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]

[Maximus]

Russia Threatens to Block Wikipedia for Stating Facts About Its War Casualties, Editors Say

Russia’s censorship office is threatening to block all of Wikipedia in the country if the website doesn’t delete information about Russian soldier casualties and military violence against civilians.

Wikipedia’s Russia site editors received a memo from the company’s federal censorship arm on Tuesday, claiming that the article Russian invasion of Ukraine (2022) contains false information —the notice says that the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation is informing the website operators that the article in question is in violation of federal law. It specifically cites as false the article’s listing of Russian military casualties, as well as Ukrainian civilians and children—and demands the site operators to delete that information.
...
As of writing, the “Russian invasion of Ukraine (2022)” article cites both Russian and Ukrainian government numbers of casualties, which vary wildly. Ukraine is claiming that 352 civilians have been killed and 1,684 wounded, and more than 110 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed; Russia claims that 200 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed and two Russian soldiers. Ukraine claims that there have been 5,710 Russian military casualties and 200 captured.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/bvnpq5/ ... reddit.com

Can't afford having Russians see the Russian lives their invasion is costing. As a side note, do I believe Ukraine's casualty figures? No. I think in all likeliness both sides have suffered a few hundred casualties, so maybe 1/10th of the given 5710 Russian casualties is accurate.

[Maximus]

The Kremlin says Russia's 'economic reality' has 'considerably changed' in the face of 'problematic' Western sanctions

Crippling Western sanctions have changed the "reality" of the Russian economy, the Kremlin said Monday.

The Russian ruble crashed Monday and Russia's central bank nearly doubled its base interest rate.

Western sanctions were "heavy" and "problematic" but could be countered, a Kremlin spokesperson said.

The Kremlin said Monday that Russia's "economic reality" had "considerably changed" in the face of "heavy" and "problematic" Western sanctions.

The admission came after Russia's ruble plunged 30% against the US dollar and the country's central bank more than doubled its base interest rate, to 20%. Russians were reportedly waiting in long lines to withdraw foreign currencies from ATMs.

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/kremlin-says- ... 56718.html

Reminder, the Russian stock market is still closed due to sanctions. But I think we can see what's waiting to happen, as we've already seen the effects over the past week or so in the West (pulled this data from UK and US stock exchanges):

• Rosneft: -66%

• Gazprom (largest Russian company by market cap): -68%

• Lukoil: -84%

• Sberbank (largest Russian Bank by market cap): -93%

• MOEX (Russian Stock Exchange Index): -33% with trading halted since last Friday

• RUBUSD: -31%

• RUBEUR: -29%

[Maximus]

Results of Kyiv tower missile strike. Explosions was seen from my window. 5 dead.

[Certain Russian user]

How are you, guys? Keep defeating Russians? Okay then, here's a reality injection for you (it may hurt, my needle is thick enough):

Ukrainian army is crumbling. It seems they're no longer acting as a single structure under a single command. The remaining regulars and nazi paramilitaries are hiding in urban areas, often in places like hospitals, schools, and kindergartens, where they are still somewhat immune from our artillery and airstrikes. Sometimes this causing the online shitstorms when one group "defenders of Ukraine" recognize the location of other group: "but how dared you, scum, this is the school of OUR children... etc, etc"

The headquarters of the operational command "East" was destroyed by Russian precision strike. Most (if not all) of officers are dead and I highly doubt in current situation there will be new ones hurrying to take these emptied seats.

Yes, the humanitarian catastrophe is coming. They do not allow food to be brought in (although, of course, the Russian army would allow this) and sometimes killing civilians running via "green corridors" given by Russian army. Defenders of Ukraine are in despair, the only thing still (somehow) protecting them is human shield. And Western "friends of Ukraine" are still sending arms instead of food.

Search and killings of "Russian infiltrators" are continue. More terror and despair, more idiotic skirmishes, more corpses. Sometimes, the groups of naked looters are paraded on the unusually empty and quiet streets. The really disgusting thing I've seen yesterday was a clip with group of kids "revealed" the "child infiltrator".

Ukrainian TV, endlessly spreading lies and war propaganda, was banned by Russian missile. Civilians were warned in advance.

Another disgusting thing I saw yesterday was bunch of local volkssturm decided to throw "molotovs" into passing Russian military column. Bad idea, very bad! Here you can see the outcome (but strongly 18+):

blocked_rozhin/25897

No matter what, Russian warriors are moving forward. Those Ukrainian regulars who surrendered are treated well and will soon return home. Those captured in action are treated a bit less gently. And as for the nazi paramilitaries, well, they're being "demilitarised" definitively and irrevocably.

That's all I wanted to say for now. Have a nice day.

[BaobabScion]

That's all I wanted to say for now. Have a nice day.

So soon, RuBear? I thought you said you were going to leave for good...again...just like what you said towards the end of the last forum.

I guess you can't help it; we live in your head rent-free.

[Certain Russian user]

Personally, I also don't think an invasion like this is a good idea.

Here I tend to agree, with emphasis on LIKE THIS part. Ukraine becoming the new European Somalia. Prospect of gaining such a country as war trophy and 20-30 million of such people as "fellow citizens" terrifies me. President PhoenixRu would probably do it very differently. But I'm not president to make such decisions.

So soon, RuBear? I thought you said you were going to leave for good...

But if I do, who else will congratulate you with another Russian victory? Of course I must stay, if only for that.

[iridescentrae]

Sorry, just got in on the conversation happening in this forum.

Do you think Americans (and the rest of the world) will look back on what’s happening in Ukraine right now and think it was a shame that we didn’t do more to help? Especially when it came out that 1) it was an illegal war 2) there were war crimes 3) a 40-mile long convoy of tanks started heading their way? Putin was already successful in Crimea. He might go after the rest of Eastern Europe after this. Then the rest of the world? What about China/Taiwan/the Uyghur genocide? Everywhere else? A lot of places are past the point where helping them defend themselves is obviously the ethical thing to do, and if we had the money and resources, we would just help anyone who needed help. There would be an international 911/police line or something.

[wjfox]

Yes, the humanitarian catastrophe is coming.

A humanitarian catastrophe entirely 100% created by the invading army.

[wjfox]

The solace for young Russians like me is that Putin is also digging his own grave in Ukraine

When sanctions bite and hard times hit the country, people will lose their fear. Then Putin will be finished

Tue 1 Mar 2022 09.01 GMT

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... -sanctions

[wjfox]