Russia-Ukraine war and related tensions Megathread

[Person Man]

Confirmed!

Russian Missle blew up Vasilkyv Oil Depot
https://twitter.com/nexta_tv/status/1497712754878300166

This feels like Saddam Hussein setting fire to the oil fields.

[It’s so Joever]

While I 100% do support boycotting products made in Russia right now, I do hope we don’t start seeing Russophobia from this. I’m guessing the overwhelming majority of the Russian diaspora aren’t even in favor of this and are pro-Ukraine, I hope Americans don’t use this as an excuse to be idiots…but they will won’t they?

[NOVA Green]

Ukraine Gvt now official requesting assistance from the "Fifth Brigade" in the form of computer hackers to target Russia per CNN (25 minutes ago)

Here is a link provided for anybody (including Atlas Posters) to help fight the cyberwar:

https://t.me/itarmyofurraine


Ukrainian official calls on "an IT army" to join the "fight on the cyber front"

"Ukraine Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov tweeted Saturday that Kyiv was “creating an IT army” to “continue to fight on the cyber front” as Russian forces continue their assault on Ukraine.

Fedorov tweeted a link to a channel on the messaging app Telegram that encouraged hackers to conduct cyberattacks on key Russian energy firms and financial firms. The proposed target list includes natural gas giant Gazprom and big Russian banks Sberbank and VTB. The Biden administration sanctioned the two banks on Thursday over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Telegram channel promoted by Fedorov was translated into English to appeal to “all IT specialists from other countries,” the English version said.

..."


https://www.cnn.com/europe/live-news/ukraine-russia-news-02-26-22/index.html

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

While I 100% do support boycotting products made in Russia right now, I do hope we don’t start seeing Russophobia from this. I’m guessing the overwhelming majority of the Russian diaspora aren’t even in favor of this and are pro-Ukraine, I hope Americans don’t use this as an excuse to be idiots…but they will won’t they?

America is a country of 350+ million people. An increase in Russophobia is sadly inevitable if this is a sustained conflict.
We can probably only hope for a smaller increase, not no increase at all.

[NOVA Green]

While I 100% do support boycotting products made in Russia right now, I do hope we don’t start seeing Russophobia from this. I’m guessing the overwhelming majority of the Russian diaspora aren’t even in favor of this and are pro-Ukraine, I hope Americans don’t use this as an excuse to be idiots…but they will won’t they?

Not a huge Vodka guy (Bourbon of my thing), but my wife would take Tito Vodka over Russian Vodka any day well prior to Russian aggression against Ukraine as she had for the past 10+ years!

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Ukraine Gvt now official requesting assistance from the "Fifth Brigade" in the form of computer hackers to target Russia per CNN (25 minutes ago)

Here is a link provided for anybody (including Atlas Posters) to help fight the cyberwar:

https://t.me/itarmyofurraine


Ukrainian official calls on "an IT army" to join the "fight on the cyber front"

"Ukraine Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov tweeted Saturday that Kyiv was “creating an IT army” to “continue to fight on the cyber front” as Russian forces continue their assault on Ukraine.

Fedorov tweeted a link to a channel on the messaging app Telegram that encouraged hackers to conduct cyberattacks on key Russian energy firms and financial firms. The proposed target list includes natural gas giant Gazprom and big Russian banks Sberbank and VTB. The Biden administration sanctioned the two banks on Thursday over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Telegram channel promoted by Fedorov was translated into English to appeal to “all IT specialists from other countries,” the English version said.

..."


https://www.cnn.com/europe/live-news/ukraine-russia-news-02-26-22/index.html

Yet still more evidence Ukraine's doing a great job in asymmetrical warfare. That's an area Russia is better than us at, but Ukraine is doing roughly even with Russia here.
You know what they say - necessity is the mother of invention.
EDIT: how the cloptad did that get bolded. Whatever

[Meclazine for Israel]

Maybe more importantly, why do you continue to be Putin's useful idiot? Are you getting paid by him or what?

We don't need this sort of toxicity in here. Cut it out.

No.

[It’s so Joever]

I am hearing of some massive shelling in Kharkiv.

[jaichind]

It seems part of the SWIFT sanctions will also target wealthy Russian (including Oligarchs) from being able to access their wealth.  This actually will be able to help uncover something I have always been interested in.  The assumption has always been that the Russian Oligarchs control a good part of the Russian political system and Putin is very close to them and could not afford to cross them.  I was never really so sure of that.  The Oligarchs getting hit and hit bad will allow us to see how much Putin really cares about this set of people.

As for the rest of the SWIFT sanctions, it is pretty clear that Russian banks that are associated with the energy trade will not be hit but the ones that are not will be.  The Russian counter to this will actually be similar to a networking design problem.  It's like having two intranets (SWIFT and the Russian SPFS) that are both in operation and then a set of IP addresses on the Russian side are blacklisted from the SWIFT intranet.  The Russians will need to figure out how to route network traffic within SPFS to IP addresses that are not blacklisted to try to restore the network traffic flow.  It will not be easy and will be interesting to see if Russia can pull this off.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

I am hearing of some massive shelling in Kharkiv.

The videos could be fake, but it looks like MLRS.

[Mike88]

I am hearing of some massive shelling in Kharkiv.

https://twitter.com/nexta_tv/status/1497707414833049600

[Storr]

This, along with Russia strategic bombers using unencrypted HF radio, makes me wonder how much of Russia's plans NATO intelligence agencies already know about. They predicted the false flag operations in the Donbas and even knew the exact time of the invasion.

https://twitter.com/Osinttechnical/status/1497717413542088708?s=20&t=EseR2H9...

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

If it is, in fact, MLRS, the question is whether what is happening in Kharkiv will be swiftly extended to multiple fronts or whether Putin intends to wreck one city first as an example.

[NOVA Green]

Ukraine Gvt now official requesting assistance from the "Fifth Brigade" in the form of computer hackers to target Russia per CNN (25 minutes ago)

Here is a link provided for anybody (including Atlas Posters) to help fight the cyberwar:

https://t.me/itarmyofurraine


Ukrainian official calls on "an IT army" to join the "fight on the cyber front"

"Ukraine Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov tweeted Saturday that Kyiv was “creating an IT army” to “continue to fight on the cyber front” as Russian forces continue their assault on Ukraine.

Fedorov tweeted a link to a channel on the messaging app Telegram that encouraged hackers to conduct cyberattacks on key Russian energy firms and financial firms. The proposed target list includes natural gas giant Gazprom and big Russian banks Sberbank and VTB. The Biden administration sanctioned the two banks on Thursday over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Telegram channel promoted by Fedorov was translated into English to appeal to “all IT specialists from other countries,” the English version said.

..."


https://www.cnn.com/europe/live-news/ukraine-russia-news-02-26-22/index.html

Yet still more evidence Ukraine's doing a great job in asymmetrical warfare. That's an area Russia is better than us at, but Ukraine is doing roughly even with Russia here.
You know what they say - necessity is the mother of invention.
EDIT: how the cloptad did that get bolded. Whatever

Assuming it was something I did...

Not quite sure what a cloptad is, but just call me Mary of Clopas.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_of_Clopas

[Person Man]

If it is, in fact, MRLS, the question is whether what is happening in Kharkiv will be swiftly extended to multiple fronts or whether Putin intends to wreck one city first as an example.

How useful MRLS’s are on a strategic level provided its psychological usage can be overcome?

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

This, along with Russia strategic bombers using unencrypted HF radio, makes me wonder how much of Russia's plans NATO intelligence agencies already know about. They predicted the false flag operations in the Donbas and even knew the exact time of the invasion.

https://twitter.com/Osinttechnical/status/1497717413542088708?s=20&t=EseR2H9...

Also, secondary question: does Russia plan this with less secrecy from Western intelligence because it can afford to? After all, if the West knows exactly what Russia has planned, what can it do with that info that it isn't already able to do without knowing?
It's not like they plan on actually going to war with Russia after all.

[Mike88]

Portugal is also sending military equipment to Ukraine:

https://twitter.com/defesa_pt/status/1497721954731651074?cxt=HHwWhMCrwdeL_cgpAAA...

At the request of the Ukrainian authorities, Portugal will provide military equipment such as vests, helmets, night vision goggles, grenades and ammunition of different calibers, complete portable radios, analogue repeaters and G3 automatic rifles.

[2016]

Main Target for Russia around Kiev seems to be the Vasikyv Air Force Base!

I just checked Wiki!

The Ukrainian Air Force Central Command sits there! Now it makes sense to put them out first!

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

https://twitter.com/NatSecGeek/status/1497587401501327361
https://twitter.com/YourAnonNews/status/1497298554381119491
So glad to see Anonymous getting its hands dirty again.

[Splash]

Here's why the collective effort of the EU and the G-7 to sanction and freeze the assets of the Russian Central Bank is of such significance:

Putin has spent years building up a substantial reserve to assist Russian banks withstand sanctions. As of 2022, they have roughly $630 billion in reserves, and apparently only $190 billion of that is comprised of reserves kept in Russia (gold - might be hard to find a buyer) or China. The remainder is kept in currencies controlled by the G-7 and the EU. Stop Russia from liquidating those assets and their ability to withstand the sanctions imposed on their financial institutions becomes much more difficult.

https://twitter.com/Saleksashenko/status/1497707373036670977

[NOVA Green]

New footage from the NYT posted ~25 minutes back from fighting this Morning 40 miles NW of Kiev:

A video posted to social media on Saturday morning shows Ukrainian soldiers engaging in intense fighting 40 miles northwest of Kyiv, the capital, along one of Russia’s major attack lines toward the city.

The scene unfolded at a traffic circle near the town of Ivankiv, and shows a Ukrainian soldier walking behind several Ukrainian armored vehicles. A short distance away, two vehicles are ablaze. Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense has been promoting the footage on Facebook, saying, “Whoever comes to us with a sword will die from the sword.”

The soldier is carrying what appears to be an NLAW shoulder-fired missile, the kind Britain sent recently to Ukraine. American-made Javelin antitank guided missiles have also been sent to the country in recent weeks. And in a reversal of Germany’s previous position, Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced plans on Saturday to send 1,000 antitank rockets and other weapons to Ukraine.


https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/02/26/world/ukraine-russia-war

[FT-02 Senator A.F.E. 🇵🇸🤝🇺🇸🤝🇺🇦]

https://mobile.twitter.com/KyivIndependent/status/1497728382875938816

[NOVA Green]

https://twitter.com/NatSecGeek/status/1497587401501327361
https://twitter.com/YourAnonNews/status/1497298554381119491
So glad to see Anonymous getting its hands dirty again.

Anonymous are effectively the 21st Century version of Antifa, except mainly focusing on cyber actions vs street fighting.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

https://twitter.com/NatSecGeek/status/1497587401501327361
https://twitter.com/YourAnonNews/status/1497298554381119491
So glad to see Anonymous getting its hands dirty again.

Anonymous are effectively the 21st Century version of Antifa, except mainly focusing on cyber actions vs street fighting.

"You watch the neighborhood, we'll watch the skies."

[FT-02 Senator A.F.E. 🇵🇸🤝🇺🇸🤝🇺🇦]

https://mobile.twitter.com/Reuters/status/1497728184145514496