Russia-Ukraine war and related tensions Megathread

[GeneralMacArthur]

It’s amusing that all of these puppet states call themselves “people’s republics”, something Russia itself no longer does. What a throwback.

Anytime I see the word "people's" in a name, today, I automatically despite whatever it is.  It's just never a good sign.

[NOVA Green]

Another way that individuals are attempting to spread info about the War in Ukraine to Russian citizens per the WSJ an hour ago.

It's a long article and includes various stories of individuals who have been using the tool, conversations they are having, etc...

Using a New Cyber Tool, Westerners Have Been Texting Russians About the War in Ukraine

Website developed by hackers is new initiative in West’s battle to counter Russia’s propaganda campaign

People around the world are using a new website to circumvent the Kremlin’s propaganda machine by sending individual messages about the war in Ukraine to random people in Russia.

The website was developed by a group of Polish programmers who obtained some 20 million cellphone numbers and close to 140 million email addresses owned by Russian individuals and companies. The site randomly generates numbers and addresses from those databases and allows anyone anywhere in the world to message them, with the option of using a pre-drafted message in Russian that calls on people to bypass President Vladimir Putin’s censorship of the media.

Since it was launched on March 6, thousands of people across the globe, including many in the U.S., have used the site to send millions of messages in Russian, footage from the war, or images of Western media coverage documenting Russia’s assault on civilians, according to Squad303, as the group that wrote the tool calls itself.

....

“Our aim was to break through Putin’s digital wall of censorship and make sure that Russian people are not totally cut off from the world and the reality of what Russia is doing in Ukraine,” a spokesman for Poland-based Squad303 said.

The spokesman, a programmer who asked not to be identified, likened the effort to such Cold War-era projects as the U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe, which beamed radio programs in several languages across the Iron Curtain. Nearly seven million text messages and two million emails have been sent using the website since it was created a week ago, he said.

...

The Journal reviewed the websites’ code as published by the authors and tried several numbers served by the database, which turned out to be in service. Whether the entire database is made up of existing numbers and email addresses couldn’t be verified.

...

https://www.wsj.com/articles/using-a-new-cyber-tool-westerners-have-been-texting-russians-about-the-war-in-ukraine-11647100803?st=2ocms0xzgqzntxz&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

The more the war drags on, the more it looks as though information and the sharing of information could become the Achilles Heel for Russia.

People underestimate just how hard it is to be in the 21st century on a societal level and still have a monopoly on information. Some point to China…but nearly all young Chinese know how to get past the “wall” online and just genuinely are willing to accept the regime’s crap for economic interests/stability.

Unless you are a backwater country like North Korea…it’s hard to really do what Putin is trying to do.

This could be a case of Putin's KGB instincts harming the state's social control as opposed to helping.
The Cheka was unable to completely destroy the Bolsheviks and other groups. The modern Russian security apparatus is unable to stop young Russians from accessing Youtube and Western social media.

Yeah--- this is true that younger Russians, which also appear to be much more opposed to military activities in Ukraine than older Russians, likely have enough individuals tech savvy to be able to navigate through the increasingly dense web of domestic controls on content (at least for now).

Part of the problem however is that overall it is much, much, much more difficult for most Russians to access alternative perspectives to the Kremlin's narrative.

I'll refrain for now from quoting from this article published earlier this morning in The Washington Post, but new reporting shows how top Silicon Valley Execs from Apple and Google paved the pathway for consolidation of media control back in September 2021.

Apparently there are still actions that the tech giants can take but have not yet done to help allow access to dissident perspectives from within Russia itself.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/03/12/russia-putin-google-apple-navalny/

[compucomp]

The fact that one European state is inflicting such unspeakable evil on another European state and its citizens in this day and age is something I never expected to witness. We truly live in a different world now that this has happened, and it will never be as before again.

Channeling Prince William huh? Still believe in the White Man's Burden?

No idea what this babbling is supposed to mean, but as a European I find a war on my own continent in a country I visited multiple times quite a bit more scary than elsewhere. Sue me.

I'm referring to the racist statement made by Prince William a few days ago calling war in Europe "alien". Saying that war and destruction is familiar to Asia and Africa but foreign to Europe is channeling white supremacy and the very essence of the "White Man's Burden" concept used to justify colonialism a century ago.

Britain’s Prince William drew sharp criticism after he said Wednesday that it was “alien” to see war in Europe. Part of the backlash came from a string of media reports implying that he was saying that such conflicts were more common in Africa and Asia, though video of his comments didn’t show the comparison.

Local media reported that he made the remark during a visit to the Ukrainian Cultural Center in London. For Britons of his generation, he said, “it’s very alien to see this in Europe.”

“We are all behind you,” he reportedly said, expressing support for the people of Ukraine, who have been subjected to widespread bombings by Russia during its invasion of their country.

[walleye26]

So it looks like rumors of a supposed Ukrainian counterattack to liberate Mariupol were just propaganda and not true. 

[Storr]

The fact that one European state is inflicting such unspeakable evil on another European state and its citizens in this day and age is something I never expected to witness. We truly live in a different world now that this has happened, and it will never be as before again.

Channeling Prince William huh? Still believe in the White Man's Burden?

No idea what this babbling is supposed to mean, but as a European I find a war on my own continent in a country I visited multiple times quite a bit more scary than elsewhere. Sue me.

I'm referring to the racist statement made by Prince William a few days ago calling war in Europe "alien". Saying that war and destruction is familiar to Asia and Africa but foreign to Europe is channeling white supremacy and the very essence of the "White Man's Burden" concept used to justify colonialism a century ago.

Britain’s Prince William drew sharp criticism after he said Wednesday that it was “alien” to see war in Europe. Part of the backlash came from a string of media reports implying that he was saying that such conflicts were more common in Africa and Asia, though video of his comments didn’t show the comparison.

Local media reported that he made the remark during a visit to the Ukrainian Cultural Center in London. For Britons of his generation, he said, “it’s very alien to see this in Europe.”

“We are all behind you,” he reportedly said, expressing support for the people of Ukraine, who have been subjected to widespread bombings by Russia during its invasion of their country.

How brain dead do you have to be to think it's racist to call something that hasn't happened in Europe in 80 years "alien"?

[Silent Hunter]

80? More like 23.

[compucomp]

The fact that one European state is inflicting such unspeakable evil on another European state and its citizens in this day and age is something I never expected to witness. We truly live in a different world now that this has happened, and it will never be as before again.

Channeling Prince William huh? Still believe in the White Man's Burden?

No idea what this babbling is supposed to mean, but as a European I find a war on my own continent in a country I visited multiple times quite a bit more scary than elsewhere. Sue me.

I'm referring to the racist statement made by Prince William a few days ago calling war in Europe "alien". Saying that war and destruction is familiar to Asia and Africa but foreign to Europe is channeling white supremacy and the very essence of the "White Man's Burden" concept used to justify colonialism a century ago.

Britain’s Prince William drew sharp criticism after he said Wednesday that it was “alien” to see war in Europe. Part of the backlash came from a string of media reports implying that he was saying that such conflicts were more common in Africa and Asia, though video of his comments didn’t show the comparison.

Local media reported that he made the remark during a visit to the Ukrainian Cultural Center in London. For Britons of his generation, he said, “it’s very alien to see this in Europe.”

“We are all behind you,” he reportedly said, expressing support for the people of Ukraine, who have been subjected to widespread bombings by Russia during its invasion of their country.

How brain dead do you have to be to think it's racist to call something that hasn't happened in Europe in 80 years "alien"?

I didn't write this article saying he drew "sharp criticism", WaPo did. Clearly I'm not the only one who thinks he expressed a white supremacist sentiment that whites are inherently superior and "more civilized" than non-white savages who would be "expected" to engage in war and destruction often.

[Storr]

80? More like 23.

The Yugoslav wars weren't a major land war between sovereign nations. Two wars for independence, a civil war in Bosnia, etc.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

The fact that one European state is inflicting such unspeakable evil on another European state and its citizens in this day and age is something I never expected to witness. We truly live in a different world now that this has happened, and it will never be as before again.

Channeling Prince William huh? Still believe in the White Man's Burden?

No idea what this babbling is supposed to mean, but as a European I find a war on my own continent in a country I visited multiple times quite a bit more scary than elsewhere. Sue me.

I'm referring to the racist statement made by Prince William a few days ago calling war in Europe "alien". Saying that war and destruction is familiar to Asia and Africa but foreign to Europe is channeling white supremacy and the very essence of the "White Man's Burden" concept used to justify colonialism a century ago.

Britain’s Prince William drew sharp criticism after he said Wednesday that it was “alien” to see war in Europe. Part of the backlash came from a string of media reports implying that he was saying that such conflicts were more common in Africa and Asia, though video of his comments didn’t show the comparison.

Local media reported that he made the remark during a visit to the Ukrainian Cultural Center in London. For Britons of his generation, he said, “it’s very alien to see this in Europe.”

“We are all behind you,” he reportedly said, expressing support for the people of Ukraine, who have been subjected to widespread bombings by Russia during its invasion of their country.

It is tone deaf, but (and perhaps I am reading this too charitably) I think it is nothing to do with the white man’s burden concept and everything to do with his relatively young age (hence “for Britons of his generation”) and the post-WW2 promise of “never again.” Europe was historically amongst the bloodiest of continents and that culminated in its destruction in the 1940s, but the last real war here was the Balkan conflict(s) over 20 years ago*. It’s not hard to see how European war would seem alien to someone his age, whose memories of that war are likely to be foggy.

*Your average joe probably doesn’t consider the Caucasus states European, but you can make a fair case that the Azerbaijani-Armenian and Russo-Georgian wars have been overlooked.

[NOVA Green]

Meanwhile, aside from the various other lively debates going on currently in this thread:

This is clearly NOT good news from CNN ~15-20 minutes back.

eGens are not intended to be permanent sources of power for any facility, let alone a nuclear power plant, or in the case of Chernobyl a former nuclear power plant.

Aside from the obvious environmental aspects and impacts, being dependent on your emergency backup supply of power is a recipe for major problems.

We have (3) eGens at my mfg facility, plus (1) additional backup solely intended to support Life Safety Systems (LSS) including fire protection systems.

There are obvious questions about exactly HOW the Russians are ensuring routine maintenance activities are taking place, adequate supply of fuel for the diesel generators, etc...  for systems not designed for constant usage but rather for temporary activities such as weather events

Also I am curious about the article referencing "Repairs to Chernobyl's electrical system, damaged during a Russian attack on March 9", since I don't recall any reports about fighting around Chernobyl anytime recently. Am assuming that is a CNN error there.

Chernobyl nuclear plant running on generators with staff "living" there since Russian attack

Repairs to Chernobyl's electrical system, damaged during a Russian attack on March 9, are ongoing, as the nuclear power plant is now dependent on external diesel generators to keep its reactors operating, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Saturday.

Alexey Likhachev, the director general of Russia's nuclear agency Rosatom, told the IAEA additional fuel arrived on March 11.

Ukraine's nuclear power plant operator Energoatom told the IAEA that Chernobyl's 211 personnel and guards "have still not been able to rotate, in effect living there since the day before Russian forces took control."

"[IAEA] Director General Grossi has repeatedly stressed the urgent need to ensure they can properly rest and rotate, saying this is also a vital element for safe and secure nuclear power operation," IAEA said in a statement.

Regarding the situation at the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), Ukraine said the site remains under Russian control and that Moscow is planning to take "full and permanent control." It also said 400 Russian soldiers are "present full time" at the site.

Russia said experts are present at the Zaporizhzhya plant but denied it "had taken operational control" or it has plans to take on permanent management of the site, according to the IAEA.

Power supplies to this plant remain unchanged, despite damage to two of its four power lines, the IAEA said.

The IAEA added eight of Ukraine's 15 reactors remain in operation, "including two at the Zaporizhzhya NPP, three at Rivne, one at Khmelnytskyy, and two at South Ukraine" and that "radiation levels remain normal."

https://www.cnn.com/europe/live-news/ukraine-russia-putin-news-03-12-22/h_df173ae950005df11271a05f2ec30096

[Frodo]

Putin is screwed no matter what happens, and it seems his alliance with China is not going to pay the dividends he thought it would:

I know Putin made clear that he wanted to conquer all of Ukraine, and install a puppet in Kiev, but China may well force him to accept an East/West division of Ukraine (and Kiev) along the Dneiper.  And that, from the Russian perspective, is being optimistic, assuming they can even control eastern Ukraine. The Chinese are getting more and more discomfited the longer this war goes on.

And we (NATO and the United States) on our part can make the legitimate Ukrainian government accept this division despite their insistence they want their whole country back including Crimea.  

The longer this war drags on, the more that Putin just becomes a dead weight for Beijing. The best outcome for Beijing now is for Russia to just end the war and retreat to pre-February 24 boundaries. Russia will be still strong enough to menace the west, but too weak to wage any more wars. But, the problem is this war is now existential for Putin - if he doesn't win this war, he will at best become like Saddam post-1991, and at worst fall out of a window.

It will also be impossible to pressure the Ukrainian government - which ultimately answers to Ukrainian citizens - to give up half of the country to the despised enemy. As much as Putin wishes as such, Russia isn't the Soviet Union, and simply doesn't have the resources to secure an area of ~20 million people, which would require ~400,000 occupation troops. All that has to be done is wait for Russia to give up and withdraw.

Fair enough.  And as to this point in particular:

But, the problem is this war is now existential for Putin - if he doesn't win this war, he will at best become like Saddam post-1991, and at worst fall out of a window.

If this proves too insurmountable an obstacle for a negotiated peace, perhaps China can arrange an assassination of Vladimir Putin not dissimilar to what we eventually assented to for Ngo Dinh Diem of South Vietnam, but being careful to deflect the blame to someone else, perhaps disgruntled members of Putin's inner circle (or Senator Lindsay Graham...).

[Middle-aged Europe]

Meanwhile in Sweden...

https://mobile.twitter.com/business/status/1502622477268234243

https://mobile.twitter.com/starsandstripes/status/1502740713070465024

https://mobile.twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1502647001510551553

[Buffalo Mayor Young Kim]

Meanwhile in Sweden...

https://mobile.twitter.com/business/status/1502622477268234243
https://mobile.twitter.com/starsandstripes/status/1502740713070465024
https://mobile.twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1502647001510551553

If you don’t want someone to join a mutual defense pact, maybe don’t threaten to invade them?

[Cashew]

Putin is screwed no matter what happens, and it seems his alliance with China is not going to pay the dividends he thought it would:

I know Putin made clear that he wanted to conquer all of Ukraine, and install a puppet in Kiev, but China may well force him to accept an East/West division of Ukraine (and Kiev) along the Dneiper.  And that, from the Russian perspective, is being optimistic, assuming they can even control eastern Ukraine. The Chinese are getting more and more discomfited the longer this war goes on.

And we (NATO and the United States) on our part can make the legitimate Ukrainian government accept this division despite their insistence they want their whole country back including Crimea.  

The longer this war drags on, the more that Putin just becomes a dead weight for Beijing. The best outcome for Beijing now is for Russia to just end the war and retreat to pre-February 24 boundaries. Russia will be still strong enough to menace the west, but too weak to wage any more wars. But, the problem is this war is now existential for Putin - if he doesn't win this war, he will at best become like Saddam post-1991, and at worst fall out of a window.

It will also be impossible to pressure the Ukrainian government - which ultimately answers to Ukrainian citizens - to give up half of the country to the despised enemy. As much as Putin wishes as such, Russia isn't the Soviet Union, and simply doesn't have the resources to secure an area of ~20 million people, which would require ~400,000 occupation troops. All that has to be done is wait for Russia to give up and withdraw.

Fair enough.  And as to this point in particular:

But, the problem is this war is now existential for Putin - if he doesn't win this war, he will at best become like Saddam post-1991, and at worst fall out of a window.

If this proves too insurmountable an obstacle for a negotiated peace, perhaps China can arrange an assassination of Vladimir Putin not dissimilar to what we eventually assented to for Ngo Dinh Diem of South Vietnam, but being careful to deflect the blame to someone else, perhaps disgruntled members of Putin's inner circle (or Senator Lindsay Graham...).

That implies that Chinese intelligence has any meaningful presence in Russia.

Yikes.

https://twitter.com/TruthsUnchained/status/1502773170771791881?s=20&t=TPqQrX...

That was originally Russia propaganda, I think they chained up a dead Ukrainian soldier but has since been repurposed as Ukrainian propaganda.

[Badger]

Vindman has had some bad takes about the war. But, the whole "do anything more to help Ukraine = WWIII" narrative is simplistic and tired.

https://twitter.com/AVindman/status/1502424961318719489?s=20&t=GUEnHrBeli82z...

 I tend to agree with your assessment it's meant, but but Biden is actually right here. We will not fight A-war in Ukraine, and the key word in his 2nd sentence is "directly".

Now send the f****** jets, Joe.

[brucejoel99]

Meanwhile in Sweden...

https://mobile.twitter.com/business/status/1502622477268234243
https://mobile.twitter.com/starsandstripes/status/1502740713070465024
https://mobile.twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1502647001510551553

If you don’t want someone to join a mutual defense pact, maybe don’t threaten to invade them?

At this point, they should join NATO just because it'll anger Russia

[NOVA Green]

So meanwhile, what about the whole "International Brigade" of foreign volunteers showing up in Ukraine from multiple nations?

Wall Street Journal, The Economist, and The Guardian reports from earlier today with excerpts from longer articles.

There really hasn't been much discussion on this thread about the impacts of the potential involvements of foreign nationals in the War in Ukraine, with the exception of reports of potential Russian mercs showing up from various places with Syria being the most referenced zone for new foreign national recruits.

Wall Street Journal

Ukraine’s New Foreign Legion Takes the Fight to Russian Forces

President Volodymyr Zelensky appeals to battle-hardened veterans in race to augment its ranks

Irakli Okruashvili, a former defense minister of Georgia, last week joined a Ukrainian foreign-fighter regiment created to face down the Russian invasion in a hurry. Three days later, he and a group of countrymen, former special-forces soldiers, made contact with Russian troops north of Kyiv.

With a U.S.-supplied .50-caliber Barrett M99 single-shot anti-armor precision rifle, the Georgian unit disabled two Russian armed vehicles, Mr. Okruashvili said, before falling under a sustained reply from 152-millimeter howitzer cannons.

After several hours, Ukrainian planes bombed the Russian artillery positions, silencing them.

A combination of international arms and foreign volunteers has joined Ukraine’s efforts to impede the Russian advance in the third week of the conflict, and are now playing a growing role as the fighting spreads.

“We already passed this way in 2008 when we had a war with Russia,” Mr. Okruashvili said, referring to Moscow’s invasion of Georgia that year. “Ukraine is not fighting only for its own freedom, its own sovereignty, its own independence. This is not the war of Ukraine only.”

Kyiv is welcoming all outside assistance. The forces at its disposal are far smaller than those of Russia and are unable to fight on an equal footing. Russia’s armed forces count 900,000 personnel, compared with Ukraine’s 209,000 active troops, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a London think tank. The Ukrainian number doesn’t include recent mobilizations.

Addressing this imbalance, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last month announced the formation of the International Legion of Defense of Ukraine, appealing to veteran soldiers outside the country who have specialized skills and experience in war to join the fight.

The international units are a component of the country’s regular armed forces and report to its general staff. Foreigners serve under Ukrainian officers. A spokesman for the group confirmed that some foreign units were already fighting on the front line.

....

Kyiv said 20,000 foreigners had enlisted in the International Legion and that there were nearly 13 million visits to the group’s website in its first 24 hours. The Wall Street Journal couldn’t independently verify these figures.

...

Ukrainian diplomatic missions abroad have been funneling recruits via Poland, and volunteers have been arriving there from Belarus, Belgium, Germany, Sweden and dozens of other countries, according to an official at the Ukrainian Embassy in Warsaw.

...

With the International Legion, Kyiv is attempting to get a stronger grip on the flow of volunteers who are typically drawn to war, formalizing the participation of foreign combatants and directing veterans with valued skills and battle experience to areas Ukraine most needs them.

...

https://www.wsj.com/articles/ukraines-new-foreign-legion-takes-the-fight-to-russian-forces-11647083295?st=q695xi0ab0raksb&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

[size=11pt]The Economist[/size]

What will Ukraine’s legion of foreign fighters mean for the war?

According to the government tens of thousands of people from 52 countries have volunteered

It’s like a firefighter hearing an alarm. I had to go.” That is how one Canadian explained his urge to take up arms against Russia’s invading forces in Ukraine. Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, said on March 3rd that 16,000 people from around the world had already volunteered to join the International Legion, his newly announced branch of the army. That number includes many people from Ukraine’s post-communist neighbours, as well as 3,000 Americans. Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said that volunteers have signed up from 52 countries. Despite the reluctance of Western governments to join in combat, it seems likely that their citizens will do so. But how big will their role be, and how might they affect the war?

...

Ukraine is not short of troops: its army boasted 250,000 soldiers before the war and a mobilisation of conscripts under martial law obliges every man to serve if called. But it has relied on unconventional recruits before. Since 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea and backed separatists in the Donbas region, non-government battalions of volunteers, and now the Territorial Defence, have stepped up to defend Ukraine. The symbolic value of a foreign presence within the army is obvious: words of solidarity and weapons from abroad are good for soldiers’ morale. The sight of gun-toting foreigners alongside them in battle is even better.

...

It is too soon to know precisely what Ukraine’s foreign legion will do, or how much the language barrier or a lack of local knowledge may hold them back. Many will bring useful skills that the armed forces may otherwise have lacked. The gur, Ukraine’s intelligence service, has already set up a special foreign unit in Kyiv. But if recruits keep flowing, they have the potential to turn the conflict into a strange kind of world war, with Russian and Western troops shooting at each other with nary a declaration of war from any government.

...

https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2022/03/11/what-will-ukraines-legion-of-foreign-fighters-mean-for-the-war

The Guardian   (Free website but please donate.... excerpt below)

‘My plan is there is no plan’: the foreign fighters flocking to Ukraine

Thousands of people from around the world have joined the war effort, unsure when or if they will return home

Igor Gavrylko was at his home in west London when the Russian bombs began to fall on Ukraine. A British citizen originally from Ukraine, he had lived in the UK since 1996, working most recently for Nissan as a forecourt salesperson. He rang his boss. “I knew a Russian invasion was going to happen,” he said. “My Ukrainian grandfather fought against the Red Army and the Nazis in world war two. Now it’s my turn to help.”

Gavrylko set off by car from Ealing and drove across Europe. By the time he arrived in Ukraine his elderly parents had already had a narrow escape. Russian missiles had destroyed the airport in their home town of Ivano-Frankivsk. “My city was bombarded,” he said. Gavrylko arranged for his mother, sister and four-year-old niece to escape to Poland. His 74-year-old father, Bogdan, refused to leave.

Igor Gavrylko was at his home in west London when the Russian bombs began to fall on Ukraine. A British citizen originally from Ukraine, he had lived in the UK since 1996, working most recently for Nissan as a forecourt salesperson. He rang his boss. “I knew a Russian invasion was going to happen,” he said. “My Ukrainian grandfather fought against the Red Army and the Nazis in world war two. Now it’s my turn to help.”

Gavrylko set off by car from Ealing and drove across Europe. By the time he arrived in Ukraine his elderly parents had already had a narrow escape. Russian missiles had destroyed the airport in their home town of Ivano-Frankivsk. “My city was bombarded,” he said. Gavrylko arranged for his mother, sister and four-year-old niece to escape to Poland. His 74-year-old father, Bogdan, refused to leave.

Now based in the western city of Lviv, Gavrylko is one of thousands of volunteers from around the world who have come to Ukraine to defend the country from Russian attack. Some have Ukrainian roots. Others are military veterans with no family ties who have decided to fight with Ukraine’s army. According to Gavrylko, “several hundred” Britons have already arrived, including Ben Grant, the son of a Tory MP.

...

Collectively, these recruits amount to the most significant international brigade since the Spanish civil war, when volunteers including leftwing intellectuals fought in communist-organised military units between 1936 and 1938 in support of Spain’s popular front government. Gavrylko said he was aware of these historical echoes. Ukraine, in his view, was now fighting Vladimir Putin and a 21st-century version of fascism.

...

All volunteers sign a contract with Kyiv’s pro-western government. They are then assigned to training groups where their professional experience is evaluated. Gavrylko said he was learning combat first aid. He also worked as an interpreter. “My plan is there is no plan,” he said. Would he willing to fight and die for his native country? “Yes. My grandfather spent 10 years in a Soviet camp in Kazakhstan.”

...

According to Reuters, dozens of former soldiers from the British army’s elite Parachute Regiment have reached Ukraine. Hundreds more will soon follow, one ex-soldier predicted. “They’re all highly, highly trained and have seen active service on numerous occasions,” the ex-soldier said. The Ukraine crisis would give them purpose, camaraderie and “a chance to do what they’re good at: fight.”

...

The Guardian’s request to interview foreign fighters at one of their training bases outside Lviv was turned down. A message from the local commander read: “It’s impossible now.” Understandably the locations are a military secret. Ukraine’s defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, says more than 66,000 Ukrainians have returned home from abroad to fight – the equivalent of 12 brigades.

...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/11/ukraine-russia-war-foreign-fighters-volunteers

Forgive me if I briefly put a song at the bottom from the legendary Irish singer Christy Moore about the International Brigade in Spain:

[Badger]

So it looks like rumors of a supposed Ukrainian counterattack to liberate Mariupol were just propaganda and not true. 

 Citation?

[Storr]

Updated list of Russian high ranking officer casualties, now with a second page. Yesterday alone the Russians lost a major general, a major, and three captains. In just the past three days, the Russians have had 10 high ranking officers killed in action.

https://twitter.com/4ukraine834614/status/1502804855471185925?s=20&t=Lu6FIHX...

[Middle-aged Europe]

Updated list of Russian high ranking officer casualties, now with a second page. Yesterday alone the Russians lost a major general, a major, and three captains. In just the past three days, the Russians have had 10 high ranking officers killed in action.

https://twitter.com/4ukraine834614/status/1502804855471185925?s=20&t=Lu6FIHX...

This is what makes the special operation so special.

[NOVA Green]

More Biographical detail about the Mayor of Melitopol who has not been seen since his kidnapping by masked Russian gunmen from City Hall on Friday, from the NYT a couple hours ago.

Ivan Fyodorov, the mayor of Melitopol, is an ethnic Russian in a southern Ukrainian city where Russian is commonly spoken and where cultural and familial ties to the motherland run deep.

That would seem to make him just the kind of person to welcome conquering Russian soldiers with open arms and flowers.

Instead, he labeled them “occupiers.”

On Friday evening, those Russian soldiers threw a bag over Mr. Fyodorov’s head and dragged him from his government office, Ukrainian officials said. He has not been seen since.

Security camera footage from Melitopol’s Victory Square appears to show someone being escorted out of a government building by soldiers, but The New York Times could not verify the identity of the people in the video.

Since the Russian invasion on Feb. 24, the mayor, 33, lanky, fit and photogenic, had posted brief live broadcasts almost daily on social media to update Melitopol residents on the situation in the city — which lies just north of Crimea, the peninsula that Russia annexed in 2014.

He told residents where to buy milk and medicine, published updated lists of what pharmacies or A.T.M.s were operating and warned repeatedly that looters would be identified and punished.

Born in Melitopol, a city of just over 150,000 people, Mr. Fyodorov holds degrees in economics and management. He served on the city council for five years, from 2010 to 2015, and held various posts including deputy mayor, before being elected mayor in December 2020.

In the United Nations Security Council, Ukraine’s ambassador also asked the Russians to release him. Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky said he had raised the fate of the mayor in calls with the leaders of Germany and France.

“They have switched to a new stage of terror, when they are trying to physically eliminate representatives of the legitimate local Ukrainian authorities,” he said.

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/03/12/world/ukraine-russia-war/the-ukrainian-mayor-who-labeled-russian-soldiers-occupiers-has-not-been-seen-since-friday

[It’s so Joever]

Unfortunately I have not seen anything corroborating the earlier speculations about Volnovakha being recovered and/or Mariupol being reconnected back to the rest of the country. In fact, ISW asserts the most significant change in the area was Russian forces making minimal gains in Eastern Mariupol (but obviously not taking the whole city)

[Frodo]

Putin tried to create a homegrown tech industry. His failure could be key to a Russian defeat, experts say

Kamil Galeev, a Russian historian, journalist and former Wilson Center fellow argued on Twitter and in a recent interview with economist Brad DeLong that a central failure of Russia’s sanction-proofing strategy was its effort at fostering domestic technological innovation.

Following Russia’s first invasion of Ukraine in 2014 and the subsequent imposition of Western sanctions, Russian officials worked to inoculate their economy from such embargoes, first and foremost by a policy of “import substitution” or the fostering of domestic industry to produce products that avoid supply chains in the U.S. and Europe.

Galeev argues that the authoritarian nature of the Putin regime, which he and western diplomats say operates similarly to an organized crime syndicate, means it is unable to foster industries that require technical sophistication. He notes that President Putin cheered the decline in the value of the ruble following Russia’s 2014 invasion of Ukraine, because it made Russian oil cheaper on the global market and boosted ruble-denominated revenues.

What Putin appeared to ignore, Galeev said, was the damage this did to Russia’s domestic manufacturing base, which relies on imports of Western technology to produce the machines that both enable resource extraction and the construction of military equipment.

Though the Putin regime has pressured local governments and manufacturing firms to develop domestic technologies as substitutes, this “import substitution is 95% PR,” Galeev wrote.

Galeev’s theory is that a “mafia state” like Russia is unable to foster complex domestic manufacturing industries because such states select officials not for technical competence, but for the ability to inspire fear in opponents and for their loyalty to the leader.

[Storr]

Big if true, take with a large quantity of salt:

https://twitter.com/EuromaidanPress/status/1502806708044849156?s=20&t=O9RGac...

[NOVA Green]

Putin tried to create a homegrown tech industry. His failure could be key to a Russian defeat, experts say

Kamil Galeev, a Russian historian, journalist and former Wilson Center fellow argued on Twitter and in a recent interview with economist Brad DeLong that a central failure of Russia’s sanction-proofing strategy was its effort at fostering domestic technological innovation.

Following Russia’s first invasion of Ukraine in 2014 and the subsequent imposition of Western sanctions, Russian officials worked to inoculate their economy from such embargoes, first and foremost by a policy of “import substitution” or the fostering of domestic industry to produce products that avoid supply chains in the U.S. and Europe.

Galeev argues that the authoritarian nature of the Putin regime, which he and western diplomats say operates similarly to an organized crime syndicate, means it is unable to foster industries that require technical sophistication. He notes that President Putin cheered the decline in the value of the ruble following Russia’s 2014 invasion of Ukraine, because it made Russian oil cheaper on the global market and boosted ruble-denominated revenues.

What Putin appeared to ignore, Galeev said, was the damage this did to Russia’s domestic manufacturing base, which relies on imports of Western technology to produce the machines that both enable resource extraction and the construction of military equipment.

Though the Putin regime has pressured local governments and manufacturing firms to develop domestic technologies as substitutes, this “import substitution is 95% PR,” Galeev wrote.

Galeev’s theory is that a “mafia state” like Russia is unable to foster complex domestic manufacturing industries because such states select officials not for technical competence, but for the ability to inspire fear in opponents and for their loyalty to the leader.

Good read and thanks for sharing!

Still, Russia doesn't really have any "Fabs" to speak of and therefore doesn't have any real semi-conductor industry.

Sure, they might be able to get supplies of certain (Lower Quality) electronic chips from China, but anything touching military hardware and technology transfers will cause massive economic pains for any Chinese Fabs involved in crossing sanction restrictions.

Import-Substitution will not work for Russia under the current sanctions regime.

Last time I checked there are only (3) Fabs in Russia itself which are aging and have already faced sanctions since the '14 Occupation of Ukraine:

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

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

Here are just a few articles about Russia and Computer Chips within the context of the current Russian Invasion / Occupation of Ukraine.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/ukraine-wars-impact-on-manufacturers-is-foggy-11646162937

https://www.investmentmonitor.ai/special-focus/ukraine-crisis/taiwan-semiconductor-ban-russia-catastrophe

https://fortune.com/2022/02/25/biden-ban-chip-semiconductors-exports-russia-ukraine/

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/08/technology/chinese-companies-russia-semiconductors.html