# 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:** 223
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2023, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/4540 "2023-06-16T07:39:37Z")
This doesn’t appear to be beaking news. Perhaps a new thread. ---
**Author:** ![Chad\_Sudan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chad_sudan/32/4509_2.png) [@Chad\_Sudan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chad_Sudan)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2023, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/4541 "2023-06-16T08:50:59Z")
I read the article. The authors’ focus is entirely on the superpowers. It’s all about easing the Kremlin’s concerns and fears. For them, the concerns and fears of 150 million people in Eastern Europe don’t exist. ---
**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:** [June 16, 2023, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/4542 "2023-06-16T11:20:51Z")
Putin met with prominent Russian milbloggers and reporters a couple of days ago to discuss the war. [![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fyq4w9taYAMXHY8?format=png&name=small) ](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fyq4w9taYAMXHY8?format=png&name=small) How come they aren’t at the other end of an absurdly long table from Putin? Because they had to be quarantined for a week. > [@](#): > > Russian “military correspondent” Sladkov confirmed he had to stay in quarantine before meeting Putin yesterday. > A Russian cosmonaut - or something similar, I forget - revealed the same a few weeks ago. ---
**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:** [June 16, 2023, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/4543 "2023-06-16T19:42:30Z")
> [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > Russian “military correspondent” Sladkov confirmed he had to stay in quarantine before meeting Putin yesterday. > > [https://twitter.com/Gerashchenko\_en/status/1669018337484111874](https://twitter.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/1669018337484111874) > > A Russian cosmonaut - or something similar, I forget - revealed the same a few weeks ago. consistent with reports of Putin’s poor health - (cancer?) … could be that he gets imune-surpressants or so and has little to no defenses … of course that is speculation, but the whole long tables, people being 15m away in a meeting with him might form a pattern ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2023, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/4544 "2023-06-16T22:46:04Z")
A high rise building in Belgorod, Russia is on fire, perhaps hit by a drone. [https://twitter.com/WarMach18898344/status/1669818267966251010?t=1KZAoKZi5KTZh6f5ZRwaxA&s=19](https://twitter.com/WarMach18898344/status/1669818267966251010?t=1KZAoKZi5KTZh6f5ZRwaxA&s=19) ---
**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:** [June 16, 2023, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/4545 "2023-06-16T23:18:59Z")
The President of South Africa says [“NATO is to blame for Russia’s war in Ukraine.”](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/18/update-1-s-africas-ramaphosa-blames-nato-for-russias-war-in-ukraine) And [more news about that Chechen leader who was killed.](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-65900913.amp) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2023, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/4546 "2023-06-17T13:44:19Z")
The President of South Africa is mediating negotiations. And he tells us that Putin has assured him that negotiations are going well, but that he hasn’t yet heard from Zelenskyy. …What, exactly, does he think “negotiations” means? Or “mediating”? ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2023, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/4547 "2023-06-17T15:23:19Z")
Feeling important and being (in his own eyes) a mover and shaker. ---
**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:** [June 17, 2023, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/4548 "2023-06-17T20:19:11Z")
The Times has an article in which a psychologist describes how a couple of her patients, Ukrainian soldiers who were captured by Russia and returned in a prisoner exchange, had been castrated. From article: > [@](#): > > Yatsenko believes her patients are not the only ones to have been castrated. “They told me the Russians performed the castration procedure very skilfully, as if they knew how to do it. And I’ve heard about a lot of cases from colleagues treating others.” An analyst/journalist comments: > [@](#): > > We heard from a source in the Ukrainian government this was happening last year. “Hundreds” of prisoners of war had been returned, alive, but castrated. > > We didn’t report this at the time, as it was deemed it could add to the trauma the men had suffered. [https://twitter.com/JimmySecUK/status/1670136975108587524](https://twitter.com/JimmySecUK/status/1670136975108587524) ---
**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:** [June 17, 2023, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/4549 "2023-06-17T21:09:05Z")
[_New York Times_ article](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/06/16/world/europe/ukraine-kakhovka-dam-collapse.html?unlocked_article_code=LhFEaNh6MzPfRt5_ekfcbByvcQsAlDpcuX_bS4Rnih08jgpLMq16NC0rol_10kBbkjsh-hjzXCyS02JLPyfBAwy72sMDXwcxTwL_LwHyHLDYdNLoYJs6Vf4qd3sB17IGAJ-W3-1JeJS0Rt1GPsUvrnEzEjj9LHAj5kxgkH3OLWWhA-u_thkQOQV3bLqzpowrBZyLZWyhGeyKsI6Qk2WiKAviVhF8b-_Yz3l3ZoifAn17g15qx_OAYVLa3RPevHLNRXibu_JtoiifeYfRdI5cl7Y-AQu_kFYFl1pbHYOFW8ZTAl_XHk-P5wnPxGMKubtSYol8rnigyZpt2grwe0kW5EZ0Sa1vi--aUdoz_RRvQKozTwQgLHGi0N0bDTE&smid=url-share) concludes that the Nova Kakhovka dam was destroyed by explosives placed within it and that it was Russia that did it: > [@](#): > > The dam was built with an enormous concrete block at its base. A small passageway runs through it, reachable from the dam’s machine room. It was in this passageway, the evidence suggests, that an explosive charge detonated and destroyed the dam. > > … > > In the chaotic aftermath, with each side blaming the other for the collapse, multiple explanations are theoretically possible. But the evidence clearly suggests the dam was crippled by an explosion set off by the side that controls it: Russia. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2023, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/4550 "2023-06-17T21:16:54Z")
> [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](#): > > The Times has an article in which a psychologist describes how a couple of her patients, Ukrainian soldiers who were captured by Russia and returned in a prisoner exchange, had been castrated. Basically, another means of genocide - prevent Ukrainian men from reproducing. Also pretty bad psychological effects, I’m sure. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2023, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/4551 "2023-06-17T21:47:53Z")
I wonder if Putin and his henchmen carry cyanide capsules. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2023, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/4552 "2023-06-17T22:25:20Z")
Last March, a Ukrainian frontline medic [apologied for suggesting that](https://www.newsweek.com/ukrainian-medic-apologizes-after-saying-russian-pows-should-castrated-1690301) captured Russian soldiers should be castrated “_because they are not people, they are cockroaches_.” Passions seem to be running high. But at least he apologized. After getting death threats. ---
**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:** [June 17, 2023, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/4553 "2023-06-17T23:25:52Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Basically, another means of genocide - prevent Ukrainian men from reproducing. > > Also pretty bad psychological effects, I’m sure. Bombing civilians. Stealing Ukrainian children (sending to Russia) accomplishs a similar goal. Reduce the future population as much as possible ---
**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:** [June 19, 2023, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/4554 "2023-06-19T04:21:38Z")
The fighting is costly and intense. Ukraine has to make adjustments in their attacks. Link [Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, June 18, 2023 | Institute for the Study of War](https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-june-18-2023) > [@](#): > > **Ukrainian forces may be temporarily pausing counteroffensive operations to reevaluate their tactics for future operations.** Head of the Estonian Defense Forces Intelligence Center Colonel Margo Grosberg stated on June 16 that he assesses "we won’t see an offensive over the next seven days.”[7]The _Wall Street Journal_ similarly reported on June 17 that Ukrainian forces “have mostly paused their advances in recent days” as Ukrainian command reexamines tactics.[8] These reports are consistent with ISW’s recent observations of the scale and approach of localized Ukrainian counterattacks in southern and eastern Ukraine.[9] ISW has previously noted that Ukraine has not yet committed the majority of its available forces to counteroffensive operations and has not yet launched its main effort.[10] Operational pauses are a common feature of major offensive undertakings, and this pause does not signify the end of Ukraine’s counteroffensive. ---
**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:** [June 19, 2023, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/4555 "2023-06-19T13:39:54Z")
Russia is getting desperate. Fortunately the tank hit a mine before reaching Ukrainian lines. > **[Russia claims to have remotely detonated tank laden with explosives, in...](https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/19/europe/russia-tank-explosion-donetsk-ukraine-intl/index.html)** > > Russia’s Ministry of Defense has claimed that a Ukrainian stronghold was destroyed by a remotely-controlled tank packed with a huge amount of explosives, in what appears to be a new battlefield tactic. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2023, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/4556 "2023-06-19T13:54:38Z")
I hope it was a Russian mine. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2023, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/4557 "2023-06-19T13:55:19Z")
Good point, the odds would seem to favor that. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2023, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/4558 "2023-06-19T14:05:10Z")
I hope that not only was is a Russian mine, but the explosion was big enough to clear a few more. Battlefield demining is a dangerous and time-consuming pain in the ass, and if your adversary can do you the favor of doing some of themselves all the better. I wonder how many minefields were emplaced by Wagner and left behind undocumented for the Russian regulars to discover the hard way? ---
**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:** [June 19, 2023, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/4559 "2023-06-19T16:48:27Z")
Nothing really changes in this war. Russia isn’t deterred by anything Ukraine does The guardian > [@](#): > > In a post on Telegram, **Hanna Maliar** wrote: > > > The situation in the east is now difficult. The enemy has raised its forces and is conducting an active offensive in the Lyman and Kupyan directions, trying to seize the initiative from us. High activity of enemy shelling is recorded. Intense battles continue. > > > > The enemy does not abandon his plans to reach the borders of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Currently, this is the enemy’s main offensive line. Therefore, it has concentrated a significant number of units in the east, in particular the airborne assault units. > > > > Our troops act courageously in the face of the enemy’s superiority in forces and means, and do not allow the enemy to advance. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972.md?page=222) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972.md?page=224)