Russian Invasion of Ukraine

[Gurgeh]

21 hours ago, RansomthePasserby said:

He talks about this conflict as if it’s something happening to him and he has no influence on its direction at all. Weird. 

 

"I don't want war. All I want is peace. Peace. Peace!

A little piece of Poland, a little piece of France
A little piece of Portugal and Austria perchance

A little slice of Turkey and all that that entails

Und then a piece of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales"

 

To Be or Not to Be (1983) - Mel Brooks as Dr. Frederick Bronski - IMDb

[MrSilverMaC]

Master strategist, putin, wins again…

 

Newsweek:
 

 

US Arms Makers Dominate Top Expo As Russia Fails To Sell

 

U.S. arms makers dominated last week's Dubai Airshow, as Russia failed to report a single sale, with one executive claiming the country had been sidelined from the exhibition's main pavilion.

 

The biennial air show, which is the largest aerospace exhibition in the Middle East, was held between November 13 and 17, and gathered the leading manufacturers of civil and military aircraft. Russian firms including Rostec, United Aircraft Corp and Almaz-Anty, participated.

 

Russia's standing as a global arms exporter has been diminished by Russian President Vladimir Putin's ongoing war in Ukraine, but exports had been declining for a few years prior to the conflict.

 

Data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute shows that Russia's share of global arms exports fell from 22 percent from 2013-17 to 16 percent from 2018-22.

 

Russian officials brought with them to the exhibition 250 samples of weapons and equipment, but its state aerospace and defense company Rosoboronexport did not secure a single contract during the event, The Moscow Times reported...

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more at link.

[Gurgeh]

Ukraine war: The Russians snitching on colleagues and strangers - BBC News

 

"I was taught how to snitch by my grandfather who was a snitch himself," claims a woman who goes by the name of Anna Korobkova. She says she lives in a large Russian city but refuses to say which one. But she does say her grandfather was an anonymous informant for the Soviet secret police during Stalin's reign, when denunciations were part of everyday life, and she's following in his footsteps. Now, she is reporting anyone she thinks is a critic of the war in Ukraine.

 

...Korobkova claims to have written 1,397 denunciations since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. She says people have been fined, fired and labelled as foreign agents because of her denunciations. "I do not feel sorry for them," she reveals. "I feel joy if they are punished because of my denunciations."

 

She seems to have two motives for snitching on her fellow citizens. Firstly, she tells me she believes she is helping Russia defeat Ukraine and, secondly, she thinks it will help protect her own financial stability... "All those who oppose the special military operation are rivals of my own wellbeing," she explains, predicting a win for Ukraine would be a loss for her. "I could lose all my savings and would have to get a full-time job."

 

Korobkova shows no remorse for her actions, instead she proudly keeps a database of people she has reported, including the consequences.

[Cooked Crack]

 

[China]

Ukraine Will Receive Warships to Ensure Safety in Black Sea's Grain Corridor, Zelensky Says

 

Speaking at the Grain from Ukraine conference in Kyiv on Saturday, Nov. 25, President Volodymyr Zelensky revealed that partner countries have committed to transferring warships to Ukraine to enhance the safety of vessels navigating the critical "grain corridor" in the Black Sea.

 

Zelensky hailed the establishment and operation of the "grain corridor" as one of the notable achievements of the year.

 

"We have reached agreements with our partners and will provide sea escorts to ensure the safety of ships," explained President Zelensky during the conference.

 

He emphasized that specific agreements for receiving the warships have already been made, making it a near-future reality.

 

Additionally, President Zelensky highlighted that the Odesa region will receive better protection through the deployment of additional air defense systems, a measure that has been coordinated and agreed upon with Ukraine's international partners.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[Gurgeh]

Life in the trenches (video inside the link)

 

Avdiivka: The story of one bloody battle in a trench in eastern Ukraine | CNN

 

Sentsov, 47, was a famous Ukrainian filmmaker, imprisoned by the Russians for five years in 2014, and is now a soldier fighting with the 47th Mechanised Brigade, part of the Ukrainian Ground Forces. He has fought in some of the war’s fiercest battles so far — Bakhmut,  Zaporizhzhia region and now Avdiivka.

 

On October 19, he and his fellow soldiers filmed a 5-hour battle on helmet and body cameras, illustrating the cruelty of war and horrors of the trenches.

 

...“All wars are terrible. There are no good wars. People always suffer and die in war. The only question is why they suffer and why they die. Russians are being fooled by Putin’s propaganda. .. Ukrainians are fighting mostly as volunteers for their freedom on their own land,” he said.

 

“Right now, people are dying for freedom near Avdiivka, near Robotyne, and other places. And there is nothing more important than that.”

[LD0506]

[China]

Rail havoc in Russia after second explosion in as many days destroys key ‘Devil’s Bridge’ – NV souces

 

Another fuel train explosion on Russia’s Baikal-Amur Mainline signals the second phase of a strategic operation by Ukraine’s SBU to disrupt this vital railway route, sources told NV.

 

Russians utilize this mainline, including for military logistics purposes.

 

The initial incident occurred in the Severomuiskii Tunnel, prompting Russians to divert their use of the line through a bypass route known as the “Devil’s Bridge.” However, during a train’s passage on this towering 35-meter bridge, embedded explosive devices were triggered, resulting in the ignition of six tanks, Russian Telegram channels reported.

 

A firefighting train was dispatched to extinguish the ensuing blaze.

 

Ukraine’s SBU Security Service executed a controlled detonation in the Bessolov Northern Tunnel on the Baikal-Amur Mainline in Buryatia on the night of Nov. 30, NV sources reported. This railway serves as a vital connection between Russia and China.

 

Click on the link for the full article

 

Edited December 2, 2023 by China

[China]

Russian senator, 60, dies after suffering ‘heart attack’ as he becomes latest mystery oil tycoon death

 

A RUSSIAN senator with close links to the Kremlin has died suddenly aged 60 after a suffering a "heart attack".

 

Vladimir Lebedev had connections to energy giant Lukoil - a company dogged by mystery deaths since Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

 

Lebedev had close business ties to Vladimir Nekrasov, 66, chairman of the Lukoil board of directors, who also died “suddenly” last month.

 

Nekrasov had appointed Lebedev to serve with him on the board of Lukoil subsidiary TGC-8.

 

Lebedev was also longstanding friend and hunting pal of Putin's closest Kremlin aide, Sergei Kiriyenko, 61 - a former Russian prime minister and the tyrant's deputy chief of staff.

The initial cause of Lebedev's death was announced as a “heart attack”.

 

No further details were given.

 

But colleagues indicated he had been healthy and his death came as a “deep shock”.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Russia boosts size of armed forces by 170,000 troops

 

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the country’s military to increase the maximum number of troops by nearly 170,000 people, as Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine continues into its 22nd month.

 

Putin’s decree was released by the Kremlin on Friday and took force immediately. It brings the strength of the armed forces to 1.32 million service personnel and increases the overall number of Russian military personnel to about 2.2 million.

 

“The increase in the full-time strength of the armed forces is due to the growing threats to our country associated with the special military operation and the ongoing expansion of NATO,” the Russian Ministry of Defence said in a statement.

 

It said the order does not imply any “significant expansion of conscription”, and that the increase would happen gradually by recruiting more volunteers.

 

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, said on Friday that more than 452,000 people were recruited to the military under contract from January 1 to December 1, 2023.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[Larry]

1 hour ago, China said:

 

It said the order does not imply any “significant expansion of conscription”, and that the increase would happen gradually by recruiting more volunteers

 

They planning on  recruiting more volunteers (and training and equipping them) faster than they're losing them?  

[LD0506]

[Gurgeh]

1 hour ago, Larry said:

 

They planning on  recruiting more volunteers (and training and equipping them) faster than they're losing them?  

 

By most accounts the recently arrived Russian troops are poorly trained. The Russians transferred many of their training staff to the front lines back when Ukraine was making big advances, and now they are suffering for it. And based upon what happened last year, the recruits will be expected to provide much of their own equipment, assuming it doesn't get stolen from them.

 

They are also being careful to recruit from the poorer regions of Russia, as far away from Moscow as they can. Despite the total state control of media, when you take over 300,000 casualties and have hundreds of thousands of men out in the field experiencing a brutal war, it's impossible for people not to hear what's really going on even if they choose not to believe it. And sentiment is turning inside Russia - "A recent Russian opinion poll indicates that the number of Russians who fully support the war in Ukraine has almost halved since February 2023 and that more Russians support a withdrawal of Russian forces from Ukraine than do not." ( Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, November 30, 2023 | Institute for the Study of War (understandingwar.org) ).

 

NATO countries have been providing Ukraine with varying degrees of training for tens of thousands of troops - even a few weeks of basic training is probably far better than the other side is getting. But one issue that came up early on in the summer offensive was the divide between the freshly Western-trained troops and the older higher ranking Ukrainian officers who had been trained the "Soviet" way.

 

 

[Cooked Crack]

 

[Renegade7]

Lookin at GOP demands for "stronger border control" in trade for Ukraine aid reads more like additional avenues to emancipated the asylum system. 

 

They didn't even ask for more technology to catch people crossing the border, he'll, neither side did.  What happened to the Smart Wall made of technology?

[tshile]

I’d love to know the logistics behind Ukrainian special forces conducting an assassination in Moscow 

[Larry]

1 hour ago, tshile said:

I’d love to know the logistics behind Ukrainian special forces conducting an assassination in Moscow 

 

If you knew, then they'd have to kill you. 

[Cooked Crack]

 

[DCSaints_fan]

On 12/6/2023 at 7:49 PM, tshile said:

I’d love to know the logistics behind Ukrainian special forces conducting an assassination in Moscow 

 

Depending on how well protected the guy is, I think it would be incredibly easy.    Just have to find someone willing to pull the trigger (and risk getting caught).  Observe the target for a while and pick an ideal time / place to carry it out.

 

I don't think this guy had much protection

[tshile]

47 minutes ago, DCSaints_fan said:

 

Depending on how well protected the guy is, I think it would be incredibly easy.    Just have to find someone willing to pull the trigger (and risk getting caught).  Observe the target for a while and pick an ideal time / place to carry it out.

 

I don't think this guy had much protection

yeah that’s not what I meant. 
 

I meant the logistics of getting a special forces unit into and out of Moscow, including the assassination part, without getting caught/detected 

[DCSaints_fan]

14 minutes ago, tshile said:

yeah that’s not what I meant. 
 

I meant the logistics of getting a special forces unit into and out of Moscow, including the assassination part, without getting caught/detected 

 

I don't think its a matter of some Ukranian special forces unit departing from Kyiv a few days ago and they coming back.  They've had people there for a while, probably since 2014.

 

Also easier to recruit locally.  There's a fair amount of sympathizers and just straight up mercenaries.

[China]

Putin’s Pals Think the GOP Just Won Them the War in Ukraine

 

Republicans voted to block a $110.5 billion emergency spending bill to aid Ukraine and Israel Wednesday night, sparking celebrations in Moscow where they believe the U.S. will withdraw support for Kyivallowing them to win the war.

 

A classified briefing with administration officials reportedly devolved into a meltdown on Tuesday afternoon, making it clear that the measure would fail. “We are about to abandon Ukraine,” Senator Christopher S. Murphy told the press as he left the briefing. “When Vladimir Putin marches into a NATO country, they will rue the day they decided to play politics with the future of Ukraine’s security.”

 

Click on the link for the full article 

[ixcuincle]

republicans so intent on stopping funding to ukraine. so sad.

 

they don't understand the ramifications if usa stops funding that war

[Jabbyrwock]

3 minutes ago, ixcuincle said:

they don't understand care about the ramifications if usa stops funding that war

 

FTFY

[Gurgeh]

12 minutes ago, ixcuincle said:

republicans so intent on stopping funding to ukraine. so sad.

 

they don't understand the ramifications if usa stops funding that war

 

China is watching with interest, that's for sure