# Russia invades Ukraine {2022-02-24} (Part 1)
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Tags:** ukraine-invasion, breaking-news
**Created:** [February 24, 2022, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037 "2022-02-24T08:30:03Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 190
### Author:  [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2022, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/3790 "2022-04-01T16:05:50Z")
I hope this doesn’t extend any deeper in Ukrainian 's military. What did the Generals do? Offer to surrender? Betray state secrets to Russia?
There’s always been a concern that the military might not support Zelensky’s government.
CNN Live war blog
> [@](#):
>
> Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he removed two top Ukrainian generals, calling them “antiheroes” in his nightly address posted to social media on Thursday night.
>
> “Today another decision was made regarding antiheroes. Now I do not have time to deal with all the traitors. But gradually they will all be punished,” he said.
>
> The generals — former chief of the Main Department of Internal Security of the Security Service of Ukraine, Naumov Andriy Olehovych, and the former head of the Office of the Security Service of Ukraine in the Kherson region, Kryvoruchko Serhiy Oleksandrovych — have been stripped of their rank.
>
> > “Those servicemen among senior officers who have not decided where their homeland is, who violate the military oath of allegiance to the Ukrainian people as regards (to) the protection of our state, its freedom and independence, will inevitably be deprived of senior military ranks. Random generals don’t belong here!” Zelensky said.
---
### Author:  [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2022, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/3791 "2022-04-01T16:19:51Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> ‘Moscow accuses Ukraine of conducting airstrike inside Russia.’
They sound just like our stateside pansy-ass Republican snowflakes.
---
### Author:  [@BeepKillBeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeepKillBeep)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2022, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/3792 "2022-04-01T16:21:19Z")
> [@aceplace57](#):
>
> Kryvoruchko Serhiy Oleksandrovych
I’m not sure about the other guy but the speculation has been that this guy let the Russians take bridges across the Dneiper River without resistance, which essentially sabotaged the defence of Kherson.
---
### Author:  [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2022, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/3793 "2022-04-01T16:24:01Z")
Thank you BeepKillBeep. I was hoping it wasn’t an attempted coup.
It’s bad enough that strategic bridges were captured with no resistance.
---
### Author:  [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2022, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/3794 "2022-04-01T16:34:36Z")
Are Russian forces withdrawing because they said they would?
Are Russian forces withdrawing because Russia is about to carpet bomb Kyiv into dust?
The withdrawal looks like good news, but I don’t trust it.
---
### Author:  [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2022, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/3795 "2022-04-01T16:35:15Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> ‘Moscow accuses Ukraine of conducting airstrike inside Russia.’ So? What do they expect when they start a war? That the country they attacked would just roll over and welcome them as liberators? Oh, wait… That IS what they expected.
Personally, I don’t think Russia will reform unless they start seeing combat in their own territory and start losing land. Going after Russia might be strategically more valuable than trying to liberate the Donbas, and probably easier to accomplish since there’s effectively an eternity of open targets.
---
### Author:  [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2022, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/3796 "2022-04-01T16:38:15Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#):
>
> there’s effectively an eternity of open targets
This is the problem though.
---
### Author:  [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2022, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/3797 "2022-04-01T16:38:25Z")
**Modnote** : Reminder, keep politics out of breaking news threads. That jab is not permissible.
---
### Author:  [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2022, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/3798 "2022-04-01T16:41:22Z")
Sorry, crossed the line. Won’t happen again.
---
### Author:  [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2022, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/3799 "2022-04-01T16:48:43Z")
I caught that too. The commentator seemed to think it opened the door to Russian escalation and possible use of tactical nukes.
Right. 😏
---
### Author:  [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2022, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/3800 "2022-04-01T16:50:06Z")
>
>
---
### Author:  [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2022, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/3801 "2022-04-01T17:11:50Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#):
>
> Personally, I don’t think Russia will reform unless they start seeing combat in their own territory and start losing land. Going after Russia might be strategically more valuable than trying to liberate the Donbas, and probably easier to accomplish since there’s effectively an eternity of open targets.
Agreed. But to really go after Russia they’ll have to make some gains somewhere in the east. If not in Donbas, it would have to be further north. Maybe north of Kharkiv towards Belgorod and then working their way east / southeast? The other option would be to try to retake Crimea. I’m not sure which of those would be better.
---
### Author:  [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2022, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/3802 "2022-04-01T17:13:54Z")
> [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](#):
>
> IAPonomarenko
> Unbelievable.
> [@Sunny\_Daze](#):
>
> Are Russian forces withdrawing because Russia is about to carpet bomb Kyiv into dust?
Or gas the place, hoping to leave all those cultural monuments intact.
I really really hope not. But I wouldn’t put it past them.
Ukrainians must be aware of the possibility, though. I’m not sure how much they could do about it, beyond protecting enough people to stand as witnesses later. Can they shoot down enough incoming to reduce damage?
---
### Author:  [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2022, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/3803 "2022-04-01T17:15:46Z")
> [@Horatius](#):
>
> I never really bought into the “Putin = Crazy” argument until now, because up until now, most of his actions made sense, at least from the point of view of a violent dictator.
I know. Remember the Putin-inspired character in _House of Cards?_ He was the smartest, cleverest, best-informed character in those episodes. It seemed like a plausible approximation of Putin, then. Now, it’s starting to seem like a flattering overestimation.
---
### Author:  [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2022, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/3804 "2022-04-01T17:19:38Z")
> [@BeepKillBeep](#):
>
> I’m not sure about the other guy but the speculation has been that this guy let the Russians take bridges across the Dneiper River without resistance, which essentially sabotaged the defence of Kherson.
Good. Let’s hope this is merely a Lincoln-McClellan type thing (though that’s bad enough — any unnecessary retreat, defeat, or missed opportunity by the Ukrainians really sucks).
---
### Author:  [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2022, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/3805 "2022-04-01T17:21:59Z")
> [@GreenWyvern](#):
>
> …but they left mines around a confectionary factory and [poisoned the cookies](https://twitter.com/Oleksa_UA66/status/1509857465269211158): 🙁
>
> > In Bucha, the occupiers mined the territory of the Delicia confectionery factory and poisoned malt cookies, the factory administration said.
I’ve heard of “poison pill” but poison _cookies_?!?
The bastards!
---
### Author:  [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2022, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/3806 "2022-04-01T17:27:56Z")
> [@](#):
>
> [https://twitter.com/IAPonomarenko/status/1509928906513653765](https://twitter.com/IAPonomarenko/status/1509928906513653765)
Yeah, it does seem unbelievable. Which is why it makes me nervous.
---
### Author:  [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2022, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/3807 "2022-04-01T17:50:55Z")
> **[Russia’s War Lacks a Battlefield Commander, U.S. Officials Say (Published 2022)](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/31/us/politics/russia-military-ukraine.html)**
>
> Poor logistics and flagging morale have plagued a disjointed military campaign in Ukraine, according to American officials and independent analysts.
> Russia is running its military campaign against Ukraine out of Moscow, with no central war commander on the ground to call the shots, according to American officials who have studied the five-week-old war.
> But it is hard to run a military campaign from 500 miles away, U.S. military officials said. The distance alone, they said, can lead to a disconnect between the troops who are doing the fighting and the war plans being drawn up in Moscow. Instead of streamlining the process, they said, Russia has created a military machine that is unable to adapt to a quick and nimble Ukrainian resistance.
>
> A second senior American official said that Russian soldiers, who have been taught not to make a single move without explicit instructions from superiors, had been left frustrated on the battlefield, while Mr. Putin, Mr. Shoigu and General Gerasimov continued to plot increasingly out-of-touch strategy.
Armchair generals in Moscow… I wonder how honest the generals on the ground are when reporting back to them.
---
### Author:  [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2022, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/3808 "2022-04-01T17:53:09Z")
> [@GreenWyvern](#):
>
> Armchair generals in Moscow… I wonder how honest the generals on the ground are when reporting back to them.
A dead general can’t lie. Or tell the truth. 😜
---
### Author:  [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2022, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/3809 "2022-04-01T18:13:49Z")
One of the items Ukraine has requested in terms of weapons is more drones. We’ve heard a great deal about they’ve used the few dozen Bayraktar drones purchased from Turkey to great effect. So when the US authorized an $800 Million aid package, is anyone else struck by how few drones we’re providing? We’ve promised 100 switchblade ‘kamikaze’ style drones. These are small single use drones launched from a mortar that are suitable for taking out small soft targets. There’s also a larger version that can take out a tank. [AeroVironment Switchblade - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AeroVironment_Switchblade)
I’m sure the Ukrainian military will put them to good use, but again, I’m struck by the rather modest number of single use weapons that were offered here. Is there a reason we couldn’t have sent three or four times that number? It almost feels like they’re being used for their ‘test market’ potential.
[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037.md?page=189)
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037.md?page=191)