Ukraine

[Thaluikhain]

So I'm not saying the UK might be holding a grudge over the FSB poisoning someone on British Soil.....but it's also possible that fucking around in blighty lead to finding out in Ukraine.

IIRC, when the rest of Europe was confiscating Russian oligarch's yachts and the like, Britain was not. On a totally unrelated note, a lot of important people in Britain's current government just happen to have gotten lots of money and support from Russian oligarchs. Funny that.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

Britain says it is donating long-range ‘Storm Shadow’ missiles to Ukraine. (Published 2023)

The missiles, which are launched from the air, are the latest in a pipeline of military aid delivered to the country by Britain, the United States and other NATO allies.

www.nytimes.com

So I'm not saying the UK might be holding a grudge over the FSB poisoning someone on British Soil.....but it's also possible that fucking around in blighty lead to finding out in Ukraine.

And a certain famous bridge to Crimea might be in danger in the coming weeks, and the only warning wlll be Storm Shadows blaring "Rule Britannia" from mounted loudspeakers installed expressly for that purpose, because style trumps aerodynamics when sending a message.

I find it funny that a British weapon system shares a name with a G.I. Joe character, but here's the absurd world we live in.

 

[Dalisclock]

I find it funny that a British weapon system shares a name with a G.I. Joe character, but here's the absurd world we live in.

Time has gone wierd. I think killing Harambe screwed up the timeline somehow

 

[Silvanus]

Russia has conceded that Ukraine has recaptured 1 - 2km of Bakhmut (it had already been stated by both Ukraine and Wagner, but the Russian MOD had yet to admit it until now).

 

[Gordon_4]

I find it funny that a British weapon system shares a name with a G.I. Joe character, but here's the absurd world we live in.

I've heard that GCHQ runs a system called Skynet without a hint of irony.

 

[Dalisclock]

Four Russian military aircraft shot down near Ukraine, Russian daily reports

Russian news outlet Kommersant said two Russian fighter jets and two military helicopters had been shot down on Saturday close to the Ukrainian border, in what would be a spectacular coup for Kyiv if confirmed.

www.reuters.com

There's a lot of speculation on this one. Either Ukrainian Air Defense had a really good day today or Russian Air Defense accidently shot down 4 of their own aircraft by accident. The kills did happen over Russia though not that far from the border.

Most of the internet seems to be going for the latter AFAIK probably because it's far more embarrassing for Russia but there doesn't seem to be conclusive evidence who did it.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

Either Ukrainian Air Defense had a really good day today or Russian Air Defense accidently shot down 4 of their own aircraft by accident.

I honestly can't figure out which one would be more embarrassing for Russia.

 

[CM156]

Russia has conceded that Ukraine has recaptured 1 - 2km of Bakhmut (it had already been stated by both Ukraine and Wagner, but the Russian MOD had yet to admit it until now).

I feel like I'm soon going to start seeing more pictures of suspiciously well fed dogs from Bakhmut

Four Russian military aircraft shot down near Ukraine, Russian daily reports

Russian news outlet Kommersant said two Russian fighter jets and two military helicopters had been shot down on Saturday close to the Ukrainian border, in what would be a spectacular coup for Kyiv if confirmed.

www.reuters.com

There's a lot of speculation on this one. Either Ukrainian Air Defense had a really good day today or Russian Air Defense accidently shot down 4 of their own aircraft by accident. The kills did happen over Russia though not that far from the border.

Most of the internet seems to be going for the latter AFAIK probably because it's far more embarrassing for Russia but there doesn't seem to be conclusive evidence who did it.

Once again: what Air Defense doing?

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

I honestly can't figure out which one would be more embarrassing for Russia.

Having them fall out the sky because of critical parts shortage.

 

[Dalisclock]

I feel like I'm soon going to start seeing more pictures of suspiciously well fed dogs from Bakhmut.

I love the Bakh mutt.

I hope he doesn't get too chonky. I wouldn't want him to die of a heart attack.

Once again: what Air Defense doing?

Everyone asks what air defense doing but not how air defense doing?

 

[Silvanus]

One of the most intense overnight attacks on Kyiv since the start of the invasion, presumably an attempt to overwhelm/destroy the 2 Patriot air defence systems that Ukraine has received. Also the first time that hypersonic missiles have been used in large numbers to target the capital.

In total, 18 missiles fired at the capital, including 6 hypersonics (and a bunch of kamikaze drones). Ukraine is claiming the 6 hypersonics were successfully shot down; Russia is claiming it destroyed one of the Patriot systems.

 

[Absent]

"Muhaha you have established an anti-missile defence system for that civilian city but I have destroyed it muhahaha. And also I am the good guy."

- Vladimir Putin

 

[Ag3ma]

IIRC, when the rest of Europe was confiscating Russian oligarch's yachts and the like, Britain was not. On a totally unrelated note, a lot of important people in Britain's current government just happen to have gotten lots of money and support from Russian oligarchs. Funny that.

After the Suez Crisis and the British Empire died away, the UK wanted to find a way to retain power and influence and money. A key way to do this was to do stuff for other people and countries (chiefly the USA, because the USA was the dominant power). And so anyone with money wants to get things done, they go to London, and the City of London obliges, with a benign nod from Westminster.

People come to the City of London to have their money laundered, hidden and invested - for which the City charges a hefty fee - not have it confiscated. The UK government understands this. They don't want corrupt autocrats, generals and businessmen to think their money sloshing around the UK's tax havens is unsafe, because that undermines the City of London, and with it the entire post-imperial strategy of Britain providing services and facilitation for whoever has the money to pay for it.

 

[Dalisclock]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/05/14/prigozhin-wagner-ukraine-leaked-documents/

In late January, with his mercenary forces dying by the thousands in a fight for the ruined city of Bakhmut, Wagner Group owner Yevgeniy Prigozhin made Ukraine an extraordinary offer.

Prigozhin said that if Ukraine’s commanders withdrew their soldiers from the area around Bakhmut, he would give Kyiv information on Russian troop positions, which Ukraine could use to attack them. Prigozhin conveyed the proposal to his contacts in Ukraine’s military intelligence directorate, with whom he has maintained secret communications during the course of the war, according to previously unreported U.S. intelligence documents leaked on the group-chat platform Discord.

I'm pretty sure this is literally treason. Honestly, I'm baffled how baldly mcfuckface over there hasn't been whacked by Putin at this point.

Putin is either unable or unwilling and I honestly don't know which it is at this point.

On the more positive side of the news,

Ukraine hails its first offensive success in defence of Bakhmut

Ukraine's military on Monday hailed recent advances around Bakhmut as its first successful counterattack in the battle against Russian forces fighting for control of the eastern city.

www.reuters.com

May 15 (Reuters) - Ukraine's military on Monday hailed recent advances around Bakhmut as its first successful counterattack in the battle against Russian forces fighting for control of the eastern city.

But Kyiv also said the situation in Bakhmut was difficult. It cautioned that Moscow had not changed its goal of capturing the city and was sending assault troops to Bakhmut's outskirts.

The Ukrainian military said last week it had started to push Russian forces back in and around Bakhmut after months of heavy fighting, and Moscow acknowledged that its forces had fallen back north of the city.


"The advance of our troops along the Bakhmut direction is the first success of offensive actions in the defence of Bakhmut," Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, Commander of Ground Forces, said in a statement posted on the Telegram messaging app.

"The last few days have shown that we can move forward and destroy the enemy even in such extremely difficult conditions," he said. "We are fighting with fewer resources than the enemy. At the same time, we are able to ruin its plans."

Kyiv is expected to launch a major counteroffensive soon to try to retake Russian-occupied territory, but Ukrainian officials have indicated that the gains around Bakhmut do not signal that the broader counterattack has begun.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/05/14/prigozhin-wagner-ukraine-leaked-documents/

I'm pretty sure this is literally treason. Honestly, I'm baffled how baldly mcfuckface over there hasn't been whacked by Putin at this point.

On the more positive side of the news,

Ukraine hails its first offensive success in defence of Bakhmut

Ukraine's military on Monday hailed recent advances around Bakhmut as its first successful counterattack in the battle against Russian forces fighting for control of the eastern city.

www.reuters.com

There's as many reasons not to believe this as there are to believe it, honestly. I don't think I'd put it past Prigozhin to get Russian soldiers killed just to make Wagner look good, but holy shit that's basically doing a Cossack dance on Putin's good graces with stiletto heels, and Prigozhin can't have thought that nobody would ever blab.

 

[Silvanus]

I'm pretty sure this is literally treason. Honestly, I'm baffled how baldly mcfuckface over there hasn't been whacked by Putin at this point.

Putin is either unable or unwilling and I honestly don't know which it is at this point.

Unwilling. And honestly has very little reason to. The Nazi PMC leader might rant and rave, might insult members of the Russian government, but he continues to provide large quantities of "disposable" troops, and continues not to threaten Putin's own position.

It's worth keeping in mind that Wagner isn't just involved in Ukraine. It's also involved in a half dozen African civil conflicts, as well as mass theft of gold resources in Sudan. If Russia stamped down on Prigozhin's denunciations, they'd jeopardise a primary source of resource theft from Africa, as well as a regional power player.

 

[Ag3ma]

It's worth keeping in mind that Wagner isn't just involved in Ukraine. It's also involved in a half dozen African civil conflicts, as well as mass theft of gold resources in Sudan. If Russia stamped down on Prigozhin's denunciations, they'd jeopardise a primary source of resource theft from Africa, as well as a regional power player.

I'm pretty sure that Prigozhin could "fall" off the balcony of a high building and Wagner would go on much as it already has.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/05/14/prigozhin-wagner-ukraine-leaked-documents/

I'm pretty sure this is literally treason. Honestly, I'm baffled how baldly mcfuckface over there hasn't been whacked by Putin at this point.

Maybe. But imagine you are Putin, and you follow the Tsarist-Soviet doctrine that the people are basically meaningless and faceless peasants to be expended. You get to capture that city you've been making a big thing about for a huge PR win, but lose some territory no-one really cares that much about elsewhere. Would that really be a problem? Or to put another way, one could view it as treason against Russia, but treason against Russia doesn't really matter: treason against Putin does.

 

[Dalisclock]

Maybe. But imagine you are Putin, and you follow the Tsarist-Soviet doctrine that the people are basically meaningless and faceless peasants to be expended. You get to capture that city you've been making a big thing about for a huge PR win, but lose some territory no-one really cares that much about elsewhere. Would that really be a problem? Or to put another way, one could view it as treason against Russia, but treason against Russia doesn't really matter: treason against Putin does.

I understand that logic....and now I'm depressed that I understand that logic.

On a different note, apparently everyone's favorite totally-not-committing-an-atrocity-somewhere spy agency put out a video to convince Russians to sell out their government....on the internet.

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

www.youtube.com

So yeah, that happened. I don't know how to feel about this. I mean, it's certainly a strategy for the CIA to openly ask Russians to leak secrets to the US. I have no idea if it's a GOOD Strategy.

 

[Dalisclock]

Waiting for the counter offensive. Recent changes in Bakhmut not covered due to being through the end of April.

 

[Absent]

I detest Macron and I detest Putin and I detest Johnson and this makes me laugh so much :

The former British prime minister Boris Johnson described Emmanuel Macron as “nauseating” for travelling to Moscow to meet with Vladimir Putin, a former UK government aide has said. Johnson also described Macron as “Putin’s lickspittle”, Guto Harri told the latest edition of Unprecedented, his podcast about his time at No 10.

It's the same delight as the Prigozhin/Shoigu infighting (rumors are, Prigozhin is now targetted for elimination?), but on a somewhat lighter, less bitter level.