# 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:** 315
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2023, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/6392 "2023-11-30T02:05:12Z")
The rest of the implication is that some Russian unit deployed landmines around their position or encampment, and did not mark the minefields. And may not even have had permission to deploy mines at all. A Major General may have been driving a desk for a long time now, but he ought to be bright enough to not go wandering around just “outside the wire” of one of his own encampments. That is definitely not friendly territory if there’s any competence in that unit at all. Another possibility is that he found an old mine emplaced by Ukrainians at a time that territory was Ukrainian and they were being pushed back. He just happened to stomp in exactly the unhappy spot. Another interesting possibility is that this was a planned fragging, either by landmine or by grenade or other booby trap. Somebody knew where the mine(s) or trap were, misdirected the good General as to where was safe and watched as a good deed was done. And now the cover-up is afoot. I sure can’t handicap the odds on these possibilities. But they’re all at least plausible scenarios. ---
**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:** [November 30, 2023, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/6393 "2023-11-30T02:17:55Z")
Wikipedia has updated their list: > **[List of Russian generals killed during the Russian invasion of Ukraine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Russian_generals_killed_during_the_Russian_invasion_of_Ukraine)** > > A number of Russian general officers\[a\] have been killed during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. As of 28 November 2023, Ukrainian sources claimed that 16 Russian generals and 1 admiral had been killed during the invasion, while Russian sources have confirmed 7 deaths. Although seven of the Ukrainian claims were rebutted, the loss of even two general officers is rare. The scale of these losses is unprecedented since World War II. This has been attributed to Russian senior commanders goin Russi... ---
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2023, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/6394 "2023-11-30T02:24:01Z")
One thing that I noticed in that Wikipedia article is that in the Russian forces, Major General is the lowest ranked general, a One-star. That’s worth keeping in mind when seeing so many “Major Generals” killed - they aren’t particularly high ranking generals. ---
**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:** [November 30, 2023, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/6395 "2023-11-30T02:34:35Z")
Still a useful addition to the game bag. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2023, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/6396 "2023-11-30T03:17:44Z")
For comparison, the US Army has 231 generals between 1- and 4-star rank. The DoD as a whole has roughly 660 folks of those ranks. To oversee about 1.4M active duty troops. The Russian military (all branches) comes to about 1.1M active duty people. Hard to say whether the US or Russian forces are more top-heavy, but if for simplicity we assume parity in top-heaviness and a similar headcount breakdown between the services, that suggests the Russian Army ought to have about 200 generals total of every kind. Losing a dozen-plus of the 200 is surprising, and good news from the West’s POV, but is probably not crippling to the Russian army unless they were the best and brightest dozen of the lot. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stainless_steel_rat/32/5727_2.png) [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2023, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/6397 "2023-11-30T03:50:54Z")
This piqued my curiosity, went to WIkipedia to see if they had a page with WWII information, and of course they did. Discounting Admirals and Marine/Army Air Force Generals and just concentrating on the US Army, there were 2 Lt. Generals, 5 Major Generals, and 9 Brigadier Generals killed during WWII, 10 by hostile fire, 4 by accidents, 1 friendly fire, and one died in a POW camp. And this was over a 4-5 year period while commanding a much larger force than is now deployed in Ukraine. Make of it what you will. Press on. ---
**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:** [November 30, 2023, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/6398 "2023-11-30T10:03:11Z")
I am glad to hear the “_de-mine Ukraine_” effort is gaining momentum - one step at a time ---
**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:** [November 30, 2023, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/6399 "2023-11-30T11:09:53Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > And now the cover-up is afoot. Very droll. ---
**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:** [November 30, 2023, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/6400 "2023-11-30T11:20:05Z")
I’m surprised Ukraine would bring these objects home during the war. Drone attacks are already escalating as Russia tries to knock out the power grid. A safety deposit box in a Swiss bank would be more secure than a building in Ukraine. Unfortunately the collection is too big. Thankfully these objects left Crimea prior to Russia’s invasion. Link [‘Part of our history’: Ukraine hails return of Scythian gold treasures | Ukraine | The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/28/part-of-our-history-ukraine-hails-return-of-scythian-gold-treasures) > [@](#): > > On Tuesday the collection, including a rare golden neck ornament and a solid gold helmet, was shown off in Kyiv. They are among 1,000 items lent in 2013 by four museums in [Crimea](https://www.theguardian.com/world/crimea) for an exhibition in the Netherlands. > > The following year – with the artefacts still out of the country – Vladimir Putin annexed the Black Sea peninsula. [Ukraine](https://www.theguardian.com/world/ukraine) and the museums in Moscow-occupied territory both demanded the Scythian finds be sent back to them. > > After a lengthy battle the Dutch supreme court ruled in June that the items belonged to Ukraine. The Allard Pierson Museum in Amsterdam removed them from storage and dispatched them to Kyiv in a truck. They arrived on Sunday at Pechersk Lavra monastery in the capital. ---
**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:** [November 30, 2023, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/6401 "2023-11-30T14:11:22Z")
Zelensky gives speech and calls Putin a dickhead broadcast on Crimea tv. 😆 > **[Zelensky ruthlessly mocks 'd\*\*\*head Putin' in video as TVs hacked across Crimea](https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1840716/zelensky-putin-russia-tv-hacked-crimea)** > > Crimean television viewers see their normal programmes interrupted by a statement from Ukraine' President and intelligence chief. ---
**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:** [November 30, 2023, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/6402 "2023-11-30T14:24:21Z")
Yes, but they’re equally a curse that just keeps on taking. ---
**Author:** ![Sauron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@Sauron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sauron)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2023, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/6403 "2023-11-30T14:38:46Z")
[Russian prisoners of war discuss the assault on Avdiivka, and describe their “training.”](https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/russian-pows-describe-nightmare-of-combat-in-ukraine-4dd492b5?st=xfbw2zqv0bj3xmu&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink) (This should be a link to the free version of the story from _The Wall Street Journal_.) Excerpts: - One volunteer was promised 100,000 rubles (about $1,000) to join; he did so because his factory job paid 30,000 rubles a month. He joined in October; his family hasn’t seen the money yet. He thought he would be in a rear position, but he was sent to Avdiivka almost immediately. - Another was drafted in 2002, and spent most of his service in rear areas before being moved to Avdiivka this fall. His tactical training consisted of charging across open fields while shouting. - A third volunteered because many of his relatives had served in the military in the past. He thought he’d be a reserve, because of a heart condition, but he was sent to the front. All three talk about the lack of training and the predominant Russian tactic to take Avdiivka, which is essentially just sending waves of men against the Ukrainian lines. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2023, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/6404 "2023-11-30T14:47:29Z")
> [@Cardigan](#): > > Yes, but they’re equally a curse that just keeps on taking. Quite. Mines are barbaric. OTOH, all of war is barbaric. We’d do well to outgrow this adolescent phase of humanity’s existence before we end ourselves. I’d like to hope we could at least get greedy enough to recognize that war in general, and mining in specific, is very economically inefficient. If we won’t be nice to each other for genuinely good and humane reasons, at least maybe we could be nice to each other so as to make more money off each other. Maaaybe? Someday? Bueller? ---
**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:** [November 30, 2023, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/6405 "2023-11-30T15:05:02Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Losing a dozen-plus of the 200 is surprising, and good news from the West’s POV, but is probably not crippling to the Russian army unless they were the best and brightest dozen of the lot. Theoretically, losing just ONE Napolean could be catastrophic. However, the Russian army seems to be experiencing a severe shortage of Napoleans at present. ---
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2023, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/6406 "2023-11-30T17:11:37Z")
> [@Sauron](#): > > Another was drafted in 2002 2022? 2002 doesn’t really fit with the narrative. ---
**Author:** ![Sauron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@Sauron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sauron)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2023, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/6407 "2023-11-30T17:19:12Z")
Crap. My bad. You’re right … it was 2022. Thanks! ---
**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:** [December 2, 2023, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/6408 "2023-12-02T04:43:02Z")
Putin just won’t quit and call it a day. Russia has a bigger population than Ukraine. It’s a advantage when the leader is willing to sacrifice his badly trained troops. Guardian feed > [@](#): > > Russian president [Vladimir Putin](https://www.theguardian.com/world/vladimir-putin) has ordered the country’s military to increase the number of troops by nearly 170,000 to a total of 1.32 million, as Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine continues into its 22nd month. > > Putin’s decree was released by the Kremlin on Friday and took force immediately. It brings the overall number of Russian military personnel to about 2.2 million, including 1.32 million troops. > > It is the second such expansion of the army since 2018. The previous boost by 137,000 troops, ordered by Putin in August 2022, put the military’s numbers at about 2 million personnel and about 1.15 million troops. ---
**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:** [December 2, 2023, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/6409 "2023-12-02T05:23:45Z")
How many Russian casualties have there been? 300,000? So the new increase plus the last one should cover those losses. ---
**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:** [December 2, 2023, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/6410 "2023-12-02T05:58:07Z")
I can’t imagine the logistics of providing uniforms and equipment for an additional 170,000. Plus training and feeding them. Supposedly the sanctions are making this more difficult for Russia. ---
**Author:** ![Precambrianmollusc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/precambrianmollusc/32/63_2.png) [@Precambrianmollusc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Precambrianmollusc)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2023, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/6411 "2023-12-02T06:15:25Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > can’t imagine the logistics of providing uniforms and equipment for an additional 170,000. Plus training and feeding them. Not much evidence they are providing any training, so that reduces some of the burden, and they don’t have to be fed for long. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972.md?page=314) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972.md?page=316)