Russia-Ukraine war and related tensions Megathread

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SirWoodbury hasn't posted since August 23, 2023, the day that Prigozhin's plane was shot down.

Does anyone else wonder if he was on that plane?

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https://twitter.com/NOELreports/status/1698952582360715708
https://twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1698979691837763898
https://twitter.com/RALee85/status/1698954702858146026

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https://twitter.com/daxe/status/1699181063933714496

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https://www.scribblemaps.com/maps/view/The-War-in-Ukraine/091194

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Pretty soon, Russians are going to say that this street market is a "military target".

https://twitter.com/Tendar/status/1699417436456435871

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https://twitter.com/nexta_tv/status/1699779179519349036

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https://twitter.com/NOELreports/status/1699677624618861018

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https://twitter.com/insidermildef/status/1699761698658230375

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https://twitter.com/nexta_tv/status/1699779179519349036

The actual reporting is even worse:

Musk’s decision, which left Ukrainian officials begging him to turn the satellites back on, was driven by an acute fear that Russia would respond to a Ukrainian attack on Crimea with nuclear weapons, a fear driven home by Musk’s conversations with senior Russian officials, according to Isaacson, whose new book is set to be released by Simon & Schuster on September 12.

Musk was soon on the phone with President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, the chairman of the joint chiefs, Gen. Mark Milley, and the Russian ambassador to the US to address anxieties from Washington, DC, to Moscow, writes Isaacson.

Meanwhile, Mykhailo Fedorov, a deputy prime minister of Ukraine, was pleading with Musk to restore connectivity for the submarine drones by telling Musk about their capabilities in a text message, according to Isaacson. “I just want you—the person who is changing the world through technology—to know this,” Fedorov told Musk.

If this is true, it seems pretty incontrovertible that Musk has become a security threat to the United States, and something will need to be done about it.

Way too much power in the hands of one private citizen.

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https://twitter.com/georgewbarros/status/1699812685565563217
https://twitter.com/NOELreports/status/1699825185845555568
https://twitter.com/NOELreports/status/1699848564262764869

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Interactive Map: Russia's Invasion of Ukraine

https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/36a7f6a6f5a9448496de641cf64bd375

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https://twitter.com/WSJ/status/1699626064450891944

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https://twitter.com/bayraktar_1love/status/1700075812995608746
https://twitter.com/bayraktar_1love/status/1700139798520844308

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https://twitter.com/nexta_tv/status/1699779179519349036

The actual reporting is even worse:

Musk’s decision, which left Ukrainian officials begging him to turn the satellites back on, was driven by an acute fear that Russia would respond to a Ukrainian attack on Crimea with nuclear weapons, a fear driven home by Musk’s conversations with senior Russian officials, according to Isaacson, whose new book is set to be released by Simon & Schuster on September 12.

Musk was soon on the phone with President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, the chairman of the joint chiefs, Gen. Mark Milley, and the Russian ambassador to the US to address anxieties from Washington, DC, to Moscow, writes Isaacson.

Meanwhile, Mykhailo Fedorov, a deputy prime minister of Ukraine, was pleading with Musk to restore connectivity for the submarine drones by telling Musk about their capabilities in a text message, according to Isaacson. “I just want you—the person who is changing the world through technology—to know this,” Fedorov told Musk.

If this is true, it seems pretty incontrovertible that Musk has become a security threat to the United States, and something will need to be done about it.

LOL, it's his product, he can do whatever he wants with it. Security threat, someone would think Kim Jong Un or God forbid Putin is talking

“The Pentagon disclosed on Thursday that it has signed a contract to provide SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet service in Ukraine, nearly eight months after Elon Musk, the company's owner, threatened to terminate access unless the U.S. government paid for it.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/06/01/starlink-ukraine-pentagon-elon-musk/

I doubt that it is in the contract that Elon Musk can shut down the service whenever he wants.

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WTF?

If this is real, Guterres needs to be removed from office.

https://twitter.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/1700135683673686365

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I'll wait and see on this one.

Too many times were we told that the US is on the verge of sending ATACMS

https://twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1700273302168834195
https://twitter.com/bayraktar_1love/status/1700271181541130440

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https://twitter.com/michaeldweiss/status/1700219219860701427

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https://twitter.com/nexta_tv/status/1699779179519349036

The actual reporting is even worse:

Musk’s decision, which left Ukrainian officials begging him to turn the satellites back on, was driven by an acute fear that Russia would respond to a Ukrainian attack on Crimea with nuclear weapons, a fear driven home by Musk’s conversations with senior Russian officials, according to Isaacson, whose new book is set to be released by Simon & Schuster on September 12.

Musk was soon on the phone with President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, the chairman of the joint chiefs, Gen. Mark Milley, and the Russian ambassador to the US to address anxieties from Washington, DC, to Moscow, writes Isaacson.

Meanwhile, Mykhailo Fedorov, a deputy prime minister of Ukraine, was pleading with Musk to restore connectivity for the submarine drones by telling Musk about their capabilities in a text message, according to Isaacson. “I just want you—the person who is changing the world through technology—to know this,” Fedorov told Musk.

If this is true, it seems pretty incontrovertible that Musk has become a security threat to the United States, and something will need to be done about it.

LOL, it's his product, he can do whatever he wants with it. Security threat, someone would think Kim Jong Un or God forbid Putin is talking

“The Pentagon disclosed on Thursday that it has signed a contract to provide SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet service in Ukraine, nearly eight months after Elon Musk, the company's owner, threatened to terminate access unless the U.S. government paid for it.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/06/01/starlink-ukraine-pentagon-elon-musk/

I doubt that it is in the con

tract that Elon Musk can shut down the service whenever he wants.

So Elon Musk by providing his private Starlink has probably saved tens of thousands of Ukrainian lives but somehow he must be made a security threat to US and he has to be dealt with, whatever that in some sort of worst dictatorial way.

And to be clear I really don't like Elon Musk.

Elon Musk is just providing a service under contract for which the Pentagon is paying for.

[pppolitics]

US likely to send long-range ATACMS missiles to Ukraine for the first time: Officials

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/us-send-long-range-atacms-missiles-ukraine-time/story?id=103031722

The Biden administration is likely to send Ukraine long-range Army Tactical Missile Systems, or ATACMS, to help in its fight to repel the Russian invasion of its territory, according to U.S. officials.

"They are coming," said one official who had access to security assistance plans. The official noted that, as always, such plans are subject to change until officially announced.

A second official said the missiles are "on the table" and likely to be included in an upcoming security assistance package, adding that a final decision has not been made. It could be months before Ukraine receives the missiles, according to the official.

A surprising discovery could also ease the administration's choice to send the weapons: The U.S. has found it has more ATACMS in its inventory than originally assessed, the two officials told ABC News.

The serviceability of the rediscovered stockpile is not yet clear, nor which specific type of missiles it contains. ATACMS come in several forms, from missiles with large high-explosive warheads, to anti-personnel cluster-munition versions that drop hundreds of bomblets on targets.

Who doesn't find dozens or hundreds of extra long range missiles when they check the attic?

I just checked my attic and only found a few hundred Iskanders.

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With numbers like this, the prospects for Ukraine to negotiate look remote. Zelensky knows how his people feel...even if he wanted to cut a compromise with Putin, his people would not let him. Not at this stage.

Given these numbers, I think Zelensky will be out of power if he starts talks with Russia and agrees to anything remotely to what the Russian minimum demand would be.  Given all this, there is no alternative to indefinite conflict.

There is not going to be "indefinite conflict".

Most Russian citizens still live in relative comfort, insulated from the war.

Once ethnic Russians from Moscow and St. Peterburg are sent to die in trenches in Ukraine, Putin won't be Russian "president" anymore.

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TRANSLATION: Scholz is still hiding behind Biden because he can't make any decision himself.

https://twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1701238082257764614

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https://twitter.com/Tendar/status/1701152431407538275
https://twitter.com/KyivIndependent/status/1701213845803413941
https://twitter.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/1701148985115779164

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https://twitter.com/nexta_tv/status/1701246932557943004

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https://twitter.com/NOELreports/status/1701330997055238544

After seeing the success of cluster munitions delivered in 155 mm artillery rounds in recent months, the U.S. is considering shipping either or both Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) that can fly up to 190 miles (306 km), or Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) missiles with a 45-mile range packed with cluster bombs, three U.S. officials said.

If approved, either option would be available for rapid shipment to Kyiv.

Ukraine is currently equipped with 155 mm artillery with a maximum range of 18 miles carrying up to 48 bomblets. The ATACMS under consideration would propel around 300 or more bomblets. The GMLRS rocket system, a version of which Ukraine has had in its arsenal for months, would be able to disperse up to 404 cluster munitions.

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https://twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1701594641215488510