Russo-Ukrainian War 2014-23 and Invasion

[Josquius]

Even in the midst of the Ukrainian offensives bakmut was an area where Russians continued grinding forwards.

I hope/guess Ukraine is accepting it as it keeps Russias attention engaged and Ukraine isn't ready to choose some new battles of its own quite yet.

I wonder on the Russian prisoner brigades; they don't have an infinite number of them surely? Are Russian prisons becoming empty? - could we see Sci fi level imprisonment/offer you can't refuse for stuff people may otherwise get away with?

[Tamas]

Even in the midst of the Ukrainian offensives bakmut was an area where russian continued grinding forwards.

I hope/guess Ukraine is accepting it as it keeps Russias attention engaged and Ukraine isn't ready to choose some new battles of its own quite yet.

I wonder on the Russian prisoner brigades; they don't have an infinite number of them surely? Are Russian prisons becoming empty? - could we see Sci fi level imprisonment/offer you can't refuse for stuff people may otherwise get away with?

I'd be very skeptical with the whole "we are sending prisoners to die don't worry" Russian narrative. It's quite a good excuse to keep Russians calm about the whole losing the war thing, thinking they are showing it to America by getting rid of their scum. Almost certainly they have no significant number of ex-convicts there.

[The Larch]

Apparently one factor that has helped to make any potential attack from Belarus even more difficult are... beavers.

Ukrainian swamps make attack from Belarus unlikely - for now

VOLYN REGION, Ukraine, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Burst river banks, thick mud and waterlogged fields could be seen for miles around northwest Ukraine's border with Belarus on Thursday, making the prospect of a Russian assault from across the border unlikely for now despite recent warnings from Kyiv.

Ukrainian officials have warned of a new looming Russian assault, with Belarus to the north named as one possible launchpad, as Moscow seeks to revive its faltering invasion.

Russia and its close ally Belarus have beefed up their joint military grouping in Belarus and plan to hold joint aviation drills there from next Monday.

Against this backdrop, the borderland's thick forests and treacherous swamps are guarded by the Volyn territorial defence brigade, one of hundreds of Ukrainian units recruited from local people willing to defend their communities.

On the sidelines of training exercises several kilometres south of the Russian border, soldiers and officers from the unit told Reuters how the unusually mild winter had given them a considerable tactical advantage.

"On your own land, everything will help you to defend it - the landscape, lots of rivers, which have burst their banks this year," said Viktor Rokun, one of the brigade's deputy commanders. The fields and trees around him were submerged in murky lakes of cold water.

The unit's spokesman, Serhiy Khominskyi, said that help in making the terrain unpassable had also come from an unlikely ally: the local beaver population.

"When they build their dams normally people destroy them, but they didn't this year because of the war, so now there is water everywhere," he said.

[Josquius]

The unit's spokesman, Serhiy Khominskyi, said that help in making the terrain unpassable had also come from an unlikely ally: the local beaver population.

"When they build their dams normally people destroy them, but they didn't this year because of the war, so now there is water everywhere," he said.

People are dicks.

[Grey Fox]

So are beavers.

[Sheilbh]

So are beavers.

Oh no! We've just re-introduced them in the UK.

[Grey Fox]

So are beavers.

Oh no! We've just re-introduced them in the UK.

Are you guys insane? They are dam builders. They are going to flood the few areas you have actual housing built with new dams. Then when everything is rotting away, they'll fuck off somewhere else leaving you to deal with the mess.

[Josquius]

They're a keystone species.

[Tamas]

So are beavers.

Oh no! We've just re-introduced them in the UK.

Are you guys insane? They are dam builders. They are going to flood the few areas you have actual housing built with new dams. Then when everything is rotting away, they'll fuck off somewhere else leaving you to deal with the mess.

Yes. This will raise property prices. What's not to understand?

[Razgovory]

So are beavers.

Oh no! We've just re-introduced them in the UK.

Are you guys insane? They are dam builders. They are going to flood the few areas you have actual housing built with new dams. Then when everything is rotting away, they'll fuck off somewhere else leaving you to deal with the mess.

I thought the Beaver was like your national bird or something.

[viper37]

I thought the Beaver was like your national bird or something.

Because we hunted to near extinction.  Not because we allowed them to thrive.

[HVC]

I thought the Beaver was like your national bird or something.

Because we hunted to near extinction.  Not because we allowed them to thrive.

People discovered their butts taste like raspberry and thus their numbers increased

But yeah, beavers are Dicks and cause lots of property damage. We leave the ones far away from people alone.

[Barrister]

So are beavers.

Oh no! We've just re-introduced them in the UK.

Are you guys insane? They are dam builders. They are going to flood the few areas you have actual housing built with new dams. Then when everything is rotting away, they'll fuck off somewhere else leaving you to deal with the mess.

I thought the Beaver was like your national bird or something.

It is, but only because our country was literally founded on killing and skinning the fuckers. 

[Habbaku]

The Rest is History did an excellent podcast on all the beaver business:

https://shows.acast.com/the-rest-is-history-podcast/episodes/285-canada-beaver-wars

[Valmy]

Maybe Canada should start sending Ukraine beavers.