Will Putin Invade Ukraine?

[Hydra009]

Sadly, the nuke threats do somewhat work at scaring people, though they are losing credibility quickly as it just becomes something he does every Tuesday like his buddy Kim Jong Un.

[Hydra009]

Ukraine ATACMS strike on Russian airbase in Luhansk

That one wasn't so much a second sun as it was a constant red glow.  It's not normal for explosions to linger like that.  I wonder what exactly they hit.  Clearly, it was flammable.

Ukraine's Armed Forces (AFU) launched a mass long-range missile strike on Monday evening that saturated a Russian military base deep behind the front lines with cluster munitions initiating a blaze, that could be seen and heard dozens of kilometers away, along with hundreds of smaller fires.

The target reportedly consisted of buildings and an adjacent airfield on the territory of the former Ukrainian air force navigation academy in the eastern city Luhansk. The site had been occupied by Moscow's troops who used a headquarters and logistics base following Russia's first invasion of Ukraine in 2014.

Dozens of video and still photographs posted to social media – in violation of Russian law which bans such action – showed flames reaching dozens of meters into the night sky from the vicinity of the airfield around 7 p.m. local time, and also images taken from the ground showed hundreds of square meters of landing strip saturated with fires.

There were no early reports of damage or casualties.

No casualties.  Riiight.  And no damage.  I guess those must be some sort of non-damaging fires.

Both the Russian state-controlled official information agency TASS and independent Ukrainian news platforms confirmed the area of the airfield had been hit by dozens of explosions and then consumed by multiple fires. The Ukrainian news agency UNIAN said the strikes set off "a massive blaze."

Dozens of explosions, consumed by multiple fires, yet no damage lol

Leonid Pasechnik, an official in the pro-Russian Luhansk occupation authority, said Kyiv forces had used UN-banned cluster munitions in the attack.

God, I hate this posturing so much.  For the last time, there was a treaty called Convention on Cluster Munitions that many countries voluntarily signed.  The US was not among them, nor Russia, nor Ukraine.  So Ukraine is 100% free and clear in using them.  And that's a very strange thing for the Russians to complain about since they've been using cluster munitions since day one of the war.  And often on civilian targets, too.  And disgusting double-tap stuff attempting to take out first responders.  So no more whining about cluster shells.  You made your bed, lie in it.

Ukraine hit a military target with a weapon of war - and they're on the defending side of this conflict.  So I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.  If the Kremlin doesn't like it, they can simply return their troops to Russia and all missiles are grounded.  It's that simple.

[Cassia]

I saw some video clips of a new strategy; Russians attacking on motorcycles. Somehow even their dirt-bikes are extremely flammable. It looked like a 3-stooges routine. Two to a bike. Well, they died for Putin. They had zero chance, so stupid.

[Hydra009]

*Something* is happening near the Kerch Bridge...

[Hydra009]

I saw some video clips of a new strategy; Russians attacking on motorcycles. Somehow even their dirt-bikes are extremely flammable. It looked like a 3-stooges routine. Two to a bike. Well, they died for Putin. They had zero chance, so stupid.

I saw one of them charge a Ukrainian machine gun nest for about 10 seconds then got chewed up in less than a second and ended up a flaming wreck.  I don't know which is worse - they knew about the machine gun nest and charged it suicidally or didn't know about it and got lit up at close range.  Literally too dumb to live.

[Hydra009]

Ukraine opens third Russian POW center

Russia has effectively stopped trading prisoners of war, so now Ukraine is collecting them like Pokemon.

Russian POWs are treated well, even allowed to call home and watch TV.  Ukrainian POWs face torture, starvation, and even use as human shields on the frontline.

[Hydra009]

Caught some tuna:  Ukraine destroys two Russian patrol boats near Crimea

Naval drones operated by Ukraine's military intelligence (HUR) hit two Russian patrol boats, likely the KS-701 Tunets (Tuna) model, in occupied Crimea overnight on May 30, a source in the agency told the Kyiv Independent.

The military intelligence agency publicly confirmed the statement soon after, publishing a video of the attack and saying that the two vessels had been destroyed.

In order to thwart the attack, Russian forces scrambled their aircraft 32 times, including Su-27/30/35 and MiG-29 jets, Be-12 and An-26 aircraft, and Ka-27/29 and Mi-8 helicopters, the statement read.

Lots of activity, and yet all for nought.

Russian troops also responded "randomly" with fire from small arms and 30 mm cannons.

lol.  Well of course they did.

Ukraine reportedly also hit two ferries with missile strikes.  What were they transporting?  Because there's very little civilian traffic in that area anymore.

[Hydra009]

It's been a busy week...

[Hydra009]

[Hydra009]

Incoming sanctions:  Ukrainian missile strike hits Kavkaz port

Neptune missile - Ukrainian made - so no one can complain about "escalation".  Meanwhile, Iranian and North Korean and Chinese stuff seems to find its way into Ukraine all the time.

[Cassia]

When trying to hit a small fast target like a suicide drone boat you either need to be super accurate or blanket a huge area like a cluster munition or just be really lucky. Looks like the Russians were not lucky.

[Hydra009]

Kharkiv front stabilizes

[Hydra009]

Russia still has elevated losses: 1130 troops, 101 vehicles, 12 tanks, and 44 artillery in the past 24 hours

Combat footage, which somehow wasn't deleted by Youtube, has a Russian armored transport driving over an already grievously wounded Russian soldier.  It was super duper NSFW, so here's the PG-rated version:

[Hydra009]

Doubled the loss rate since this time last year.

[Hydra009]

Russia unveils its "solution" to Ukrainian FPV drones:



I heartily approve this genius decision to make Russian motorcycles slower and even less maneuverable.  It makes a successful hit even more likely.  Plus, you can put a few chickens in the cage and have yourself a mobile chicken coop.  Or maybe take Sandra Bullock with you and reenact Bird Box.  The possibilities are endless.

This is an awful lot of effort for something with very dubious benefit.  At this point, it looks like logic is out the window and whatever psychological benefit this may provide is in.  Cope cage, coop cage - something along those lines.