Russia-Ukraine war and related tensions Megathread

[Aurelius]

Tanks entered Sumy.

https://twitter.com/leonidragozin/status/1496867877617639429

Sumy provides a straightforward route of attack on Kyiv from the east.

Very concerning.

[Aurelius]

Take this with a big grain of salt given the source.

https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1496869190162337793

[Vaccinated Russian Bear]

https://twitter.com/DeItaone/status/1496868699483033604

[Vaccinated Russian Bear]

https://twitter.com/NatashaBertrand/status/1496870755245637633

[StateBoiler]

Legit impressed with Zelensky, I can see the appeal and why he got elected

He has been a f#cking idiot. This invasion has been staring his country in the face for 3 months and his military preparedness was nowhere near acceptable.

[KaiserDave]

Legit impressed with Zelensky, I can see the appeal and why he got elected

He has been a f#cking idiot. This invasion has been staring his country in the face for 3 months and his military preparedness was nowhere near acceptable.

No I completely agree and I have been saying this for months, but now that the invasion has started I think he has upped his game.

[Penn_Quaker_Girl]

Speaking at a high school today (juniors who are interested in a medical career).  I’ve heard a surprising amount of chatter among the kiddos about this.  

[KaiserDave]

Repeating "Kabul Kabul Kabul" is Russian propaganda. There is no reason to believe the collapse of the Ukrainian state is imminent.

Not sure, Russia is a much different thing than Taliban. I hope you're right and I'm wrong, but I'd be surprised, if a week from now Zelensky is still in Ukraine and its prez. I actually expect him to flee into exile in the coming days, if not hours. Not to mention the possibility he'll be murdered. As much as I hate to say it.

Ukraine is almost certainly going to lose, but that is very different than what transpired in Afghanistan.

[It’s so Joever]

Speaking at a high school today (juniors who are interested in a medical career).  I’ve heard a surprising amount of chatter among the kiddos about this.  

I think most high schoolers are very well engaged with news at this point.

[John Dule]

Repeating "Kabul Kabul Kabul" is Russian propaganda. There is no reason to believe the collapse of the Ukrainian state is imminent.

Not sure, Russia is a much different thing than Taliban. I hope you're right and I'm wrong, but I'd be surprised, if a week from now Zelensky is still in Ukraine and its prez. I actually expect him to flee into exile in the coming days, if not hours. Not to mention the possibility he'll be murdered. As much as I hate to say it.

Ukraine is almost certainly going to lose, but that is very different than what transpired in Afghanistan.

Low bar.

[Ferguson97]

https://twitter.com/PaulSonne/status/1496725948229693440

[Omega21]

https://twitter.com/Militarylandnet/status/1496871309472669696

[Aurelius]

Speaking at a high school today (juniors who are interested in a medical career).  I’ve heard a surprising amount of chatter among the kiddos about this.  

We finished our tasks at work an hour early last night, and me and my completely apolitical coworkers spent the final hour in the break room watching TV news instead of the usual sports or South Park.

[jaichind]

Boris Johnson is pushing for Russia to be cut off from SWIFT.

[Sir Mohamed]

A potentially stupid question, though I wonder how Putin would react to NATO actually getting involved militarily to assist Ukraine? Would he actually risk a direct confrontation with NATO and the United States, or would he blink? I'm saying we should intervene, I just ask myself how he'd react.

[Ferguson97]

I guess maybe people are glued to their screens, but I haven't seen anyone really posting about it on social media. I really hope my circle is an outlier and more people are paying attention to this.

[The Free North]

https://twitter.com/Militarylandnet/status/1496871309472669696

You have to wonder why the Ukrainian govt didn't mine key bridges and have explosives' ready to go in this case. Civilians are going to use a bridge in a warzone anyways.

[Aurelius]

A potentially stupid question, though I wonder how Putin would react to NATO actually getting involved militarily to assist Ukraine. Would he actually risk a direct confrontation with NATO and the United States, or would he blink? I'm saying we should intervene, I just ask myself how he'd react.

I think I heard he was talking about Russia's great nuclear might in one of his speeches a few days ago. And saying if anyone interferes they will face consequences no one has ever seen before. Which to me means H bombs.

[certified hummus supporter 🇵🇸🤝🇺🇸🤝🇺🇦]

Speaking at a high school today (juniors who are interested in a medical career).  I’ve heard a surprising amount of chatter among the kiddos about this.  

Not surprised at all. I just had my AP Gov. and Comp. class end a few minutes ago and for the majority of the period we solely talked about what's happening in Ukraine right now.

[StateBoiler]

Legit impressed with Zelensky, I can see the appeal and why he got elected

He has been a f#cking idiot. This invasion has been staring his country in the face for 3 months and his military preparedness was nowhere near acceptable.

No I completely agree and I have been saying this for months, but now that the invasion has started I think he has upped his game.

Oh, so now that the invasion that has been telegraphed for 3 months has started, he's going to start preparing for war and deploying his military in defensive positions? Wouldn't that have been smart to do sometime in the last 3 months.

Take everything with grains of salt. But here's what I've read:

-simultaneous amphibious landing ops in Mariupol (between Crimea and Russian mainland from Sea of Azov) and Odessa (west of Crimea). Uncontested crossings at Crimea and Sumy. Possibly contested near Kirovo. Troops moving on Kharkiv. Russian paratroopers near Kiev are doing an operation to take control of the military airport Gostomel. Ground forces coming from Belarus, Crimea, and Russia. An Israeli newspaper an hour ago said the airport had fallen, but I don't see other news sources saying that.

Below is a battle map that's designed to be conservative. Appears the Ukrainian defenses north of Crimea have fallen.



https://mobile.twitter.com/JulianRoepcke/status/1496854817767145478

Here is my first #UkraineUnderAttack map, based on - very conservative - fighting and troop movement geolocations as well as Ukrainian army reports. It looks grim.

A Julian Ropcke on Twitter with a Ukrainian flag next to his user name.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Boris Johnson is pushing for Russia to be cut off from SWIFT.

Good.

[StateBoiler]

Speaking at a high school today (juniors who are interested in a medical career).  I’ve heard a surprising amount of chatter among the kiddos about this.  

Not surprised at all. I just had my AP Gov. and Comp. class end a few minutes ago and for the majority of the period we solely talked about what's happening in Ukraine right now.

I remember when I was in 3rd grade and the 1990 Gulf War started, we spent an hour or two talking about it with our teacher who just answered our questions of what was going on best she could. We were pretty close to a military base so we naturally had more interest.

[Ferguson97]

https://twitter.com/peterbakernyt/status/1496693918804623361

[KaiserDave]

Legit impressed with Zelensky, I can see the appeal and why he got elected

He has been a f#cking idiot. This invasion has been staring his country in the face for 3 months and his military preparedness was nowhere near acceptable.

No I completely agree and I have been saying this for months, but now that the invasion has started I think he has upped his game.

Oh, so now that the invasion that has been telegraphed for 3 months has started, he's going to start preparing for war and deploying his military in defensive positions? Wouldn't that have been smart to do sometime in the last 3 months.

Take everything with grains of salt. But here's what I've read:

-simultaneous amphibious landing ops in Mariupol (between Crimea and Russian mainland from Sea of Azov) and Odessa (west of Crimea). Uncontested crossings at Crimea and Sumy. Possibly contested near Kirovo. Troops moving on Kharkiv. Russian paratroopers near Kiev are doing an operation to take control of the military airport Gostomel. Ground forces coming from Belarus, Crimea, and Russia. An Israeli newspaper an hour ago said the airport had fallen, but I don't see other news sources saying that.

Below is a battle map that's designed to be conservative. Appears the Ukrainian defenses north of Crimea have fallen.



https://mobile.twitter.com/JulianRoepcke/status/1496854817767145478

Here is my first #UkraineUnderAttack map, based on - very conservative - fighting and troop movement geolocations as well as Ukrainian army reports. It looks grim.

A Julian Ropcke on Twitter with a Ukrainian flag next to his user name.

There is no landing in Odessa.

[It’s so Joever]

A potentially stupid question, though I wonder how Putin would react to NATO actually getting involved militarily to assist Ukraine? Would he actually risk a direct confrontation with NATO and the United States, or would he blink? I'm saying we should intervene, I just ask myself how he'd react.

We should find out.