Ukraine War Watch Thread

[wjfox]

Kyiv is now moving out of bombardment range for Russian artillery:





Ukrainian paratroopers advance towards the city of Luhansk in the hope of retaking it after trashing the Russians:

[Certain Russian user]

Ukrainian paratroopers advance towards the city of Luhansk in the hope of retaking it after trashing the Russians:

Ukrainian paratroopers, my ass... retaking Luhansk, my ass...

I know, this will not convince you, but Lugansk is long in the deep rear. There were few Ukrainian brigades beyond the "contact line" on the city's outskirts in late February, but after LPR went on offensive in February 24, they were pushed back. Most of LPR territory (with important exception of Severodonetsk-Lysychansk agglomeration) is already free from Ukrainian forces.

[Certain Russian user]

Anyway, this whole thread is amazing. To future curious reader it will provide a good food for thought, not in the field of military affairs and the like, but in the way human mind works.

[R8Z]

Anyway, this whole thread is amazing. To future curious reader it will provide a good food for thought, not in the field of military affairs and the like. but in the way human mind works.

With all due respect but do you at least realize you're the most biased in the thread, right? e.g. you want to believe that the Russians are winning a total victory.

IMO Russian isn't even close to losing-the-war like most westerns tend to think due to the constant influx of positive propaganda, but Russians are far from winning as well.

Anyway, most here (including me) are just driven around by propaganda and have no real emotional attachment to the war other that it being the thing on the news for the current weeks.

[Certain Russian user]

Anyway, most here... have no real emotional attachment to the war...

Yes, this is noticeable.

but Russians are far from winning as well.

Yes, it will take time. In worst case the war will end with only incomplete Russian victory, when Ukrainian post-maidan regime will survive and "only" lose some small pieces of territory. This will surely be portrayed and widely trumpeted as "Russia's humiliating defeat".

[weatheriscool]

Ukraine says a 4th Russian general was killed trying to storm Mariupol

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksy announced Tuesday night that a fourth Russian general has been killed in Moscow's war in his country. Interior Ministry adviser Anton Gerashchenko later identified the slain officer as Maj. Gen. Oleg Mityaev, the 46-year-old commander of Russia's 150th motorized rifle division. Gerashchenko said Mityaev died Tuesday as Russian forces stormed Mariupol, The Associated Press reports. Russia has not confirmed the death.

Ukraine's armed forces "have adeptly exploited Russia's lack of maneuver, frustrating the Russian advance and inflicting heavy losses on the invading forces," Britain's Ministry of Defense said in its early Wednesday public intelligence assessment. A senior U.S. defense official estimated Tuesday that Ukraine and Russia both retain about 90 percent of their original combat power, and said Russia has now launched more than 950 missiles at Ukrainian targets in the first 20 days of the war.

Russia's ground invasion appears to be stalled, and on Tuesday evening Ukrainian forces repelled an attack on Kharkiv, the country's second largest city, according to regional leader Oleh Synehubov. The Ukrainian army was even able "to push the enemy back beyond its previous position," handing Russia a "shameful defeat," he added.

Ukraine's military also destroyed a number of Russian attack helicopters and other military vehicles parked at the Kherson International Airport on Tuesday, CNN reports, citing satellite images from Planet Labs. "It's the most destructive known strike the Ukrainian military has conducted against Russian helicopters during the war, with at least three Russian helicopters seen on fire, or destroyed, at the airport."

https://www.yahoo.com/news/ukraine-says ... 05283.html

[weatheriscool]

Theater in Mariupol where hundreds were taking refuge has been bombed, according to city council
Source: CNN

The Mariupol City Council has posted an image of the Ukrainian city's theater — where hundreds of people are said to have taken shelter — after it sustained heavy damage in a bombing Wednesday.

CNN has geolocated the image and confirmed it is of the theater. Videos showed a fire raging in the theater's ruins.

The city council said that Russian forces had "purposefully and cynically destroyed the Drama Theater in the heart of Mariupol. The plane dropped a bomb on a building where hundreds of peaceful Mariupol residents were hiding."

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/europe/live-news/uk ... 5aff1174c4

[weatheriscool]

U.S. embassy says Russian troops "shot and killed 10 people standing in line for bread" in northeast Ukraine

The U.S. Embassy in Ukraine said Russian troops "shot and killed 10 people standing in line for bread" on Wednesday in the decimated northeast Ukrainian city of Chernihiv. The embassy did not cite what evidence it had of the attack in a statement posted on its official Twitter account.

"Such horrific attacks must stop," the Embassy said in the tweet, adding that the U.S. government was "considering all available options to ensure accountability for any atrocity crimes in Ukraine."

...

There was little information on the alleged attack on civilians lining up for food in Chernihiv, but video posted to social media showed the purported aftermath, with a number of bodies on the ground.

One of those to post the video was Oleksandr Merezhko, deputy head of the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, and chair of its Foreign Affairs Committee.

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/russia-tro ... assy-says/

[weatheriscool]

Ukraine Mounts Counteroffensive to Drive Russians Back From Kyiv, Key Cities
Source: WSJ

YIV, Ukraine—Ukraine said its military had launched a counteroffensive in its capital, Kyiv, and other key cities, as President Volodymyr Zelensky urged the U.S. Congress to provide more weapons and increase economic pressure on Russia.

The thump of distant shelling echoed through the center of Kyiv overnight, while Ukrainian forces appeared to counterattack in the outlying towns of Irpin, Bucha and Hostomel, which have been severely damaged in weeks of street fighting and artillery exchanges. The city and the surrounding region were under an all-day curfew Wednesday.
Read live updates on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

Ukrainian forces also said they pressed an offensive south and east of the southern port of Mykolayiv, moving in the direction of Kherson, the only Ukrainian regional capital occupied by Russia since the war began Feb. 24. Ukraine said it carried out an airstrike on the Kherson airport, which is now a Russian air base, and satellite imagery of the tarmac showed seven destroyed or damaged Russian helicopters, some of them engulfed in flames. Kyiv also said it shot down two Russian Su-30SM jets over the Black Sea off Odessa.

Moscow has largely not commented on combat losses and said its campaign was progressing.

Read more: https://www.wsj.com/articles/ukraine-mo ... 1647428858

[Yuli Ban]

At the very least it seems clear the war is starting to wind down. At least I hope that's the case.

[R8Z]

Big thank, UK!

[R8Z]

Here's a demonstration of their thankfulness

blocked/4196

[Xyls]

The destruction of the civilian population of Mariupol is an intentional action on behalf of the Russians and are war crimes of the highest level. The amount of people killed here will likely make Srebrenica in 1995 look like child's play... and will rival great crimes against cities in Europe not seen since the first half of the 20th century...

Expect genocide indictments over this... not that Russian perps will likely ever be brought to account... expect this to poison relations with the West for a generation or more...

[Xyls]

[Cyber_Rebel]

While I can understand taking Russian polling data with a grain of salt (& Vodka) it's still likely that a significant portion of the population supports Russian ultra-nationalism and imperial ambitions. Why does everything nowadays have to be a remake?

[Maximus]

China's ambassdor to Ukraine has praised the strength of the Ukrainian people and promised to respect the choices of its sovereign government in a subtle move to balance its pro-Russia complexion.

At a meeting with regional authorities in Lviv on Monday, Fan Xianrong pledged to help Ukraine rebuild after the war. His message was a slight departure from the official line in Beijing, which still maintains general support for Moscow.

"China is a friendly country for the Ukrainian people. As an ambassador, I can responsibly say that China will forever be a good force for Ukraine, both economically and politically," said Fan, who relocated with his diplomatic staff from Kyiv toward the country's western border with Poland.

"We will always respect your state, we will develop relations on the basis of equality and mutual benefit. We will respect the path chosen by Ukrainians because this is the sovereign right of every nation," Fan told Maksym Kozytskyi, a Lviv military official, according to Ukraine's state news service Ukrinform.

https://www.newsweek.com/china-praises- ... rt-1688608

Well, what to make of this. It would seem Russia's great alliance with China might just only go so far. Maybe the Chinese have decided they don't want to risk their economy by further enabling Putin. Or maybe it's just China being smart as always and playing all sides.

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

[Certain Russian user]

Big thank, UK!

Yes, especially UK. Russian and Donbass troops took a lot of such trophies. People are saying US Javelins are rather shitty, but British NLAWs are rather good. Anyway, good or not so good, all such trophies ordered to be ceded to DPR and LPR armies. This is fair, I think. Even Britain must do something good in this war, if even against their will.

blocked_rozhin/32803

[Certain Russian user]

And this Bayraktar wasn't so lucky:

blocked/73075