Have any of these strikes actually taken out any critical infrastructure? Any power plants? Any railway hubs? Any key bridges?
If all they have done is strike apartments and children's playgrounds with massive amounts of cruise missiles then this just becomes a ridiculously expensive act of terrorism with practically no strategic value (possibly even negative strategic value).
The Moscova had large quantities of anti-aircraft rockets and the Kerch bridge is a key supply route - both of those targets had strategic value.
This just seems like Putin is throwing red meat to the shrillest voices on Russian TV who have been begging for him to inflict pain on the Ukrainians.
This is not an act of strength - it's the desperate act of a weak man flailing about, trying desperately to regain some control of a situation that has already passed him by.
Russian military couldn't care less. In Russian culture a human is only seen as a number. And Ukrainian lives are seen as subhuman since the Russian military considers all former ussr States as part of the Russian former empire. And these are considered enemies of the empire and to be eliminated. The goal is if enough are eliminated and run off that Russian numbers be put in their stead and the empire trundles on.
The same people calling Medvedev a good guy are the same people calling Putin a good guy, absolutely nobody.
This was a childrens playground in Kyiv.
Name one person here who calls Medvedev a good guy.
No, you can't, can you...
That comment does indeed give a lot of insight into his mindset. As they say, women's greatest fear of men is being killed. Men's greatest fear of women is being laughed at. And if toxic masculinity really exists, these Russian man, with their insane vanity and fragile egos, really do embody it.
Dmitry ye tried in February to do that using "elite" soldiers. Ye couldn't do it.
Shouting it out on twitter probably won't get it done either. 😂
Calling for complete regime change in Ukraine is so 7 months ago. I bet Medvedev is still wearing skinny jeans.
It seems to me that for domestic reasons Putin had to make some sort of response to the bridge attack. If he went nuclear his world would crumble very quickly, so the missile attacks were his next option. It is a sign of his weakness rather than an escalation. He's a man who would love an off-ramp now but may not get one.
And to think some call Medvedev a good guy on here
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.
@Beta Ray Bill they signed an letter of request to buy 96 Apache E variants from the US
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...
Well trained
And they have just embarked upon a huge spending spree to modernize their armed forces in 2020 (But things have only increased since 2022 invasion)
They are on course to become the biggest ground force army in the EU.
They plan to buy:
32 x F35 (deliveries to start in 2024)
4 x Patriot Systems (another 6 on order I think) and they're developing their own shorter range system
24 x Bayraktar Drones
32 x Attack Helicopters (apache looks set to win the competition)
250 x ABRAMS Tanks (Sep V3)
116 x Used ABRAMS Tanks
247 x Leopard 2 tanks being modernized in house
There is also talk of K2 tanks being bought and assembled under license in Poland
122 x Modern Self Propelled Artillery (Howizter) - At present Poland has more Artillery pieces than UK, France and Germany combined. (Some are older though)
20 x HIMARS (allegedly 500 Launchers ordered (80 batteries))
BWP Borsuk IFV (developed in house ) to replace all BMP's (1200 BMP's to be replaced...)
110,000 personnel to be increased to 300,000 (including territorial army)
They also completed an order of block 52+ F-16's in 2009 (It should be noted they also purchased a large amount of weapons per plane)
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.
It just highlights the fact that these attacks weren't a military strategy for Russia's survival, they're a political strategy for Putin's survival.
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.
He's not trying to turn the war around (that ship has sailed).
He's trying to shore up his domestic position. Those missiles are a PR stunt.
Would russia not be better off using their rockets on ukraine military positions then civilians?
Putin is at the card table again I think, trying to turn a bad hand around - he knows the US and Europe would prefer this war to be contained as much as possible, so perhaps he's hoping the West will simply look on as Belarussians wade in ? I don't know what kind of military Belarus has but if I was in Minsk this morning, I would be growing increasingly concerned about the war edging closer...
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?
They are going through a fairly decent moderation program ,and have been fighting alongside Nato troops from Afghanistan to Iraq their special forces unit "Grom" are extremely well regarded in military circles ,
They Also seem believe they will face open conflict with Russia within the next 6-10 years
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.
Looks like a pure sign of desperation to me. They could bomb Kyiv ever day for the next year in the same manner and it won't take them a step closer to victory. Unfortunately in the meantime as in Syria where they resorted to the same tactic the civilian population get minced in the process.
How decent is the Polish military?
Probably better that NATO maintains a unified stance here, imo.
There was certainly an impression at the start of this invasion that Poland was taking a long hard cold look at intervention. If Belarus military joined Russian forces in attack, Poland might just decide that's enough and enter the war independently of NATO? Lukashenko would have to be aware of this, long border with Poland to the West.
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...
It would certainly trigger the Polish.
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.
Be that as it may,
"International rules designate an attack on an embassy as an attack on the country it represents".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diplomatic_mission
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