Quoting myself here but it looks possible they didn't just stop at the Oskil...
Agree on the first part.
As for the second part: most Russians couldn't care less. See Chechnya, Georgia, Syria, plenty of well documented war crimes...
The next few days / weeks will be fascinating. It's still a bit early to say but we could be looking at a Ceausescu type scenario.
There may be a reckoning for the Russian public at some point too - they will surely find out about all the war crimes their regime has committed in a neighbouring country (Mariupol etc). It would be near impossible for the Russian army to be defeated and this not become common knowledge.
At Pivdenny Buh direction Russian army shelled Novovoznesenske, Bila Krynytsa, Osokorivka, Velyke Artakove, Sukhiy Stavok, Kostromka, Partyzanske, Bezimenne, Blahodativka, Ivanivka, Zarichne, Bilohirka and Myrne, - General Staff of Armed Forces of Ukraine says in the morning report
Russian army conducted 18 missile strikes, 39 air strikes at civilian and military objects across Ukraine. Damage in over 30 settlements, among them: Kramatorsk, Kostiantynivka, Dnipro, Pavlohrad, Velykomykhailivka. Russian army conducted missile strike at Kharkiv Power Plant, - General Staff of Armed Forces of Ukraine says in the morning
Not sure about protection from "us"?? Maybe the shows + military chest beating like that (in Russia, China) serve a dual purpose.
There's a nationalism or patriotism (as they would see it) part which is obvious. I mean you see similar things in some Western/democratic countries esp. the US comes to mind with the huge public respect shown to the military there (and the love of flypasts by fighters etc. as sports events!). edit Though perhaps I am a bit unfair - that kind of spectacle has a very different character & feel to parades of troops & weapons - hence negative reactions in the US when Trump (afair?) wanted to stage such an event.
But also an internal warning - don't step out of line you!, don't even dare think about challenging the might of the state/leader (as displayed in regular giant parades of soldiers, govt. security goons in shiny uniforms, and polished-up military materiel in the capital).
Is it too late to get “Blyatskrieg” added to the new words of the year in the dictionary?
Maybe Putin is another demonstration of the Peter Principle: one gets promoted to one level beyond that which. is warranted by one's competence
What's happening with Putin is what happens to all dictators eventually. They surround themselves with yes men and women who become terrified of telling the truth about anything that puts the regime in a bad light. It's actually plausible that Putin believed he had a great army that could compete against the west much in the same way Saddam believed Iraq would be a graveyard for the west prior to the invasion there.
A move will have been prepared against him for some time the only question now is does it come within the next few days or weeks and where exactly it comes from.
Hard to believe only recently we had posters telling ukraine to forget about the lost territory it's now part of Russia and they are never going to give it back so surrender and negotiate because ukraine can't win against Russia.
Interesting thread on where the frontline might end up in Luhansk (purple line 5 below) if the Ukrainians are quick enough to cross the Oskil before the Russians manage to establish a strong line there. But also saying that if it did end up at Line 5, the Russians might as well concede all their original gains in the Oblast.
The difficulty for Russia defending the Oskil is that the closest troops are the retreating ones that will have abandoned most of their equipment. And the ones regressing from Northern Kharkiv have a longer road to travel and may not enough have time to get there if the Ukrainians are quick enough.
Yes absolutely.
In fairness to the Russians, those Victory Day celebrations are beautifully corographed and do portray a sense of power BUT as we know now, it's all talk and no trousers.
The West doesn't need to put on those shows because they are confident in their own abilities, technology and doctrine. It's now I've understood that those parades in Moscow and Beijing are not really for us in the West, but for the domestic audience, to show them the lie to them that the state or whoever is in power can protect them from 'us'.
At Kharkiv direction Russian army shelled Kostiantynivka, Udy, - General Staff of Armed Forces of Ukraine says in the morning report
Perhaps he’s just a stupid Cnut and you’re giving him too much credit about his intelligence.
Dick Cheney was a stupid journeyman too and he got to second in command and was a war monger as well.
It seems one has to be a certain level of stupid to have no empathy.
What constitutes a victory for Ukraine. It's up to them to decide of course. I can see them wanting Crimea to regain some access control over the sea of Azov or at least having a say over access in a final surrender settlement with Russia. What the locals actually want is hard to know.
Donetsk is heavily railed and will be a much more difficult nut to crack, given how long fortifications have been able to be built up there. Again do they want to take on the headache of the pseudo Russians there? I'd suggest a People's Republic for at least part of that Oblast to start with and then let them decide on their own fate. Again with Russia ceding to accept that and not lay any claim themselves. After all wasn't it the Russians that touted that idea in the first place.
Who do you see taking over?
That clip from Russian TV last night had one guy saying that Putin was under the deeply erroneous impression that the Russian army would be greeted as liberators in Ukraine, even in Kyiv.
They had become so immersed in their own state propaganda that they even began to believe it themselves,
I too married a redhead .... good luck.
Did Putin not take into account that the US was immune to his energy sanctions?
Did he not take into account the reaction of the former soviet bloc countries and Finland and Sweden?
Did he really not understand the Ukranian attitude to Russia?
I watched winter on fire back in 2016 and I knew then that Russians would never be welcome in Ukraine. The maidan revolution was more fierce and bloody than our Easter rising and war of independence combined. How could Putin have not known that Ukraine would resist fiercely I find it impossible to believe he could have not known that.
Some people think he is a genius. I recall Pat Kenny describe him on the radio one time as Hyper intelligent. After this debacle you’d have to question that narrative.
Maybe extremely intelligent at achieving and consolidating power but tone deaf at geo politics.
They can't even get that right; 'gives you good health and happiness'...
"Neanderthal DNA Linked To 12 Human Disorders, Including Depression" https://www.medicaldaily.com/neanderthal-dna-depression-anatomically-modern-humans-373318
Looks like Moscow and St Petersburg politicians (don’t forget where Putin rose to power from) are very worried about the mass mobilisation if Putin decides to double down and expand his “colonial” war to rebuild empire
In meantime I would not be surprised if Severodonetsk is captured in next few days
I was wondering if he was caught in his wingman's wake turbulence.
It also kind of refutes the "woke" = "weak" claims that Putin is so fond of. It must be a bit jarring to see the decadent and weak-minded west kicking the Russian army's ass without even setting foot on the battlefield.
Spike Milligan in his war memoirs said they came across a village in Tunisia called "MacDonald", where all the inhabitants had red hair...
smoke seems to be coming from the No1 engine I wonder did he lose his Left engine in a hard left turn and couldn't recover.
Lol at washing machines.
Should be a wake up call to the west, we won't be top dogs for long indulging in the global utopian nonsense we've been promulgating. Need to start thinking of hard nosed security and long term viability
Went too hard on the elevator and the ailerons for his speed perhaps. Or the surface controls were messed up maybe
Which reminds me, I must look to see if there are any Moscow-based glazing firms I can buy stock in. Then again, the sanctions would probably make it difficult.
All the washing machines in the fuselage slid to one side and unbalanced the thing.
Maintenance schedule going well then.
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