Will Putin Invade Ukraine?

[Cassia]

Twitter is forcing me to login to view but someone posted a video in the comments of Private Conscriptovich on parade, getting (I'm assuming accidentally) run over by a Russian apc.  Is that right?

Yeah....Barney Fife would be a better soldier !

[Cassia]

Of the new Russian recruits there will be a small percentage who are smart natural soldiers and will survive and learn. My father was drafted for Korea and he said the 6-week boot camp was minimal prep and most of his compatriots were dead within 2 months. They would fire bazooka rockets that leave smoke tails and stay put, for example. He would run away before the responding mortars came in.

[Shiranu]

He got back up and got back in formation afterwards, so maybe it wasn't as bad as it looked?

Adrenaline is a hell of a drug, to be fair.

[Hydra009]

Those reactive armor plates would probably kill everyone on board if activated.  There's a reason why they're mounted on tanks and not vans.

[ferdmonger]

A friend I grew up with in high school relayed this story from WWII.

His father was in an artillery unit, and he noticed the shelling getting closer and closer. We can't move the artillery, so we have to move. They have us pegged. He left for protection while others refused to leave and his artillery unit was obliterated.

The guy was superintendent of our school.  He made it. Weird things that jog your memory.

[Hydra009]

The UN voted on a motion to condemn Russia's annexation of Ukrainian land.  Russia pushed for it to be a secret vote, apparently banking on the cryptofascist vote.  That was rejected, so it was a public vote.

5 countries supported the illegal land-grab scheme.  Russia (duh), Syria (Russian puppet state), Belarus (Russian puppet state), North Korea (ideologically similar to Russia, fellow pariah state), and Nicaragua (which previously condemned the invasion, but apparently not the resulting conquest of land)

The sad truth is that Nicaragua is a backsliding democracy which has gotten cozy with Russia in recent years, rubberstamping Russia's conquest of Crimea before the bodies were cold and allegedly (consider the source) "requesting" Russian troops.  Ask Georgia and Moldova how that goes.

There's not really much teeth to the UN resolution (a 15-year-old with a quadcopter spotting a Russian convoy has more influence on Ukraine's future, imho) but it does serve as a barometer of global opinion on Ukraine.  143 stand with Ukraine, 35 stand for nothing, and 5 stand with Russia.

[Cassia]

A friend I grew up with in high school relayed this story from WWII.

His father was in an artillery unit, and he noticed the shelling getting closer and closer. We can't move the artillery, so we have to move. They have us pegged. He left for protection while others refused to leave and his artillery unit was obliterated.

The guy was superintendent of our school.  He made it. Weird things that jog your memory.

If your enemy determines what direction you are from them but not the range, I imagine they would just increase range with each round. I have no idea what they actually did before drone spotters, but I would construct a grid.

[Hydra009]

Ukrainian forces laid an ambush and wiped out 190 invaders.  Big numbers for a single ambush.

Ukrainian forces found a bunch of ammo the Russians left behind at an abandoned school.  Quite a haul.

There was also the first ever afaik drone VS drone combat in a war.  The Ukrainian drone crashed into the Russian one and sent it tumbling to the ground.  Won't be long now till they're firing purple plasma bolts at each other.

[ferdmonger]

If your enemy determines what direction you are from them but not the range, I imagine they would just increase range with each round. I have no idea what they actually did before drone spotters, but I would construct a grid.

A forward spotter.  He knew it was coming. The new troops didn't.

[Hydra009]

Another 500+ day

[Hydra009]

Elon being a baby again (and that's the charitable option)

When average Joes act stupid, they suffer.
When millionaires act stupid, people suffer.
When billionaires act stupid, the world suffers.

[Shiranu]

There it is; no imp ever behaves morally without it being solely for profit.

[Hydra009]

Running low: Russia uses up 2/3 of high-precision missiles, down to just 609

Not sure if that includes the four that were recently fired with all of them being shot down.

Coincidentally, Putin announced a temporary end (phrasing that means nothing on closer inspection) to the missile barrages, like the recent one that cost Russia about $700 million dollars to knock out Ukrainian power for roughly one day.

This announcement could also be a play to make air/missile defense deliveries to Ukraine seem not as urgently needed as they truly are.  Never trust a dictator.

[Hydra009]

Now I see why Putin suspended (kinda) the missile attacks, apparently some missiles launched from Belgorod struck Belgorod.  I can't even think of a punchline for that one, that is itself the punchline.

[Hydra009]

Ukrainians analyze captured Iranian drone, get much better at shooting them down

Ex scientia dominium