Russia-Ukraine war and related tensions Megathread

[Hindsight was 2020]

Wish we could really swear so I could say what I really want to about Mike Johnson and the GOP for causing this 🤬

[gerritcole]

https://twitter.com/KyivPost/status/1755227553244049834

Probably because very few people who are not prisoners forced to are actually Russian. When they run out of their slave populations east of the urals and have to start digging in solely to “Russian” men that number will crater fast. Russia is doing its best to get to that point by spending men like a drunk person in Vegas.

This is part of it, and so is the fact that this is a dictatorship with a controlled information ecosystem, but also, there are genuinely remarkably unsavory attitudes in Russia towards neighboring countries and towards Russia's own past, just as there are, say, remarkably unsavory attitudes in India towards religious minorities and women, or in the United States towards anything that increases the price of gasoline. Sometimes aspects of a country's culture are just bad, and are so deeply ingrained that even direct negative experience doesn't necessarily make people from that country abandon them.

Remarkably bigoted and ignorant post, especially for a mod. Are you seriously comparing issues towards women/religious minorities/wars of conquest towards gas prices? Why don't you use the litany of issues american whites have caused such as slavery/genocide of natives/etc???

Now onto russia, this alleged acceptance of conquest of other nations. Why do you trust this polling? Which nation has accepted the 'western' liberal version of its history? You believe all this because it suits your biases i bet. You've fallen again for the cold war rhetoric.

Onto india, are there systemic issues towards women ranging from infanticide to child marriage etc, yes! But are there not such issues in america? Why does america struggle to push women into STEM fields while russia/india/china do not? When you say religious minorities, do you mean jains or parsis or sikhs or buddhits? No you mean muslims of course, please point to systemic oppression of indian muslims? Where else hundreds of millions of people get a seperate civil code because of relgion, how about pakistan, where are their relgiious minorities.

you truly must expand your world view beyond typical boston brahmin white liberal saviour complex

[jaichind]

UK info on the Russian use of its Tsirkon hypersonic missile

[Hindsight was 2020]

https://twitter.com/KyivPost/status/1755227553244049834

Probably because very few people who are not prisoners forced to are actually Russian. When they run out of their slave populations east of the urals and have to start digging in solely to “Russian” men that number will crater fast. Russia is doing its best to get to that point by spending men like a drunk person in Vegas.

This is part of it, and so is the fact that this is a dictatorship with a controlled information ecosystem, but also, there are genuinely remarkably unsavory attitudes in Russia towards neighboring countries and towards Russia's own past, just as there are, say, remarkably unsavory attitudes in India towards religious minorities and women, or in the United States towards anything that increases the price of gasoline. Sometimes aspects of a country's culture are just bad, and are so deeply ingrained that even direct negative experience doesn't necessarily make people from that country abandon them.

Remarkably bigoted and ignorant post, especially for a mod. Are you seriously comparing issues towards women/religious minorities/wars of conquest towards gas prices? Why don't you use the litany of issues american whites have caused such as slavery/genocide of natives/etc???

Now onto russia, this alleged acceptance of conquest of other nations. Why do you trust this polling? Which nation has accepted the 'western' liberal version of its history? You believe all this because it suits your biases i bet. You've fallen again for the cold war rhetoric.

Onto india, are there systemic issues towards women ranging from infanticide to child marriage etc, yes! But are there not such issues in america? Why does america struggle to push women into STEM fields while russia/india/china do not? When you say religious minorities, do you mean jains or parsis or sikhs or buddhits? No you mean muslims of course, please point to systemic oppression of indian muslims? Where else hundreds of millions of people get a seperate civil code because of relgion, how about pakistan, where are their relgiious minorities.

you truly must expand your world view beyond typical boston brahmin white liberal saviour complex

You’re in a thread on a war of conquest Russia is waging on a neighboring country with little to any domestic backlash and you’re asking for proof of Russians having an imperialist attitude towards it’s neighbors?

[gerritcole]

https://twitter.com/KyivPost/status/1755227553244049834

Probably because very few people who are not prisoners forced to are actually Russian. When they run out of their slave populations east of the urals and have to start digging in solely to “Russian” men that number will crater fast. Russia is doing its best to get to that point by spending men like a drunk person in Vegas.

This is part of it, and so is the fact that this is a dictatorship with a controlled information ecosystem, but also, there are genuinely remarkably unsavory attitudes in Russia towards neighboring countries and towards Russia's own past, just as there are, say, remarkably unsavory attitudes in India towards religious minorities and women, or in the United States towards anything that increases the price of gasoline. Sometimes aspects of a country's culture are just bad, and are so deeply ingrained that even direct negative experience doesn't necessarily make people from that country abandon them.

Remarkably bigoted and ignorant post, especially for a mod. Are you seriously comparing issues towards women/religious minorities/wars of conquest towards gas prices? Why don't you use the litany of issues american whites have caused such as slavery/genocide of natives/etc???

Now onto russia, this alleged acceptance of conquest of other nations. Why do you trust this polling? Which nation has accepted the 'western' liberal version of its history? You believe all this because it suits your biases i bet. You've fallen again for the cold war rhetoric.

Onto india, are there systemic issues towards women ranging from infanticide to child marriage etc, yes! But are there not such issues in america? Why does america struggle to push women into STEM fields while russia/india/china do not? When you say religious minorities, do you mean jains or parsis or sikhs or buddhits? No you mean muslims of course, please point to systemic oppression of indian muslims? Where else hundreds of millions of people get a seperate civil code because of relgion, how about pakistan, where are their relgiious minorities.

you truly must expand your world view beyond typical boston brahmin white liberal saviour complex

You’re in a thread on a war of conquest Russia is waging on a neighboring country with little to any domestic backlash and you’re asking for proof of Russians having an imperialist attitude towards it’s neighbors?

im asking for proof that a majority of the russian populace supports the invasion having known all appropriate facts (so not counting those who believe the ukraine is nazi trope or some other bullsh**t), the war was not started by people, it was imposed from above

[Hindsight was 2020]

https://twitter.com/KyivPost/status/1755227553244049834

Probably because very few people who are not prisoners forced to are actually Russian. When they run out of their slave populations east of the urals and have to start digging in solely to “Russian” men that number will crater fast. Russia is doing its best to get to that point by spending men like a drunk person in Vegas.

This is part of it, and so is the fact that this is a dictatorship with a controlled information ecosystem, but also, there are genuinely remarkably unsavory attitudes in Russia towards neighboring countries and towards Russia's own past, just as there are, say, remarkably unsavory attitudes in India towards religious minorities and women, or in the United States towards anything that increases the price of gasoline. Sometimes aspects of a country's culture are just bad, and are so deeply ingrained that even direct negative experience doesn't necessarily make people from that country abandon them.

Remarkably bigoted and ignorant post, especially for a mod. Are you seriously comparing issues towards women/religious minorities/wars of conquest towards gas prices? Why don't you use the litany of issues american whites have caused such as slavery/genocide of natives/etc???

Now onto russia, this alleged acceptance of conquest of other nations. Why do you trust this polling? Which nation has accepted the 'western' liberal version of its history? You believe all this because it suits your biases i bet. You've fallen again for the cold war rhetoric.

Onto india, are there systemic issues towards women ranging from infanticide to child marriage etc, yes! But are there not such issues in america? Why does america struggle to push women into STEM fields while russia/india/china do not? When you say religious minorities, do you mean jains or parsis or sikhs or buddhits? No you mean muslims of course, please point to systemic oppression of indian muslims? Where else hundreds of millions of people get a seperate civil code because of relgion, how about pakistan, where are their relgiious minorities.

you truly must expand your world view beyond typical boston brahmin white liberal saviour complex

You’re in a thread on a war of conquest Russia is waging on a neighboring country with little to any domestic backlash and you’re asking for proof of Russians having an imperialist attitude towards it’s neighbors?

im asking for proof that a majority of the russian populace supports the invasion having known all appropriate facts (so not counting those who believe the ukraine is nazi trope or some other bullsh**t), the war was not started by people, it was imposed from above

Again “little to no domestic backlash” and it’s not like mass protests is a foreign concept to Russians. Also so far Putin’s harshest domestic critics (including Navalny) are in the “he’s not waging the war harsh enough” camp

[gerritcole]

https://twitter.com/KyivPost/status/1755227553244049834

Probably because very few people who are not prisoners forced to are actually Russian. When they run out of their slave populations east of the urals and have to start digging in solely to “Russian” men that number will crater fast. Russia is doing its best to get to that point by spending men like a drunk person in Vegas.

This is part of it, and so is the fact that this is a dictatorship with a controlled information ecosystem, but also, there are genuinely remarkably unsavory attitudes in Russia towards neighboring countries and towards Russia's own past, just as there are, say, remarkably unsavory attitudes in India towards religious minorities and women, or in the United States towards anything that increases the price of gasoline. Sometimes aspects of a country's culture are just bad, and are so deeply ingrained that even direct negative experience doesn't necessarily make people from that country abandon them.

Remarkably bigoted and ignorant post, especially for a mod. Are you seriously comparing issues towards women/religious minorities/wars of conquest towards gas prices? Why don't you use the litany of issues american whites have caused such as slavery/genocide of natives/etc???

Now onto russia, this alleged acceptance of conquest of other nations. Why do you trust this polling? Which nation has accepted the 'western' liberal version of its history? You believe all this because it suits your biases i bet. You've fallen again for the cold war rhetoric.

Onto india, are there systemic issues towards women ranging from infanticide to child marriage etc, yes! But are there not such issues in america? Why does america struggle to push women into STEM fields while russia/india/china do not? When you say religious minorities, do you mean jains or parsis or sikhs or buddhits? No you mean muslims of course, please point to systemic oppression of indian muslims? Where else hundreds of millions of people get a seperate civil code because of relgion, how about pakistan, where are their relgiious minorities.

you truly must expand your world view beyond typical boston brahmin white liberal saviour complex

You’re in a thread on a war of conquest Russia is waging on a neighboring country with little to any domestic backlash and you’re asking for proof of Russians having an imperialist attitude towards it’s neighbors?

im asking for proof that a majority of the russian populace supports the invasion having known all appropriate facts (so not counting those who believe the ukraine is nazi trope or some other bullsh**t), the war was not started by people, it was imposed from above

Again “little to no domestic backlash” and so far Putin’s harshest critics (including Navalny) are in the “he’s not waging the war harsh enough” camp

Navalny is one opposition leader, one more popular in the west than in Russia. There have been protests, not large scale yes but Russia is a dictatorship where there are heavy consequences for such actions and so ordinary Russians much like people everywhere put their heads down and go to work

[Landslide Lyndon]

Navalny is one opposition leader, one more popular in the west than in Russia. There have been protests, not large scale yes but Russia is a dictatorship where there are heavy consequences for such actions and so ordinary Russians much like people everywhere put their heads down and go to work

https://news.yahoo.com/poll-77-russians-support-war-122127034.html

A poll released on Feb. 6 by the Russian independent polling organization, The Levada Center, found that 77% of Russians support the full-scale war against Ukraine, with only 16% of respondents saying they were opposed to the war.

The figures have stayed remarkably consistent throughout the war, polling data has shown. A poll released in November 2023 found that 75% of respondents supported the war.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

https://twitter.com/KyivPost/status/1755227553244049834

Probably because very few people who are not prisoners forced to are actually Russian. When they run out of their slave populations east of the urals and have to start digging in solely to “Russian” men that number will crater fast. Russia is doing its best to get to that point by spending men like a drunk person in Vegas.

This is part of it, and so is the fact that this is a dictatorship with a controlled information ecosystem, but also, there are genuinely remarkably unsavory attitudes in Russia towards neighboring countries and towards Russia's own past, just as there are, say, remarkably unsavory attitudes in India towards religious minorities and women, or in the United States towards anything that increases the price of gasoline. Sometimes aspects of a country's culture are just bad, and are so deeply ingrained that even direct negative experience doesn't necessarily make people from that country abandon them.

Remarkably bigoted and ignorant post, especially for a mod. Are you seriously comparing issues towards women/religious minorities/wars of conquest towards gas prices? Why don't you use the litany of issues american whites have caused such as slavery/genocide of natives/etc???

Now onto russia, this alleged acceptance of conquest of other nations. Why do you trust this polling? Which nation has accepted the 'western' liberal version of its history? You believe all this because it suits your biases i bet. You've fallen again for the cold war rhetoric.

Onto india, are there systemic issues towards women ranging from infanticide to child marriage etc, yes! But are there not such issues in america? Why does america struggle to push women into STEM fields while russia/india/china do not? When you say religious minorities, do you mean jains or parsis or sikhs or buddhits? No you mean muslims of course, please point to systemic oppression of indian muslims? Where else hundreds of millions of people get a seperate civil code because of relgion, how about pakistan, where are their relgiious minorities.

you truly must expand your world view beyond typical boston brahmin white liberal saviour complex

I'm serious about the gas prices thing. It's quite literally cooking the planet. I deliberately avoided "gimme" examples, especially because I am talking about attitudes, not policies.

I don't think I'm accusing anyone of anything uniquely awful here, I really don't. All countries have their problems.

[jaichind]

Pro-Russian sources say that the small mini pocket in  Southern Avdivka which is an old air defence base has fallen

[Omega21]

Due to several AFU lines collapsing in quick succession (Geoconfirmed footage), media is now reporting that the AFU has started evacuating.

The southern dirt roads do not allow for heavy equipment to be pulled out, but infantry & lighter vehicles have somewhat of a chance.

The most pressing question is how many AFU soldiers are left in the boiler & how well they can avoid being hit by the Russians on their way out.

This is a very challenging task as Russia has been dropping upwards of 50+ air launched 500-1500 kg glide bombs daily on the city. (Geoconfirmed by pro-UA Perpetua)

The Ukrainian commanders need to play this perfectly, otherwise they are risking very significant numbers of their best & most hardened troops falling into captivity, or even worse, being KIA while evacuating.

https://twitter.com/JulianRoepcke/status/1758182433810162062

[Storr]

"Admiral Viktor Sokolov has reportedly been removed from his command of the Russian Black Sea Fleet-- one day after yet another Russian ship was hit and damaged/sunk by Ukraine."

https://twitter.com/Mike_Eckel/status/1758095828743250240?s=20

[Storr]

""Out of 4,000 people, a brigade, 30% remain".

Russian soldiers film the battlefield just east of Krasnohorivka, to the northeast of Avdiivka.

"Corpses everywhere. They're all ours."
"There's war, but this... it was a meatgrinder here."

Show this video to anyone who thinks russia is winning something. For every meter of Ukrainian land they take, they pay an unreasonable price. And it's waiting for them everywhere in Ukraine."

Video [dead bodies warning]: https://x.com/wartranslated/status/1757919262889685150?s=20

[Woody]

Pro-Russian sources say that the small mini pocket in  Southern Avdivka which is an old air defence base has fallen
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GGZI0zwXcAARDpz?format=jpg&name=small

https://twitter.com/warvehicle/status/1758178870451208403?s=46&t=atIpeQGVIha...

[Storr]

"According to RU channels UA withdrew from the Filtration Plant in the east and Zenith in the south. This is good news, since avoiding an encirclement should be a priority at this point. It seems the coke plant and Kvartal high-rises are the current UA strongholds.

RU forces continue to try to fully encircle Avdiivka pushing mainly from 3 directions.
It remains to be seen if Ukraine are planning to withdraw from the east side of the city, but I think it's a pretty good idea to do so.

UA might chose to fight for the coke plant and Kvartal for a bit, but the gap for the gloc is only 3km and consists of 2 windbreaks.

I'm guessing the northern RU effort is mostly infantry, so I think their "fire control" of the UA gloc is pretty weak. Ukraine might chose to fight for Kvartal and/or the Coke plant for a bit longer. Denying RU full capture of the city is probably of political interest."

https://twitter.com/DefMon3/status/1758202205713076521?s=20

[Hindsight was 2020]

The defenders did an amazing job and some on the ground reports indicate Syrskyi is not making the same mistakes he did in the Bakhmut withdrawal. Very bittersweet but live to fight another day UA 🫡

[BG-NY]

Ukraine should use biological/chemical weapons against Russia, imo.

[Landslide Lyndon]

Imagine if there was a Mexican-American war and the Americans celebrated the capture of Ciudad Juarez after eight years of fighting and huge losses.

[jaichind]

Imagine if there was a Mexican-American war and the Americans celebrated the capture of Ciudad Juarez after eight years of fighting and huge losses.

Given that Russia and Ukraine were both part of the USSR and Ukraine was a hub of the military-industrial complex of the USSR a better example would be some hypothetical War between SouthWest USA that became a separate state vs the rest of what remained of the USA.

[jaichind]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/15/rate-of-russian-military-production-worries-european-war-planners

"‘A lot higher than we expected’: Russian arms production worries Europe’s war planners"

As Ukraine has scrambled to source ammunition, arms and equipment for its defence, Russia has presided over a massive ramping up of industrial production over the last two years that has outstripped what many western defence planners expected when Vladimir Putin launched his invasion.

[Storr]

Ukraine should use biological/chemical weapons against Russia, imo.

Assuming this isn't trolling, which it probably is, the reason why countries party to interstate wars don't use chemical and biological weapons (even the Nazis didn't use them) is because once you use them, the other side will use them against you as well.

[BG-NY]

Ukraine should use biological/chemical weapons against Russia, imo.

Assuming this isn't trolling, which it probably is, the reason why countries party to interstate wars don't use chemical and biological weapons (even the Nazis didn't use them) is because once you use them, the other side will use them against you as well.

Not trolling. According to some people in this thread, Russia is already using chemical weapons. So why not do the same thing?

[bilaps]

Imagine if there was a Mexican-American war and the Americans celebrated the capture of Ciudad Juarez after eight years of fighting and huge losses.

Americans really don't have good track record in recent times in actually fighting the wars on the ground.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Imagine if there was a Mexican-American war and the Americans celebrated the capture of Ciudad Juarez after eight years of fighting and huge losses.

Americans really don't have good track record in recent times in actually fighting the wars on the ground.

America isn't well prepared for a peer-to-peer fight right now.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Scholz and Zelenskyy signed an "Agreement on security cooperation and long-term support" today:

https://www.bundesregierung.de/resource/blob/975228/2260158/d84fa168bdd3747913c4e8618bd196af/2024-02-16-ukraine-sicherheitsvereinbarung-eng-data.pdf?download=1

Germany also pledged a new arms package consisting of 36 additional Panzerhaubitze 2000 and RCH155 self-propelled howitzers (18 of each type), two additional Skynex air defense systems, as well as artillery ammunition and IRIS-T missiles.

https://apnews.com/article/germany-france-ukraine-zelenskyy-security-eefc83817062c5bb5d7a9e16a276aeaf