Russia's Invasion of Ukraine

[Frelga]

Kyiv is reopening after siege: 900 grocery stores, 460 cafes working, 535 car repair shops, 35 food markets, 55 bakeries, 75 clothes and shoes stores open, according to the city administration.

The map of businesses that are open: https://t.co/FMs5kY9ZZ1 via @KyivIndependent

[Eldy]

Anyone know what the memorial was for?

It's for the people killed during the Revolution of Dignity in 2014, and the preceding Euromaidan protests. Most of them were protesters killed by the security forces.

[Sunsilver]

Ukraine has a complicated history! I just Googled that. When President Yanucovich was deposed, and fled the country, he asked Putin to send troops to help.

This was regarded as treason.

[N.E. Brigand]

Russian State Media Airs Its Ultimate 'Revenge Plan' For America (The Daily Beast)

The plan is to polarize the American electorate and get Donald Trump elected president in 2024.

[N.E. Brigand]

Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida (who in most other respects is a shameless opportunist), is the vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee and has been sharing (probably with the approval of the Biden administration) information about how the U.S. assesses Russia's plans. Within the past hour, Rubio tweeted:

Russia plans to encircle Kyiv, force the legitimate govt of Ukraine to flee & install “Vichy Ukranian” puppets
Key to this plan is a large Russian Airborne Forces operation
We may see an attempt to execute on that operation within a matter of hours

As I said more than a month ago, any such puppets should carefully consider the examples of Philippe Pétain (sentenced to death, commuted to life in prison) and Vidkun Quisling (executed by firing squad) -- or less drastically and in Ukraine's own recent past, Viktor Yanukovych, who was pro-Russia, ousted in a popular uprising in 2014, and fled his country never to return.

The Ukrainian government says that Viktor Medvedchuk, who has been described as the most pro-Russian politician in that nation, and who has been under house arrest in his home in Kyiv since last May, has fled. He was considered by many the likeliest Quisling.

But fled to where and for what purpose? Was he considering my advice? Or is he trying to join up with the advancing Russian forces?

Update:

[N.E. Brigand]

U.S. President Joe Biden today referred to Russia's action in Ukraine as "genocide," explaining his use of the term this way:

"Yes, I called it genocide, because it's become clearer and clearer that Putin is just trying to wipe out the idea of even being Ukrainian . . . [it's] a horrible thing that the Russians have done in Ukraine . . . We’ll let the lawyers decide internationally it qualifies, but it sure seems that way to me."

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Speaking of Russia, I absolutely will not buy Ted Cruz's new book, but I am curious about why this picture was chosen for the cover:

[Frelga]

Isn't that Motherland Calls in Volgograd (former Stalingrad)?

Screenshot_20220412-164458.jpg (89.53 KiB) Viewed 1965 times

[Frelga]

So according to Russian state news agency RIA, Moskva, the Russian warship of the Snake Island infamy did go f---- itself

#BREAKING: Russian Ministry of Defence says ammunition has exploded after a fire on the Russian cruiser Moskva, causing serious damage- RIA

According to Ukraine, the fire was caused by them hitting it with two Neptune missiles.

Bellingcat described Moskva as not only the Black Sea's military flagship, but a an icon of pride. Ah well.

[N.E. Brigand]

Isn't that Motherland Calls in Volgograd (former Stalingrad)?

Yep. As you probably know, it's the tallest statue in Europe, the tallest statue outside of Asia, and more than 100 feet taller than the Statue of Liberty. It commemorates the Battle of Stalingrad in which Russia fought against Nazi invaders. So why does it appear that Ted Cruz is using it as a symbol of American liberal judicial practices? Is he saying he's pro-Nazi?

So according to Russian state news agency RIA: Moskva, the Russian warship of the Snake Island infamy, did go f---- itself:

#BREAKING: Russian Ministry of Defence says ammunition has exploded after a fire on the Russian cruiser Moskva, causing serious damage- RIA

According to Ukraine, the fire was caused by them hitting it with two Neptune missiles.

Bellingcat described Moskva as not only the Black Sea's military flagship, but a an icon of pride. Ah well.

(source)

Waiting for Russia's advocates to claim that this is a strategic sinking that Russia meant to happen.

[River]

I'm really wondering how the fighting in the Donbas is going to actually go. Everyone's got Russia down as the heavy favorite because of the terrain but it seems like that would just make it easier for the tractors to come out and get them.

On a more serious note, the US will be sending heavy equipment and sharing more intelligence. It's pretty clear at this point that Ukraine will make good use of everything they get. It's also pretty clear that any hope for productive peace talks died with the residents of Bucha. Zelenskyy's face in that picture...

[N.E. Brigand]

Actual image from Wikipedia's "Slava-class cruiser" page, about 90 minutes ago:

[RoseMorninStar]

Evidently this is an escalation. Previous attempts were washed out with lights. Benjamin Wittes/Twitter

[Frelga]

Rose, that's oddly adorable.

The internet is having a field day with the sinking of Moskva. In replies to the state news agencies, Russian Twitter is riffing off some meme I don't recognize, "Due to the intersection of the course with two oblong objects, a thump occurred on the deck, which led to smoke and the redistribution of ammunition throughout
the ship's hull. The crew was optimized, the ship successfully relocated along the vertical axis with a negative ascent."

Only yesterday, Ukraine released the design of a postal stamp commemorating the Snake Island incident, where Moskva was told to go where it ended up today

20220413_175443.jpg (40.63 KiB) Viewed 1903 times

Sources referencing intercepted Russian transmission say that thd ship has sunk. They say that Ukraine flew a TB2 UCAV (Bayraktar drone) to distract the ship while it was targeted by the Neptunes, new Ukrainian-designed and built anti-ship missiles.

[Sunsilver]

Priceless! I so hope this report is accurate, though news sources are still saying it's unconfirmed!

Frelga, there's no meme they are riffing off in that report. They are merely doing their best to avoid saying the ship was hit by missiles. It caught fire, its munitions exploded and it sank! Just a bunch of fancy words to hide the naked truth...

Oh, this makes such WONDERFUL propaganda! They're probably hasn't been a hit like this since the Allies sank the Bismarck in WWII!

[N.E. Brigand]

Battered Russian Flagship Cruise Limps to Port

Apparently it's still on fire but it didn't sink and its engines still work.

[Frelga]

No, it sunk-sunk. TASS and RIA finally admitted it.



The prize goes to Lenta saying that the loss was insignificant, really. Back when TASS was still saying that the ship was afloat and the fire was out.

PS I advise against clicking on any link to a Russian web site, as they are sure to be full of malware.

[N.E. Brigand]

No, it sunk-sunk. TASS and RIA finally admitted it.

Thanks for that update. Weirdly, the earlier USA Today report to which I linked was based on an unidentified "senior Pentagon official," whom one would think would have known the truth by that point.

[Sunsilver]

A link I clicked on earlier today said there were three different stories about what was happening with the ship, depending on whether you were listening to Ukraine officials, Russia or the Pentagon!

But since this is from the official government news agency, I'll take it as being true. They would try to put the best possible face on it, but sunk is sunk, no way to spin THAT to make it sound better!

[RoseMorninStar]

Putin purged large numbers of FSB agents in retribution for poor Ukraine intelligence, Russia expert says


It seems that Putin thought Ukraine would be a cake walk because (he thought) he had good information from paid FSB agents/moles within the country who were supposed to be setting up support/supply lines, etc..working from within. However, it seems these agents may have pocketed the money that was supposed to have gone into these operations and handed in reports that were in line with what Putin wanted to hear. If this is the case, it's no wonder their intelligence/military is in trouble.

[Frelga]

The latest TASS update came out after Turkey said they picked up about 50 survivors. At that point, it stopped being Ukraine's word vs. Russia. Until then, it looks like the Pentagon gave Russia the benefit of the doubt.

Russia is still not admitting to Moskva being hit by a missile. Accidentally setting your own best ship on fire and blowing it up is a better look, apparently.

But also they said they will avenge it. On whom, is unclear since they claim it was a self-inflicted accident.

I guess they could rain missiles on Odessa from their recently modernized flagship.

Oh wait.