Russia - threadbanned users in OP

She wants revenge. A crater where Kyiv is.

She will soon realise like most that the dear leader hasn’t the balls because he knows Russia will be obliterated.

When will these empty heads wake up and smell the coffee?

A massive Russian counter attack seems unlikely, a small local attack might be possible though.

The current Russian aim is to conduct an active defence. The goal is to hold as much territory as possible while causing maximum losses to the attacking Ukrainians. Ukraine generally attacks with well trained and equipped formations whereas Russia tends to defend the zero lines with convict/contract units. Attrition is the Russians aim now. They are in defence and trained assault infantry is a limited quantity for both sides.

There's also longer term. Putin misjudged his invasion, but since his illusion was shattered after the Kharkiv defeat he has been trying to correct that. We already have seen how Russia has surprised in missile and drone production. They will do like wise with artillery and tanks.

How awake are people in NATO to this? I don't know, but some of the signs don't look hopeful. Russia on the other hand realises there's a reasonable chance they could lose the war and they are reacting to this.

I’d say you’re delighted.

We don't know what's happening yet and no, I wouldn't be 'delighted', why would I be? I despise Russia and everything the cesspit stands for. I just never bought in to the narrative that Ukraine could achieve what it wanted without any evidence.

Best wait until we know what's happening. There might be no large offensive at all. It could be strategic posture to stretch Ukraine forces.

Russian tourist chats are full of panicked Russians who did not get the vacation they desired. I've translated some of their posts below.

"Important information for those who are going to get out of Crimea by land route. The most important thing is to stock up on the necessary amount of water. Local "entrepreneurs" decided to take advantage of this situation and in order to enrich themselves increased the price by 8-10 times!

Being on the territory of Crimea download offline maps, on the territory of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk regions, you can use mobile communication only if you have a SIM-card Phoenix, but there is an option to buy it right in the queue in front of the checkpoint, there they sell them for 2000 rubles.

The situation with toilets is also miserable, free toilets at petrol stations have been closed, they justify themselves by saying that the influx of people is too large, you can make an agreement for 500 roubles, for children, pregnant women, disabled people and participants of the SMO the price is 400 roubles".

"The first border has been passed. Customs. We fuelled up at the last Lukoil petrol station, but there are no toilets there. There are big traffic jams in the opposite direction, towards Rostov. Documents and passports and child's birth certificate were checked at the checkpoint. At the customs there is a toilet and a lot of people on foot with their bags, their bags are checked there like at the airport. For those with cars, only the documents."

"Why didn't they say they guarantee safety on the land road to Crimea, if they can't protect the Crimean bridge, and it's a 50/50 ride there?"

"Yes, Megaphone [cellphone service provider] is completely dead, it doesn't show anything."

"Just yesterday I was thinking what a moron one should be to go on holiday to Crimea now. Well, now the holiday will definitely be remembered when they go home through the front. They are disrupting the logistics of our military with traffic jams, stupid faggots."

"One thing that annoys me is that after the first time, the competent authorities swore that ordinary people have nothing to fear, that now combat dolphins, medusas, shrimps and plankton guard the bridge 50 hours a day. F**k, how did that happen? !!!!!! Did they screw up again? !!!!!!!!"

"Are there gas stations along the road in the new territories?" Sure Bandits, too, not just gas stations".

I think the next few days will show how depleted the Russian army really is, personally I would not be surprised by a major escalation by Russia, unlikely but at worst an EMP burst or other tactical nuke, maybe on Snake Island just to demonstrate they mean business. I don't think Putin is scared of any nuclear retaliation as he knows he has much better nukes available than the west, and the more recently produced Russian weapons are so powerful and flexible they make up for the fact that a good deal of the older weapons are not in good shape.

The Lancet drone is one of the most successful weapons in Ukraine, I have watched many videos of it destroying western armour. The Bulgarian news agency has a article on how production has tripled and shows huge stocks awaiting delivery. This is the new version of the Lancet which is now capable of a coordinated swarm attack, maybe these will play a role in a retaliation with conventional weapons.

Russia has been very vocal about their hatred for the UK in particular, and I see today they also blame the UK for involvement in the latest bridge attack. Given that the Russian navy has been surveying all the transatlantic cables over the past year perhaps an infrastructure attack on the UK is on the cards.

Whatever the plan is I think Putin will feel he needs to act in the next few days otherwise the odds of being overthrown seem far more likely. Like some other posters on here I personally don't believe Ukraine has the manpower or equipment to fully liberate their territory, and the only way I can see a positive outcome is by Putin's removal from power, or a mass rebellion of the Russian front lines, lets hope something positive happens soon, the loss of human life is staggering and the longer this conflict goes on people increasingly see the deaths as daily statistics, and not they human tragedy they really are.

Lancet article:

If the Kerch bridge isn't going to reopen until September and November that's a big win. Ukraine should really target the rail bridge. That's would hurt logistics. And come September they should target it again. This bridge should be permanently out of action.

"he knows he has much better nukes available than the west, and the more recently produced Russian weapons are so powerful and flexible they make up for the fact that a good deal of the older weapons are not in good shape."

Irish component finds its way into an Iranian Shahed suicide drone.

Well they have lost the assets anyway and got some bad press with it. So looks like a mistake.

We don't want our components being used to kill Ukrainians.

Where was the dead baby reported? I've only seen the 2 parents and the injured 14 year old mentioned on the few news sites I read.

I'd agree with that, but its so painstakingly obvious, why has it not been hit before now? Whatever is going on, there is some method or justification Ukraine's methodology.

Company is based in Tralee, County Kerry. Will be difficult to trace how that part got onto that suicide drone, but not a good look for them at all. Their Google reviews are already being targeted by Ukrainians and photos of the damage the drone did are being uploaded onto their Google page. They've just gone on holidays for two weeks, could see that break being cut short for management...