Russia invades Ukraine {2022-02-24} (Part 2)

[Frodo]

@Broomstick

It’s no “messed up” than anything else in war.

So, extremely messed up then.

[aceplace57]

The body guys take the same risks as medics. But without the satisfaction of saving lives.

It’s still a job that has to be done. I know US forces go to extreme testing measures to identify the dead.

[Al128]

as debated earlier in the pt.1 thread: the impact of the hirmars with the tungsten balls.

Here is a good video of what it can do to a truck:

Dmitri

[Broomstick]

Yes, we Americans are fiendishly and diabolically clever when it comes to devising weapons. Mr. Putin, please do not do anything to draw the US directly into this conflict. I fear we would all regret the results.

[aceplace57]

It doesn’t sound like officials appointed by Russia were actually running a city government.

Yaroslav Yanushevych was appointed new head of the Kherson region. Imagine that job. Restoring Electricity and water is just the beginning. Restoring the city government will be a massive job. He has limited staff. It does sound like Yanushevych is the right person for the job.

Cite ‘Biggest challenge of my life’: Kherson’s leaders toil to turn city around | Ukraine | The Guardian

In September, Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, unilaterally announced the annexation of four Ukrainian regions, even though his troops did not hold any of them entirely. The international community rejected the move.

The occupation of Kherson region was particularly prized by Russia’s leadership as it created a land corridor and water supply for Crimea, the peninsula Russia annexed in 2014. Kherson, Putin declared at the time, was now Russian.

But the state of Kherson’s regional administration building, which sits on the central square of the city, indicated there was little governance happening and it appeared to have been a low priority.

Inside, the Ukrainian branding and signs for Kherson regional administration were still there, including in the governor’s own office. As were the Ukrainian national and patriotic artwork that lined the corridors.

The floors were littered with small ash piles of burnt documents. Every room out of more than three dozen viewed by the Guardian was trashed and looted. There was women’s clothing in one room. On some desks there was uneaten food, including a half-eaten cabbage.

A security service officer for Yanushevych, declared one room with a powerful stench a “Russian toilet”. Since the occupation, Russian soldiers have become infamous in Ukraine for using rooms as toilets in schools, factories and offices instead of the available toilets.

Yanushevych is new to the region. He is a career civil servant who has mostly been based in Kyiv. Before being appointed head of Kherson in August, he ran Ukraine’s state radio frequency centre.

“All of our partners – the ICRC, the UN – say that no regional administration has faced a challenge like ours,” he said.

Only 140 of 600 regional state employees left Kherson for Ukrainian-controlled territory. When he established an administration-in-exile under orders from the president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, only a handful of members of staff were there to meet him. Most had rebuilt their lives elsewhere, he said.

[enipla]

I wonder how many fps those HIMARS tungsten balls travel? They are piercing frames of a truck. Must be upwards of 3000 fps (just a guess). But maybe not. tungsten is heavier and harder than steel.

[Chronos]

I wonder… Does the phrase “Americans with steel balls” carry the same double meaning in Russian that it would in English?

And yeah, they must have been moving wicked fast to punch such nice, clean holes through heavy steel.

[smithsb]

Tungsten is 1.7 times denser than lead and about 2.5 times denser than a typical steel.Jul 2, 2020
Ballast: Tungsten vs. Lead : Building Speed.

[eschereal]

@Chronos

I wonder… Does the phrase “Americans with steel balls” carry the same double meaning in Russian that it would in English?

Probably not. The common vernacular in Russian is «яйца», which means “eggs”. There are probably numerous other slang usages, and the equivalent of “balls” may in fact translate across.

[Magiver]

Gas pipeline in St Petersburg goes boom

Huh…

[bob_2]

Huge fireball seen near St Petersburg after a reported gas pipeline explosion

[Love_Rhombus]

How difficult in theory would it be to cause a pipeline to explode? Could an average motivated citizen do it? Or would it require special training?

[Magiver]

I would think above ground pipelines would be easy targets without much training. Access might be an issue. A cheap short-range rocket would help.

[Magiver]

Since this isn’t the first Russian asset that caught on fire it’s safe to assume it’s something that can be done with a bit of planning. When Russian citizens experience power losses maybe it will accelerate Putin’s transition from power.

[glowacks]

I don’t see this necessarily having anything to do with Ukraine. It could just be another failure of Russians to properly maintain their systems, like the planes that crashed after takeoff thousands of miles from Ukraine.

[gnoitall]

But it’s interesting that Russia has so thoroughly spooked itself that everything that happens bad within their borders is because of Ukrainian goblins and boogeymen.

[Magiver]

@glowacks

I don’t see this necessarily having anything to do with Ukraine.

Yes, pure coincidence that a gas pipeline in Russia exploded during a war where Russia is actively attacking Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

[Love_Rhombus]

@Magiver

Yes, pure coincidence that a gas pipeline in Russia exploded during a war where Russia is actively attacking Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

It may well be a coincidence. The Ukrainians don’t even have to take credit for it or acknowledge it. Just let the idea prey on Russian minds, as @gnoitall mentioned.

[Magiver]

I would expect more coincidences in the near future.

[Gorsnak]

It’s well known that Russians are careless with cigarettes. Probably this is just someone smoking in the wrong place and not properly disposing of the butt.