Despite this, the siege of Mariupol continues.
EDIT: The surrender has not yet been verified.
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### Author:  [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)
#### Post date: [April 4, 2022, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/4016 "2022-04-04T21:06:09Z")
I don’t think surrendering is going to end up well for them sadly.
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### Author:  [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)
#### Post date: [April 4, 2022, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/4017 "2022-04-04T21:11:20Z")
Indeed.
The video comes from a Russian channel, so it cannot be believed at face value, certainly the stated number of marines.
Will need to wait to see if its confirmed by other sources.
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### Author:  [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)
#### Post date: [April 4, 2022, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/4018 "2022-04-04T21:38:17Z")
> [@DigitalC](#):
>
> Are you joking? if he thinks NATO attacked Russia he obviously fucking would.
As if Putin needs a reason to use nukes.
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### Author:  [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)
#### Post date: [April 4, 2022, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/4019 "2022-04-04T21:56:25Z")
> [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](#):
>
> Indeed.
>
> The video comes from a Russian channel, so it cannot be believed at face value, certainly the stated number of marines.
>
> Will need to wait to see if its confirmed by other sources.
I find it difficult to believe these men could surrender without being executed.
Maybe a few would be spared for propaganda.
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### Author:  [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)
#### Post date: [April 4, 2022, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/4020 "2022-04-04T22:10:54Z")
> [@aceplace57](#):
>
> How does President Volodymyr Zelenskiy walk without clanking his brass balls?
How do _any_ of the Ukrainians walk without clanking?
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### Author:  [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)
#### Post date: [April 4, 2022, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/4021 "2022-04-04T22:27:11Z")
That’s true. The Ukrainians are fighting beyond most people’s expectations.
Anonymous is still digging up personal information in Russia.
> **[Anonymous Shares Details Of 120,000 Russian Soldiers In Latest Blow To Putin](https://www.unilad.com/news/anonymous-shares-details-of-120000-russian-soldiers-20220404)**
>
> Hacking group Anonymous has claimed to have released the personal data of over 100,000 Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine.
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### Author:  [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)
#### Post date: [April 4, 2022, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/4022 "2022-04-04T22:50:11Z")
Latest campaign assessment from the Institute for the Study of War:
> **[Institute for the Study of War](https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-april-4)**
>
> Russian forces continue to make little to no progress in frontal assaults to capture Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts, their current main effort of the war. Russian units in Donbas face growing morale and supply issues. Additionally, the Ukrainian...
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### Author:  [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)
#### Post date: [April 4, 2022, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/4023 "2022-04-04T23:01:12Z")
> [@aceplace57](#):
>
> I know Russia has done the same thing in Gronzy and Aleppo. The world wasn’t paying close attention. They didn’t have a powerful voice like Zelensky.
Another factor is that the world pays attention when there isn’t much moral ambiguity. The Chechen Republic of Ichkeria treated the Russian minority so badly it was hard to root for them. Ukrainians treat their Russian civilian population well.
A lot of attention was paid to the Rwandan genocide, where the Tutsis were clear victims. Less was paid to the Congo wars that killed more people, except, maybe, when there was an obvious bad-guy theme, as with child soldiers.
Also more attention is paid, in the U. S., when it seems to have some similarity to something we know a lot about, like racial discrimination in old South Africa. In the Ukraine case, the similarity is to World War II.
The biggest war this year in Africa, the [I hope, just now ending](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-60943889) Tigray civil war, was one in which it was hard to know who to root for, so, the war got less publicity [despite being a Biden administration priority.](https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2021/10/01/the-exemplary-u-s-sanctions-regime-for-ethiopias-tigray-conflict-and-its-limitations/)
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### Author:  [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2022, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/4024 "2022-04-05T11:55:57Z")
50 posts were split to a new topic: [Outcome of nuclear escalation](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outcome-of-nuclear-escalation/962302)
---
### Author:  [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)
#### Post date: [April 4, 2022, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/4026 "2022-04-04T23:45:30Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#):
>
> Ukrainians treat their Russian civilian population well.
Not according to the one guy I “know.” He’s a fellow clan member in _World of Warships_ and speaks Russian. Judging by the time zone he’s somewhere in Central Europe but he’s swallowed hook, line, and sinker the Russian propaganda passing as news, and among other things claims Putin’s invasion was entirely justified by the poor treatment the evil Ukranians were affording ethnic Russians.
It’s all too familiar to anyone in the US with any political savvy and I suspect the only reason he’s still in the clan is it’s been kept on the Discord message boards so far and not the in-game chat. Personally, I avoid playing when he’s commonly in the game.
---
### Author:  [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2022, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/4034 "2022-04-05T01:08:10Z")
> [@DesertDog](#):
>
> > [@PhillyGuy](#):
> >
> > Ukrainians treat their Russian civilian population well.
>
> Not according to the one guy I “know.” He’s a fellow clan member in _World of Warships_ and speaks Russian. Judging by the time zone he’s somewhere in Central Europe . . .
I could have qualified it.
About 95 percent of ethnic Russians fled Chechnya.
Putting aside the Russian occupied zones, ethnic Russians appear little more likely to become refugees than other Ukrainian citizens. This gave me that impression:
[Ukrainians with family in Russia](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/europe/ukrainians-find-that-families-in-russia-do-not-believe-it-is-war/articleshow/90064721.cms)
Some might say this doesn’t prove much, since treatment of a minority has to become extremely bad before they will give up everything they have always known. But it shows something.
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### Author:  [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2022, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/4036 "2022-04-05T01:59:52Z")
> [@Snooppuppy](#):
>
> As much as I support Ukraine and enjoy all the videos of them kicking ass on social media, i am not sure Putin is playing by the same rules we are.
He’s doing well at home. NBC News reported he had 2/3 support of Russians. Of course that could be a lie
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### Author:  [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2022, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/4037 "2022-04-05T02:44:58Z")
> [@Magiver](#):
>
> NBC News reported he had 2/3 support of Russians.
“Independent” polling group [Levada reports an 83%](https://twitter.com/polinaivanovva/status/1509209254812696583) approval rating – which is pretty low in a country where responding «не одобряю» feels like it could land you in prison for a couple decades.
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### Author:  [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2022, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/4045 "2022-04-05T02:59:16Z")
> [@Magiver](#):
>
> He’s doing well at home. NBC News reported he had 2/3 support of Russians. Of course that could be a lie
Lie is too strong a word. But the leading independent pollster says Putin approval is at 82 percent:
[Levada Center](https://www.levada.ru/en/)
If sanctions just generally hurt the economy, maybe that would be counted against Putin. But anti-Russian-people sanctions, like kicking disabled Russians out of the Paralympics, played into the up-against-a-world-that-hates-us narrative pushing Putin well above that 2/3 mark you mentioned.
I think we are doing a terrible job at psychological warfare, and those polls show it.
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