Russo-Ukrainian War 2014-23 and Invasion

[Legbiter]

Moment of the explosion.

https://twitter.com/bayraktar_1love/status/1642558018175770624

Not posting a link to his mortal remains. Lets just say the funeral director has his work cut out for him if they want to do an open casket funeral.

[Josquius]

So, Russian government silencing a critic with the hope of pinning it on the Ukrainians?

[mongers]

Ukrainian resistance blew him up.

Excellent it true, though we'll probably have to wait until after war end to find out the full extent of partisan and Ukrainian special operations against Russians/Russia proper.

[grumbler]

Seems more likely to me that Russian opposition types wasted him.  He was a real asset to Ukraine's international support efforts.  Nobody sympathizes with mouthy orcs.

[Sheilbh]

This seems like a real risk for Putin to me (maybe even more than just how the war is going).

I know the consensus here is that most of these deaths are at the hands of the Kremlin - and maybe they are. But again I wonder about the underworld angle. The war and sanctions especially have shaken everything up. I suspect there's a lot of space and opportunities for people. I don't think it's fully like the 90s - we're not at the regular car bombs yet - but I don't think it's far off.

And if you're Putin that has to be a huge worry because if the other stuff (national glory, improving economic/living standards) are falling away he would always be the guy who brought stability and order after the anarchy of the 90s.

Opposition acts like this but also - if they're not Kremlin directed - more and more moves to kill elites, claim economic territory etc strike me as a big threat to Putin in undermining his biggest claim to legitimacy.

[viper37]

Wagner announces they have taken Bakhmut.  Ukraine says they still hold the city.
Link

[Tonitrus]

Ukrainian resistance blew him up.

Excellent it true, though we'll probably have to wait until after war end to find out the full extent of partisan and Ukrainian special operations against Russians/Russia proper.

An explosion tore through a cafe in Russia's second-largest city Sunday, killing a well-known military blogger and strident supporter of the war in Ukraine. Some reports said a bomb was embedded in a bust of the blogger that was given to him as a gift.

[Admiral Yi]

I don't think the KGB is going to blow up a cafe in Russia to get a guy, when there are so many stairs and windows.

[Josquius]

Wagner announces they have taken Bakhmut.  Ukraine says they still hold the city.
Link

TEKNICAllllyyyyyyy

12:00am: Wagner Group claims capture of Ukraine's Bakhmut 'in a legal sense'
The head of Russia's Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said late on Sunday that his forces have raised the Russian flag over the administration building of the city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine.

"From a legal point of view, Bakhmut has been taken," Prigozhin said in an audio message posted by his press service on the Telegram messaging app. "The enemy is concentrated in the western parts."

[Legbiter]

Wagner announces they have taken Bakhmut.  Ukraine says they still hold the city.
Link

Self-proclaimed second-best military in the world bragging about taking a single building in Ukraine...

[Legbiter]

An explosion tore through a cafe in Russia's second-largest city Sunday, killing a well-known military blogger and strident supporter of the war in Ukraine. Some reports said a bomb was embedded in a bust of the blogger that was given to him as a gift.

Pic of the handover mere moments before the blast.

[Valmy]

Wagner announces they have taken Bakhmut.  Ukraine says they still hold the city.
Link

Self-proclaimed second-best military in the world bragging about taking a single building in Ukraine...

Seems like Russia does this every time they are on the offensive. They announce they have taken a place about 10 times before they actually take it, presuming they ever do. Just whatever could possibly be spun as "taking a town" in the loosest propaganda sense possible.

[viper37]

Wagner announces they have taken Bakhmut.  Ukraine says they still hold the city.
Link

TEKNICAllllyyyyyyy

12:00am: Wagner Group claims capture of Ukraine's Bakhmut 'in a legal sense'
The head of Russia's Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said late on Sunday that his forces have raised the Russian flag over the administration building of the city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine.

"From a legal point of view, Bakhmut has been taken," Prigozhin said in an audio message posted by his press service on the Telegram messaging app. "The enemy is concentrated in the western parts."

Ah, yes, I read the clarification later that they only took the city hall/mayorship of the city.

[Jacob]

Once you raise the flag on the central administration building you still have to wait 30 seconds for the bar to fill up. At that point, you've gained control of the map and your troops get all the defender bonuses and the other siders are the attackers until they hoist their flag. That's how it works, right?

[viper37]

Once you raise the flag on the central administration building you still have to wait 30 seconds for the bar to fill up. At that point, you've gained control of the map and your troops get all the defender bonuses and the other siders are the attackers until they hoist their flag. That's how it works, right?

Exactly.