Russia-Ukraine war and related tensions Megathread

[jaichind]

https://twitter.com/DagnyTaggart963/status/1871908638333550684

[GoTfan]

Thank you UWS for being the one to consistently counter Jaichind's Russia Stronk crap.

[jaichind]

Velyka Novosilka seems to be under operational encirclement with supply routes cut off or under fire

https://twitter.com/AMK_Mapping_/status/1872180027997233567

[インターネット掲示板ユーザー Punxsutawney Phil]

Thank you UWS for being the one to consistently counter Jaichind's Russia Stronk crap.

UWS giving us more data points to consider is good for providing a more well-rounded view of the war.

[Hindsight was 2020]

Thank you UWS for being the one to consistently counter Jaichind's Russia Stronk crap.

He’s also really good at being quick to it. I don’t post in here as often because he’s been beating me to the punch in posting these links

[Helsinkian]

So, it looks like Russia shot down another passenger jet. The Azerbaijani plane flying from Baku to Chechnya was denied landing, then apparently targeted with a surface-to-air missile due to being mistaken for a Ukrainian drone. The damaged plane was then denied landing rights at any Russian airport and rerouted to Kazakhstan hundreds of kilometers away; apparently the Russian authorities hoped that it would crash in the Caspian Sea, destroying the evidence. But it crashed on its eastern shore instead, splitting apart and killing everyone in the front of the plane (38) but sparing those in the aft section (29). The debris shows signs of shrapnel.

I will predict that the Azerbaijani and Kazakhstani governments will not dare say in public what caused this but will be pressured to accept the BS explanation that Russia will offer -- at this time that seems to be "engines were hit by a flock of birds".

[UWS]

https://www.kyivpost.com/post/44519

[Meclazine for Israel]

This woman is a political scientist who is gaining in popularity on social media.

Lake NATO

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DEDhrUXNU5V/

Didn't even know that was a thing.

[インターネット掲示板ユーザー Punxsutawney Phil]

https://www.kyivpost.com/post/44519

Potential FAFO for Russia here, if the EU's able to respond in a way that doesn't hurt them too much financially.

[UWS]

https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-ato/3942414-mod-authorizes-snail-allterrain-vehicle-for-use-in-afu.html

New Ukrainian unmanned vehicle allowed for use in combat

[UWS]

https://fakti.bg/en/world/937613-moldova-increases-defense-spending

[UWS]

https://newsukraine.rbc.ua/news/russian-forces-attempt-landing-on-kozatsky-1735299059.html

[インターネット掲示板ユーザー Punxsutawney Phil]

https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-ato/3942414-mod-authorizes-snail-allterrain-vehicle-for-use-in-afu.html

New Ukrainian unmanned vehicle allowed for use in combat

Good news.

[UWS]

https://consent.yahoo.com/v2/collectConsent?sessionId=1_cc-session_10f7513b-f296-4b80-ad63-ac1e189e092d

Russia turning Ukrainian occupied territory into concentration camp

[UWS]

https://www.kyivpost.com/post/44566

[jaichind]

More Russian advances in  Chasiv Yar with fighting now in the railroad station

https://twitter.com/AMK_Mapping_/status/1872924613996585096

[UWS]

https://www.ukrinform.net/amp/rubric-ato/3942698-ukrainian-defense-forces-destroy-shahed-drones-depot-in-russias-oryol-region.html

[jaichind]

Russian advances in the  Andriivka direction

https://twitter.com/AMK_Mapping_/status/1872949640204829079

[インターネット掲示板ユーザー Punxsutawney Phil]

More Russian advances in  Chasiv Yar with fighting now in the railroad station

[tweet]

How much military value does the railway station in Chasiv Yar have? (Asking anyone here)

[jaichind]

Russians advance into Kurakhove Thermal Power Plant.

https://twitter.com/AMK_Mapping_/status/1873015156877467711

[UWS]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2024/12/28/russian-officers-pulled-over-for-a-hasty-meeting-thats-when-a-ukrainian-himars-opened-fire/

[jaichind]

More Russian advances in Chasiv Yar

https://twitter.com/AMK_Mapping_/status/1873341534751600688

[CumbrianLefty]

Thank you UWS for being the one to consistently counter Jaichind's Russia Stronk crap.

UWS giving us more data points to consider is good for providing a more well-rounded view of the war.

Yes, keep it up.

To be clear, a certain poster giving us pro-Russian takes on this war isn't in itself bad - but the thread was becoming rather one sided and unrepresentative of how things are actually going.

[oldtimer]

More Russian advances in  Chasiv Yar with fighting now in the railroad station

[tweet]

How much military value does the railway station in Chasiv Yar have? (Asking anyone here)

Since the russians lost Izium and Lyman, the area of Bakhmut has no military value.

They are still attacking because no one probably bothered to rescind the order that is more than 2 years old by now.

Here is a quick list of the areas that probably do have the highest military value for Russia right now, including one that might make jaichind happy:

Spoiler alert! Click Show to show the content.

Show

1. Yunakivka and Pysarivka, Sumy area.
The villages on the only road to Ukranian occupied Kursk, some 7 miles from the front.

2. Pokrovske, Donetsk area.
The road junction connects the East with the South fronts.

3. The entire western bank of the Oskil river all the way to Bakhmut.
With Bakhmut it would create a direct rail link from Donetsk to Moscow.

4. Kurakovo, Donetsk area (I give that to jaichind).
The last Ukranian fort in the Donetsk area.

I could add the impregnable defensive line of Sloviansk-Toretsk, or Kharkov, but they can't be captured and they can't be incircled, so they are a distraction.

Of course those are very theoretical, because I doubt russians have the equipment or the initiative culture to succeed.

[Storr]

Former Russian national football team (or soccer in Freedomland) player Aleksei Bugayev died fighting in the "Special Military Operation" zone according to his lawyer/agent Anton Smirnov.

In September he was sentenced to 9 years and 6 months in prison for attempted illegal drug distribution. His death in Ukraine presumably means he volunteered to fight in the war in order to receive a pardon or commutation of his sentence. His body has so far been unable to be retrieved due to "intense fighting" in the area.

I translated the Telegram post of the court which announced Bugayev's verdict and sentencing using google translate. Wildly enough, it says: "When sentencing, the court took into account the presence of a child, remorse, and numerous awards for success in sports as mitigating circumstances."