Ukraine

[Absent]

To be absolutely fair, that is a completely plausible story.

I find it unlikely, as I see the guy as too much of a professional of death dealing to die of playful clumsiness with grenades on a plane. But I don't really care. Regardless of truth, I find the pettiness of this clash of dirtbags hilarious. One way or the other (accident or lie), the feud ends in a deliciously characteristic lame way.

 

[Gordon_4]

I find it unlikely, as I see the guy as too much of a professional of death dealing to die of playful clumsiness with grenades on a plane. But I don't really care. Regardless of truth, I find the pettiness of this clash of dirtbags hilarious. One way or the other (accident or lie), the feud ends in a deliciously characteristic lame way.

Trust me, professionalism and training take a holiday when you're drunk. I agree the entire thing is petty and stupid, but - at the risk of leaning heavily on stereotype - saying the leader of a Russian private military contractor group got pissed on too much vodka and wanted to show off his machismo by juggling grenades on a plane, its a pretty easy sell.

 

[Kwak]

Ukraine and Russia traded barbs in the UN’s top court over the legality of the invasion. What could happen next in the case?

Ukraine is seeking compensation from Russia in the case, but the International Court of Justice needs to agree to hear it first.

theconversation.com

There's a definition of a "legal invasion"?

 

[Thaluikhain]

Trust me, professionalism and training take a holiday when you're drunk. I agree the entire thing is petty and stupid, but - at the risk of leaning heavily on stereotype - saying the leader of a Russian private military contractor group got pissed on too much vodka and wanted to show off his machismo by juggling grenades on a plane, its a pretty easy sell.

Or someone else on the same plane did something unsafe, doesn't have to be him. But yeah, people blowing themselves up with their own grenades isn't unheard of, and people doing stupid stuff while drunk or on drugs really isn't unheard of.

 

[Satinavian]

I don't believe it at all. It comes from Putin. The supposedly found 5kg of cocaine and lots of cash and of course evidence that the people on board blew themself up. It is just the typical nonsense to discredit a person the Kremlin doesn't like.

 

[Hades]

I don't believe it at all. It comes from Putin. The supposedly found 5kg of cocaine and lots of cash and of course evidence that the people on board blew themself up. It is just the typical nonsense to discredit a person the Kremlin doesn't like.

Not that I don't believe Putin blew Pringles up, but I'm entirely convinced Pringles would indeed always have 5KG of coke with him wherever he goes.

 

[Thaluikhain]

I don't believe it at all. It comes from Putin. The supposedly found 5kg of cocaine and lots of cash and of course evidence that the people on board blew themself up. It is just the typical nonsense to discredit a person the Kremlin doesn't like.

Well, yes, there's plenty of reasons to think they are lying, with all the incompetence on display I'd imagine that a number of the mysterious accidents going around might actually be accidents, and saved people a job of having to arrange it themselves.

 

[Gordon_4]

I don't believe it at all. It comes from Putin. The supposedly found 5kg of cocaine and lots of cash and of course evidence that the people on board blew themself up. It is just the typical nonsense to discredit a person the Kremlin doesn't like.

Of course it’s a fucking lie. I’m just saying as coverup lies go, it’s more plausible than otherwise stable and healthy people slipping on banana peels and falling out of windows.

 

[Silvanus]

Russian attack on village cafe kills at least 51 people, Ukraine says

Volodymyr Zelenskiy accuses Moscow of ‘genocidal aggression’ after missile hits building in Hroza, Kharkiv province

www.theguardian.com

Missed this somehow. Russia bombed a wake held in a cafe in a small Ukrainian village, killing 51 mourners.

Even the village itself is minuscule, with a population of ~330. No conceivable military value.

 

[Dalisclock]

A nuanced look at how things are going so far.

 

[Def]

Russia attacks again

 

[bluegate]

Russia attacks again

Context?

 

[Silvanus]

Context?

I assume the context is the Russian attack on Avdiivka, which is the largest offensive in months-- 6 to 9,000 troops and hundreds of tanks and APCs.

Russia’s Avdiivka offensive is failing, says top Ukrainian officer

Major assault in Donetsk launched on Tuesday said to have resulted in serious losses for Moscow’s forces

www.theguardian.com

They've so far failed to make any appreciable advance. 1,000 - 2,000 Russian soldiers lost, over 100 armoured vehicles destroyed, town not taken.

Presumably they'll resort to the same approach they took with Vuhledar. After failing to take it, just endlessly bomb it, until civilian infrastructure is annihilated and the civilian population is reduced to ~5% of its prewar level. Then move elsewhere to throw more lives away with no land gained to show for it.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Wait, 2,800 killed out of 6,000-9,000?

Unless that's 2,800 casualties (including wounded), that's incredibly high. Even then that's still very high.

 

[Satinavian]

Yes, seems to have been losses, not fallen.

But this is far from the first time someone mixes up all those military euphemisms.

 

[Silvanus]

Wait, 2,800 killed out of 6,000-9,000?

Unless that's 2,800 casualties (including wounded), that's incredibly high. Even then that's still very high.

Yes, seems to have been losses, not fallen.

But this is far from the first time someone mixes up all those military euphemisms.

Yeah, Satinavian seems to be right. The Guardian seems to have mixed up general 'losses' with deaths, or made some error elsewhere. The Kyiv Post reports the figure at 1 to 2,000 killed /or wounded/.

Have edited the post. Still one of the worst defeats this year since Vuhledar.

 

[Ag3ma]

Presumably they'll resort to the same approach they took with Vuhledar. After failing to take it, just endlessly bomb it, until civilian infrastructure is annihilated and the civilian population is reduced to ~5% of its prewar level. Then move elsewhere to throw more lives away with no land gained to show for it.

If I remember rightly, the population of Avdiivka is already less than 5% of the pre-war total. It was so close to the frontline that its population decided to go well before the current offensive.

 

[Silvanus]

If I remember rightly, the population of Avdiivka is already less than 5% of the pre-war total. It was so close to the frontline that its population decided to go well before the current offensive.

Ahh, and we're supposed to believe the population wants to be absorbed into Russia, even as the vast majority of them moved... further away from Russia as the military approached. And then destroyed their homes.

 

[Ag3ma]

Ahh, and we're supposed to believe the population wants to be absorbed into Russia, even as the vast majority of them moved... further away from Russia as the military approached. And then destroyed their homes.

Well, in a way, that suits Russia fine, too. Drive out the Ukrainians, there's less justification for Ukraine to claim land as Ukrainian. If it also meant all the Russians and Russian sympathisers fled too, kind of works just as well.

 

[Silvanus]

The UN Commission if inquiry has submitted its report to the General Assembly, detailing the findings of UN investigators: widespread targeting of civilians by Russia, torture, rape, and deportation of children to the Russian Federation.

UN finds further evidence of Russian war crimes in Ukraine

Report points to ‘wilful killing, torture, rape and other sexual violence, and the deportation of children to the Russian Federation’

www.theguardian.com

(Article links directly to the report itself as a PDF).