War in Ukraine

Ukrainian pilot on the race to prevent Russia gaining full control of the skies above Ukraine - CNN

"Of course, I want this war to end soonest, but we will fight, our morale is strong. This is our land, and we will not let our opponent take part of it or destroy it," he said.
"We will fight till the end," he added. "Every person is afraid of being killed, the difference is whether one dies with dignity or without it."

 

Cnn live...finally opening with restrictions.

"Moscow Stock Exchange will partially resume trading Thursday after being closed for nearly a month

From CNN’s Chris Liakos

The Moscow Stock Exchange will partially reopen for trading in Russian stocks on Thursday, Russia’s Central Bank announced today.

The Central Bank of Russia said trading in 33 stocks will resume on March 24 between 9:50 a.m. and 2 p.m. local time.

The Russian equities allowed to resume trading include big companies such as Gazprom, Lukoil, VTB Bank, Sberbank, Rusal and Rosneft.

The central bank said there will be a ban applied on short shelling for these shares. "

 

Just in time then...cnn live

"First deliveries of $800 million in new US military aid have been delivered to Ukraine

From CNN's Kaitlan Collins

The first deliveries of the $800 million in new military aid that US President Joe Biden is sending to Ukraine have started to arrive in country, an administration official tells CNN.

Biden announced the new package last week after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky delivered an impassioned plea to Congress for more help.

The US will continue to move the rest of the $800 million into Ukraine as quickly as possible, the official said, given it includes 800 Stinger anti-aircraft systems and 100 armed drones, among other assistance. Both are seen as critical to Ukraine's defense.

The US has nearly completed the delivery of most of the $200 million package Biden announced on March 12, including all of the Stinger anti-air systems and most of the Javelin anti-armor missiles. The remaining equipment from that package is expected to be delivered shortly, the official said, though they declined to offer an exact timeline."

 

Guess it was becoming too much of a PR nightmare.. cnn live

"Nestle suspends brands in Russia, including KitKat and Nesquik

From CNN's Chris Liakos and Matt Egan

Food giant Nestle is suspending KitKat and Nesquik brands among others in Russia after criticism over the weekend by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky over its ties to Russia.

“Going forward, we are suspending renowned Nestlé brands such as KitKat and Nesquik, among others. We have already halted non-essential imports and exports into and out of Russia, stopped all advertising, and suspended all capital investment in the country. Of course, we are fully complying with all international sanctions on Russia. While we do not expect to make a profit in the country or pay any related taxes for the foreseeable future in Russia, any profit will be donated to humanitarian relief organizations,” Nestle said in a statement.

Nestle said its activities in Russia will focus on providing essential food, such as infant food and medical/hospital nutrition and not on making a profit."

 

Just wow. I'm sure there's some Russian justification for this.

"Chernobyl radiation monitoring lab destroyed by Russia, according to Ukraine's government

From CNN's Andrew Carey in Lviv and Kostan Nechyporenko in Kyiv

Russian forces have looted and destroyed a lab close to the abandoned Chernobyl nuclear power plant that was used to monitor radioactive waste, according to Ukraine’s government.

The site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster fell into Russian hands in the first week of Russia’s invasion, triggering fears that safety standards inside the exclusion zone could be compromised.

According to a Ukrainian government agency, the laboratory was part of a European Union-funded attempt to improve radioactive waste management through on-site analysis of waste samples as well as the packaging used to dispose of waste.

The government agency also reported that samples of radionuclides — unstable atoms that can emit high levels of radiation — had been removed from the lab. It said it hoped Russia would use the samples to “harm itself, and not the civilized world.”"
......
Hope they poison themselves before using it for a dirty bomb or something.

 

It almost sounds like Russia is going to use the waste to make a dirty bomb, presumably under a False flag op. Reckless, dangerous and incredibly scary.

 

Wonder why the UN hasn't sent one yet? Everything is a sign of escalation to Russia if it doesn't come from those cowards

"Sending NATO peacekeepers to Ukraine would be "reckless" and "extremely dangerous," Kremlin says

From CNN's Lindsay Isaac

The deployment of a NATO peacekeeping mission to Ukraine would be “very reckless” and “extremely dangerous,” according to Moscow.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Wednesday: “Any possible contact between our military and NATO military can lead to quite understandable consequences that are difficult to repair."

Some context: Last week, Poland's Deputy Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski called for an international peacekeeping mission to be sent to Ukraine following a meeting with the leaders of Poland, Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Ukraine. Poland plans to submit its proposal for a peacekeeping mission in Ukraine at a NATO summit in Brussels on Thursday.

Polish Ambassador to the United States Marek Magierowski recently told CNN's Jake Tapper that NATO needs to consider "all possibilities" in Ukraine to send a "very clear signal to the Kremlin. ""

 

That's what I was thinking. The stupid part is that Putin supporters will still believe it's the US doing this, or that the Ukranians are corrupt & trying to dupe the world into thinking Russians are evil, etc.

 

Hard for Putin to hide if true

 

Hope there is a persistent wind out of the wsw to take that crap towards Moscow

 

Or give us what we want or else. Eff every last one of them.

 

‘It’s a Sh*tshow’: Russian Troops Are Now Turning on Each Other


‘It’s a Sh*tshow’: Russian Troops Are Now Turning on Each Other

 

I think you just don't know what it looks like when a modern military intentionally targets civilians if you think you're seeing examples of it. I suggest you look up some videos of rocket barrages and carpet bombings. While I understand the absence of proof is not the proof of absence, I think it's rather incredible that we haven't seen even one single video of either given the capability and motivation for the Ukrainians to release such videos. They managed to even capture some in Syria, but can't in Mariupol? If Russia really wanted to depopulate Mariupol, they'd use these kinds of attacks:

Russia is a permanent member of the UNSC, they'd veto any resolution to send in UN peacekeepers. The UN is pretty toothless when it comes to going against any UNSC permanent members.

 

Greek news report corroborating what General Macgregor was saying, that Ukrainians are trying to stop people from leaving Mariupol:

Greek Refugee From Mariupol: "Ukrainian Soldiers Stopped And Threatened Us, Russian Soldiers Calmed Us Down" (VIDEO) — Greek City Times

I'm sure you won't find this on CNN.

 

Russia is still hoping for the surrender of Mariupol which may be why the bombing and shelling hasn't been even more intense. The Russians would still prefer to occupy a city that's at least partially intact although that doesn't mean that they will not step up the intensity of their attacks at a later time. The strategy is apparently a combination of bombing/shelling combined with denying the remaining residents of the city access to food, water and heat, in other words death through immediate attacks followed by death in slow motion for the survivors with the goal of an eventual surrender.

 

I would take the estimates of Russian casualties from the government of Ukraine with a grain of salt although even using the more conservative US figures the Russians have lost more troops in Ukraine in three weeks than they did in Afghanistan in over two years. I would also agree that once the Russian people become aware of the losses and they almost certainly will sooner or later, Putin's so far effective propaganda machine will become far less so.

 

it’s incredibly difficult to qualify the staggering incompetence shown in this invasion. They have had years to develop and war game. Study roads. Maps, weather, Study topography and Soil and where heavy tracked armor can and can’t go yet they proceed with the horrendous revision of the 300 where hundred and hundreds of tank and AV are in a single file line with no disciple to not bunch and make themselves easy pray for even rudimentary AT weapons and basically fodder for advanced weapons like javelin etc. the lack of coordination between air and ground has been staggering. After All this time and money it’s truly a wood chipper strategy hoping the wood chipper gets overwhelmed with the amount of wood being thrown in.

 

With Western Europe / NATO and US aid pouring in, it seems that the Ukrainian ability to resist MAY be sustainable.

I wonder just how much "Volunteer" manpower is joining Ukraine. The "International Brigade" of the Spanish Civil War of the thirties, comes to mind.

While I believe most Western news reports I do take them with a slight grain of salt because of obvious biases.

What seems clear to me:
The initial Western (US) intelligence reports that Russia intended to invade were certainly correct.

If Putin thought the Ukrainian will to resist would fold like a cheap suit and the Russians would be greeted with cheers and flowers, clearly was wrong.

NATO has coalesced into strong agreement that this is a war of Imperialistic Russian Expansion with little cause other than the re-establishment of post WW2 territorial control (pre- dissolution of the old Soviet Union).

Far from NATO and the US bending its will to Russian aggression the opposite has happened, which is suggestive of a severe foreign policy miscalculation.

Western reports suggest Russian casualty rates at 10% or 15,000.

Western reports also suggest the Ukrainians are on the offensive and Russian morale is sagging.

Whats next?

 

Oh absolutely- hence why I said if true. But even conservative US estimated are going to get harder to hide.