Russian invasion of Ukraine

[Loftyhammer]

good read this...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/ ... dApp_Other

[Hammer1966]

good read this...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/ ... dApp_Other

URL is broken I think?

[Loftyhammer]

Doh....assume as I'm linking from the app. Its an article in Guardian about Snake Island and interviews the site commander who was initially captured and also a priest who was part of the story. Pretty awful what the priest went through....

[MB]

Russia reduced to firing 1980s cruise missiles designed to deliver nuclear warheads (thankfully removed!) with ballast replacing the warhead according to the MOD.

Theory is to overwhelm the Ukrainian air defence so the real missiles get through, but shows you how short they are of the real thing. Just got to hope Ukraine can endure the current strikes as doubtful Russia can maintain them for long.

Meanwhile reports that Ukraine is getting through the Western gear quickly. A third of the American supplied artillery is out of action at any one point for maintenance and accuracy starting to suffer.

[Johnny Byrne's Boots]

Russians getting careless with those cigarette ends again

Several people have been killed in explosions at two Russian military airfields, according to reports.

A fuel tanker exploded killing three and injuring six in an airfield near the city Ryazan, south-east of Moscow, Russian state media is reporting.

Another two people are reported to have been hurt in an explosion at an airfield in the Saratov region.

It is not known what caused the blasts. Both areas are hundreds of kilometres from the Ukrainian border.

Long-range Russian strategic bombers are believed to be based at the Engels airbase in the Saratov region.

The Saratov regional governor said security forces were checking what he called "reports of an incident at military installations".


more...

[Johnny Byrne's Boots]

Ukraine claims strike on Wagner HQ in Luhansk

Ukrainian forces have struck a headquarters of Russia's Wagner mercenary group in eastern Ukraine, Luhansk's Ukrainian governor has said.

Serhiy Haidai said a hotel where the group was based in Kadiivka, Luhansk region, was hit. He added there were major Russian losses.

The BBC was unable to independently verify Wagner's presence at the hotel.

Wagner are state-sponsored mercenaries who act in the Kremlin's interests, according to Western experts.

The private military company, set up by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a former restaurateur and close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has repeatedly been accused of war crimes and human rights abuses.

Wagner units have previously been deployed in Crimea, Syria, Libya, Mali and the Central African Republic.

In the Kadiivka strike, Mr Haidai said Russia had suffered "significant losses" and he expected "at least 50%" of the surviving forces to die due to a lack of medical treatment."


more...

I find that last bit about the survivors quite horrific.

[MB]

I find that last bit about the survivors quite horrific.

Yeah they've run out of even the most basic stuff. Reports a couple of months back that they were stealing sanitary products to plug wounds.

Willing to bet a pound to a penny they tracked the HQ from a TikTok. Think it was a Russian news team the last time they hit a HQ.

[DaveWHU1964]

I feel sorry for the Russian conscripts being treated as canon fodder by their World War One-esque leaders. My sympathy does not extend to anyone associated with Wagner lot. Played Ukraine.

[the pink palermo]

Not letting this slip off the main news section front page/

Putin again launched massive attacks on Ukraine cities today, most of the cruise missiles were shot down but seven or eight got through.

There's some footage on Twitter showing video from a Wizz air flight over Moldova that shows 4 or 5 impact clouds rising skywards.

[Puff Daddy]

There are rumours circulating in Moscow, Putin spends most of his day, drinking

[Shy Ted]

There are rumours circulating in Moscow, Putin spends most of his day, drinking

Yeah he needs to drink Molotov Cocktail's.

[Arnold Layne]

There are rumours circulating in Moscow, Putin spends most of his day, drinking

Well, it is Christmas.

[the pink palermo]

There are rumours circulating in Moscow, Putin spends most of his day, drinking

Who doesn't ?

However, on a serious point, the coverage this war is getting on domestic TV news is far too little.

Other than CNN, nobody is covering it.

[MB]

Who doesn't ?

However, on a serious point, the coverage this war is getting on domestic TV news is far too little.

Other than CNN, nobody is covering it.

Sky News are still doing a decent job of it (well on their socials at least).

But yes now the frontlines are fairly static and there is less to report it does seem to have become just about the number of drones shot down etc like it is an everyday normal thing!

I see the MOD are reporting about the human wave tactics being deployed by Wagner near Bakhmut. Convicts given GPS enabled phones with the attack plan on and sent forward monitored by drones operated by the few experienced soldiers Wagner has left. If they deviate from the attack plan then they get executed by Wagner. Grim even by Second World War standards.

[the pink palermo]

I see the MOD are reporting about the human wave tactics being deployed by Wagner near Bakhmut. Convicts given GPS enabled phones with the attack plan on and sent forward monitored by drones operated by the few experienced soldiers Wagner has left. If they deviate from the attack plan then they get executed by Wagner. Grim even by Second World War standards.

Jesus wept.

Dreadful.

I do though have some concerns over the propaganda pimped out by, presumably, Ukraine. Twitter accounts linking to picture after picture of dead Russian soldiers in graphic detail.

Brutal.

[DublinDave]

US sending Patriot missiles amongst other things to Ukraine,

https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/21/europe/b ... index.html

Putin has already stated that sending the missiles would be an act of provocation,

https://www.voanews.com/a/russia-warns- ... 78385.html

2023 is going to be very scary...

[delbert]

Someone's gonna have some explaining to do:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/22/us/d ... -iran.html

[MB]

Interesting given how much pressure there would have been to pin this on Russia

[dasnutnock3]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-64055018

If only it could have been avoided, eh.

[bubbles1966]

TBF, the seeds of this were sown about ten years ago.