Russia - threadbanned users in OP

Surprisingly, at the moment, German news outlets like Spiegel aren't emphasising the consulate hit, it's all very general reporting.

Even if a direct attack on the embassy it's not an attack on Germany, few people may realise under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations 1961 that despite the various immunities and privileges that an embassy is still sovereign territory of what is known as the "receiving state" (Ukraine), not the "sending state" (Germany) under international law.

Possibly. Good question. Even so, it's likely that NATO would assess damage to the consulate to be accidental. There was a lot of chatter at the start of this invasion about what exactly would trigger A5 and the consensus seemed to be that a Russian missile overshooting Lviv and landing 2KM inside the Polish border probably wouldn't trigger WW3.

Not an attack on Germany, but surely it was intended as a message (presumably, the Kremlin knew the German embassy was once working out of that building and the missile was on target) to the Germans that their support for Ukraine has not gone unnoticed. The Kremlin seems drunk on its own firepower this morning, as if its back to winning ways...

How decent is the Polish military?

Probably better that NATO maintains a unified stance here, imo.

If the Belarus news is true then it demonstrates how truly desperate Putin and the Kremlin are. There's a reason why the Belarusian forces have not got involved for the last seven months, the war is deeply unpopular there and Lukashenko is only holding on by his fingernails. There's a good chance the armed forces could turn against him if they are ordered across the border.

Also one thing that has really impressed me about the Ukrainians is the level of planning and prep they have put in militarily. I have no doubts that they have planned extensively for this situation and I wouldn't like to be a Belarusian soldier going across the Ukrainian border.

If Poland were to join in, I wonder would they move into western Belarus or in behind Ukraine's northern border?

There was talk at one time of NATO troops moving into Ukraine in a sort of peacekeeping capacity. Could Polish forces unilaterally do the same?

Would russia not be better off using their rockets on ukraine military positions then civilians?

They aren't accurate enough and they don't have the intel. All they seem to be able to do is attack soft civilian targets.

Not if the goal is to terrorise the population, although the western reporters on the ground in Ukraine this morning have reported the overwhelming emotion is rage.

Master Strategist wins again.

And no doubt Vladimir Solovyov will make much of this on his show in the next few days. I'm not even sure he'll dress it up as legitimate targeting, but will instead call it just desserts and all that. He said over the weekend that it was "better to be feared than laughed at", which shows you what a mindset this man has - exactly the kind of language wife-beaters and rapists use...

Indeed. If the cap fits and all that...

If it looks like an evil, psychopathic, kleptomaniacal dictatorship, then maybe that's exactly what it is. Anyone with any illusions about Russia at this stage must have a malfunctioning moral compass.