Russia's Invasion of Ukraine

[N.E. Brigand]

On RT, the Russian-funded network that has frequently been carried in other countries, the network's broadcast director "suggests drowning or burning Ukrainian children, makes hideous comments about the rapes by Russian soldiers in Ukraine, and says Ukraine should not exist and Ukrainians who resist Russia should be shot." (Video at link.)

Meanwhile, Russia's defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, suggests that Ukraine will use a dirty bomb -- i.e., a conventional weapon that disperses nuclear contamination -- which means that Russia is considering doing so.

[Eldy]

A friend recommended this new PBS documentary about the crackdown on Russian journalists and activists opposing the war. It goes more or less as you'd expect.

[RoseMorninStar]

Frontline has great programs.

It bothers me that so many politicians in this country admire Putin and Kim Jong-un (and their ilk) and would like our country to emulate them.

[Eldy]

Today:

Kirill Stremousov: Senior Russian Kherson official dies in car crash, officials say - BBC News

Last month:

[Frelga]

A recap of the last couple months by the Ukrainian MOD.

[Dave_LF]

Looks like a Russian missile hit Poland and killed two people there. Generously, this was an accident, but regardless, there will be consequences.

[Dave_LF]

Seems like a "proportionate" response would be for NATO to declare that from now on, it will be using its own air defense systems to shoot down any missiles it sees over Ukraine.

[Frelga]

RT's designated crazy, Simonyan, is posting things like "Good evening, 1962," referring presumably to the Cuban missile crisis (to the extent anyone can tell dafuq she's raving about). On the mil blogger side, there is a strong "Oh crap" feeling thinly covered by bravado and blaming Ukraine. The oh crap part is probably correct.

The official response from the West is that they are still investigating.

The missiles were part of the barrage that hit Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv and Lviv. As in the past, they targeted apartments, power plants, and other civilian objects.

Edit: and here's Russian MOD officially denying that it was them.

[N.E. Brigand]

I see that Twitter's list of hot topics says: "Trending: WWIII."

[Dave_LF]

We've been in WWIII for at least a year now; against Russia, against Iran, against North Korea, against MAGA, and against all the rest. It's just that those without swords are still hoping that means they can't die upon them.

[Frelga]

If the West didn't ignore Chechnya, Moldova, Georgia, Syria, if they did not continue to pander to putin, we wouldn't be in this mess now. We haven't learned anything from 1930s.

[N.E. Brigand]

President Biden says there's some information indicating the missile's trajectory didn't originate in Russia, although he added that it's too early to say anything confidently. Some news reports say it may have been a Russian missile that was shot down by Ukrainian defenses and fell to earth in Poland.

[Frelga]

It could be a Russian missile fired from Belarus. Which might possibly make things worse.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

In truth, it was never a Russian missile at all, it was a Ukranian air defense missile.

[Frelga]

It's possible that a Ukrainian air defense missile failed to self destruct. Poland was still very clear that the blame was squarely on Russia for their attacks on Ukrainian civilians.

I don't think the possibility of Russia purposely bombing a NATO country was considered seriously, but it happening accidentally is highly probable, given that they were bombing Lviv, which is like 50 miles from the border. There were a lot of spoiled pants in Moscow, I suspect.

Meanwhile from TASS (Kremlin's official news agency)

Ukraine does not have the resources to attack Crimea, while the West will not help Kiev in this adventure, the chairman of the Federation Council’s committee on defense and security, Viktor Bondarev, said

Translation - Russia thinks they are about to lose Crimea.

[River]

Wow.

[N.E. Brigand]

In truth, it was never a Russian missile at all, it was a Ukranian air defense missile.

Here's a short, interesting piece at Semafor about how the AP mistakenly claimed that U.S. intelligence had assessed the missile came from Russia. The story was retracted the next day, and the reporter was fired, but it seems that others were also at fault.

[Eldy]

We can confirm. Regular mobiks are so mad at officers/kadyrovites who are staying far from action, that they are selling either coordinates of command centres or confirmation whether our hits have been successful.

If true ... hoo boy.

[N.E. Brigand]

"Russia stole at least $1 billion worth of Ukrainian wheat."

[Frelga]

They also looted the Kherson historical museum, sto!e several statues from the city squares, and abducted a donkey, a llama, and a raccoon from the zoo.

The raccoon in particular became a meme, and Ukrainian orgs offered a number of Russian POWs or the statue of the Empress Ekaterina the great in exchange for its safe return.

Meanwhile, failing on every battlefield, Russia continues to play to its only strength by committing war crimes and targeting civilian infrastructure. Large portions of Ukraine are now without electricity, the blackout that was visible from space. I don't know what they hope to accomplish except generally being evil. Being without power was a given in the early post Soviet days.

News from my home town are talking about how people are digging out antique irons that you heated on the stove, because they have gas so they can still iron things. Over here, I usually have electricity but I haven't ironed a thing since March 2020.