Ukraine War Watch Thread

[weatheriscool]

Kadyrov forces unit, aiming to kill Zelensky, eliminated – NSDC Secretary

Kadyrov forces unit, which aimed to kill President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, was eliminated.

"We are already aware of the special operation that was to be carried out by Kadyrov forces unit. We received the information from representatives of Russia’s Federal Security Service who do not want to take part in this bloody war. The Kadyrov forces unit, which came to kill our President, was eliminated," Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleksiy Danilov said on the air of Ukraine 24 TV channel, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

He noted that the unit had been divided into two groups and was closely followed. According to him, one group came under fire in Hostomel, another group is at gunpoint.

"We will not give our President or our country to anyone. This is our land, get out of here," Danilov added.

https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-ato/34 ... etary.html

[Yuli Ban]

[wjfox]

[andmar74]

A massive, 40-mile convoy of Russian tanks and vehicles appeared to bog down on its push toward the capital of Kyiv on Tuesday while residential areas of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, were being pounded by Russian shells.

The Russian military advance drew to within 15 miles of Kyiv’s center amid signs that troops are running out of gas and food, a senior U.S. Defense Department official said Tuesday. Russia has committed about 80% of the combat force President Vladimir Putin deployed to invade Ukraine, the official said.

Amazing, if true. The Russian army might be collapsing. Ukraine could actually win this.

https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/poli ... 327835002/

[Xyls]

Highly recommend the Institute for the Study of War's analysis on Ukraine...

https://www.understandingwar.org/backgr ... ry-28-2022

Basically, it is the Southern front that is most dangerous to Ukraine at the moment. Mariupol is likely going to fall and it is the Battle of Zaprozhia which might be crucial in determining if the Russian's can really get control of this war. If they fail at Zaprozhia my guess is they will lose the war. They might still get their landbridge to Crimea though.

[wjfox]

[Maximus]

Russia says 'real danger' of Ukraine acquiring nuclear weapons required response

GENEVA, March 1 (Reuters) - Russia's foreign minister told a Geneva disarmament meeting on Tuesday that Ukraine has been seeking to acquire nuclear weapons, a "real danger" that needed a Russian response.

Russia invaded Ukraine on Thursday in what it called a special operation to demilitarise and "denazify" the country - a justification dismissed by Kyiv and the West as propaganda.

"Today the dangers that (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelenskiy's regime pose for neighbouring countries and international security in general have increased substantially after the authorities set up in Kyiv have embarked upon dangerous games related to plans to acquire their own nuclear weapons," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told the Conference on Disarmament in a video address.

Right, they invaded Ukraine because it was trying to develop nukes, not because they were jealous and scared the Ukrainian people preferred EU and NATO membership over association with Russia. For those not in the loop, Ukraine did have nuclear weapons after the USSR fell (a lot of them), but unilaterally got rid of them in exchange for a pact that it would not be invaded by Russia and other parties who signed the Budapest Memorandum. Well I suppose WMDs in Iraq are gonna be brought up, so I'll just say it was as disgusting a pretense back then as it is now.

[Maximus]

Ukraine invasion: Misleading claims continue to go viral
https://www.bbc.com/news/60554910

BBC fact-checking of this conflict.

[joe00uk]

Right, they invaded Ukraine because it was trying to develop nukes, not because they were jealous and scared the Ukrainian people preferred EU and NATO membership over association with Russia. For those not in the loop, Ukraine did have nuclear weapons after the USSR fell (a lot of them), but unilaterally got rid of them in exchange for a pact that it would not be invaded by Russia and other parties who signed the Budapest Memorandum. Well I suppose WMDs in Iraq are gonna be brought up, so I'll just say it was as disgusting a pretense back then as it is now.

Yeah, in some ways this is kind of like Russia's Iraq. There's a lot of differences too obviously (levels of popular and even elite support being one), but I can easily see a Russian puppet regime in Kiev being subject to constant guerrilla warfare, terrorism and insurgency for decades. Certainly, the American puppet regime installed in 2014 has been subject to insurgency since then, and such will likely continue under new masters. Perhaps instead of a Donbass War, we'll have rebels seizing territory out in the far west.

[weatheriscool]