Russia-Ukraine war and related tensions Megathread

[Torie]

Well this is discouraging. The Russians per the NYT are closing in on Bakhmut.

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/09/17/world/ukraine-russia-war#russia-continues-attacking-in-ukraines-east-despite-recent-setbacks

I think I get Putin's end game and strategy. He wants to snatch everything where at least a substantial minority of the population do not, even now, hate what Putin is doing. It is rust belt places sort of like Youngstown Ohio on steroids where whatever remnants of the educated middle class are mostly long gone, and people remember the "good old days" of plants humming during the era of the Soviet empire.

I think Putin kind of gets it that absent massive ethnic cleansing he is not going to be able to hold places where he is hated.

That is my just my take winging it.

Well although Torie I certainly don't consider you to be a "doomer", the prospect is actually much better as the Ukrainian offense in Kharkiv Oblast looks to be likely making a major breakthrough.

Well considering that Lyman might be liberated from Russian Occupation perhaps as early as Tomorrow, looks like a relatively decent trade from the Ukrainian perspective.

https://twitter.com/Noel_dotsol/status/1571220843056795650?s=20&t=or58NEVZ_f...
https://twitter.com/Ukrainene/status/1571212454197170181?s=20&t=or58NEVZ_fOj...
https://twitter.com/PaladinoEU/status/1571242448726237185?s=20&t=or58NEVZ_fO...
https://twitter.com/PeterClifford1/status/1571250861547954176?s=20&t=or58NEV...
https://twitter.com/Ukrainene/status/1571213817207463945?s=20&t=or58NEVZ_fOj...

I guess the cliche through the lens of reading the NYT (I am a New Yawker now), is that it is darkest before the dawn. Ukraine retaking some real estate Putin grabbed and held in the Donbas in 2014-2015 might give him a coronary.

[Aurelius]

If Ukraine keeps gaining ground like this, it'd be cool to see them keep advancing into Rostov and Belgorod to hold those regions as leverage to force Russia to evacuate all areas internationally recognized as Ukraine and pay generous reparations.

Before the war I supported the status quo of Crimea having joined Russia, because was clear that the overwhelming majority of Crimeans supported this. But Russia doesn't get to lean on the conventions of international relations when they provide it an advantage and also ignore them whenever it feels like conquering a neighbor. Ukraine has every right to take it back - and if there's a successful postwar reconstruction, Crimean public opinion could very well change, especially as Russia continues to degenerate into an ever worse mafia state.

[Frodo]

https://twitter.com/mason4922/status/1570974809701650436

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

If Ukraine keeps gaining ground like this, it'd be cool to see them keep advancing into Rostov and Belgorod to hold those regions as leverage to force Russia to evacuate all areas internationally recognized as Ukraine and pay generous reparations.

Before the war I supported the status quo of Crimea having joined Russia, because was clear that the overwhelming majority of Crimeans supported this. But Russia doesn't get to lean on the conventions of international relations when they provide it an advantage and also ignore them whenever it feels like conquering a neighbor. Ukraine has every right to take it back - and if there's a successful postwar reconstruction, Crimean public opinion could very well change, especially as Russia continues to degenerate into an ever worse mafia state.

You reap what you sow.
They say possession is 9/10th of the law.

[Frodo]

This is so abhorrent. People in the West really need to keep their attention on that war and not get numb to it. UN apparently plans to send a team to verify claims.

https://twitter.com/dwnews/status/1570834558668398592

We're not:

https://twitter.com/CBSNews/status/1571238815980986368

[NOVA Green]

Well this is discouraging. The Russians per the NYT are closing in on Bakhmut.

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/09/17/world/ukraine-russia-war#russia-continues-attacking-in-ukraines-east-despite-recent-setbacks

I think I get Putin's end game and strategy. He wants to snatch everything where at least a substantial minority of the population do not, even now, hate what Putin is doing. It is rust belt places sort of like Youngstown Ohio on steroids where whatever remnants of the educated middle class are mostly long gone, and people remember the "good old days" of plants humming during the era of the Soviet empire.

I think Putin kind of gets it that absent massive ethnic cleansing he is not going to be able to hold places where he is hated.

That is my just my take winging it.

Well although Torie I certainly don't consider you to be a "doomer", the prospect is actually much better as the Ukrainian offense in Kharkiv Oblast looks to be likely making a major breakthrough.

Well considering that Lyman might be liberated from Russian Occupation perhaps as early as Tomorrow, looks like a relatively decent trade from the Ukrainian perspective.

https://twitter.com/Noel_dotsol/status/1571220843056795650?s=20&t=or58NEVZ_f...
https://twitter.com/Ukrainene/status/1571212454197170181?s=20&t=or58NEVZ_fOj...
https://twitter.com/PaladinoEU/status/1571242448726237185?s=20&t=or58NEVZ_fO...
https://twitter.com/PeterClifford1/status/1571250861547954176?s=20&t=or58NEV...
https://twitter.com/Ukrainene/status/1571213817207463945?s=20&t=or58NEVZ_fOj...

I guess the cliche through the lens of reading the NYT (I am a New Yawker now), is that it is darkest before the dawn. Ukraine retaking some real estate Putin grabbed and held in the Donbas in 2014-2015 might give him a coronary.

I was actually born in "Joisey" and my Father lived in most of the boroughs of NYC at various time of his youth, albeit with a bit of NW NJ and SW CT mixed in when he was an HS student.

Thought you and your hubbie (Dan?) had relocated to NJ not so long ago and moved out of the City?

But yes, looks like Ukraine is making decent advances, and as you posted earlier today there are quite a bit of complexities when it involves the whole concept of "ethnic Russian" and "ethnic Ukrainian" within the Donbass region.

[Hindsight was 2020]

It’s been 6 months since Russia started this war and after 50k+ dead, thousands of tanks and armored vehicles lost, hundreds of airplanes and helicopters lost, and the flash ship of the Black Sea fleet sunk this is the map:
https://mobile.twitter.com/War_Mapper/status/1570925918763483139

[Obama-Biden Democrat]

This is not the actions of a army that is prepared to stay for the long term in Ukraine.

https://twitter.com/motytchak/status/1571151180352622594

[Woody]

Crimea is most definitely lost along with Donbass in the future as after Bakhmut, the only major cities left are Slavyansk and Kramatorsk. Russia's defenses along Kherson are entrenched and they still supply the city (at the minimum Russian forces are going be here another half year with winter coming around). An offensive into Belgorod and Rostov are insane delusions. The only direction I see as vulnerable is the Zaporozhye direction, but that's a maybe.

Either way Russia is unfortunately going to take considerable amount of territory, now is the question of how much.

[Woody]

First instances of snowfall in UA. Supposedly in the Carpathian mountains:

https://twitter.com/EUFreeCitizen/status/1571428805830447104
https://twitter.com/hanse_mina/status/1571416222645866498

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

Finnish analysis of satellite imagery showing the dismantling of anti-aircraft systems around St. Petersburg: https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-12588962

4 of 14 sites have been completely dismantled; others partially emptied. This was reported to be happening in other areas (e.g. Siberia), but the authors claim the changes around St. Petersburg must have happened this summer.

Most of the defences removed are the older S-300 sites, which have not been replaced by newer S-400 or S-500 sites. The authors argue the older missiles are being removed without replacement to be used in ground attack mode.

The missiles aren’t said to be very effective when used this way, but the authors offer a pessimistic projection: if these older missiles are not used for air defence, then there may be enough of them to fire in ground attack mode for three years. This assumes they continue fired at the rate the Ukrainian General Staff say they are being fired at, which could change as other stocks of missiles decline.

[CumbrianLefty]

Crimea is most definitely lost along with Donbass in the future as after Bakhmut, the only major cities left are Slavyansk and Kramatorsk. Russia's defenses along Kherson are entrenched and they still supply the city (at the minimum Russian forces are going be here another half year with winter coming around). An offensive into Belgorod and Rostov are insane delusions. The only direction I see as vulnerable is the Zaporozhye direction, but that's a maybe.

Either way Russia is unfortunately going to take considerable amount of territory, now is the question of how much.

Apart from Crimea - which will indeed be hard for Ukraine to take back for all sorts of reasons - pretty much all of this is supposition.

Weren't you the poster who told us there was no Ukrainian offensive less than a fortnight ago?

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

What happens if Russia just starts firebombing Ukrainian cities to maximize the body count? Hopefully Russia is running out of missiles to do that. Putin is also unhappy with Ukraine blowing up stuff in Crimea. He does not like symmetrical wars.

The problem for the Russians is that these threats are going to lose some of their bite by the end of the year. Assuming there aren't any significant delays, Ukraine will have at least 2 NASAMS air defense systems, which can cover 150km each, within the next 2 months, and at least 2 IRIS-T air defense systems, which can cover roughly the same amount, if not more. 2023 will also see a rollout of even more systems as early as Spring.

Russia is going to find it very difficult to indiscriminately bomb critical infrastructure and major cities after that, assuming Ukraine places these systems strategically.

That NASAMS range is the range for the search radar's surveillance (and it's the range for NASAMS 3 - probably the system Ukraine is getting, but that's not certain). The intercept range for the longest-range missile NASAMS 3 can use is 50km and the altitude is 37.5km, although each radar will probably have 2-4 launchers assigned to it and these launchers may be distributed over a wide area. For NASAMS 2, this source claims each launcher could be used up to 25km away from the fire control centre.

NASAMS is not reported to have a dedicated anti-ballistic missile capability (it is primarily meant to deal with aircraft and secondarily with cruise missiles) and IRIS-T seems unlikely to, either. Like Ukraine's Buk-M1 and old S-300P/S systems, they can probably do this but to a limited extent.

Ukraine is a massive country and it would take years of production for new-build systems to cover it. Medium-range NASAMS and IRIS-T are unlikely to be as immediately impactful as HIMARS/M270 - what they are useful for is halting or reversing the attrition of pre-existing Ukrainian air defences, especially the medium-range ones. The Ukrainian air defence network, pre-war, was one of the most extensive in Europe (not counting the use of fighter jets as air defence, of course). Its S-300Vs will remain most useful for intercepting ballistic missiles.

I'd say the real problem for the Russians with this plan are:
- Russia has already targeted infrastructure before, giving Ukraine time to prepare for a new assault on it (portable generators etc.)
- Ukraine's energy needs have declined due to territory being occupied and heavy infrastructure (e.g. Azovstal) being bombed)
- 35% of Ukraine's energy apparently comes from nuclear power plants which are still in Ukrainian hands. These aren't likely to be targeted
- There are better targets for missiles (e.g. command posts, rail bridges over the Dnipro, fixed/towed/parked high-value air defence or MLRS), although these may be harder to hit

[Torie]

Well this is discouraging. The Russians per the NYT are closing in on Bakhmut.

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/09/17/world/ukraine-russia-war#russia-continues-attacking-in-ukraines-east-despite-recent-setbacks

I think I get Putin's end game and strategy. He wants to snatch everything where at least a substantial minority of the population do not, even now, hate what Putin is doing. It is rust belt places sort of like Youngstown Ohio on steroids where whatever remnants of the educated middle class are mostly long gone, and people remember the "good old days" of plants humming during the era of the Soviet empire.

I think Putin kind of gets it that absent massive ethnic cleansing he is not going to be able to hold places where he is hated.

That is my just my take winging it.

Well although Torie I certainly don't consider you to be a "doomer", the prospect is actually much better as the Ukrainian offense in Kharkiv Oblast looks to be likely making a major breakthrough.

Well considering that Lyman might be liberated from Russian Occupation perhaps as early as Tomorrow, looks like a relatively decent trade from the Ukrainian perspective.

https://twitter.com/Noel_dotsol/status/1571220843056795650?s=20&t=or58NEVZ_f...
https://twitter.com/Ukrainene/status/1571212454197170181?s=20&t=or58NEVZ_fOj...
https://twitter.com/PaladinoEU/status/1571242448726237185?s=20&t=or58NEVZ_fO...
https://twitter.com/PeterClifford1/status/1571250861547954176?s=20&t=or58NEV...
https://twitter.com/Ukrainene/status/1571213817207463945?s=20&t=or58NEVZ_fOj...

I guess the cliche through the lens of reading the NYT (I am a New Yawker now), is that it is darkest before the dawn. Ukraine retaking some real estate Putin grabbed and held in the Donbas in 2014-2015 might give him a coronary.

I was actually born in "Joisey" and my Father lived in most of the boroughs of NYC at various time of his youth, albeit with a bit of NW NJ and SW CT mixed in when he was an HS student.

Thought you and your hubbie (Dan?) had relocated to NJ not so long ago and moved out of the City?

But yes, looks like Ukraine is making decent advances, and as you posted earlier today there are quite a bit of complexities when it involves the whole concept of "ethnic Russian" and "ethnic Ukrainian" within the Donbass region.

1. In 2014, Dan and I moved from Laguna Niguel, CA to Hudson, NY in . Have you heard of Hudson, NY? 

2. In March of 2019, Dan and I bought a second home in Hoboken, NY about an 8 minute walk from the Path train that goes to Manhattan to 33rd St or to the WTC.

3. An evil and rapacious and most cunning developer (he looks like he is Putin's brother btw - seriously), wanted to make a change in the provisions of the Development Agreement governing his 9,100 square foot parking lot to build this hideous 100 foot high building 10 feet from out flat's kitchen window dwarfing the 70 foot height of the historic and architecturally significant Schoolhouse Building with its Richardsonian architecture (the wrought iron work and "bell tower" are incredible - we are housed in part of what was once a basketball court on the top floor), in lieu of the 50 feet height he was allowed.

So in early 2020, we changed our principal residence to Hoboken, registered to vote there, and I made "friends" with most of the council members, including gathering petition signatures with by far the smartest guy on the council with whom I bonded), and it was killed on a 5-4 vote, shocking "everyone" but about 4 people. One of the 4 yes votes in the 2021 election was replaced with a no vote (involving consuming a few beers at a local bar in the patio, Roby at my feet). About 3 months ago the finally mayor gave up, and the project is now dead until 2023 anyway. I plan to make as sure as I can that the new mayor that is elected in 2023 is a no vote. Dan and I spend about 70% of our time in Hoboken now.  We love it. And in addition to the pack's treks, we swim laps in the Jersey City pool just up the hill. My life depends now on doing consistent cardio, and I am still shy about using gyms with covid. I consider Hoboken to be New York. New Jersey is a silly concept anyway. Northern Jersey should be NY and southern Jersey from Sandy hook on south should be PA. The only thing even more silly is Delaware.

So that is the rest of the story. Oh yes, if I am mysteriously murdered on the streets, guess who will be one of the prime suspects? 

[Torie]

From the NYT re bullets flying in downtown Kherson:

"It was unclear who was involved in the fighting. Local Russian authorities spoke of a raid targeting Ukrainian guerrilla fighters. The Ukrainian military had no official statement, but officials suggested it was possibly factional fighting among those on Moscow’s side.
Mykhailo Podolyak, a top adviser to the Ukrainian president, said that the firefight was an "internal struggle" between Russians looking to “divide the loot” before they “flee.”

Internal struggle = "Firing in Kherson downtown is yet another manifestation of growing tension between PMC, Kadyrov’s militants, ru-military and FSB. Number of "domestic conflicts" is increasing. Parties divide the loot before their flee considering the news about Armed Forces of Ukraine approach."

Why can't we all just get along?

And from CCN: Russian forces are preparing retreat routes from the Kherson region, Ukraine’s military claimed in an update Saturday.

In today's update, a Ukrainian military spokesperson claimed Russians sunk nine railway cars to construct a crossing in the city of Kakhovka.

    "Due to the successful actions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to disable all crossings across the Dnipro River on the Kherson front, the occupiers are preparing their retreat routes,” Oleksandr Shtupun, spokesperson for the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said in a social media post.


I make no warranties as to the degree of the nexus between the above and reality. The gun fire in the video did seemed staged to me. It was too antiseptic.

[Person Man]

Well this is discouraging. The Russians per the NYT are closing in on Bakhmut.

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/09/17/world/ukraine-russia-war#russia-continues-attacking-in-ukraines-east-despite-recent-setbacks

I think I get Putin's end game and strategy. He wants to snatch everything where at least a substantial minority of the population do not, even now, hate what Putin is doing. It is rust belt places sort of like Youngstown Ohio on steroids where whatever remnants of the educated middle class are mostly long gone, and people remember the "good old days" of plants humming during the era of the Soviet empire.

I think Putin kind of gets it that absent massive ethnic cleansing he is not going to be able to hold places where he is hated.

That is my just my take winging it.

Well although Torie I certainly don't consider you to be a "doomer", the prospect is actually much better as the Ukrainian offense in Kharkiv Oblast looks to be likely making a major breakthrough.

Well considering that Lyman might be liberated from Russian Occupation perhaps as early as Tomorrow, looks like a relatively decent trade from the Ukrainian perspective.

https://twitter.com/Noel_dotsol/status/1571220843056795650?s=20&t=or58NEVZ_f...
https://twitter.com/Ukrainene/status/1571212454197170181?s=20&t=or58NEVZ_fOj...
https://twitter.com/PaladinoEU/status/1571242448726237185?s=20&t=or58NEVZ_fO...
https://twitter.com/PeterClifford1/status/1571250861547954176?s=20&t=or58NEV...
https://twitter.com/Ukrainene/status/1571213817207463945?s=20&t=or58NEVZ_fOj...

I guess the cliche through the lens of reading the NYT (I am a New Yawker now), is that it is darkest before the dawn. Ukraine retaking some real estate Putin grabbed and held in the Donbas in 2014-2015 might give him a coronary.

I was actually born in "Joisey" and my Father lived in most of the boroughs of NYC at various time of his youth, albeit with a bit of NW NJ and SW CT mixed in when he was an HS student.

Thought you and your hubbie (Dan?) had relocated to NJ not so long ago and moved out of the City?

But yes, looks like Ukraine is making decent advances, and as you posted earlier today there are quite a bit of complexities when it involves the whole concept of "ethnic Russian" and "ethnic Ukrainian" within the Donbass region.

1. In 2014, Dan and I moved from Laguna Niguel, CA to Hudson, NY in . Have you heard of Hudson, NY?  

2. In March of 2019, Dan and I bought a second home in Hoboken, NY about an 8 minute walk from the Path train that goes to Manhattan to 33rd St or to the WTC.

3. An evil and rapacious and most cunning developer (he looks like he is Putin's brother btw - seriously), wanted to make a change in the provisions of the Development Agreement governing his 9,100 square foot parking lot to build this hideous 100 foot high building 10 feet from out flat's kitchen window dwarfing the 70 foot height of the historic and architecturally significant Schoolhouse Building with its Richardsonian architecture (the wrought iron work and "bell tower" are incredible - we are housed in part of what was once a basketball court on the top floor), in lieu of the 50 feet height he was allowed.

So in early 2020, we changed our principal residence to Hoboken, registered to vote there, and I made "friends" with most of the council members, including gathering petition signatures with by far the smartest guy on the council with whom I bonded), and it was killed on a 5-4 vote, shocking "everyone" but about 4 people. One of the 4 yes votes in the 2021 election was replaced with a no vote (involving consuming a few beers at a local bar in the patio, Roby at my feet). About 3 months ago the finally mayor gave up, and the project is now dead until 2023 anyway. I plan to make as sure as I can that the new mayor that is elected in 2023 is a no vote. Dan and I spend about 70% of our time in Hoboken now.  We love it. And in addition to the pack's treks, we swim laps in the Jersey City pool just up the hill. My life depends now on doing consistent cardio, and I am still shy about using gyms with covid. I consider Hoboken to be New York. New Jersey is a silly concept anyway. Northern Jersey should be NY and southern Jersey from Sandy hook on south should be PA. The only thing even more silly is Delaware.

So that is the rest of the story. Oh yes, if I am mysteriously murdered on the streets, guess who will be one of the prime suspects?  

Lol neighbors. I had to deal with that growing up on Clearwater Beach and it was hard being my father’s child. He was eventually run out of town at the end of 2010 when he couldn’t afford the lawyers anymore. Long story short, he tried to triple the size of a 3 bedroom cottage on a single lot with his own contracting company named after me.  Don’t make enemies with the city hospital’s pharmacist.

[Person Man]

From the NYT re bullets flying in downtown Kherson:

"It was unclear who was involved in the fighting. Local Russian authorities spoke of a raid targeting Ukrainian guerrilla fighters. The Ukrainian military had no official statement, but officials suggested it was possibly factional fighting among those on Moscow’s side.
Mykhailo Podolyak, a top adviser to the Ukrainian president, said that the firefight was an "internal struggle" between Russians looking to “divide the loot” before they “flee.”

Internal struggle = "Firing in Kherson downtown is yet another manifestation of growing tension between PMC, Kadyrov’s militants, ru-military and FSB. Number of "domestic conflicts" is increasing. Parties divide the loot before their flee considering the news about Armed Forces of Ukraine approach."

Why can't we all just get along?

They’re Putin’s minions. We’re you expecting something else? Don’t.

[Mopsus]

Crimea is most definitely lost along with Donbass in the future as after Bakhmut, the only major cities left are Slavyansk and Kramatorsk. Russia's defenses along Kherson are entrenched and they still supply the city (at the minimum Russian forces are going be here another half year with winter coming around). An offensive into Belgorod and Rostov are insane delusions. The only direction I see as vulnerable is the Zaporozhye direction, but that's a maybe.

Either way Russia is unfortunately going to take considerable amount of territory, now is the question of how much.

Apart from Crimea - which will indeed be hard for Ukraine to take back for all sorts of reasons - pretty much all of this is supposition.

Weren't you the poster who told us there was no Ukrainian offensive less than a fortnight ago?

Yes, but, you see, he said it’s “unfortunate” that Russia will take a “considerable” amount of territory, therefore he’s on our side!

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

Ukrainian commanders are claiming Iranian suicide drones have been employed in numbers for just over week (with a test about a month ago) and are now a serious problem. Iran's drone industry is quite advanced relative to most of its military-industrial complex and American officials earlier claimed Russia was trying to buy hundreds of drones on an expedited timeline.

I would normally be a bit skeptical of this, but we saw visual evidence of their use after the capture of Kupyansk and Russia would have reason not to release footage of Iranian drones strikes (Iran might want to keep this on the down low and Russia might be embarrassed about effectively advertising another country's inventions). I will be watching this space.

It is Israel's prerogative to keep vetoing any re-export of Israeli-designed weapons, but if that goes on, European countries in particular should consider turning a blind eye when Russia upholds its end of the alleged deal by selling Iran new fighter aircraft.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

At least one of these has already been destroyed. https://www.twitter.com/UAWeapons/status/1571531776178245635

[Storr]

At least one of these has already been destroyed. https://www.twitter.com/UAWeapons/status/1571531776178245635

https://twitter.com/DarthPutinKGB/status/1571547726243938313?s=20&t=dplwh0lM...

[NOVA Green]

Article on the mysterious disappearance of the Russian Third Army Corps:

The Kremlin this summer scrambled to form a new army corps, seeking replacements for 80,000 troops injured or killed in Ukraine and 5,000 wrecked or captured vehicles.

The 3rd Army Corps on paper is a powerful force, with several brigades encompassing 10,000 troops in a dozen or more battalions equipped with hundreds of T-80 and T-90 tanks and other vehicles.

But it’s a hollow formation, staffed by old, unfit volunteers including drug and alcohol addicts. And when the 3rd AC’s vanguard rushed to northeastern Ukraine’s Kharkiv Oblast last week in a desperate bid to block a Ukrainian counteroffensive, the corps just ... melted away.

Fit or not, elements of the 3rd AC in late August deployed to Kharkiv Oblast where, a week later, a dozen Ukrainian brigades launched a powerful counteroffensive that, in a heavy five days, rolled Russian forces out of the oblast and back across the Russian border.

The 3rd AC was supposed to bolster Russian defenses around Kharkiv. It instead lost a few vehicles to Ukrainian attacks then joined the Russian retreat from the oblast, leaving behind tanks and BMP-2 and BTR-80 fighting vehicles. These vehicles were identifiable by their distinctive circle-inside-a-triangle insignia.

Worse, the manpower hole the 3rd AC was supposed to fill now is much deeper. The Kharkiv counteroffensive cost the Russian army hundreds of vehicles and potentially thousands of soldiers. Among the losses was a significant portion of the elite 1st Guards Tank Army.

Whatever the 3rd AC’s prospects for future mobilization, it certainly cannot replace the gap in the Russian order of battle resulting from the partial destruction of the 1st GTA.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2022/09/15/the-russians-spent-months-forming-a-new-army-corps-it-lasted-days-in-ukraine/?sh=45d4349c56e6

[Storr]

https://twitter.com/loogunda/status/1571520491097047043?s=20&t=eUlkiMWgdPrdX...

[NOVA Green]

Good thread from Mike Ryan...

Here's a grab from one of the tweets in the thread for anyone interested in taking a look, and a link to the complete html below that...

https://twitter.com/WarintheFuture/status/1571563747730198528?s=20&t=wk_r77o...

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1571563669783474177.html

[NOVA Green]

The EU's rush to the East clearly has created some long lasting structural problems, where authoritarian regimes such as Hungary are allowed to be full blown members, while more democratic countries such as Ukraine are likely a long time away from being granted access.

I'm assuming this is likely a result of Deutsche financial interests in the early days after the collapse of the Soviet bloc?


https://twitter.com/PhillipsPOBrien/status/1571566253738803209?s=20&t=wk_r77...