What's going on in Ukraine?

[Hellraiser]

[Hellraiser]

https://www.newsweek.com/leaked-fsb-let ... ov-1760455

[tabascoboy]

https://www.newsweek.com/leaked-fsb-let ... ov-1760455

Have to take that with some salt, but there have been claims that incidents like the explosion in the gas pipeline recently near St Petersburg are part of a sabotage campaign to discredit the FSB by the Prigozhin / Kadyrov faction trying to show the FSB can't guarantee safety of the nation's infrastructure hoping to be given - or be able to assume - greater powers within Russia .

Sounds a bit mental but this is Russia we are talking about.

And in a wider scope

[Line6 HXFX]

I often wonder how better off Wales would have been under Russian/ Soviet control over the last say 100 years.

All those former Soviet eastern block countries seem to be doing great inside the E.U, having been invested in etc, yet British Unionists and English supremacists insist Wales (having been run into the ground from Westminster, forever) will (according to them) not be able to make it.

Not even the EU could help us (like it could those former Soviet Eastern Block nations).

So maybe being under Russian Control is awesome? Unlike westminster, you have a future outside. They invest in you, build you up.
Don't extract every last resource, human natural and mineral and send you all their oddballs and pensioners so you can never be free of them.

You are definately fucked forever in the U.K. Union, and have to stay in it forever....and that is just according to its supporters, British Unionists and English supremacist types.

How many of those ex Soviet Bloc countries have you actually visited?, i can assure you i have visited many, and they are far from the utopia you seem to think they are, Infrastructure, facilities are still miles behind their western counterparts.

What difference does that make? They are doing great outside if Soviet control, having been invested in and not exploited too much...
Would any of them chose to go back?

To insist Wales wouldn't be able to make it outside of westminster control, paints us in a worse picture than even dirt poor, post Soviet nations, and makes a complete mockery of the Union.

[tabascoboy]

Quite a long article, illustrated with images so best read at the source. Essentially certain missiles are too difficult to target in flight and the only deterrent is to attack the launchers directly, hence the need for more long-distance targeting ability. Russia's tactic as well as destroying essential infrastructure to (try to) cause dissent against the UA leadership is to attempt to deplete UA air defence ordinance and force them to "negotiate".Using huge amounts of older projectiles which were due to be scrapped anyway so the wastage is not an issue to them and they can keep their dwindling stock of high precision missiles in the bank. Production within Russia is greatly reduced hence the shopping around to Iran etc.

Terror from the sky: a guide to Russian missiles used against Ukraine and how to stop them

[tabascoboy]

They just can't help themselves, how can there be any prospect of normal relations with these arseholes? Sooner or later there's going to be some critical danger to the region if this carries on.

Seventy missiles fired, 51 intercepted - Ukraine Air Force
As we've been reporting, Russia has launched multiple missile strikes across Ukraine today, hitting both residential and critical infrastructure sites and causing mass power outages across the country.

According to the Ukrainian Air Force, air defences managed to intercept 51 of the 70 cruise missiles fired by Russia today. Some of the explosions have been reported in the south and south-east of the country.

Two Ukrainian nuclear power plants disconnected from grid
The Interfax-Ukraine news agency has reported that Ukraine's Khmelnytskyy and South Ukrainian nuclear power plants have been disconnected from the national electricity grid following the Russian air attack.

MP Oleksiy Honcharenko said that the power units of the South Ukrainian NPP - Ukraine's second-largest, in the south-west - had an "emergency shutdown".

The mayor of the north-western town of Netishyn, near the Khmelnytskyy power plant, was quoted as saying that the units "have been halted" and there was no electricity, water or heating in the town.

The last major Russian missile attack, which occurred last week, also caused the Khmelnytskyy NPP and one power unit of the western Rivne NPP to be disconnected from the energy grid.

Just coincidence?

EU parliament website hit by cyber attack
We're hearing that the European Parliament's website was disrupted by a cyber attack shortly after it passed a resolution recognising Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism earlier today.

The man in charge of communications for the parliament, Jaume Duch, described it as a distributed denial of service attack (DDOS), which is an attempt to take a website offline by overwhelming it with internet traffic.

[tabascoboy]

China wants peace talks for humanitarian reasons, no mention of course of Russia needing to stop their bombardments and withdraw first. Well great. And Moldova also suffering widespread blackouts again.

[tabascoboy]

[tabascoboy]

[tabascoboy]

Despite near constant shelling by Russia of contested areas with their seemingly never-ending supply of ordinance, it is relatively quiet due to rain and mud. Ground expected to start freezing soon which is likely lead to increased activity.

Meanwhile

[Uncle fester]

Is Kadyrov a credible successor to Putin?
Surely his support base outside Chechnya is very limited?

[tabascoboy]

Is Kadyrov a credible successor to Putin?
Surely his support base outside Chechnya is very limited?

I doubt if Kadyrov himself has that ambition, better to be a strong right arm to a true Russian like Prigozhin, who while a Putin ally can probably see the writing on the wall and is looking to the future. Even Prigozhin might prefer someone as a dependent puppet leader who could also be set up for a fall if things get even uglier. Can't imagine Russian accepting a (token) muslim as leader.

Just guessing from some things I've read though.

[petej]

Is Kadyrov a credible successor to Putin?
Surely his support base outside Chechnya is very limited?

I doubt if Kadyrov himself has that ambition, better to be a strong right arm to a true Russian like Prigozhin, who while a Putin ally can probably see the writing on the wall and is looking to the future. Even Prigozhin might prefer someone as a dependent puppet leader who could also be set up for a fall if things get even uglier. Can't imagine Russian accepting a (token) muslim as leader.

Just guessing from some things I've read though.

The moment Putin gets to a point where he might lose in Russia, Ukraine is less important. As Timothy Snyder stated, "For all of the actors concerned, it might be bad to lose in Ukraine, but it is worse to lose in Russia."

I suspect many have already read this but if you haven't definitely worth reading. https://snyder.substack.com/p/how-does- ... um=reader2

[tabascoboy]

[tabascoboy]

Russian obsession with Bakhmut persists

[fishfoodie]

Another war crime, assuming the account is accurate.

20+ Romany shot out of hand by Orc MPs, for selling poisoned vodka to Orc grunts.

[Uncle fester]

Is Kadyrov a credible successor to Putin?
Surely his support base outside Chechnya is very limited?

I doubt if Kadyrov himself has that ambition, better to be a strong right arm to a true Russian like Prigozhin, who while a Putin ally can probably see the writing on the wall and is looking to the future. Even Prigozhin might prefer someone as a dependent puppet leader who could also be set up for a fall if things get even uglier. Can't imagine Russian accepting a (token) muslim as leader.

Just guessing from some things I've read though.

The moment Putin gets to a point where he might lose in Russia, Ukraine is less important. As Timothy Snyder stated, "For all of the actors concerned, it might be bad to lose in Ukraine, but it is worse to lose in Russia."

I suspect many have already read this but if you haven't definitely worth reading. https://snyder.substack.com/p/how-does- ... um=reader2

Seems familiar but well worth a reread.

[Uncle fester]

What's going on with the bad photoshops of putin's head/body?
Use of body doubles being covered up?

[tabascoboy]

There was a report/rumour that UA forces had pushed back RU in the Bakhmut area by up to 2km, but can't find any confirmation.

Just small news atm

[tabascoboy]

You see, Russia, here's the thing: Just fuck the fuck off out of Ukraine and stop launching missiles - then we can talk.

Ukraine war: Russia demands annexations recognised before talks

Russia says the West's refusal to recognise "new territories" seized from Ukraine makes peace talks harder, after President Joe Biden indicated he would be ready to meet Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin said it was open to negotiations, but not on the West's demand to pull out of Ukraine.

Russia illegally annexed four Ukrainian regions at the end of September, without controlling any of them. Nine months into its invasion, it has lost more than half the land it seized.

President Biden told reporters on Thursday night that he was ready to meet the Russian leader "if in fact there is an interest in him deciding that he's looking for a way to end the war".

Standing beside him in the White House, France's Emmanuel Macron made clear the two men had agreed they would never urge the Ukrainians to make a compromise "that will not be acceptable for them".

The apparent flurry of diplomatic activity followed months with little sign of enthusiasm for talks. Russia's military has been forced into a retreat in southern Ukraine while launching widespread attacks on civilian infrastructure.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-63832151

[Uncle fester]

"Please let us keep the annexed territories so we can re-arm and have another go later"

[fishfoodie]

"Please let us keep the annexed territories so we can re-arm and have another go later"

The fact that they're even replying, is sign enough that they know they're buggered.

[Ymx]

[petej]

"Please let us keep the annexed territories so we can re-arm and have another go later"

The fact that they're even replying, is sign enough that they know they're buggered.

Did someone push Putler down the stairs? I guess he needs to stay in power long enough to take the blame.

[tabascoboy]

Russian leadership really puts the welfare of their population as a policy

[tabascoboy]

Nothing especially new in this, but it does summarise what we have learned over the last many months


Russia had a secret plan to wipe Ukraine off the face of the Earth. This report tells why it failed

Dividing Ukrainians into four categories for killing, intimidating, or inducing to collaborate, wargames to hunt down and kill Ukrainian activists, and filtration camps to deport unruly Ukrainians into Russia, all to destroy Ukrainian sovereignty and identity and steal Ukraine’s military enterprises and nuclear power plants. A recent report by the RUSI Institute tells why Russia decided it could pull it off (spoiler: they tested the west’s reaction) and why it ultimately failed.

[Uncle fester]

Nothing especially new in this, but it does summarise what we have learned over the last many months


Russia had a secret plan to wipe Ukraine off the face of the Earth. This report tells why it failed

Dividing Ukrainians into four categories for killing, intimidating, or inducing to collaborate, wargames to hunt down and kill Ukrainian activists, and filtration camps to deport unruly Ukrainians into Russia, all to destroy Ukrainian sovereignty and identity and steal Ukraine’s military enterprises and nuclear power plants. A recent report by the RUSI Institute tells why Russia decided it could pull it off (spoiler: they tested the west’s reaction) and why it ultimately failed.

You're never going to get realistic war gaming when you imprison and kill the red team.

[Uncle fester]

A week after their foreign minister dies, not suspicious at all.

[Niegs]

[petej]

A week after their foreign minister dies, not suspicious at all.

The Russians have managed to finally corner lukashenko?

[Niegs]

Says the tweet is unavailable. It's this... supposedly the remnants of rockets launched at Kharkiv!

[Uncle fester]

A week after their foreign minister dies, not suspicious at all.

The Russians have managed to finally corner lukashenko?

They'll get mangled.

[yermum]

Reports of long range drone strikes by UAF on Russian airbases

[tabascoboy]

We have take off...

[tabascoboy]

[GogLais]

“A completely defenceless airbase” - wow, don’t tell everybody.

[Niegs]

[tabascoboy]

Another cigarette misadventure?

[FalseBayFC]

Another cigarette misadventure?

I read somewhere that a Colonel was killed in the incident. Made me wonder if the conscripts killed their CO and burned down the gaff to hide the evidence.

[Uncle fester]

A bundle of targets in that region all got hit at the same time.