Russia on brink of ... NOPE! Russia INVADES Ukraine!

[bononos]

Ok maybe its popcorn time... multiple movements on the front.. maybe?. Since the Ukrainians are not going to say anything, we are kinda reliant on the Russians for now.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1665591052768620544

View attachment 81369

From here (seems the twitter plugin don't like certain characters in the name of the poster?)

May the fog of war stay thick and soupy and may all the surprises be Ukrainian ones!

I couldn't find any more info about the Russian claim to stop a Ukrainian offensive in south donetsk(could be BS) but theres confirmation about Ukrainian movement on the Zaporizhia front.

 

[Perknose]

I couldn't find any more info about the Russian claim to stop a Ukrainian offensive in south donetsk(could be BS) but theres confirmation about Ukrainian movement on the Zaporizhia front.

Good find, thanks!

 

[Roger Wilco]

Sounds like Ukraine is making large gains.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1665704273064382465

 

[K1052]

Feels like Ukraine is probing at strength in a few places. Notably the new brigades and the new western IFVs/tanks they received have not yet been employed.
Some Russian defensive lines might turn out to be weaker than anticipated likely due to limited manpower.

edit: or maybe they are using new tanks but until there is some evidence we'll see. These kinds of reports are not always reliable.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1665714813257875457

 

[Leeea]

Sounds like Ukraine is making large gains.

Spoiler

https://twitter.com/x/status/1665704273064382465

One of the things we saw on the Iraq war is mainstream media will happily embrace generating fog for allied war efforts.

Remember the US army running out of ammo, fuel, water, and then the next day we were in Baghdad? Yea.


In these next 72 hours or more, it is anyone's guess unless their is an obvious breakthrough. As for what is actually happening on the ground, it is quite likely nobody knows, even the Ukrainian commanders. Chaos of war and all that. Waiting for units to report back. Guessing where Russian units are. Who is getting counterattacked.

If their is a breakthrough, then things really spin into madness. That is when the western units will be released. How far will they penetrate? Will the Russian's panic? How much chaos will they create? Do the Russian's have anything that can stop a big cat rush in the back line? or will the Leopards take every major supply junction? What does Russia have in reserve?

It is going to be mass chaos.

 

[pcgeek11]

Just in case you had any doubts ....

U.S. Politics

GOP Presidential Candidate Calls for 'Major Concessions' to Putin​

Vivek Ramaswamy said he doesn't view the Russia-Ukraine war as a "top foreign policy priority" for the United States. ...

Vivek Ramaswamy isn't going anywhere.... His opinion is meaningless.

 

[fskimospy]

Vivek Ramaswamy isn't going anywhere.... His opinion is meaningless.

I don’t know why he’s running or what he thinks his lane is. The people who want to surrender to Putin are all on Team Trump and this guy is not going to beat Trump when it comes to groveling before Russia.

 

[K1052]

A little disappointing but not really a surprise. The talk about aircraft is interesting since Germany doesn't have anything to give them except a lot of Tornados...which could be useful. The UK has a ton also that have no prospects on the export market.

Ukraine has relatively few operable Su-24s and they're going to need something to replace them with.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1665730987127390208

 

[K1052]

Free the Hornets

https://twitter.com/x/status/1665839903047929856

 

[Roger Wilco]

Russia is allergic to reality.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1665853038882349057

 

[Ajay]

In these next 72 hours or more, it is anyone's guess unless their is an obvious breakthrough. As for what is actually happening on the ground, it is quite likely nobody knows, even the Ukrainian commanders. Chaos of war and all that. Waiting for units to report back. Guessing where Russian units are. Who is getting counterattacked.

If their is a breakthrough, then things really spin into madness. That is when the western units will be released. How far will they penetrate? Will the Russian's panic? How much chaos will they create? Do the Russian's have anything that can stop a big cat rush in the back line? or will the Leopards take every major supply junction? What does Russia have in reserve?

I’m pretty certain that the UA commanders have a pretty good understanding of what is going on. Aside from their own Intel - we are feeding them all they can handle. The US has SIGINT, IR, Visual, UV and Radar Intel. It would make sense to keep some of our most cutting edge stuff off the grid.

Sounds like there are some probing attacks - always must suck to be in one of those units. Some probes find that they are in a pre-sighted arty target zone.

I still feel like the the Ukrainians are obfuscating and hiding their hand. I'm also still of the mind, whatever the primary axes will be, they must devastate the RU forces en route. Russia still has far more warm bodies to throw at this war than Ukraine. Dead, wounded and captured Russians must far outnumber the number of UA soldiers lost.

 

[K1052]

I’m pretty certain that the UA commanders have a pretty good understanding of what is going on. Aside from their own Intel - we are feeding them all they can handle. The US has SIGINT, IR, Visual, UV and Radar Intel. It would make sense to keep some of our most cutting edge stuff off the grid.

Sounds like there are some probing attacks - always must suck to be in one of those units. Some probes find that they are in a pre-sighted arty target zone.

I still feel like the the Ukrainians are obfuscating and hiding their hand. I'm also still of the mind, whatever the primary axes will be, they must devastate the RU forces en route. Russia still has far more warm bodies to throw at this war than Ukraine. Dead, wounded and captured Russians must far outnumber the number of UA soldiers lost.

I expect the real opening of the offensive to generally be trumpeted by things exploding literally everywhere in occupied Ukraine. They're going to bring down the hammer with drones, covert teams, Excalibur, Storm Shadow, GMLRS, JDAM-ER, Storm Shadow, and whatever else they've got.

 

[rommelrommel]

Yeah, you have to think they’ve been holding back as many precision strike weapons as possible, only expending them on the highest value targets.

 

[raildogg]

Russian annual military budget - $85 billion
American and its NATO puppets budget - Well over a trillion

Looks like the military industrial complex is looting the American taxpayers big time. We know the Europeans spend a much smaller percentage of their budgets on "defense."

This Ukraine conflict is a big opportunity to further enrich the donor class military companies of America and Europe. Enrich Western politicians and corporations.

Meanwhile, the rest of the world isn't so focused on Ukraine and is forming all sorts of alliances. The days of America and Europe bullying the world are coming to an end.

China bringing peace to the Middle East while America dropping bombs in innocent civilians. The world knows this. Even the NY Times "newspaper" can't help but report this:

Chinese-Brokered Deal Upends Mideast Diplomacy and Challenges U.S.

You cannot bomb, sanction and bully people as your foreign policy as America has done for the past 70 years.

 

[zinfamous]

Russian annual military budget - $85 billion
American and its NATO puppets budget - Well over a trillion

Looks like the military industrial complex is looting the American taxpayers big time. We know the Europeans spend a much smaller percentage of their budgets on "defense."

This Ukraine conflict is a big opportunity to further enrich the donor class military companies of America and Europe. Enrich Western politicians and corporations.

Meanwhile, the rest of the world isn't so focused on Ukraine and is forming all sorts of alliances. The days of America and Europe bullying the world are coming to an end.

China bringing peace to the Middle East while America dropping bombs in innocent civilians. The world knows this. Even the NY Times "newspaper" can't help but report this:

Chinese-Brokered Deal Upends Mideast Diplomacy and Challenges U.S.

You cannot bomb, sanction and bully people as your foreign policy as America has done for the past 70 years. Some even say that the multi-polar world is coming back.

and you know what, raildogg, them Russians don't like the gays and all of that wokeness, neither! That's yet another thing to love about 'em, right!

 

[raildogg]

People can live the way they wish you live. Why does the West need to impose its values on other people? I don't see Egypt imposing its cultural values on Western countries, for instance.

Meanwhile, the hypocrisy coming from Western corporations is off the charts:

‘Star Wars’ China Poster Sparks Controversy After Shrinking John Boyega’s Character

The "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" China poster shrunk or removed all non-white characters, including black actor John Boyega's Finn.

variety.com

 

[raildogg]

Even CNN has to admit that Ukraine is running low on artillery and that the West has little production capability to produce them fast enough. In other words, the Russians and Ukrainians are used to fighting large scale artillery wars and without enough ammo, it will be very hard to compete. The Soviet countries fight wars differently than Western countries. Large scale land warfare and heavy use of artillery is used in the ex-Soviet countries. That's not how the West conducts war. The West is used to fighting opponents with no navies or air forces, or with militias.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/17/politics/us-weapons-factories-ukraine-ammunition/index.html

So for this so-called offensive, can the West run whatever is left of their factories to full capacity to supply ammo to Ukraine?

Ukraine is using a lot of ammunition in its fight against Russia — up to 6,000 artillery shells every day. The result? Munitions stocks among the country's Western suppliers are starting to run low. That might be about to change. Polish and European Union officials met Monday to discuss a new $2.2 billion program that would "supply Ukraine in its war against invading Russian forces and to replenish Europe's dwindling stocks," The Associated Press reports.

But Europe isn't the only place where ammunition and other critical military supplies are in short supply. "What the U.S. has been able to do is use a range of its stockpiles of weapons," to supply Ukraine, Seth Jones of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) tells PBS NewsHour. Now, though, the "number of those stockpiles are now decreasing."

Indeed, The New York Times reports that American efforts to supply Ukraine have left the military low on artillery shells and other "more sophisticated" weapons, exposing fault lines in how the U.S. military prepares for its own wars. America's armed forces are "watching … stocks of some key weapons dwindle," the Times reports — the result of "industry consolidation, depleted manufacturing lines and supply chain issues" that have become more critical while war rages in Europe, and as a potential conflict with China looms.

https://theweek.com/russo-ukrainian-war/1022183/is-the-us-running-out-of-ammunition

So basically, arming Ukraine is leaving the West short on weapons. Even if somehow US can provide Ukraine with adequate shells, that might leave the US short for its own needs. Especially since it seems to pursue a hostile policy towards China.

 

[WelshBloke]

Russian annual military budget - $85 billion
American and its NATO puppets budget - Well over a trillion

It's not our fault that the Russian economy is such a basket case even with the advantages of having huge amounts of raw materials.

 

[raildogg]

Despite massive Western sanctions, Russia seems to be doing OK, not great. It has big trade deals with large countries such as Brazil, China and India. Plus it has significant power in Central Asia, Middle East and Africa. The West wants to cut Russia off from the world but Russia is finding ways to be a world player. The West wants to isolate and punish Russia but this will only drive Russia towards its other partners, such as China.

It's the European countries who are having a lot of economic problems due to the sanctions imposed on Russia. I guess America wants to deindustrialize Germany.

German industry to pay 40% more for energy than pre-crisis - study says

German industry is set to pay about 40% more for energy in 2023 than in 2021, before the energy crisis triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a study by Allianz Trade said on Monday, citing contract expiries and delayed wholesale pricing effects.

www.reuters.com

 

[K1052]

The AFU reportedly blew up the Nova Khakova dam.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1665904696429518849

 

[kage69]

People can live the way they wish you live. Why does the West need to impose its values on other people? I don't see Egypt imposing its cultural values on Western countries, for instance.

Meanwhile, the hypocrisy coming from Western corporations is off the charts:

‘Star Wars’ China Poster Sparks Controversy After Shrinking John Boyega’s Character

The "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" China poster shrunk or removed all non-white characters, including black actor John Boyega's Finn.

variety.com

That doesn't make sense, but generally no, Chinese and Russian people cannot do a lot of what we in western democracies take for granted (if that's where you're headed).

"Not engaging in genocide" is a pretty low bar for a nation or culture really. Damn pity how Russian propaganda is still so effective on you. If you think your Egypt example does anything but expose some ignorance on foreign policy and history, there is a metric shit ton of things you don't see. Do you see Haiti or Afghanistan imposing their values on those that give them crucial support? What a dumb suggestion.

Civilians are being targeted by a terrorist state. Their culture and language, even their children, all held at risk by genocidal invaders, ones who regularly bring up nuclear weapons use... and you're pissin and moaning about a movie franchise? Wagging your finger at the West?


Gtfo here clown

 

[WelshBloke]

Despite massive Western sanctions, Russia seems to be doing OK, not great.

You were complaining that it couldn't afford a decent military budget just now! Make up your mind!

 

[raildogg]

Don't care about crap movies, just showing an example of Western hypocrisy. And this war could be over if the Western nations want it to be. Ukraine as a country is only holding on due to endless American money. So basically, America owns Ukraine and its government. It can push Ukraine to talks if it wants but that's not what it wants.

Some have even said that it was Boris Johnson who stopped the peace talks that Turkey was trying to broker between Ukraine-Russia.

Diplomacy Watch: Did Boris Johnson help stop a peace deal in Ukraine?

A recent piece in Foreign Affairs revealed that Kyiv and Moscow may have had a tentative deal to end the war all the way back in April.

responsiblestatecraft.org

And now China is trying to broker peace between Ukraine-Russia but the Americans and the West don't want it either.

 

[raildogg]

You were complaining that it couldn't afford a decent military budget just now! Make up your mind!

Why does Russia need to spend more on its military when its fighting an opponent who spends more than 10X its military budget and yet is still barely hanging on.

 

[Drach]

The AFU reportedly blew up the Nova Khakova dam.

This is where Crimea gets their water so whatever. 👍