle in social media...there should be a name for that...

A lot of fires suddenly happening on the Russian side

Flame war! That's it! Anyhow, to prove their side of the story, the completely impartial Russian Defense Ministry released pictures and video of Most Grand Glorious Parade in which all 120 crew members were shown to be alive.

"Wasn't the crew about five hu--"

All 120 crew members there will be no follow-up questions!

"Surely Kuprin was there?"

...who?

"Captain Anton Kuprin, the commander of the flagship? Was he in any of the pictures?"

Um...I mean, surely he was, the Russian Defense Ministry would obviously show the surviving captain since everyone lived and there were no casualties and also everyone had cake. Delicious cake. Best cake ever. Most Glorious Cake.

"So let's see him. Let's see Captain Kuprin. Because, you know, the Ukrainians said they killed him. Which sounds pretty reasonable, considering they thunked a couple of Neptune missiles against the hull."

Um...

"They posted the video on their FB feed. Which...I thought they blocked. But yeah, I don't see the Captain."

Well...

"Also, that's not a parade. Not really. That's a wreath-laying ceremony. They're claiming all the crew survived. So...who is the wreath for?"

...the ship?

"And the Captain, who Russia claims totally survived, wasn't there?"

Um...nyet? I'm sure he had other important things to do.

"That's Navy Commander-in-Chief Adm Nikolay Yevmen. If Yevmen had time, Kuprin had time."

He...he was getting a second slice of cake for those particular 26 seconds.

"The film's edited, so th--"

Most Glorious Cake.

"Okay. Fine. Has the Defense Ministry released the Most Glorious Rescue Video? Or pictures?"

Well...no.

"Has anyone else? I mean, besides that one Turkish ship."

...not where I can find it. But Russia claims all the crew survived, which is why someone who is not the captain is laying a wreath in front of almost one-fifth the ship's crew.

"Sure. Russian War Ministry, go fuck yourself."

[Corvus]

If it even was the crew. Some of them were smirking and laughing, which seems an odd reaction to having your ship explode and sink in the middle of the night and 80% of your crewmates die.

[KrayZ33]

They'd give up half of europe to Putin for some oil discounts. After growing their economy with russian deals and farming rest of eu they don't want to do anything when shit hit the fan.
Germany is so despicable they should officially join India and China in the putinist defense club.

Which EU-countries stopped buying gas ?

It seems to me that you don't realize how fucked up the gas economy inside Europe is.
Poland for example "doesn't want to buy gas from Russia" - but they buy it from Germany.
It's a big "hurr durr" in terms of how "They are not making contracts with Gazprom".
They let other countries do it for them, it seems.

[Arrashi]

If it even was the crew. Some of them were smirking and laughing, which seems an odd reaction to having your ship explode and sink in the middle of the night and 80% of your crewmates die.

Im pretty sure it was setup. Depending on the sources betwen 14 to 51 were rescued from the ship. Fate of rest is unknown (aka they got Kursk'd).

[DarkTZeratul]

If it even was the crew. Some of them were smirking and laughing, which seems an odd reaction to having your ship explode and sink in the middle of the night and 80% of your crewmates die.

Ah-ah-ah... Zero percent of their crewmates died. That's why they're laying a wreath without their Captain and being assured by a faceless authority figure that there will be cake.

[Strawberry]

ah, so instead of Ukraine blowing up a Russian battleship because of how incompetent the crew was, the ship accidentally blew up... because of how incompetent the crew was?

Like, you can't really spin "Russia loses critical warship" as being a "Russian victory," here.

I'm not saying it did or didn't happen. I'm saying that if it was hit by a missile then there would be causalities.
Where are the reports of causalities?

[Arrashi]

I'm not saying it did or didn't happen. I'm saying that if it was hit by a missile then there would be causalities.
Where are the reports of causalities?

Why dont you put a scuba gear and see for yourself? Or did all those sailors adapt to underwater life too?

[Specialka]

I'm not saying it did or didn't happen. I'm saying that if it was hit by a missile then there would be causalities.
Where are the reports of causalities?

Who can etablish such report ?

[Saradain]

I'm not saying it did or didn't happen. I'm saying that if it was hit by a missile then there would be causalities.
Where are the reports of causalities?

Do you think russians would admit such casualties? They would be admitting to their great shame that Ukraine indeed hit the ship with missiles by using a cartoon trick that actually worked

And do you think ukrainians have time to salvage a warship during a war when it is far too risky to out there just to satisfy your doubts?

The ship has sunk, it is out of commission, and thus a major boon to Ukraine no matter how one wants to spin the russia stronk propaganda

Point being, whatever the cause was for Moskva's fire/explosion, and subsequent sinking during a "storm" (weather reports claimed it was NOT stormy), lack of casualties would be miraculous. Russia admits it was Ukraine, their mighty flagship brought down easily - or Russia denies all, and thus admits their mighty flagship just destroyed itself...Which one is less shameful?