Russo-Ukrainian War 2014-23 and Invasion

[Sheilbh]

Yeah... it's not hard to imagine those two men, in leaving the meeting, saying to each other "well that sucked" and exchanging meaningful looks.

Obviously you have to be both careful when overthrowing a dictator, but if said dictator is always at least twenty feet away from everyone else then it becomes a little easier I think.

I think there's a very small chance of a palace coup.

But if there was one I think Shoigu will be pretty crucial. Post-Soviet Russia has a trend of generals dying mysteriously after successful wars - but I would really not want to be Defence Minister like he is now or a top general right now, even if things ultimately succeed.

Separately he's been in the Russian cabinet since the end of Communism - under all administrations - I think that accomplishment in any system indicates some serious political skills (especially around survival), but also if you've been at the top for 30 years you'll know everyone including at the regional level from his old job. Plus from what I understand in the Kremlin he's not associated strongly with any single faction (which helps with survivability).

[grumbler]

()snip) Like the Germans didn't intentionally spend a ton of time targeting civilians when they took Poland / Low Countries / France because they were hyper focused on destroying the military capacity of those countries.(snip)

Indeed, the Battle of Britain turned when the Germans decided to attack the British civilian population rather than the military's airfields during the Blitz.

[Tamas]

I know it's not very relevant, but there was an odd sentence in Orban's explanation of not sending weapons to Ukraine: "We must also be mindful that this is a neighbouring country. Those weapons if we send them could be used against Hungarians living in Ukraine". Uhm, what?

[Threviel]

Hungarians in Ukraine are third columnists?

[Syt]

Some reports that Russian Ministry of Defense claims Ukraine is using phosphorus munitions in fighting over the airport near Kyiv.

[Syt]

Meanwhile, report from CNN yesterday:

[Eddie Teach]

Flamethrower just sounds less threatening than rocket launcher.

[Syt]

Flamethrower just sounds less threatening than rocket launcher.

Or thermobaric munitions. (Which, technically, are not flamethrowers, but I understand they want to keep things simple for the audience - Pleitgen explains their function in the clip. Side note - on Frederik Pleitgen: His father Fritz was one of the biggest names in German TV and radio journalism from the 70s into early 00s.)

[Syt]

Meanwhile, Zelensky and his Minister of Defense:



Bit different to the pictures from Moscow.

[Tamas]

Not very covid safe though is it

[Sheilbh]

Not very covid safe though is it

I legit saw someone posting about the lack of masks and low vaccination rate over a photo of people sheltering from bombs in Kharkiv metro

[Syt]

EU interior ministers apparently agree to grant Ukrainians 3 years of refuge, no asylum applications required.

[Solmyr]

I saw a Tweet which I assume is fake as no reputable source has repeated it for an hour, that one of the guys from that Putin photo,  Military Chief of Staff Gerasimov, has been fired by Putin.

That story was posted yesterday and has been around for years, so no, it's fake.

[Sheilbh]

EU interior ministers apparently agree to grant Ukrainians 3 years of refuge, no asylum applications required.

Excellent move. Also Switzerland have said it's likely they'll impose sanctions (imagine doing something so heinous you got financial sanctions from Switzerland ).

[Zoupa]

https://twitter.com/NewVoiceUkraine/status/1497944521635680259?s=20&t=v7qi8Py28S7o6KaYRDFMMA

The lit cigarette is what does it for me.

These folks are amazing.