Russia-Ukraine war and related tensions Megathread

[No War, but the War on Christmas]

https://www.politico.eu/article/putin-says-russia-to-deploy-tactical-nuclear-weapons-in-belarus-reports/

"Putin says Russia to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, state media report"

Couldn't they already station nukes in Kaliningrad if they wanted? So this is really just pointless posturing and is likely to simply stir up Belarusian partisans more than anything and probably even just regular citizens who would prefer to not be a nuclear target.

Also, another point about this, which is that once Russia has nukes stationed in Belarus that Putin, or any future Russian autocrat, will have full cause (in their minds) to intervene against any civil unrest in Belarus in the future because they wouldn't want nukes to fall into the wrong hands, right? And I imagine the installations themselves will receive plenty of military security. No wonder Lukashenko has been so insistent about this.

[Hollywood]

Some interesting reads today from Reuters on the war. First, Ukraine’s commander in chief Gen. Zaluzhniy reported to his British counterpart that they have stabilized Bakmut. Second, Ukraine is calling for a UN intervention on Russia putting nukes in Belarus
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraines-top-soldier-says-situation-embattled-bakhmut-is-stabilising-2023-03-25/
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-security-chief-says-basing-russian-nuclear-weapons-belarus-will-2023-03-26/

Not really that interesting when the information being reported in support of their claims are pretty stale and extremely dubious.

Let's start with this BS claim about Russia transferring nuclear weapons to Belarus, because I find their framing incredibly scary.  It appears to be an attempt to shift public attention away from the UK's shipment of depleted Uranium-tipped tank ammo that other sources were reporting last month, but was only recently confirmed by the British Defense Ministry.  Towards that end, Reuters is falsely conflating the sale of nuclear missiles to Belarus (BS) with the sale of the Isklander missile system that can launch cruise missiles 'capable of carrying a nuclear payload if later modified' (reality).  Russia is sending these offensive-defensive systems to Belarus, because Ukraine, as they have claimed multiple times, successfully launched attacks into Belarus military and civilian locations.  Russia isn't sending nukes to Belarus.  Their position has been incredibly straightforward.  If NATO provides WMD to Ukraine, they will respond with corresponding weaponry against Ukraine.   Russia has a lot of depleted-uranium tipped ammunition that they could have fire at Ukraine, but they have held back.  

https://twitter.com/missnicamarie/status/1638883861257150465
Second, there was an expected operational pause earlier this week that was reported as a possibility for multiple weeks.  Per this March 10th Article from NBC, citing the Institute for the Study of War, "The bloody battle for the eastern city of Bakhmut wages on, but Russian mercenary group Wagner may be taking a “tactical pause.”. https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/10/russia-ukraine-live-updates.html.  Ironically, Reuters wrote the article as Wagner Forces had some successful offensives in Bakhmut City, and Ukraine has actually lost ground within in the city from March 24th to the 26th.  Ukraine did stabilize the advance by Wagner Contractors flanking, and encircling, Bakhmut from the Northern and Southern areas like Ivanivske and Khromove. . Many Troops have been pumped into the Bakhmut Front in order to stop Russia from cutting-off all routes in-and-out of Bakhmut, as well as prevent them from reaching the canal protecting Chasiv Yar.  

Depleted Uranium isn’t a wmd. It’s, you know, depleted. As in the dense waste metal produced after uranium has been enriched, about 68% denser than lead and used in similar applications, like AP rounds. ‘Depleted Uranium tipped shells’ aren’t a thing, the what we might call bullet of the shell is made from DU instead of lead, using this formulation is misleading, either intentionally on your part or the Russian propaganda you’re quoting too credulously, to imply these are nuclear devices to imply a Western escalation and provide a post-hoc justification for the Russian war. Similar to Russians citing Ukraine having javelin missiles as a threat to Russian security, relying on credulous listeners to conflate man portable anti-tank weapons with cruise missiles.
A depleted Uranium shell is as much a nuclear weapon as a lead bullet is a chemical weapon

I actually thought you made some good points until you basely and absurdly claimed that my objections and claims about Depleted Uranium were based on “Russian Propaganda” or a motive to intentionally mislead people.  There’s certainly a public debate to be had about its use in offensive warfare, and many Law School Papers that have broached the subject.  In fact, they even describe the demonization tactic that the Pentagon used against DU opponents.  “[T]he Pentagon's lead agency for depleted uranium, the Office of the Special Assistant for Gulf War Illnesses, also served to fuel suspicion of the Pentagon's DU policies and foster opposition to the use of depleted uranium in munitions. The Pentagon's tactics included threatening libel suits against Gulf War veterans investigating DU, decrying as unpatriotic those who questioned the use of DU munitions, and attributing public concern about DU to an Iraqi propaganda campaign.” file:///Users/newguest/Downloads/028716698.pdf

It may be too hyperbolic to claim that depleted-uranium is a WMD like a nuclear bomb, but it is certainly a toxic radioactive compound when the ignited round enters the body through embedded fragments, contaminated wounds, and inhalation or ingestion.  It also leaves behind a residue of dust that can contaminate an area. https://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2019/09/21/new-study-documents-depleted-uranium-impacts-on-children-in-iraq/

[GeneralMacArthur]

Rare Chinese W?

They'll say one thing and do another.  If China actually opposed what Russia is doing then they wouldn't have just made a big show of supporting Russia and providing whatever Putin needs to continue his genocidal war of conquest and extermination.

China and Russia know that westerners, especially Americans, are contrarian, neurotic, self-loathing suckers who are constantly looking for excuses to oppose their own country's foreign policy positions.  And they know that right-wing parties, such as the Republican Party, are on their side because they have a joint interest in destroying the current western-liberal-globalist world order.

So they offer the flimsiest, most transparent veneer of integrity, morality and justifiability imaginable, and rely on right-wing politicians and pundits to glom onto those talking points and promote them ad nauseum to their idiot followers.  And as an added bonus, the "anti-war left" will follow suit, without even needing the right-wing celebrity layer in between.

All this to while getting away with policies and practices that would trigger massive riots in the streets if ever attempted by a western leader.

[Middle-aged Europe]

https://mobile.twitter.com/KyivPost/status/1640358236359409666?ref_src=twsrc%5Et...

[UWS]

Parliament of Hungary ratified Finland’s NATO membership
https://www.euronews.com/2023/03/27/nato-hungarian-parliament-ratifies-finlands-membership

[Hollywood]

https://mobile.twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1640355417212502019

Are you just posting any-and-all posts you find on Twitter just to spread Ukrainian propaganda on the forum?  You're intentionally rubber-stamping a false claim that couldn't possibly be taken at face value by anyone with functioning brain.  I watched part of this press conference that was given by Mao Ning over a month ago, so clearly Visegoof24 isn't breaking any news.  Too bad he was too lazy to find a recent photo from her recent speeches, and too stupid to edit out the January 31, 2023 date on the bottom right.  Visemoron's quote doesn't even support his assertion.  It's just a blanket statement against nuclear war between nations.  LMAO.  BTW... This is a link to the article where Visetard stole the image.  http://tr.china-embassy.gov.cn/tur/fyrth_1/202301/t20230131_11017108.htm

And let me just leave these tweets where people call-out Visefool for posting disinformation.  

https://twitter.com/PCorrect1/status/1640391343405932544

https://twitter.com/MikiKikirikikik/status/1640398167530250240

[Storr]

https://twitter.com/michaeldweiss/status/1640351338771935232?s=20

[Hindsight was 2020]

https://mobile.twitter.com/NOELreports/status/1640429678820204573
So Germany looks like it wants to firmly step up for Ukraine over the indecisive way they have been in the past

[Storr]

https://twitter.com/KofmanMichael/status/1640364773312278535?s=20

https://twitter.com/KofmanMichael/status/1640374920562499585?s=20

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

Russian forces stage an atrocity (a thread):

https://twitter.com/Tatarigami_UA/status/1640476098818449410
Not the first time they've done this, but it seems to have been more competently executed than the deluge of propaganda seen in the earliest stages of the war.

There is a risk they improve the average quality of their fakes (especially as large language models lower the barriers to producing simple still images which can easily fool laypeople). This helps them directly, but it also will be used by real war criminals (on all sides) to suppress scrutiny of their crimes.

[UWS]

And as Finland will likely be a member of NATO by next summer due to Hungary's parliament's decision to ratify Finland's NATO membership, that will checkmate Russia as Finland has the largest border with Russia (which is 1300 km)

[Storr]

On the lighter side of things:

https://twitter.com/bayraktar_1love/status/1640395972529340425?s=20

[NOVA Green]

UK Challenger tanks and some German Leopard 2 tanks have already arrived in Ukraine.

Germany delivered 18 promised Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine, the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said in a news conference on Monday, a highly anticipated delivery of advanced equipment from the West ahead of an expected spring offensive. Ukraine’s defense minister said British Challenger 2 tanks — 14 have been promised — had also begun to arrive. More tanks are expected from other NATO nations, including the United States.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/27/world/europe/un-ukraine-zaporizhzhia-nuclear-plant.html

[Middle-aged Europe]

https://mobile.twitter.com/NOELreports/status/1640429678820204573
So Germany looks like it wants to firmly step up for Ukraine over the indecisive way they have been in the past

Germany has actually oscillated back and forth between the two ever since the war began and it will likely continue to do so.

[Middle-aged Europe]

UK Challenger tanks and some German Leopard 2 tanks have already arrived in Ukraine.

Germany delivered 18 promised Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine, the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said in a news conference on Monday, a highly anticipated delivery of advanced equipment from the West ahead of an expected spring offensive. Ukraine’s defense minister said British Challenger 2 tanks — 14 have been promised — had also begun to arrive. More tanks are expected from other NATO nations, including the United States.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/27/world/europe/un-ukraine-zaporizhzhia-nuclear-plant.html

It has also now been confirmed (by the Ukrainian government) that the 40 Marder IFVs have also arrived to the country.

https://twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1640458286838476800?t=p7UDzpNSN1YJIcXh7O-7...

[UWS]

https://mobile.twitter.com/NOELreports/status/1640429678820204573
So Germany looks like it wants to firmly step up for Ukraine over the indecisive way they have been in the past

It will likely speed Kyiv's efforts to prepare the spring counteroffensivewhich Kyiv said requires additional weapons/artillery

[Storr]

https://twitter.com/Mike_Eckel/status/1640593346237198336?s=20

[Storr]

UK Challenger tanks and some German Leopard 2 tanks have already arrived in Ukraine.

Germany delivered 18 promised Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine, the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said in a news conference on Monday, a highly anticipated delivery of advanced equipment from the West ahead of an expected spring offensive. Ukraine’s defense minister said British Challenger 2 tanks — 14 have been promised — had also begun to arrive. More tanks are expected from other NATO nations, including the United States.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/27/world/europe/un-ukraine-zaporizhzhia-nuclear-plant.html

https://twitter.com/oleksiireznikov/status/1640595102119735297?s=20

https://twitter.com/DefenceHQ/status/1640368182371262465?s=20

[Woody]

Muradov (Responsible for Vuhledar assaults) has been replaced by Kuzmenko (The bald guy on the picture below)

https://twitter.com/TruthPuke/status/1640502790593343489
https://twitter.com/ILRUSSO12/status/1640594895340548097

[Woody]

https://twitter.com/War_cube_/status/1640454432625246211?cxt=HHwWhoC-7a2niMQtAAA...

[Hindsight was 2020]

https://mobile.twitter.com/KyivIndependent/status/1640641551792586752
Russia suffering heavy casualties for little to no gains. Must be a day ending in a y

[Sir Mohamed]

https://mobile.twitter.com/KyivIndependent/status/1640641551792586752
Russia suffering heavy casualties for little to no gains. Must be a day ending in a y

Putler continues sacrificing his own troops en masse as cannon fodder for his imperialist delusion. So basically for nothing. Russians should be enraged and out on the streets that makes 'Nam protests look like kindergarden. One of the advantages of being a dictator is the abolishion of a free press.

[Logical]

[Buffalo Mayor Young Kim]

Muradov (Responsible for Vuhledar assaults) has been replaced by Kuzmenko (The bald guy on the picture below)

https://twitter.com/TruthPuke/status/1640502790593343489
https://twitter.com/ILRUSSO12/status/1640594895340548097

Kinda funny how the army you keep claiming is winning keeps firing it’s generals huh?

[President Johnson]

Are these high Russian losses confirmed by independent sources? Wouldn't surprise me though, since many of their drafted fighters completely lack any professional training and are essentially just sent to die for nothing.

I wonder how long that can sustain. At some point you'd expect their ability to continue the war exhausted.