Russian invasion of Ukraine

[Orange Joe]

this isn't a steven seagall thread, so I won't add much to it, but I wonder what it'd feel like to have an honor bestowed upon you like that. One that cements you've essentially betrayed your home country for Russia, forever.

Something tells me it's a badge of honor for them.

[Iphie]

Something tells me it's a badge of honor for them.

McCarthy is rolling in his grave about what happened to the republican party. (I'm sure he'd never trust putin or any russian.)

[Kallisto]

McCarthy is rolling in his grave about what happened to the republican party. (I'm sure he'd never trust putin or any russian.)

Nah, he'd be full on with this version of Russia. Right wing, nationalistic, hateful of social progress. He'd be telling Americans to emulate them.

[Lynarii]

Nah, he'd be full on with this version of Russia. Right wing, nationalistic, hateful of social progress. He'd be telling Americans to emulate them.

Don't forget that the GoP has openly talked about wanting the US military to model itself after the Russian one. Complete with the raping and the war crimes and the failing.

[Iphie]

Don't forget that the GoP has openly talked about wanting the US military to model itself after the Russian one. Complete with the raping and the war crimes and the failing.

Eh...what now?

[Lynarii]

Eh...what now?

There were a bunch of Republicans who were bringing up recruiting ads for the Russian military to talk about how manly the Russian armies are and that the US military needed to be more like them.

[Saradain]

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe...ts-2023-02-28/

Russia's St Petersburg suspends, then restarts flights due to 'unknown object'

MOSCOW, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Russia's Pulkovo Airport in St. Petersburg temporarily suspended all flights on Tuesday morning before restarting them amid unconfirmed Russian media reports of an unidentified object such as a drone in the area.

The government of Russia's second city announced the closure on its official Telegram channel without providing a reason for the suspension.

Russian news agencies reported later on Tuesday that flights had resumed and that a temporary airspace ban within a 200-kilometre (124-mile) radius of Pulkovo had been lifted by 1200 local time (0900 GMT).

The RIA Novosti news agency had earlier reported, citing a source in the city's emergency services, that an unidentified object had been spotted, prompting the initial closure.

Unconfirmed media reports from two online Russian news outlets reported that fighter jets had been despatched to investigate. They later said that the jets had not found anything.

There was no official comment on what caused the disruption or on how the alleged unknown object was investigated.

Chinese spy balloon, russians deathly afraid of ukrainians or a Tupolev plane that actually flies?

The plot thickens.

[zorkuus]

There were a bunch of Republicans who were bringing up recruiting ads for the Russian military to talk about how manly the Russian armies are and that the US military needed to be more like them.

Mhm. Very manly. Lots of "man love" happening in the ruZZki military. They're kinda like the modern day Spartans.

[YUPPIE]

Seems Ukraine is losing in Bakhmut badly by accounts of various articles. But I'll just cite one article

The situation in the city of Bakhmut, on the eastern frontline, is becoming "more and more difficult", Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.

Russian forces have been trying to take the city for over six months.

"The enemy is constantly destroying everything that can be used to protect our positions", Mr Zelensky stated.

The Ukrainian leader's remarks came as US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned China against arming Russia during a visit to Kyiv on Monday.

Some of the fiercest fighting to take place since Russia invaded Ukraine just over a year ago has taken place in Bakhmut, in Ukraine's Donetsk region, part of which is under the control of Russia and its separatist allies.

Recently efforts by Russian forces to capture the industrial city have intensified, with its troops gaining ground.

The separatist leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, Denis Pushilin, said "practically all roads" into the city were "under [Russian] fire control".

And the commander of Ukraine's ground forces, Col Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi, said the situation around Bakhmut was "extremely tense".

"Despite significant losses, the enemy threw in the most prepared assault units of Wagner, who are trying to break through the defences of our troops and surround the city," Gen Syrskyi said.

Speaking about the situation in his nightly address, President Zelensky said managing to gain a foothold in Bakhmut and ensuring its defence were being heavily compromised by Russia's renewed onslaught.

He was "grateful to each and every person who is heroically holding" the area.

President Zelensky also called once again for modern combat aircraft to be sent so that "the entire territory of our country" can be defended from "Russian terror".

[Corvus]

Bakhmut has held out longer than the Battle of Stalingrad. russia has been throwing waves at it for over 8 months. And it is largely been defended by reservists, not regular troops.

[Iphie]

Bakhmut has held out longer than the Battle of Stalingrad. russia has been throwing waves at it for over 8 months. And it is largely been defended by reservists, not regular troops.

While true we probably shouldn't get complacent, the situation IS hard. But so far Bakhmut stands.

[YUPPIE]

A flurry of drone attacks on Monday night and Tuesday morning targeted regions inside Russia along the border with Ukraine and deeper into the country, with one drone crashing just 100 kilometers away from Moscow, according to local Russian authorities.

While Ukrainian drone strikes on the Russian border regions of Bryansk and Belgorod that lie north of Ukraine's Sumy region aren't unusual, the hits on the Krasnodar and Adygea regions further south are noteworthy.

While some Russian commentators described Tuesday's drone attacks as an attempt by Ukraine to showcase its capability to strike areas deep behind the lines, foment tensions in Russia and rally the Ukrainian public, some Russian war bloggers described the raids as a possible rehearsal of a bigger, more ambitious attack.

Source

[Edge-]

https://www.thedailybeast.com/matt-g...op-ukraine-aid

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) brought literal Chinese propaganda to a House Armed Services Committee hearing on Tuesday in his push to cut off U.S. aid to Ukraine. The Florida Republican looked like he thought he was going in for the kill as he whipped out an “investigative report” by the Global Times to enter into the record.

He cited the report to grill Colin Kahl, the under secretary of defense for policy, on whether Ukraine’s Azov Battalion—the Kremlin’s favorite bogeyman—was getting access to U.S. weapons.

But Wahl reacted calmly to the congressman’s spiel, asking: “‘Is this the Global Times from China?” “No, this is... ” Gaetz said, before admitting, ”Yeah, it might be. Yeah.” After Kahl told the congressman that he doesn’t “take Beijing’s propaganda at face value,” Gaetz conceded: “‘Fair enough.”

The newspaper, popularly referred to as “China’s Fox News,” is a well-known government mouthpiece. Before speaking to Kahl, Gaetz spent several minutes unsuccessfully trying to get Defense Department Inspector General Robert Storch to admit that the Biden administration somehow lost track of funding sent to Ukraine.

In which some Republicans are so desperate to find ways to criticize US support of Ukraine and push to end assistance because they prefer Putin, get called out for falling for actual, obvious propaganda.

[Heathy]

not even 100 years later and history is repeating itself, instead of angry moustache man we got angry bloated dwarf. I can't even reconcile the propaganda machine has been churning out incredible round-about rationales. I suppose at a certain point you just decide what reality is but since its Russia I guess they have the most practice at this what with the soviet union being run the exact same way. 'ignore all the death, poverty and ppl being mass hauled off to siberia to break rocks into smaller rocks' 'everything is fine comrade'.

I find it funny that Putin seems to think the west is on a crusade to conquer Russia, no one wants that frozen tundra, only Russians have evolved to live in that refrigerator of a country. no country has been gearing up for conquest and no politician would last long in any European country if they tried to draft a Russia invasion force. no one wants a war with Russia and yet this is what they are being told. its extremely sad that ppl are dying for nothing worst yet it seems that they are being blatantly lied to and not in a sort of subtle way.

ironically if it comes to a war involving Nato, Russia is going to get obliterated. their paper tiger of a military has been hilariously out matched by Ukraine. they made themselves to look like girl scouts. they've set their economy back decades and have become the laughing stock of the entire world. even xi wants nothing to do with putin. it'll be very interesting to see how this ends. hopefully it doesn't go on for too many more years. this whole thing has got to go down as one of the greatest military blunders in recent history. imagine whelping 200,000 men and getting fuck all. what a shit show.

[Voidism]

imagine whelping 200,000 men and getting fuck all. what a shit show.

*and losing Crimea

They went in and will lose more than they came in with.

[Heathy]

the Russian ppl deserve a better leader, its such a shame the country was on the cusp of being a legitimate world player, they have so much land they could be leaders in renewable energy. its the largest single country on the planet and yet i'm sure it has one of the smallest population densities, they have so much space for things like solar and wind farms. they could be leading the charge. but instead they'd rather eat glue. worst yet it might not get better even if putin is gone. apparently we all hate russians and yet I watch https://www.youtube.com/@roman_nfkrz < romans videos quite frequently and have no ill will toward any average russian. it bothers me that putin spins the hatred aimed at him as a generalisation against all Russians. its pretty easy to dislike a single person without hating an entire population.

[Rustedsaint]

Member the good ol days when ussr simps were rounded up and put into camps?

[Breccia]

not even 100 years later and history is repeating itself

About that.

Russian deaths in Ukraine surpass all its war fatalities since WWII combined

CSIS tallies the number of Russians killed or missing in Ukraine since last February at between 60,000 and 70,000, a figure that tracks with recent United Kingdom intelligence.

The next-highest recorded counts were as many as 16,000 in Russia’s wars in Chechnya in the 1990s and early aughts, and as many as 25,000 in the Soviet Union’s involvement in Afghanistan in the ‘80s.

Including injuries, CSIS estimates Russia has suffered as many as 250,000 casualties in the last year of warfare.

“While some types of authoritarian regimes are willing to accept high casualties in interstate conflicts, Russian casualty numbers are unprecedented since World War II,” the report found.

The report notes that the number of Russian soldiers killed in the first year of the Ukraine war is around two-to-five times the casualty count in nearly 15 years of fighting in Chechnya.

“The Ukrainian military has also performed remarkably well against a much larger and initially better-equipped Russian military,” the study says, suggesting Kyiv’s success is due in part to “military innovation” facilitated by “a military environment that encourages and enables junior officers to seek innovation.”

So according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, it's 60-70k dead and/or missing, and another 175kish wounded.

WWII holds the record and isn't going anywhere. The deaths were around ten million soldiers (and many more civilians).

[Rustedsaint]

I dunno if that was aimed at me but, no I don't remember those good ol days, do they have a date or did they happen in your head. if you live in a democratic country then you have all political parties even if some of them are an extreme minority they exist. I live in the UK and we have nazi parties and communist parties and all parties inbetween. because in a democracy you're allowed to believe whatever the hell you want without being put into camps. so again, if this was aimed at me, I don't remember 'ussr simps' being put into camps. because I don't live in a dictatorship that does that sort of thing.

That was aimed more at edge post about Matt gaets and how he’s obviously is on Russian payroll. Admittedly the days I was referring to were during the cold war at the height of anti communist, comments that Matt gaets makes would have probably ended up him being removed office.

[Heathy]

That was aimed more at edge post about Matt gaets and how he’s obviously is on Russian payroll. Admittedly the days I was referring to were during the cold war at the height of anti communist, comments that Matt gaets makes would have probably ended up him being removed office.

then I apologize for sounding condescending. I know I did mention that Russians deserve better and I thought the ussr simp was a dig at me, but if it wasn't then thats fine. I don't want to see Russia annihilated because of the ego of one man. at the same time I do want what is best for everyone.