Would not surprise me one bit if it was a couple of lost Russian helo pilots.
At any rate, the attack destroyed a facility – not apartment buildings or shopping centers, not lots of Russians killed, put out on the street or otherwise severely inconvenienced. If Ukraine continues to prosecute a war on Russia that is more surgical than Vlad’s scorched-earth campaign, it will be difficult for the Kremlin to gin up support from any fence-sitters or foreign countries.
This is why I never accept cookies. /back to the thread!
Latest campaign assessment from the Institute for the Study of War:
Yep. I could see it being a complete screw-up by the Russian military who attacked their own oil facilities due to complete and utter incompetence.
Another option: frustrated Russian soldiers trying to impede and sabotage their own military, hoping to derail their own pending deployment and thus save their skins
Not at all the most likely scenario, by a wide margin, but possible.
It was actually the second thing I thought of.
In any event, I’m worried about Putin’s next move, now that “withdrawing forces” has proven to be a lie as usual – as before the invasion, merely a deception while battle plans are formulated. I fear that renewed attacks may be more vicious than before, in what may be perhaps a last-ditch attempt to achieve some kind of “victory” via scorched-earth. I know the US and the NATO alliance are watching, and I hope they have the courage to respond appropriately, and in the meantime are beefing up weapons and humanitarian aid to Ukraine. I honestly don’t think Putin is congenitally capable of backing out until he is either deposed or dead.
At this point, I’m in favor of the US and the EU providing full support to Ukraine. Weapons, supplies, forces, aid, cyber-strikes. All of it. The alternative is waiting for Russia to throw their 135,000 conscripts into the meat grinder in between flattening Ukrainian cities, killing civilians, and committing as many war crimes as possible.
It will take up to seven months to train the new conscripts - who are being conscripted as part of regular scheduled annual service, rather than being conscripted specifically for the Ukraine war - before they can be sent to the battlefield.
I thought the number was higher than expected, and the suspicion is that the war is responsible.
I say, why wait for the 7 months to be up? Actually, the way Putin’s been running things lately, who’s to say they will actually be trained per normal. It wouldn’t surprise me if they got 2 weeks and a “good luck kid” before they shipped off.
I don’t know about that. It seems that the “Training” that Russian soldiers receive consists mainly of following orders to line their tanks up in a row so they can be blown up. Seems rather simple to train men to do this.
Heck, you don’t even have to provide them with more than a weeks worth of rations, because they won’t last that long. Think of the money Putin will save!
If you have a single general, in charge of an army in Ukraine, maybe that might keep Putin worried…best to have multiple generals far away in Moscow.
Now the waiting begins. Is Putin going to dramatically escalate with chemical weapons?
Ukraine’s cities are in ruins and it still may not be enough to satisfy Putin.
Ukraine’s military losses haven’t been disclosed. Every liberated city cost soldiers their lives.
What’s significant about May 9?
Guardian blog
It’s come up in the thread before, but where is the tripwire? Chemical weapons?
Just to help keep things in context for a southerner like @aceplace57, here in Saskatchewan I still have snow in my front yard (south facing, gets lots of sunlight) and lots of snow in my backyard (north-facing, not getting as much sunlight).
April 1, Spring has sprung!
Everyone without heat in Ukraine is suffering.
Add in rain and mud. It must be miserable for the soldiers.
Definitely! there are so many reasons to feel sorry for Ukrainians caught in this. The cold is one of them.