I think many of us have met the "Irish Russians" and I can't say I was ever impressed by their attitudes. That goes for the many you will meet when on holidays also (we avoided them like the plague anytime we were unfortunate enough to have them close to us). They have the attitude that they are "superior to us". Back to the motherland with them all.
Russian saboteurs walking around Kyiv like,
Totally agree with this.
Have come across two in my line of work and they think they know the job better than us paddies despite been utterly clueless.
Russia deploys its troops to Ukraine, which are deployed in Georgia, CNN reports, citing a high-ranking US defense official.
One minute it's '.... Yah, the Russian civilian population need to suffer because they are all responsible for this..' Then it's, '... Yah, so I think we need to give the Russian soldiers, those actually attacking Ukraine, 10,000 euro each and an Irish passport.'
Apt time for Georgia to strike back and take back what was stolen from it. I believe there is only a few thousand Moskovites there, and after this, even less. This is going to plan for Putin.
On the other hand:
"Georgian volunteers led by the former Georgian Minister of Defense, Irakla Okruashvili, are defending Ukraine against the Russian invaders," reports the Ukrainian army.
Do the Azeri have any unfinished business with Armenia? Armenia is allied to Russia, and if Russia need to pull their peacekeeping forces out of there, that situation could flare up.
That's one of the big dangers of prolonging this invasion for Russia. By demoralising their army and their economy, they reduce their ability to keep a lid on things domestically and in the near abroad. Suddenly Russia could find itself with multiple fires to try and put out - protests in the cities, armed conflict in the Caucuses and revolutions in the Central Asian Republics. This is one scenario in which the folly of Ukraine puts the very survival of the Russian Federation in jeopardy.
Great if true, I'm hearing from there that it's not true, at least, it's not true yet.
They need to get about 10 to 20 thousand mercenaries from the middle east and Africa if they want to shore up their losses and hold back the Ukrainian forces. Plus Russia needed that amount yesterday. The longer they take getting reinforcements and thousands at that the more the Ukrainian army will kick Russia out of their land.
Lots of rumours flying that the French, Greeks and Turks are going to send an evacuation fleet to Mariupol.
Uzhhorod Airport, the as yet non-attacked (for good reason) airport in Ukraine where the Bayraktar TB2 is operated from:-
if the intel is correct and Russia attack it and there's a stray missile there is a huge risk they hit NATO territory.
There's another parallel too. The Soviets back then started to get more weapons, food(that was a biggie) and intel from the Allies.
One difference mind you, Stalin was a thunderous prick happy to sacrifice his nation's men and women in human wave tactics. He had decimated the Soviet's officer class out of paranoia, either "disappearing" them or promoting the Party faithful which left him in trouble at the start of it. He had conspired with Hitler to carve up Poland. He was in the same league as Hitler as a bastard.
In Classic French style, sailing in to the rescure when its too late. Just like Limerick 😂
Well if I was a Russian general I'd slip my phone into some rookies back pocket, put on my civvies and hitch a lift west!
Truly the inspiration for Zapp Branigan.
I think somehow that statement was misinterpreted or maybe came across in the wrong tone:
Ukrainian Foreign Minister:
Considering the TB2 has a maximum range of between 150-300km I don't see how that could be true: because there are no Russian forces within 300km of that airport.
It is in fact about 550-600km from the nearest Russian troops so it's also not great for launching other aircraft; so I can see why Russia might not have considered it a priority target even aside from its location.
It's the French support in arms supply and he just wants Germany to be pressured into staying quite and not running down aid proposals, sanctions etc.
Well it's not a rumour since Macron has confirmed it (https://www.politico.eu/article/macron-france-spearhead-exceptional-operation-evacuate-mariupol/):
French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday said France would spearhead an “exceptional humanitarian operation” alongside Turkey and Greece to evacuate the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, which has been under siege by Russian forces for three weeks.
The question of course is if Putin has agreed to this in principle or not. Honestly I think it's possible he would allow it: it would free up resources which would otherwise have to either hold Mariupol or "escort" Ukrainians into Russia.
I'm sure Putin will be happy his "special operation" has really weakened eastern Europe:
Wow.....very classy....a f#cking 4 year old...
Gotta keep those eastern Europeans out of Britannia y'know; otherwise why else did they vote for Brexit?
They have western anti tank weapons which they were giving for free and they have thousands of them. All they do is hide in the bushes or hide on roof. Tank or other military vehicle comes by and shoot at it and it destroys them. Very easy to do that with few men. It's harder driving around in a tank and look for targets which is why they are taking them out at will hide and attack and retreat. You do not need many men to do that once they got the free weapons which is why they are taking so many tanks out.
My understanding is that the Ukrainians haven't retaken Kherson as such, but are making significant advances in the city. But it is excellent news all the same and perhaps a sign of better things to come.
This is what I'm hearing as well. Drive on Ukraine.
Yes, it would be good if they held the bridge across the Dnieper
One difference mind you, Stalin was a thunderous prick happy to sacrifice his nation's men and women in human wave tactics
As opposed to....?
Anthony Beevor?
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