# 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:** 261
### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2022, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/5265 "2022-05-01T16:46:26Z")
NB: The source is Ukrayinska Pravda
> **[Russia planned downing passenger jet, blaming Ukraine Security Service of...](https://www.yahoo.com/news/russia-planned-downing-passenger-jet-090921314.html)**
>
> Valentyna Romanenko - Sunday, 1 May 2022, 12:09 The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) claims to have apprehended a Russian sabotage and reconnaissance group that was preparing to shoot down a passenger plane and blame it on the Ukrainian Armed Forces...
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### Author:  [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2022, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/5266 "2022-05-01T16:46:48Z")
Crime doesn’t pay for thieving Russians:
> **[Russians plunder $5M farm vehicles from Ukraine -- to find they've been...](https://edition.cnn.com/2022/05/01/europe/russia-farm-vehicles-ukraine-disabled-melitopol-intl/index.html)**
>
> Russian troops in the occupied city of Melitopol have stolen all the equipment from a farm equipment dealership -- and shipped it to Chechnya, according to a Ukrainian businessman in the area.
If only washing machines had similar remote-disabling capabilities.
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### Author:  [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2022, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/5267 "2022-05-01T16:53:22Z")
Today it was reported that this railway bridge in Russia’s Kursk region met with some terrible misfortune:
[ ](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FRrp5KMXIAI3dxc?format=jpg&name=large)
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2022, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/5268 "2022-05-01T17:26:05Z")
I’m sure it’s just faulty maintenance.
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### Author:  [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2022, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/5269 "2022-05-01T17:45:43Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> it’s just faulty maintenance.
Then again as with the _Moskva_ it _would_ be credible if it were just that it fell apart on its own.
> [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](#):
>
> Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov was at the Izyum HQ that was attacked yesterday
OTOH… which is it, Russian opsec sucking even worse than so far revealed, or some truly boss intel being shared with the Ukrainians by the West?
(or for those favoring conspiracy theories: inside job, Vlad himself was setting up the Chief to get “martyred” in the front and provide an excuse to crank up the savagery. )
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### Author:  [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2022, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/5270 "2022-05-01T17:48:32Z")
Or he’s decided that his generals are somehow a threat to his power and need to be purged.
Aren’t expendable redshirts usually low-ranking types? I think The Czar has it backward.
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### Author:  [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2022, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/5271 "2022-05-01T18:00:53Z")
Or not. I hope it’s not a situation where Putin wants to launch the nukes, and it’s only the generals that have been standing in his way of following the launch order.
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### Author:  [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2022, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/5272 "2022-05-01T18:04:14Z")
> [@FlikTheBlue](#):
>
> Or not. I hope it’s not a situation where Putin wants to launch the nukes, and it’s only the generals that have been standing in his way of following the launch order
I hope so, too, but I’m not terribly optimistic, the 2020s being about that kind of decade.
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### Author:  [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2022, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/5273 "2022-05-01T18:08:50Z")
> [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](#):
>
> Crime doesn’t pay for thieving Russians:
Reading the article, they were John Deere machines. American – and I assume Canadian – farmers have been complaining for _years_ about how they’re forced to use JD dealers for maintenance and parts. Looks like the same problem, squared, for the thieves.
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### Author:  [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2022, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/5274 "2022-05-01T18:35:02Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#):
>
> > [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
> >
> > it’s just faulty maintenance.
>
> Then again as with the _Moskva_ it _would_ be credible if it were just that it fell apart on its own.
Or Ivan Ivanovitch dropped a cigarette butt again. That guy really should quit smoking.
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### Author:  [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2022, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/5275 "2022-05-01T20:17:42Z")
Interesting BBC story, outlining views on the war in non-Western countries:
> **[Ukraine - the narrative the West doesn't hear](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-61272203)**
>
> Why it would be naive of the West and Nato to think the whole world shares its view of what Russia is doing.
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### Author:  [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2022, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/5276 "2022-05-01T20:39:50Z")
Speaker Pelosi and Members of a Congressional Delegation made the trip to Kyiv.
It’s a strong statement of Ukraine.
[https://www.speaker.gov/newsroom/5122](https://www.speaker.gov/newsroom/5122)
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### Author:  [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2022, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/5277 "2022-05-01T21:03:31Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#):
>
> Interesting BBC story, outlining views on the war in non-Western countries:
That article just confirms that countries with authoritarian regimes are the ones supporting Russia or refusing to condemn them. Not all that surprising. IMHO all those authoritarian regimes, even though they play for different teams, are all members of the same league playing the same game. They thus have a shared interest in supporting one of their own against the people who want to keep that league from expanding and adding additional teams.
ETA. I think Bush Jr. was right when he said they (the authoritarian regimes) hate us (the democracies) for our freedom. This is just another manifestation of that.
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### Author:  [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2022, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/5278 "2022-05-01T21:19:40Z")
Russian fighter jets have been making threatening moves bordering NATO airspace over the past four days:
> **[NATO scrambles fighter jets to intercept Russian planes | CNN](https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2022/04/29/nato-fighter-jets-intercept-russian-planes-starr-newsroom-vpx.cnn)**
>
> NATO fighter jets stationed in both the Baltic and Black Sea regions scrambled "multiple times over the past four days" to track and intercept Russian aircraft near alliance airspace, according to a statement posted by NATO's Allied Air Command....
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### Author:  [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2022, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/5279 "2022-05-01T21:30:52Z")
please…Russia…VIOLATE THAT AIRSPACE!!!
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### Author:  [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2022, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/5280 "2022-05-01T21:47:06Z")
An actual direct confrontation between Russia and NATO greatly increases the risk of nuclear exchange. This is not a good thing to be hoping for.
I’ll reserve my hopes for a coup that removed Putin or something medical that incapacitates him. That is the best hope for and end to this madness.
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### Author:  [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2022, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/5281 "2022-05-01T21:49:48Z")
I don’t think either of those is very likely either, at least in the short term. The complete collapse of the Russian military is more likely imo.
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### Author:  [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2022, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/5282 "2022-05-01T21:57:28Z")
Agreed. I said hope. I’m afraid of what will happen if the war escalates.
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### Author:  [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2022, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/5283 "2022-05-01T22:35:41Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#):
>
> something medical that incapacitates him.
I am hoping for something that makes him really ill, fairly quickly. And maybe makes him glow in the dark for a bit. Bury him in a lead-lined coffin.
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### Author:  [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2022, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/5284 "2022-05-01T23:09:35Z")
> [@FlikTheBlue](#):
>
> That article just confirms that countries with authoritarian regimes are the ones supporting Russia or refusing to condemn them.
I wouldn’t put India or South Africa into the category of “authoritarian regimes” and dismiss the issue so easily.
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