Russo-Ukrainian War 2014-23 and Invasion

[Valmy]

What the hell did portugal do to Russia?

Or what did Germany do for Russia?

Why is northern Schleswig being given to Germany? Why is Czechia being annexed into Germany? Why is the former West Prussia going to Germany?

None of those areas have many Germans these days.

Likewise while there is some desire for Corsican Independence I haven't noticed much desire to be annexed by Italy. Or Provence to be annexed by Italy. Or Brittany to be independent. But why have Brittany be independent but not the Basque lands? Why Wales but not Catalonia (though I guess Wales has no choice with England being a nuclear wasteland...which probably renders Wales and Scotland uninhabitable anyway).

The thing makes zero sense. It is like shit was just chosen at random.

[The Larch]

I wouldn't bother analyzing that map too much, it's plain to see that its only point is to annoy people.

[Crazy_Ivan80]

I wouldn't bother analyzing that map too much, it's plain to see that its only point is to annoy people.

a bit like the existence of Russia basically

[Jacob]

a bit like the existence of Russia basically

 

[Zanza]

In a 21st century map, Germany should annex Mallorca.

[The Larch]

In a 21st century map, Germany should annex Mallorca.

We'll give you all rights to Magalluf and you leave the rest of the island alone, how about that?

[Zanza]

Magaluf is where the English are, no? I think the Germans are in El Arenal.

PS: Never been in Mallorca myself. 

[grumbler]

I wouldn't bother analyzing that map too much, it's plain to see that its only point is to annoy people.

As far as I can tell, this "Friend of Russia" account is a spoof account.  It's way too over-the-top to be real.

[Tonitrus]

Russia finally takes Constantinople

They better hope they can, as presumably Moscow and a few other major Russian cities would be atomic glass as well.  St. Petersburg might be ok in order to spare Finland.

[The Larch]

Magaluf is where the English are, no? I think the Germans are in El Arenal.

PS: Never been in Mallorca myself. 

I think you're right, it's L'Arenal for Germans and Magaluf for Britons. I was actually there during Euro 96, when England and Germany played in the semis we were alerted to be out of the streets by the time the match ended, no matter the result. 

As soon as it ended somebody threw a full beer bottle into the street in front of our hotel.

[Duque de Bragança]

What the hell did portugal do to Russia?

"Little" brother vs "bigger" brother thing reminds them too much of an analogous, yet different, situation in the East of Europe. 

[Josquius]

Well, that's a map someone posted. Worse than Timmay's maps.

Giga Serbia. I like it.

[mongers]

Gen Milley, chair of the JCS has meet his Ukrainian opposite number, this happened in Poland close to the Ukraine border.

Also, some good/brave reporting in side Bakhmut from AJ's Charles Stratford:

[Maladict]

I would love to see Russia try to take the Bosphorus.

Edit: well, apart from the article 5 stuff

[The Larch]

Ukraine's interior minister killed in helicopter crash
Denys Monastyrskiy and other key officials, as well as several children, among dead after crash in Kyiv suburb

At least 15 people including Ukraine's interior minister, Denys Monastyrsky, other senior officials and several children have been killed after their helicopter crashed by a kindergarten in a suburb of Kyiv.

A number of children at the school in Brovary were among the casualties after debris hit the building.

Officials gave no immediate account of the cause of the crash. However, the SBU state security service said it was investigating possible causes of the crash, including a breach of flight rules, a technical malfunction and the intentional destruction of the helicopter.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the crash as "a terrible tragedy" on a "black morning". "The pain is unspeakable," he wrote on Telegram.

Monastyrsky, who was responsible for the police and security in Ukraine, is the most senior Ukrainian official to die since the war began. The national police chief, Ihor Klymenko, said Monastyrsky had been killed along with his deputy and other senior ministry officials.

The regional governor said 18 people had been killed but emergency services later announced a death toll of 15, and said 25 others had been injured, including 10 children.

"There were children and ... staff in the nursery at the time of this tragedy. Everyone has now been evacuated. There are casualties," the Kyiv region governor, Oleksiy Kuleba, wrote on Telegram.

"For now, we are considering all possible versions of the helicopter crash accident," Ukraine's prosecutor general, Andriy Kostin, added amid suggestions it could take several days before the cause of the crash was established.

The helicopter appears to have been travelling to a frontline area in foggy conditions when it came down in an area where there are a number of tall buildings.

According to some claims, the crash occurred when the helicopter clipped the kindergarten through pilot error, although it was not clear why it was flying so low in a built-up area.

One witness said he saw the helicopter approach the neighbouring building from his kitchen window before falling sharply.

At the site of the crash a Guardian journalist saw a large crater between a residential building and the nursery.

The charred, burnt-out engine and tail wing of the helicopter is leaning against the entrance of the residential building and other parts of the helicopter are strewn between the building and the nursery.

Video footage from the scene of the crash showed a large area around the kindergarten on fire in the immediate aftermath of the impact, and bodies lying in the street outside.

In one picture, the helicopter's main rotor could be seen embedded in a car roof. Inside the school, classrooms were littered with debris, with windows broken and walls scorched.

"We saw wounded people, we saw children. There was a lot of fog here, everything was strewn all around. We could hear screams, we ran towards them," Glib, a 17-year-old local resident, told Reuters at the scene.

"We took the children and passed them over the fence, away from the nursery as it was on fire, especially the second floor," he said.

Klymenko said in a statement that the helicopter had been carrying Monastyrskiy and eight others. Klymenko said Monastyrskiy's deputy minister, Yevhen Yenin, and the state secretary, Yuriy Lubkovych, also died in the crash.

The investigation was being carried out by the security service of Ukraine, Klymenko said.

Ukraine's first lady, Olena Zelenska, appeared emotional minutes before attending a World Economic Forum session in Davos, Switzerland. "Another very sad day today – new losses," she said.

The forum president, Børge Brende, requested 15 seconds of silence after opening the session to honour the Ukrainian officials killed in the crash.

It came four days after a Russian missile strike on an apartment building in south-east Ukraine killed 45 civilians, including six children – the deadliest attack on civilians since the spring.

"Haven't had time to recover from one tragedy, there is already another one," said Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the deputy head of the Ukrainian presidential office.

Separately, Ukraine reported intense fighting overnight in the east of the country, where both sides have taken huge losses for little gain in intense trench warfare over the last two months.

Ukrainian forces repelled attacks in the eastern city of Bakhmut and the village of Klishchiivka just south of it, the Ukrainian military said. Russia has focused on Bakhmut in recent weeks, claiming last week to have taken the mining town of Soledar on its northern outskirts.

After major Ukrainian gains in the second half of 2022, the frontlines have hardened over the last two months. Kyiv says it hopes new western weapons will allow it to resume an offensive to recapture land, especially heavy tanks which would give its troops mobility and protection to push through Russian lines.

Western allies will be gathering on Friday at a US airbase in Germany to pledge more weapons for Ukraine. Attention is focused in particular on Germany, which has veto power over any decision to send its Leopard tanks, which are fielded by armies across Europe and widely seen as the most suitable for Ukraine.

Berlin says a decision on the tanks will be the first item on the agenda of Boris Pistorius, its new defence minister.

Britain, which broke the western taboo by promising a squadron of its Challenger tanks, has called on Germany to approve the Leopards. Poland and Finland have already said they would be ready to send Leopards if Berlin allows it.