Russo-Ukrainian War 2014-23 and Invasion

[Barrister]

Nothing official yet.  I will gladly be wrong if it happens today.

Forget official - is anybody actually reporting that it is happening?

Once it's "official" it will be old news.

[Sheilbh]

Yeah I've not seen anything but it'd be interesting to see if anyone's confirmed this.

[PDH]

something called "Mriya Report" announced it, there are also a lot of rumors and "friends in Kherson say" things.

By official I mean some of the quite decent war reporters who seem to check their sources.

[Tamas]

18 municipal deputies of Moscow, St Petersburg demand Putin resign
Municipal deputies from 18 districts of Moscow and St Petersburg have signed a public statement demanding that Vladimir Putin resign.

"We, the municipal deputies of Russia, believe that the actions of President V. V. Putin harm the future of Russia and its citizens. We demand the resignation of Vladimir Putin from the post of President of the Russian Federation!" read the statement published by Ksenia Torstrem, the municipal deputy of the Semenovsky district of St Petersburg.

"It is difficult to speak out publicly because of the repression. Therefore, we came up with such a concise text," Torstrem told the The Insider. "Deputies are not yet forbidden to have an opinion. And it is also not forbidden to speak for the resignation of the president. He is not a monarch, but a hired worker, receives a salary from our taxes.

"Our function is to represent the interests of the people, and we see that the people are not satisfied. And our people are the source of power according to the Constitution. I personally do not understand the motives of Vladimir Putin's actions. I think you can't be in power for so long."

If even half of today's news are true the Russians and Putin especially, are in deep trouble.

[Crazy_Ivan80]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cqrnN1Sfos&ab_channel=UkraineNewsTV

the 201 day overview, already old news of course but still interesting.
But the rumour of surrender-negotiations is present


purely hypothetical: might a good moment to get the Russians to leave Moldova. And Georgia too, why not.

[Crazy_Ivan80]

Interesting.  Now that the Ukrainians are on the offensive they've adopted the "write a symbol on your vehicles to help identify friend or foe".

Instead of a "Z" or an "O", they're using a "+".

And they're using that + on a lot of repurposed civilian vehicles as well.

Is this something western militaries do as well?  Or is it a soviet thing?

I imagine the western militaries aren't using essentially the same equipment or the same uniforms as their enemy, so letters and colored bands become necessary.  I think the US military would know whether the other guys are them or the Taliban fighters even without letters or colored armbands.

Isn't it an I (the one with two dots on it)? Explanation I've heard is that Russian doesn't have it (but I don't know any Russian so what do I know?). And of course it's present in the country-name itself. Or is that another sign that's also being used to tick of the Russian troops?

[Barrister]

Isn't it an I (the one with two dots on it)? Explanation I've heard is that Russian doesn't have it (but I don't know any Russian so what do I know?). And of course it's present in the country-name itself. Or is that another sign that's also being used to tick of the Russian troops?

I've read that civilians in temporarily occupied Ukraine Use that letter by spray-painting it on sidewalks and the like to annoy the Russians, but the Ukrainian military is definitely using a + symbol.

[Crazy_Ivan80]

I've read that civilians in temporarily occupied Ukraine Use that letter by spray-painting it on sidewalks and the like to annoy the Russians, but the Ukrainian military is definitely using a + symbol.

Okay, that explains it. Thanks for the clarification

[OttoVonBismarck]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cqrnN1Sfos&ab_channel=UkraineNewsTV

the 201 day overview, already old news of course but still interesting.
But the rumour of surrender-negotiations is present


purely hypothetical: might a good moment to get the Russians to leave Moldova. And Georgia too, why not.

I can't imagine the Russians are in a position to support Transnistria is Moldova felt the urge to fight it, but also probably not something they want to do truth be told.

[The Larch]

From AP, about the surrendering Russian troops, although it seems to talk about the Kharkhiv area, rather than Kherson:

A spokesman for Ukrainian military intelligence claims that Russian troops are surrendering en masse as Ukraine reclaim a wide swath of territory. Ukraine is running out of space to accommodate the POWs, a presidential adviser said.

Seems a bit too good to be true.

[Barrister]

purely hypothetical: might a good moment to get the Russians to leave Moldova. And Georgia too, why not.

I can't imagine the Russians are in a position to support Transnistria is Moldova felt the urge to fight it, but also probably not something they want to do truth be told.

Moldova's government has taken a pro-western turn, but I'm not certain what shape their military is in.  Plus Transnistria's been occupied for 30+ years now.  I don't think the Moldovans could rely on the warm welcome that the Ukrainians are getting from territories only occupied for 6 months.  Heck if/when Ukraine moves into Crimea they could run into the same problems after just 8 years.

Georgia's government is much more friendly to Russia than it was under Shaakashvilli, and I doubt there's any stomach in further antagonizing Russia.

[Sheilbh]

Russian correspondent in Donetsk - saying soldiers are wondering if they'll be next:
https://twitter.com/francis_scarr/status/1569321855512616965?s=20&t=klzk5qZdW8Hd_QsQklN4tA

[grumbler]

Know nothing of this dude (seems he's a member of the Russian opposition), but that's a pretty great rant.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLWuU5uXWcM&t

Too bad the Russians can't see that.

[Iormlund]

Mass surrenders in Kherson oblast. 10-15k. Unconfirmed so far, but if true, pretty much game over...

The next few weeks are going to be hairy.

That'd be half the people they have in there.

Presumably those would be raw recruits, not the most hardened vets, but it would be a gigantic coup nevertheless.
And if the vets are shocked into surrendering ... well that's game right there. Russia can't replace them.

[Legbiter]

Mass surrenders in Kherson oblast. 10-15k. Unconfirmed so far, but if true, pretty much game over...

The next few weeks are going to be hairy.

That'd be half the people they have in there.

Presumably those would be raw recruits, not the most hardened vets, but it would be a gigantic coup nevertheless.
And if the vets are shocked into surrendering ... well that's game right there. Russia can't replace them.

Yeah seeing the same rumors just this half hour. Mass surrender of Russian troops in Kherson. Every day is worse than the last for the vatniks. At least at Dunkirk the British got most of their men out.