War in Ukraine

Some suspect that the killing of a pro-Wagner blogger might be the beginning of a "Night of the Long Knives" for Putin as he attacks his rival Yevgeny Prigozhin in charge of the Wagner army.

Putin’s Götterdämmerung is fast approaching

Leave it to Putin to find a way to be more "Hitler-esque".

 

The Ukrainian offensive of Fall ‘22 expected to get underway any month now.

 

The world is turning ...

 

China eventually reclaiming Siberia presents other challenges for the US. Namely having a "frontier" between China and the US across the Bering Strait. (Sarah Palin being able to see China from her house notwithstanding). As others have pointed out, Russia's disintegration may sound appealing, but there would be unintended consequences as well.

 

Apparently, what Ukraine needs more than anything else right now is not tanks so much as more APC's and IFV's to transport infantry across the terrain, and combat engineering vehicles and equipment to breach minefields and trenches.

Western countries are speeding up tank deliveries to Ukraine, but tanks aren't what Ukrainian troops need to get around Russian forces

 

Just when you think Russia can't stoop any lower, they do. They kidnapped two men in wheelchairs from Ukraine and brought them back to a Russian deportation center for abuse. Being incompetent, the Russians allowed the two men to escape. Colonel Klink of the Russian 47th Torture Brigade asked Sergeant Schultz for an explanation, and he responded with, "I know nothing!"

Two Ukrainian men in wheelchairs were forcibly deported to Russia and subjected to months of abuse. Then they escaped.

 

another one bites the dust. hard to believe that a top energy boss demanded a $6k bribe

Top Russian oligarch found dead in cell under mysterious circumstances (msn.com)

Another top energy boss in Russia has been found dead in mysterious circumstances - after he was accused of taking a bribe. The body of Igor Shkurko (pictured), 49, deputy general director of Russian energy company Yakutskenergo, was discovered yesterday in his cell in a detention center in Yakutsk, a port city in eastern Siberia. The day before his death the executive had submitted appeals against what he claimed was an unjust bribery allegation.

His company issued a statement saying: 'We will remember him as an open, hospitable person with a big heart and a good sense of humor, the caring head of a close-knit family.' Shkurko, who was a high earner, was accused of demanding a £5,000 ($6,228) bribe. He was a member of the pro-Putin United Russia political party but his membership was suspended when the bribe allegation was made.

The Russian Federal Penitentiary Service said in a statement: 'On April 4, the accused was found in a cell of the pre-trial detention center with no signs of life. Arriving medical workers ascertained his death. An investigative team was called to the scene. According to preliminary data, no signs of a criminal death were found

Shkurko (circled), who was married with two sons, was in charge of the technical management side of Yakutskenergo, which supplies power to the world's coldest region, Yakutia. Last month Novaya Gazeta Europe, a leading investigative news outlet, and Transparency International Russia linked a series of suspicious deaths related to Russian energy giant Gazprom to a complex 'money-laundering scheme' benefiting a top gas executive's family and his cronies from Putin's security services and military.

 

And this has what to do with Russia’s unprovoked, dastardly invasion of Ukraine?

 

wrong thread. moved, deleted from this one

 

You think Ukraine is scared that Uganda is going to provide Russia with thousands of spears and blowguns? Is that how it's all going to go down? Is that Russia's plan for victory?

 

Is Russia already out of shovels to fight with?

 

Obviously, Ukrainians are mad because they are not allowed to fly the flag of their favorite military branch (or the flag of Florida!) in occupied parts of their country. That's why they are plotting to use main battle tanks against the new HOA.

 

They’re having to put the final touches on Bakhmut with garden rakes.

 

In a puzzling new development:

10's of thousands of Balconies were unloaded near the front.
A fuming Putin told the logistics department they were not supposed to be placed at ground level, rather installed in tree's that are at minimum 75' high.

 

I KNEW I should have bought up those balcony futures! dammit!

 

Russia moving equipment out of storage depots in north Crimea and deploying it to the coast in preparation of an invasion of Crimea. I don't understand the fear of a seaborne invasion. Does Ukraine have some naval forces hidden away somewhere?

Russian forces in Crimea withdraw military equipment from storage sites to north (msn.com)

"Russian forces have moved equipment out of a military depot in northern Crimea over the past month. Recent satellite imagery shows that this site had tanks, armored vehicles, and artillery."

The images also show some of the equipment and defensive structures built near the village of Medvedivka. The analyst notes that Russian troops have built several fortifications near Medvedivka and throughout Crimea.

The latest satellite images show that Russian forces in occupied Crimea have dug over seven kilometres of trenches on the Black Sea coast near Yevpatoriia.

 

this is just screwed up if true

Putin's Popularity Reaches Record High in the U.S.—Poll (msn.com)

The Kremlin leader's popularity among Americans, as of the first quarter of 2023, stands at 21 percent, according to pollster YouGov. In the first quarter of 2021, Putin's popularity hovered at 15 percent, and shortly after Russia began the war with Ukraine, it was registered at 17 percent.

 

And what sense does that make under this narrative that Russia is poised for decisive victory along the main front? How is Ukraine, on the verge of catastrophe, able to deceive Russia about the presence of a heretofore hidden massive force held in reserve and manned, trained, and equipped amphibious forcible entry and sustainment well behind Russian lines? Well, that makes as much sense as anything else coming out of Moscow these days, I suppose.

 

Comparing Bakhmut to Gainesville, it’s like 50,000 Wagner have pushed Ukraine all the way from Tioga, in the West, to the other side of Highway 24 in the East, killing, wounding and capturing tens of thousands in the process.

 

Tragically, Russia lost a "prized" Tor-2 missile system to drone attack, just after the system operators sobered up from a week-long bender and remembered how to use it.

Video captures the moment a Ukrainian exploding drone destroyed one of Russia's prized Tor-M2 missile systems designed to shoot down drones