Русский корабль - иди нахуй

[SL Xpress 7518]

Financial Times reporting Russia amassing fixed and rotary wing aircraft at the border. 

Also, numerous reports also reflected here that Switzerland and Brazil refuse to supply some of their Gepard ammunition to Ukraine. Rheinmetall is allegedly building a new factory and will start their first shipments of ammunition in July. Maybe reconfiguring an existing factory? That seems like a dubious time line to me, but if the Germans say they're going to do something by a certain time, I tend to believe them. 

Something at the end about the US possibly allowing other countries to provide F-16s eventually, but the priority right now is air defense systems and lots of ammunition.

https://www.ft.com/content/3fd6e91f-71e4-4c02-9360-be20a2a78763

Spoiler

Western intelligence shows Russians amassing aircraft on Ukraine border

Nato allies to prioritise rapid shipments of air defences and ammunition as conflict enters new phase

 

 

A Ukrainian missile launcher attacks Russian positions during fighting in Donetsk on Monday © Evgeniy Maloletka/AP

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Western intelligence shows Russia is amassing aircraft close to the border with Ukraine, an indication that Moscow is preparing to throw its jets and helicopters into the war to support a stuttering land offensive.

The fear of a looming air war in Ukraine has prompted allies to prioritise rapid shipments of air defence assets and artillery ammunition to Kyiv, western officials said, to respond to the shift in approach by Moscow as the almost year-long war enters a new phase.

 

Intelligence shared among Nato allies shows Russia is amassing fixed-wing and rotary aircraft close to the border with Ukraine, according to two officials briefed on its contents.

In meetings with allied countries supporting Ukraine on Tuesday, US defence secretary Lloyd Austin highlighted the threat of Russia’s significant remaining air force.

“He was very clear that we have a short window of time to help the Ukrainians to prepare for an offensive and that they had some pretty specific needs,” a senior US administration official said.

“The Russian land forces are pretty depleted so it’s the best indication that they will turn this into an air fight. If the Ukrainians are going to survive . . . they need to have as many air defence capabilities and as much ammunition . . . as possible,” the official added.

 

In a news conference later on Tuesday, Austin said the US did not see imminent signs of a “massive aerial attack”, but that Washington and its allies are rushing as much air defence capability to the country as they can.

“We do know Russia has substantial aircraft . . . and a lot of capability left,” Austin said. Ukraine’s current air defences were “not enough and we’re going to keep pushing until we get more because that threat is out there”, he said. “We want to make sure they have the ability to protect themselves in the event Russia decides to introduce its air force into the fight.”

Since the first weeks of the war, following president Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion on February 24 last year, Russia has used its sizeable air forces sparingly, relying instead on long-range missiles, artillery and land-based troops.

Western analysts had speculated that this could have been because of a fear in Moscow that Ukraine’s air defence systems posed a threat to Russian aircraft, or because its fleet was in poor condition.

 

But intelligence assessments indicate that Russia’s air force is “actually quite preserved”, a senior Nato diplomat said.

“More than 80 per cent probably is safe and available . . . So we are expecting that they’re preparing to launch an air campaign and they’ve been trying to [disable] Ukrainian air defences with attacks,” the diplomat said.

The warning comes as some 54 western allies used a meeting at Nato’s headquarters on Tuesday to lay out additional pledges of military equipment for Ukraine. The US is expected to announce another assistance package later this week, which will mostly include air defence and ammunition, said people familiar with the matter.

Ukrainian and Nato officials have in recent days warned of ammunition shortages, with western capitals growing concerned at the effect of strained defence supply chains and dwindling domestic stockpiles.

 

These immediate needs trumped longer-term requests for materiel such as fighter jets or quicker shipments of western battle tanks, officials said, given Russia’s new offensive, which Nato said on Monday had already begun.

“What Ukraine tells us that they really need is ammunition and additional air defence capabilities,” a western official said.

Germany’s defence minister Boris Pistorius on Tuesday said the arms producer Rheinmetall would restart production of ammunition for Gepard anti-aircraft guns as part of the new push to support Kyiv.

The Gepard, which the German military decommissioned in 2010, has proved to be an effective weapon for the Ukrainian military to shoot down drones and low-flying missiles. But ammunition has been running low, and a recent effort by Berlin to persuade Switzerland and Brazil to replenish it from their own stocks ended in failure.

“We will quickly start our own production of Gepard ammunition at Rheinmetall,” Pistorius said. “I am very happy we have been able to guarantee the delivery of this important part of air defence.”

While Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week rekindled a debate among allies about whether or not to send fighter jets, a US official said these were less important than ammunition in the near term as Ukraine looked to maintain an edge.

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“What we really have to concentrate on now is Ukraine’s ability to defend the air and they’ll do that through air defence artillery, equipped with the proper ammunition. Fighter jets are not and will not be as capable against the Russian air force as an integrated air defence system,” said a US official.

While no decisions were expected on Tuesday, the issue of supplying fighter jets was to be discussed, two people briefed on the preparations said. President Joe Biden has said the US will not send F-16s but American officials concede they are likely to provide Ukraine with more sophisticated air power as the war drags on — or at least give a green light to the transfer of F-16s from other powers.

Additional reporting by Laura Pitel in Berlin

 

[Schulz2.0 29011]

[Schulz2.0 29011]

 

[Schulz2.0 29011]

 

 

 

[KYHorn 17154]

 

Edited February 15, 2023 by KYHorn

[KYHorn 17154]

 

 

 

[DigglerontheHoof 21225]

These piecemeal bans are starting to piss me off.  Cut these motherfuckers off.  Period.   Jesus titty-fucking Christ. 

[statsman 5478]

I get that it’s happening this way because they want to make sure their supply chains have work-around first. That’s why the pressure is increasing like a ratchet instead of a hammer. The bad news for Russia is that this means the work-around will become the new norms, and an eventual lifting of sanctions won’t have an immediate positive effect for Russia. 
 
I gather that Russia’s defense supply chain issues are because their central planners are trying to avoid an urgent transformation of their economy to a war footing, because of all the issues that brings. 
 
Whichever side, east or west, is able to turn the heat up fastest- that’s the side with a huge and maybe decisive advantage. 

[Bevo 13600]

5 hours ago, SL Xpress said:

While no decisions were expected on Tuesday, the issue of supplying fighter jets was to be discussed, two people briefed on the preparations said. President Joe Biden has said the US will not send F-16s but American officials concede they are likely to provide Ukraine with more sophisticated air power as the war drags on — or at least give a green light to the transfer of F-16s from other powers.

I guess the slow supply is still a thing - maybe we want to deplete Russia's capabilities - I guess fear of escalation could be a possibility as well, but I don't see how slowly releasing weapons lessens the possibility of escalation. Maybe it is just rhetoric until Ukraine pilots are fully trained.

[statsman 5478]

Shit getting real

Quote

https://www.wsj.com/articles/russia-has ... nts_sector

The U.K. said Russia has deployed nearly its entire military in Ukraine, increasing pressure along the front line in the east of the country but falling short of a breakthrough.

Ukrainian officials have warned of a renewed Russian onslaught to coincide with the first anniversary of Moscow’s invasion next week. But some Western officials say the offensive is unlikely to be one single event. Russian forces have redoubled attacks along the front lines in eastern Ukraine in recent weeks, eking out gains after a series of reversals last year. 
“We now estimate 97% of the whole Russian army is in Ukraine,” U.K. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace told the British Broadcasting Corp.’s “Today” show on Wednesday.

Russian forces were trying to advance on all fronts, he said, adding: “We haven’t actually seen this massing of a single force to punch through in a big offensive. We’ve just seen an effort to advance, and that has come at a huge cost to the Russian 

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Ukraine is seeking to absorb the attacks, buying time to build up its own forces for an offensive to retake territories occupied by Russia. Western officials expect Ukraine to launch a counteroffensive in the spring.

Andriy Yusov, a spokesman for Ukraine’s military intelligence, said Russian forces were rushing to gain ground before Kyiv amassed sufficient combat power for its own offensive. “The Russians understand that the continuation of the Ukrainian counteroffensive and operations to liberate our territories are inevitable,” he said. “That’s why the enemy is in a hurry.”

Fighting has been particularly fierce in the eastern city of Bakhmut, where Ukrainian forces are resisting Russian moves to encircle the city.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said grueling battles in the east were depleting Russia’s capacity to mount a broader offensive. In his nightly address, Mr. Zelensky said the situation in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk remains extremely difficult.

“We must understand the significance of these battles,” Mr. Zelensky said. “That is where the unprecedented destruction of Russian potential is taking place now.”

Mr. Wallace’s remarks came as the U.S. and other allies gathered for a second day of talks on boosting supplies to Kyiv. On Tuesday, Kyiv’s allies pledged more air-defense systems and training during talks of the so-called Contact Group on Ukrainian Defense. Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said talks on Wednesday would focus on the provision of tanks.

An immediate priority, however, is munitions. Ukrainian troops have fired so many rounds at Russia’s invading forces over the past year that Kyiv’s allies are struggling to meet demand and have had to increase arms production.

Western countries are hoping to reduce Kyiv’s firing rate by improving Ukrainian tactics and coordination through training, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said.

Russian military-industrial output is also struggling to keep pace with the war, the U.K.’s Defense Ministry said Wednesday. The ministry pointed to a televised meeting last month in which Russian President Vladimir Putin castigated the deputy prime minister responsible for the defense industry for “fooling around.”

“Production is almost certainly falling short of the Russian demands to resource the Ukraine campaign and restore its longer-term defense requirements,” the ministry said.

Mr. Putin urged the Emergency Situations Ministry to improve the country’s civil-defense system, in remarks broadcast on state television.

State news agencies, meanwhile, said Russia’s upper house of parliament, the Federation Council, would hold a meeting on Feb. 22, a day after Mr. Putin is set to deliver a state of the nation address ahead of the first anniversary of the invasion.

On Feb. 21 last year, Mr. Putin recognized the independence of Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions, setting the stage for the invasion three days later.


Ukrainian forces are expected to launch a counteroffensive in the spring.
PHOTO: STRINGER/REUTERS
—Max Colchester and Evan Gershkovich contributed to this article.

Write to Isabel Coles at isabel.coles@wsj.com and David Luhnow at david.luhnow@wsj.com

 

[Parliament 14292]

1 hour ago, DigglerontheHoof said:

These piecemeal bans are starting to piss me off.  Cut these motherfuckers off.  Period.   Jesus titty-fucking Christ. 

I give the allies an A- for their overall efforts.  Remember that 12 months ago we were just trying to make sure the weapons we gave Ukraine didn't end up in Russia and China getting reverse-engineered. Fast forward to today and 97% of Russia's army is punching a breyer rabbit.

But yeah, they can get a A+ from me by getting serious with tanks, not these 10 from here, 5 from there deals.  Long range ATACMS and F16's if they make sesnse.  This is WW3, and I thing they still aren't taking it serious.

Edited February 15, 2023 by Parliament

[GreenspointTexas 9664]

Looks like Russia has pulled their goalie with regards to Moscow. Now its time for us to invade

[bernorange 8363]

On 2/9/2023 at 5:30 PM, bernorange said:

Sanctions starting to bite:

https://www.kitco.com/news/2023-02-09/Russia-sells-some-gold-as-its-budget-deficit-reaches-25-billion.html

Quote

The coming months will be critical in figuring out how Russia's economy is holding up in the face of a new suite of sanctions, and for how long it can continue pouring money into its military assault on Ukraine.

Russia's budget deficit hit a record 1.8 trillion Russian rubles ($24.4 million) in January, with spending growing by 58% from the previous year while revenues fell by more than a third.
...
For the month of January as a whole, the average Urals price edged back up to $50 a barrel, and both Granville and Weafer said it would be important to gauge the impact on Urals price and Russian exports as the full impact of the latest round of sanctions becomes clearer.

Sanctioning countries extended bans to bar vessels from carrying Russian-originated petroleum products from Feb. 5, and the International Energy Agency expects Russian exports to plummet as it struggles to find alternative trading partners.

The export price for Russian crude is seen as a central determinant for how quickly Russia's National Wealth Fund will be drawn down ...

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/15/ukraine-economists-say-moscow-and-putin-wont-drain-war-chest-any-time-soon.html

[SquishMitten 10430]

Something I hadn’t really thought about before, but now I can’t think of any good reason we aren’t doing it. What’s the justification for not sending in something like UN peacekeepers to man AD systems, particularly in civilian areas? This would be purely defensive and wouldn’t have anything to do with protecting military assets of Ukraine, or at least it could be sold that way.
 

Or is that not really something they need? Is the real problem that they just don’t have enough systems in place rather than a lack of training?

[atomheartbevo 89788]

1 hour ago, statsman said:

I get that it’s happening this way because they want to make sure their supply chains have work-around first. That’s why the pressure is increasing like a ratchet instead of a hammer. The bad news for Russia is that this means the work-around will become the new norms, and an eventual lifting of sanctions won’t have an immediate positive effect for Russia. 

It's frustrating, but we can't go dropping F-16s into Ukraine, and then not have the trained pilots and mechanics, and supply chains in place, because all of the sudden you end up with fighters sitting at airbases for a lack of parts or repairs, which then becomes a major target for Russian missiles.  There's not a big cushion of airspace for Ukraine in terms of when the missiles are launched vs when those fighters have to get off the ground.  Hard to justify to the American people a $60 million (or more) aircraft getting knocked out by a missile..

But if we get a really robust air defense system in place, which we are doing, that makes it a lot easier for the folks on the ground to do their thing, and we aren't having to sweat seeing a few hundreds of millions of dollars of aircraft going up in smoke because of a few million-dollar missiles from Russia.

1 hour ago, statsman said:

I gather that Russia’s defense supply chain issues are because their central planners are trying to avoid an urgent transformation of their economy to a war footing, because of all the issues that brings. 

They have two major problems right now - they are trying to send their most productive folks off to war (18-35 year olds), and they have supply-chain problems.  They can't even get chips for airbags in their cars (or rather they are diverting them to the military industrial complex).

1 hour ago, Bevo said:

I guess the slow supply is still a thing - maybe we want to deplete Russia's capabilities - I guess fear of escalation could be a possibility as well, but I don't see how slowly releasing weapons lessens the possibility of escalation. Maybe it is just rhetoric until Ukraine pilots are fully trained.

I don't think the escalation thing is an issue any longer.  Russia kept threatening nukes, kept threatening to strike NATO cities and they haven't done squat, even as we are building up a healthy supply of armored vehicles while Russian troops are running across open fields and getting slaughtered because they don't have enough tanks/APCs/IFVs to cover them.

[atomheartbevo 89788]

2 minutes ago, SquishMitten said:

Something I hadn’t really thought about before, but now I can’t think of any good reason we aren’t doing it. What’s the justification for not sending in something like UN peacekeepers to man AD systems, particularly in civilian areas? This would be purely defensive and wouldn’t have anything to do with protecting military assets of Ukraine, or at least it could be sold that way.

Or is that not really something they need? Is the real problem that they just don’t have enough systems in place rather than a lack of training?

I don't think they have enough systems yet in place - they have the manpower for what they currently have.

But if they did it, what happens when those UN peacekeepers start getting killed when Russia targets those locations?  Russia doesn't dare deliberately target embassies (or if they have, we haven't noticed it because Kyiv's air defenses work decently), but Russia may decide to kill some UN peacekeepers who, in Russia's eyes, are in an active war zone.  They may decide to see those countries sending peacekeepers can stomach seeing their folks killed in Ukraine.

[Pato del Muerto 52589]

32 minutes ago, GreenspointTexas said:

Looks like Russia has pulled their goalie with regards to Moscow. Now its time for us to invade

Wonder if russia would panic if Poland started massing troops at their border on the road to Moscow right now. 

[BamaATL 16593]

I read an article the other day, and for the life of me I can't find the link (my apologies), but it was very interesting in regard to russian military aviation.  Basically, the russian's never designed their air force to be deep strike capable.  They were designed with the idea in mind that they were for ground support, with mobile air defense near the ground forces.  In essence, they were always looked at from a designer standpoint of being ground complimentary because of the war they anticipated using these in, which of course dates back to Soviet tactics and fears of a ground conflict/invasion from the west.  This would explain their complete lack of an ability to establish air superiority in the early days, and as Ukraine has more and more air defense come online, they are effectively sidelined beyond the current lines.  Further, their pilots are trained to operate in this environment, not in any deep strike sort of manner.  

Another big obvious difference is that we have special design planes for certain types of missions.  Because the Soviets/russians couldn't afford to pay for many different types of military craft, they did the cheap thing, which is to make everything multi-purpose.  The phrase "jack of all trades, master of none" certainly seems to apply.  So while their planes are largely well built, general machines, they aren't mission specific, save general ground support.  

Because of all this, even if their intel was good (it's shit), they can't put air behind lines in an attempt to cut supply (or at least do it an any effective manner), hence the ground and pound tactics.  Save the drones, this is quiet literally their only option given their capabilities.  

[atomheartbevo 89788]

1 hour ago, statsman said:

But some Western officials say the offensive is unlikely to be one single event. Russian forces have redoubled attacks along the front lines in eastern Ukraine in recent weeks, eking out gains after a series of reversals last year.  “We now estimate 97% of the whole Russian army is in Ukraine,” U.K. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace told the British Broadcasting Corp.’s “Today” show on Wednesday.

Russian forces were trying to advance on all fronts, he said, adding: “We haven’t actually seen this massing of a single force to punch through in a big offensive. We’ve just seen an effort to advance, and that has come at a huge cost to the Russians

Yeah, if they were going to do do a massive push on the 24th, we would have already seen the buildup of troops.

But then, we've seen recently what happens when Russians mass up, and that wasn't even a HIMARS hit (I don't think).

[SL Xpress 7518]

11 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

I don't think they have enough systems yet in place - they have the manpower for what they currently have.

But if they did it, what happens when those UN peacekeepers start getting killed when Russia targets those locations?  Russia doesn't dare deliberately target embassies (or if they have, we haven't noticed it because Kyiv's air defenses work decently), but Russia may decide to kill some UN peacekeepers who, in Russia's eyes, are in an active war zone.  They may decide to see those countries sending peacekeepers can stomach seeing their folks killed in Ukraine.

How exactly does the UN send peacekeepers with Russia able to veto it in the security council? That’s not how that works. 

Generally when peacekeepers go into an area they are basically eunuchs. They don’t take any active part in the fighting so as not to jeopardize their “neutral” status. They’re often not all that terrific of troops, either, depending on which country chose to send them. 

None of that is a feasible solution. Basically any activity by the UN - for example the work being done to ensure the nuclear power plants are safe - is done with the cooperation of all parties. Specifically when one of those parties gets a permanent veto at the security council level. 

Maybe a UN peacekeeping force can be deployed as part of the cessation of hostilities? But even then it would be highly doubtful. It’s sure not going to happen right now in any form. And specifically as air defense crew? Nope nope nope. 

Even NATO crews aren’t going to happen. Nobody wants their troops on the ground in Ukraine in a combat status, which manning air defense system on Ukrainian soil most certainly is. At most it would all be done under the table, with volunteers going over there to join the fight on their own initiative, similar to American pilots who joined both world wars prior to the US entering the fight. 

[atomheartbevo 89788]

 

[SL Xpress 7518]

11 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

I don't think they have enough systems yet in place - they have the manpower for what they currently have.

But if they did it, what happens when those UN peacekeepers start getting killed when Russia targets those locations?  Russia doesn't dare deliberately target embassies (or if they have, we haven't noticed it because Kyiv's air defenses work decently), but Russia may decide to kill some UN peacekeepers who, in Russia's eyes, are in an active war zone.  They may decide to see those countries sending peacekeepers can stomach seeing their folks killed in Ukraine.

How exactly does the UN send peacekeepers with Russia able to veto it in the security council? That’s not how that works. 

Generally when peacekeepers go into an area they are basically eunuchs. They don’t take any active part in the fighting so as not to jeopardize their “neutral” status. They’re often not all that terrific of troops, either, depending on which country chose to send them. 

None of that is a feasible solution. Basically any activity by the UN - for example the work being done to ensure the nuclear power plants are safe - is done with the cooperation of all parties. Specifically when one of those parties gets a permanent veto at the security council level. 

Maybe a UN peacekeeping force can be deployed as part of the cessation of hostilities? But even then it would be highly doubtful. It’s sure not going to happen right now in any form. And specifically as air defense crew? Nope nope nope. 

Even NATO crews aren’t going to happen. Nobody wants their troops on the ground in Ukraine in a combat status, which manning air defense system on Ukrainian soil most certainly is. At most it would all be done under the table, with volunteers going over there to join the fight on their own initiative, similar to American pilots who joined both world wars prior to the US entering the fight. 

[atomheartbevo 89788]

 

[atomheartbevo 89788]

Not the kind of metal detecting I would enjoy

 

[SquishMitten 10430]

44 minutes ago, SL Xpress said:

How exactly does the UN send peacekeepers with Russia able to veto it in the security council? That’s not how that works. 

I used the term "UN peacekeepers" as a general point of reference. What I really meant was just some trained troops who were able to operate the best systems we (or other allies) have. But atomheart made me realize a valid argument against it. In my scenario, where such participation would only be in civilian areas, that doesn't really provide a robust enough network to ensure their safety. Russia would certainly try to overrun those positions with a shit ton of missiles, and they'd eventually be successful. That wouldn't play well here. Plus, I assume there are plenty of veteran volunteers over there already lending a hand with these things. 

[atomheartbevo 89788]

 

[Bevo 13600]

4 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

Not the kind of metal detecting I would enjoy

 

[Trey3216 15355]

3 hours ago, statsman said:

I get that it’s happening this way because they want to make sure their supply chains have work-around first. That’s why the pressure is increasing like a ratchet instead of a hammer. The bad news for Russia is that this means the work-around will become the new norms, and an eventual lifting of sanctions won’t have an immediate positive effect for Russia. 
 
I gather that Russia’s defense supply chain issues are because their central planners are trying to avoid an urgent transformation of their economy to a war footing, because of all the issues that brings. 
 
Whichever side, east or west, is able to turn the heat up fastest- that’s the side with a huge and maybe decisive advantage. 

The big thing is it gives us the opportunity to plainly see where all the "back door" dealings happen, and allows us to hammer those nations even harder as well.  We're tightening about 7 nooses with every new sanction as opposed to 1.  

[Bevo 13600]

2 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

[JesusSweatDuck 17809]

9 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

Not the kind of metal detecting I would enjoy

 

Before I played the video, I thought both of his legs had been blown off at the knees

[BamaATL 16593]

In regard to mines, I have robots that clean my pool, vacuum my house, and I know they exist to cut the lawn at night (yes I am lazy, and yes spending a couple grand to never cut the lawn again is enticing to me).   Can someone explain to me why the good folks at roomba, or some other robot company can't mass produce GPS robots to sweep any area for mines without putting human lives at risk?  

[BehoId, The Underminer! 11669]

3 minutes ago, BamaATL said:

In regard to mines, I have robots that clean my pool, vacuum my house, and I know they exist to cut the lawn at night (yes I am lazy, and yes spending a couple grand to never cut the lawn again is enticing to me).   Can someone explain to me why the good folks at roomba, or some other robot company can't mass produce GPS robots to sweep any area for mines without putting human lives at risk?  

some mines are more sophisticated now.  tuned to what they are supposed to blow up with magnets and super unsensitive pressure plates and what not.  not step-on-a-switch wwii version.

[atomheartbevo 89788]

19 minutes ago, JesusSweatDuck said:

Before I played the video, I thought both of his legs had been blown off at the knees

[tokamak 6440]

Is it assumed that Russia has an essentially unlimited number of troops at its disposal via Wagner/mercenaries? How are they paying them all?

As grim as it is, kinda seems like the only way this ends is for one side to run out of either troops or materiel.

[WhatTheBuck 28798]

27 minutes ago, tokamak said:

Is it assumed that Russia has an essentially unlimited number of troops at its disposal via Wagner/mercenaries? How are they paying them all?

As grim as it is, kinda seems like the only way this ends is for one side to run out of either troops or materiel.

I’ve heard reports of their conscripts complaining about not getting paid. I imagine Putin figures the longer he waits to pay them, the fewer he’ll have to pay. 

[Viper 12112]

4 hours ago, DigglerontheHoof said:

These piecemeal bans are starting to piss me off.  Cut these motherfuckers off.  Period.   Jesus titty-fucking Christ. 

it seems like a good part of these rounds of sanctions now are plugging up loopholes the Russians are using to get around earlier sanctions

[JesusSweatDuck 17809]

41 minutes ago, tokamak said:

Is it assumed that Russia has an essentially unlimited number of troops at its disposal via Wagner/mercenaries? How are they paying them all?

As grim as it is, kinda seems like the only way this ends is for one side to run out of either troops or materiel.

News is also getting back to the jails about the death rate and they're running out of "volunteers."  Combine that with the average health of a russian prisoner, and you start running out of warm bodies quickly.

[Gravy Train 974]

 

[Gravy Train 974]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-64647267

Quote

Russian journalist Maria Ponomarenko has been jailed for six years for posting on social media about a deadly attack by Russian warplanes on a theatre in Ukraine.

The court in Barnaul in Siberia found her guilty of spreading "fake news", under laws introduced aimed at stifling dissent about the invasion of Ukraine.

She was also barred from activities as a journalist for five years.

Hundreds of civilians died when the Mariupol theatre was bombed last March.

Ponomarenko was detained last April, weeks after the bombing, for posting that Russian warplanes had carried out the attack even though the Russian defence ministry had denied it.

She is one of a growing number of Russian dissidents jailed for criticising the war in Ukraine.

Some 1,200 civilians were seeking shelter inside the theatre when it was bombed by Russian fighter jets. Ukrainian authorities believe 300 people were killed but an Associated Press investigation said the number was closer to 600. Many of the bodies were found in the basement.

Amnesty International said it was a war crime carried out by Russian forces and the international monitoring group OSCE said it had not received any indication to back up Russian allegations that a Ukrainian battalion had blown up the theatre.

Prosecutors said Maria Ponomarenko had committed a criminal offence brought in within days of the invasion of spreading "knowingly false information" about the Russian armed forces.

Addressing the court ahead of her sentence she stressed that under Russia's constitution she had done nothing wrong: "Had I committed a real crime then it would be possible to ask for leniency, but again, due to my moral and ethical qualities, I would not do this."

Declaring herself a patriotic, opposition pacifist, she ended her address by saying: "No totalitarian regime has ever been as strong as before its collapse."

The journalist and activist, who has two young children, has suffered mental health problems in jail, according to her lawyer, and last year compared her conditions in pre-trial detention to torture.

 

Last summer, Moscow councillor Alexei Gorinov was jailed for seven years after he was filmed speaking out against Russia's war in Ukraine in a city council meeting. Earlier this week a UN working group called for his release, concluding that his detention was arbitrary and contravened the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

In December one of Russia's most prominent opposition figures, Ilya Yashin, was jailed for eight-and-a-half years for spreading "fake news" about the military after he went on YouTube to condemn the killing of hundreds of Ukrainian civilians by Russian occupying forces in Bucha, near Kyiv.

 

[MillerEP 30496]

 

[MillerEP 30496]

 

[KYHorn 17154]

 

 

[crash_davis 23115]

SIAP

He's seen some shit. Tennessee volunteer for Ukraine in the war.

https://www.reddit.com/r/UkraineWarVideoReport/comments/1132vxn/tennessee_volunteer_this_war_is_hell_the_stuff/

 

[Trey3216 15355]

2 hours ago, WhatTheBuck said:

I’ve heard reports of their conscripts complaining about not getting paid. I imagine Putin figures the longer he waits to pay them, the fewer he’ll have to pay. 

Easier to pay their mother with a stolen washing machine or fur coat than pay their son a salary.   

[KYHorn 17154]

I wonder if they have some equivalent of the GI bill that the soldiers can use to pay for the course.

 

 

[Trey3216 15355]

1 minute ago, KYHorn said:

I wonder if they have some equivalent of the GI bill that the soldiers can use to pay for the course.

 

 

“He got our toilet on the Mobik bill, but it wasn’t worth all he had to rape to get it.  He stole body parts to make ends meet, covered in blood from his head to his feet.  Cussin the snow and the lack of heat, and HIMARS” 

[MillerEP 30496]

 

[KYHorn 17154]

 

 

 

[Brisketexan 105319]

 
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Kill. More. More. More.
Grind the meat till Russia is out of meat. That’s how they want it to be, so….let it be.

[KYHorn 17154]