# Russia invades Ukraine {2022-02-24} (Part 2) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Tags:** ukraine-invasion, breaking-news\ **Created:** [October 29, 2022, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972 "2022-10-29T17:49:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 128
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2023, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/2593 "2023-03-02T15:07:15Z")
I wonder if there are plans to blow up the entrances to the Bakhmut salt mines? Make it difficult as possible for the Russians to make a fortified base. It would take time to dig out the mine entrance. Especially if it’s a elevator that the miners use. It can easily be blown up. > **[Bakhmut burning: fires everywhere as Russians close in on city’s capture](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/02/bakhmut-burning-fires-everywhere-as-russians-close-in-ukraine)** > > Situation for Bakhmut’s defenders now almost untenable as seven-month assault may be nearing end > [@](#): > > "It was super difficult,” Wilk added. “If you try go down the main road, someone is going to try and kill you. There are snipers in the street shooting civilians. They don’t give a fuck. It’s complete carnage. > > “I’ve been all over the city. There are still some bits that almost look normal for a Donbas town. The rest is completely devastated. The last time I drove in, I counted six plumes of smoke. There are fires everywhere.” > > In a week in which the situation for Bakhmut’s defenders has become almost untenable, Danilova and Wilk’s accounts, and those of other civilian volunteers who spoke to the Guardian, paint a vivid picture of a city that many fear could soon fall to the Russians. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2023, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/2594 "2023-03-02T16:13:36Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > Define relativly modern. The tanks the Ukraine are getting have supeior targeting capibilities due to technologies developed by the western allliance, which has proven to be better than Russian tanks built with Russian technolgy and copied (but not equal) western tech. That and the Ukrainan tanks have an advantage in being much better maintained and a better supply line for future maintaince. This adds up to them being more capible of commanding the battlefield. From what I can gather, the Leopard 2 tanks Ukraine is receiving are comparable to the Abrams tanks the US used in the 1991 Iraq war. Of course as that war showed, even 1980s era western tanks are significantly better than 1980s era Soviet tanks. And it also seems like Russia is now down to 1960s and 1970s era Soviet tanks. I think the closest comparison would be the Abrams from the 1991 Gulf War against the tanks the Soviet Union was using during their war against Afghanistan. ETA. I don’t think the Leopard 2s are actually 30 years old, it’s just that the technology is 30 years old. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2023, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/2595 "2023-03-02T16:59:38Z")
What? > **[Anime-inspired teenage gangs that originated in Moscow plaguing streets of...](https://edition.cnn.com/2023/03/02/europe/anime-inspired-russian-gangs-ukraine-intl/index.html)** > > Ukrainian authorities are accusing Russia of trying to export an unlikely phenomenon: teenage gangs inspired by a Japanese anime game who are taking to the streets for mass brawls. … what? ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2023, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/2596 "2023-03-02T17:04:26Z")
If they like Russian solutions then put a gun in their hands and take them to the front lines if they crave conflict. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2023, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/2597 "2023-03-02T17:16:52Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > The good news is that it may be possible to run diesel-powered locomotives on the same tracks, provided there’s adequate overhead clearance to the catenaries. There is always enough clearance under the catenaries. If the wires need maintenance the power is off, naturally, and you move the equipment around with locomotives that don’t need the overhead power on, typically diesel-electrics these days. I don’t know the particulars for Ukraine railroads. The loading gauge1 varies from country to country and Ukr uses the Russian gauge of 1,520mm instead of 1,435 like most of the world, but in the US your typical car and locomotive height is 16 feet2 and the wires are 18. 1How big the equipment bulks up above the rails. US and UK railroads share the same track gauge but American rolling stock would have trouble fitting through British tunnels. 2Except double-stacked containers on well flats. You don’t see them under wires. Edit: Dunno how I jumped clear back to November but I put too much work into this to delete it. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2023, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/2598 "2023-03-02T18:10:56Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I wonder if there are plans to blow up the entrances to the Bakhmut salt mines? Purportedly most or all of that complex is already in Russian hands. It is in the suburb of Soledar that [fell to Russia in January](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Soledar). ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2023, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/2599 "2023-03-02T21:52:47Z")
If you are already depressed from fighting in a war you don’t beleive in, would going underground help your morale? Did soldiers in WWI enjoy trench warfare? Being stationed in a mine that the enemy knows everything about can’t be good. Who knows how many weak spots or traps they put in there, waiting for the right time to hit the right spot with a volley of artillery fire to make a tunnel roof collaspe or the floor to fall away from under you. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2023, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/2600 "2023-03-02T22:49:36Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > If you are already depressed from fighting in a war you don’t beleive in, would going underground help your morale? I think the idea of holding the mines is that they potentially make for a better-than-average storage depot, somewhat sheltered from artillery strikes. So holding it allows the Russians to move munitions to a forward staging area (i.e. the nearby Bakhmut front lines), without suffering quite the same logistics crush caused by Ukrainian long-distance HIMARS strikes on supply lines. It’s useful to hold and presumably makes the Ukrainian military’s job more difficult in the area, currently the focus of heavy fighting. But taking it isn’t a tactical masterstroke necessarily, rather just one more useful strongpoint. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2023, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/2601 "2023-03-03T02:51:04Z")
Assholes I’m glad they were caught. [https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/02/politics/americans-arrested-aviation-technology-russia/index.html](https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/02/politics/americans-arrested-aviation-technology-russia/index.html) > [@](#): > > The two men’s US-based KanRus Trading Company sold and installed Western electronic equipment for airplanes, according to prosecutors, and allegedly sold equipment to Russian companies and provided repair services for Russian aircrafts. To get around US sanctions, prosecutors say Buyanovsky and Robertson concealed who their clients were, lied about how much products cost and were paid through foreign bank accounts. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2023, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/2602 "2023-03-03T03:04:12Z")
With their company having such a nondescript name as _KanRus_, it’s a wonder their business of smuggling aviation technology from _Kan_sas to _Rus_sia didn’t just fly under the radar. Must have required some top flight police work for the authorities to land that indictment… ---
**Author:** ![Ssounder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d07c76/32.png) [@Ssounder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ssounder)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2023, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/2603 "2023-03-03T04:28:29Z")
It probably wasn’t a bad business model before Putin decided to give the free world the finger. Ethics caught up with them in the end though. ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2023, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/2604 "2023-03-03T10:46:14Z")
now, that video is REALLY quite something > (the russian AWACS plane that got partially destroyed a couple of days ago in belarus) which also makes me wonder how much of shenanigans could be potentially pulled there … e.g. place a small explosive on the rear horizontal control surfaces and set it off a couple of seconds after take off (with the expected results) ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2023, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/2605 "2023-03-03T12:56:15Z")
Nice bit of rust on the radome. I wonder what shipyard builds their planes? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2023, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/2606 "2023-03-03T13:35:40Z")
They plan to drive the pilot nuts with that damn noise. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2023, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/2607 "2023-03-03T13:52:51Z")
I watched that video and had no idea what it’s about? ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2023, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/2608 "2023-03-03T13:59:41Z")
Finland has [started building a stronger border wall with Russia](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-64802457). Smart idea. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2023, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/2609 "2023-03-03T14:07:50Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > I watched that video and had no idea what it’s about? My read is that they landed a drone on a Russian AWACS-style plane, and then flew off again with zero interference or anyone apparently even noticing. Which is a spectacular security breach, especially if - as later demonstrated - the drones come by with boomy things attached. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2023, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/2610 "2023-03-03T14:13:15Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > I watched that video and had no idea what it’s about? It is supposedly the reconnaissance of a Russian A-50 AWACS in Belarus by Belarusian partisans, made prior to them later launching an attack with two small drones and a small amount of explosives. It shows them landing on the rather rough-looking surface of the radar dome. The damage inflicted by the later attack doesn’t seem to have been extensive judging from released satellite photos, probably because purportedly only 0.4 lbs of TNT was used. Still, embarrassing for Belarus and Russia that civilian drones could just wander into a restricted airspace and attack a massively expensive and very important aircraft. ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2023, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/2611 "2023-03-03T16:06:19Z")
Russians build a movie set for future World War I movies: > ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2023, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/2612 "2023-03-03T16:20:41Z")
One of the lessons of this war was discovering just how important and decisive drones are proving to be on the 21st century battlefield. WW1 style trenches are still useful on the defensive, but here too, drones are rendering them much less effective, as they can drop a grenade with precision from directly above. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972.md?page=127) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972.md?page=129)