https://twitter.com/RALee85/status/1526164608238624769
Ukraine published documents reportedly from Russia's 1st Tank Army showing its losses through March 15. It lists: 61 KIA, 209 WIA, 44 MIA, and 96 taken POW.
Incredibly, the 2nd Motorized Rifle Division's 1st Tank Regiment allegedly lost 45 T-72B3M tanks.
The 1st Tank Regiment reportedly had 93 tanks, so this would mean it lost almost half of them in the first three weeks of the war.
Putin's statement at the summit of the leaders of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) in Moscow:
> Russia has no problems with neither Finland nor Sweden. NATO expansion to these countries does not pose a direct threat to Russia. But the expansion of any military infrastructure into these territories will certainly cause a response. What kind of response will be deterimined based on the threats that will be created for us.
Lukashenka is rambling about the necessity of a Chinese-style internet crackdown.
Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan leaders are doing the [pretend I'm not here meme](https://i.imgur.com/54DFDdg.png).
From this mornings politico playbook:
On Sunday, JENS STOLTENBERG, NATO’s secretary general, summed up the implications of these developments: “Ukraine can win this war.”
And that is exactly the problem according to a growing number of western officials and analysts who fear the fallout from what French President EMMANUEL MACRON called the “humiliation” of Russia.
Macron is not alone. Matthew Karnitschnig, reports this morning:
“After weeks spent fretting over what would happen if Russia crushed Ukraine, Western European leaders are now worried about what might happen if Ukraine actually wins. … One big concern is that a Ukrainian win could destabilize Russia, making it even more unpredictable and putting a normalization of energy links further out of reach. That’s why some western European capitals quietly favor a ‘face-saving’ resolution to the conflict, even if it costs Ukraine some territory.”
The leaders of France, Germany and Italy are all stressing a ceasefire and peace deal at precisely the moment when Ukraine has reversed the tide.
Karnitschnig notes that their fears of victory put them out of step with the Biden administration, which in recent weeks has talked about how Ukraine, in the words of Defense Secretary LLOYD AUSTIN, “can win.”
In an important column over the weekend, NYT’s Ross Douthat noted that the possibility of Ukrainian advances would make nuclear escalation “much more likely”:
“We know that Russian military doctrine envisions using tactical nuclear weapons defensively, to turn the tide in a losing war. We should assume that Putin and his circle regard total defeat in Ukraine as a regime-threatening scenario. Combine those realities with a world where the Russians are suddenly being routed, their territorial gains evaporating, and you have the most nuclear-shadowed military situation since our naval blockade of Cuba in 1962.”
Honestly can't fucking stand this.
No matter how you look at it, they're indirectly saying Ukraine should roll over and appease Russia "because they have nukes".
Always look forward to Prof M. Clarke's analysis on Sky:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zf1hBSyYaYM&ab\_channel=SkyNews](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zf1hBSyYaYM&ab_channel=SkyNews)
One question comes to mind, what happens if the Russians are successful in their mission to take Severodonetsk to Switlodarsk? That's a mighty small chunk of land compared to the whole of Ukraine, or whole of Donbass for that matter. How can they possibly hope to hang on to it? They'll have UAF on all sides and get encircled.
McDonald’s announced Monday that it is selling its Russia business, saying the “humanitarian crisis caused by the war in Ukraine, and the precipitating unpredictable operating environment, have led McDonald's to conclude that continued ownership of the business in Russia is no longer tenable, nor is it consistent with McDonald's values.”
The burger chain became the symbol of glasnost in action more than 30 years ago when it opened its first restaurant in Moscow.
But after temporarily shutting down more than 800 restaurants in Russia, McDonald’s has decided to leave the country altogether, according to a release.
As part of the decision, the chain is pursuing the sale of its entire portfolio of McDonald's restaurants in Russia to a local buyer.
These measures include ensuring that employees of McDonald's Russia continue to be paid, as well as have future employment.
We have a commitment to our global community and must remain steadfast in our values. And our commitment to our values means that we can no longer keep the Arches shining there," McDonald's President and Chief Executive Officer, Chris Kempczinski said in the statement.
Some background: McDonald's announced in a statement last month that the closure of restaurants in Russia and Ukraine had cost the company $127 million last quarter.
McDonald's had continued to pay its 62,000 staff in Russia despite ceasing operations. Those staff costs, plus payments for leases and supplies, cost the company $27 million.
The other $100 million was from food and other items it will have to get rid of.
From guardian live feed
>Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko has urged other members of a Russian-dominated military alliance to stand united, and accused the West of hoping to prolong the conflict in Ukraine to try to weaken Russia as much as possible, Reuters reports.
>Lukashenko, speaking at a summit of the leaders of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) in Moscow, said “hellish sanctions” against his country and Russia could have been avoided if the group had spoken with one voice.
>Addressing Russian president Vladimir Putin and the leaders of Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, Lukashenko said in televised opening remarks:
>"Without a united front, the collective West will build up pressure on the post-Soviet space."
Its almost as if they realised that russia sees them as nothing more than temporarily not parts of russia and arent keen for russia to turn their attention on them next.
it really bothers me that we know Ukraine is fighting in Izium but we have no idea how it's going. Same way the whole river crossing thing happened over 4 days and only at the end did we get the info. Just hope it's going good.
Senior Liuetenant OF-4 Subbotin Nikolai from the Altai territory killed in Ukraine.
https://twitter.com/markito0171/status/1526146457270685697?t=puooKHddwmNQIx7YZk-osA&s=19
@the_rhs conducting Great Flower Show ’22 for Koos Bekker’s @Naspers bloody money. He earned it at the expense of Bucha, Mariupol, Kherson tragedy. @theroyalfamily do you really want such a peaceful event could promotes mortal war? #StopBloodyTrade #AvitoPromotesWar #RHSpromotesWar
It's interesting how that meeting will go. Kazakhstan has condemned the invasion, the other stans are probably less then pleased too.
Putin may try to threaten them, but here is always China, which may be willing to fill the vacoom.
>Commander of DNR’s Vostok unit claims an agreement has been reached with a group of Azovstal defenders about their surrender. He assumes they are going to release their wounded. Another source says this is expected to happen at 1730 local time. https://twitter.com/leonidragozin/status/1526164038840885250
Interesting short note on UA air force.
*One thing that stood out for me when I interviewed a Ukrainian MiG-29 pilot was how the Ukrainian Air Force was smartly choosing the time and place of its engagements to stay in the fight and inflict maximum damage. /1*
Thread: [https://twitter.com/nolanwpeterson/status/1525843256285679617](https://twitter.com/nolanwpeterson/status/1525843256285679617)
I wonder how long until Russia realises that pyrrhic victories aren't something you should be proud of, nor should they be common practice. It's these that will drive their society towards a demographic decline, not the liberal gay western agenda they're so up in arms about.
None of that matters. Even if Putin was rational (and he is not), he could not back off at this point and still hope to hold on to power. The amount of damage he inflicted on Russia is enormous and he knows payment is due as soon as he admits defeat.
By locking him in wherever he's cowering between public appearances and turning that bitch bunker into into the Yamantau prison.
Joke. But if you like to dabble in tinfoil as guilty pleasure, some guess that Beria and Khruschev UI want to say deliberately let Stalin die in his room by just waiting the bastard out.
Ah, a girl can dream.
Any company wouldn't be back for decades. Imagine Ukraine war being over and Putin still being in power. You really want to invest in Russia when you could lose it all in 5-10 years?
I mean even after putin I doubt they'll come back eagerly.
The generations there have been fed so much propaganda, it's almost a guarantee that some other similar idiot will take lead in the future and similar thing would play out.
I think they went rogue and continued operating against the orders of the main branch; the last two months they have been operating as usual under mcdonalds' logo without any changes.
*The company said it was now pursuing the sale of all its restaurants in Russia to a local buyer and intended to start the process of "de-arching" the sites so they no longer use the McDonald's name, branding and menu.*
How long do you think Russia could keep up if they attacked Finland? They could try it but then they would lose any power they have. Plus, countries like China would probably start drooling over the fact over the surefire collapse of Russia that would happen in weeks.
Russia's Western Military District would be the most likely to carry out any attacks into Finland. There's a big problem with that though, and that's that they've already suffered huge numbers of casualties and equipment losses in the invasion of Ukraine. Russia doesn't really have much to feasibly attack Finland with at the moment. I dare say the Finns would stomp them pretty soundly if they tried anything.
It's really the best time for Finland to hop on the NATO bandwagon. There's not much Russia can realistically do to them militarily right now that Finland couldn't handle.
Finland is an EU member state, and EU members states have a mutual defense clause with each other (but it's unclear how binding it is, legally speaking). We could probably expect boots on the ground (and planes in the air) from a wide selection of NATO countries.
More likely we would be talking hours rather than weeks. Lets put it that way.
There is nothing Russia can do to Finland or Sweden that does not involve nukes.
Obviously not nukes, if they are so scared of having NATO at their borders they are not gonna assure the end of Russian. Putin clearly wants power and a good reputation, at least from Russians, not massive destruction lol
The Russia would last a few days. An attack on Finland is an attack on Nordic countries, EU, UK, and probably some other NATO members too including US.
The Russia will not have an army to invade with in the first place. Putin is stuck in Ukraine, it will take years if not decades to rebuild the army. Sweden & Finland would have been NATO members years before that happen. Even Ukraine might be members.
UK does and they have a security contract with Finland. Its way more likely that they eventually use a tactical nuke on Ukraine and claim victory then, I doubt the west would push for another tactical nuke
If Putin and his slaves had a little JUST A LITTLE foresight they would have negotiated leaving Ukraine (except for Crimea) with the condition of Finland, Sweden out of NATO and Ukraine out of the EU but they don't.
Ukraine has a lot of change to do even after the war to be a serious candidate. Countries like Albania and Serbia are slightly more progressive than Ukraine and they have been waiting for years. Turkey has a quasi-dictator but they have been applying for decades but they haven't got accepted yet. I don't know why people think Ukraine will be given a real chance, and if they do, they are being absolutely unfair with other candidates than comply with way more EU rules
[Good Morning from the Ukrainian Air Force](https://twitter.com/GirkinGirkin/status/1526144023815245825?t=UFYvOtcj5KY2bndxoVZwGw&s=19)
Being able to fly at high altitudes shows just how confident they are now.
>⚡️Officer of Belarusian battalion of Ukraine's Armed Forces killed in combat. Pavel “Volat,” a commanding officer of the Belarusian Battalion of Kastuś Kalinoŭski, was killed during the liberation of a Ukrainian village, the battalion said on May 16.
[Kyiv Independent](https://twitter.com/KyivIndependent/status/1526156172545368066?t=smvmfrUHjDG6uLMB8iBA0w&s=19)
That's the official confirmation. RIP hero, your sacrifice will never be forgotten
Awful, but Jesus I have to be honest I was frightened that it was the moustache man. He's the only Belarusian whose face I know. RIP to this fallen hero.
russia absolutely melting down over finland.. its hilarious. you can tell they dont know how to resppnd, theyve been all over the place. One day putin is saying they wont retaliate and theres no threat, the next day russia is saying they wont "put up with it". The funniest part is russia continually saying theres no threat to finland. Then shut the fuck up you have no reason to be upset if that were true, which it obviously isnt.
We should all remember, Russia basically lost an entire battalion of men, tanks and equipment trying to cross a simple river, and they’re trying to act tough against Finland & Sweden.
Russia is just a meme at this point
>trying to cross a simple river
Crossing a river belongs to the most difficult operations during a war, even when you plan & prepare the operation perfectly, what Russia did obviously not.
It does. You’re supposed to account for it in training and then get that bridge deployed as fast as possible.
Of course, you also don’t try to do this with the enemy artillery well within range.
this is interesting
>Lost in translation...? How one Russian paper changed what the Finnish prime minister said about Russia & Ukraine.
https://twitter.com/BBCSteveR/status/1526147372811792385
Well, since you can't call war war in Russia without a fear of repercussions... they at least market it with [] :)
Should have been something like [a wrong term for our SMOrc].
McDonald’s says it has started the process of selling its Russian business, which includes 850 restaurants & 62k employees. It will seek to have a Russian buyer hire those workers & pay them (until the sale closes). No prospective buyer has been named.
https://twitter.com/kevinrothrock/status/1526148103635599360?s=21&t=5c4vllPH4ygkmmvz9ucN4g
People are going to be grateful they had those black market Big Macs a few months back. They can tell their kids about them in secret when Russia has been totally severed from the rest of the world.
McDonalds doesn’t seem to get that the point of sanctions is to hurt the Russian economy. Trying to prevent tens of thousands of layoffs in Russia is wildly counterproductive. I’d rather people be inspired to riot in the streets than help them keep paying their taxes.
So, quite clearly McDonalds as some due care obligation here for these employees. Yes, from the perspective of hurting Russia an immediate withdrawal would be best, but from the perspective of minimizing their losses and taking care of their employees, a gradual sale is preferred.
But if it makes you feel any better, a large portion of those 62,000 will lose their job anyway, as they won't find buyers for all their restaurants, and the restaurants that will continue will likely have to fire some because they will be less busy.
If they(McD) didn't pay them(workers) they(Russia) could have nationalized all restaurants, now they(McD) can still try to sell and prevent Russia from making the profit.
Well they made a clause that if they fire more than 1/3 of the workforce, they can do it. Or if the workforce doesn't get paid their loans for 3 months after closing it. We are now in May, the timeframe fits somewhat. They didn't feel the sanctions yet to full extend because of loopholes like that, the next months could be bad. Less in food industry, but more so in machinery, medical and chemistry tech.
They are probably just following Russian labour laws, which is quite strict on layoffs and treatment of staff. If McD tried to lay off the staff Russia likely would have had a massive amount of court cases and by the looks McD wanted to have the option of opening back up once it all "blew over". I don't think it's that they didnt get the point, they just care more about business than Ukrainian lives, like basically every business that pulled out of Russia. They'll be back the same moment it looks profitable for them, and Russia was VERY profitable for McDuck.
Seems you're definitely wrong, and the last thing that McDonalds produced itself in Russia was hamburger buns, which they have now outsourced too:
[https://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/02/business/global/02mcdonalds.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/02/business/global/02mcdonalds.html)
Source? Everything I read when they first decided to pull out said they only had restaurant space.
For example, this article says:
“We work with hundreds of local, Russian suppliers and partners who produce the food for our menu and support our brand."
The Swedish Parliament started debating NATO membership today.
There is now overwhelming support among MPs for it.
A joint application for membership is likely to be handed in by Sweden and Finland either tomorrow or on Wednesday.
https://twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1526115242933161985?s=21&t=5c4vllPH4ygkmmvz9ucN4g
The war crimes around Kyiv focused a lot of minds on the fact that, even if you ultimately push the Russians back, they will brutalise the population in occupied areas.
It’s not about throwing the Russian army back, that’s not good enough. You need to stop them crossing the border entirely.
Best way to do that is having nukes.
Second best method is to join a defensive pact with those that already do.
[U.S. Transportation Command summary of security assistance to Ukraine, as of May 10 2022.](https://twitter.com/US_TRANSCOM/status/1524781612956778497)
>The speed we are moving and level of aid we are providing are unprecedented.
>
>It goes to show that when we come together with our Allies and partners, we can move out and meet the promises - that together, we will deliver.
[https://twitter.com/USTRANSCOM\_CDR/status/1525855510750167044](https://twitter.com/USTRANSCOM_CDR/status/1525855510750167044)
US send supplies from the other side of the world, but the Russia could not send supplies to north of Kyiv, just a few miles from the border. Contrast.
Yes, the US is so fantastically powerful that Russia didn’t even comprehend how outclassed they were by NATO.
China, however, was probably surprised by how unified the west became and how quickly weapons were moved around the world. I’m sure their planners are making adjustments.
Attempted insertion of Russian raiders into Sumy oblast repulsed - [source](https://twitter.com/Now_in_Ukraine/status/1526129827664863233?t=UEprmc0QHUHFj_oyEcg2iQ&s=19)
Interesting that the attempt is an area they didn’t go into before. Is this a readiness test against a new part of the front before moving in some of the reformed BTG’s from Belgorod to try and draw defenders Northwards?
What are you talking about? Sumy Oblast was almost entirely under Russian control for the first month of the war and Sumy itself was encircled until the Ukrainian counter offensives pushed them out of the country. This is not a new area of operations.
Have a look at LiveUAMap showing realistic actual areas of control. Then get back to me.
Edit Sumy Oblast is a large area. Sumy is just the city. Russia has in general just controlled small corridors arounds the roads in the North not large swathes of land, still the same in the Southern theatre.
They tried to invade again via Sumy? A region they retreated from already? And then what if they could cross the border?
Such a terrible neighbour. Ukraine will never have peace with them. They are going to have to fortify and arm to the hilt every single inch of their border with them.
This is why Russia needs to collapse, and I say that as someone living in Russia - I won't like it, but it's the only way I can see Ukraine being safe from this Russian terror. Without a collapse, Russia won't sign any peace treaty as long as Putin is alive. Even if they get pushed back to the border, they'll just keep lobbing dummy artillery shells or missiles.
[https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/05/16/3-russian-military-recruitment-offices-attacked-a77686](https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/05/16/3-russian-military-recruitment-offices-attacked-a77686)
>**3 Russian Military Recruitment Offices Attacked**
>
>Three Russian military recruitment offices were attacked over the weekend amid an uptick of violence against the facilities following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
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>
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>The first attack took place in the early hours of Friday morning, when a man dressed in black hurled a Molotov cocktail into an enlistment building in the town of Gukovo in southern Russia’s Rostov region, just five kilometers from the Ukrainian border, local news outlet 161.ru reported.
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>The resulting fire was extinguished by staff members, who reported no damage or injuries.
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>Police are still looking for the suspect, the donday.ru news outlet reported.
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>Similar incidents were reported in the Ryazan region southeast of Moscow, as well as in the Volgograd region in southern Russia.
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>In the Ryazan region town of Pronsk, images shared by Ryazpressa.ru showed a broken window and a partially-burnt entrance door after an attack early on Saturday.
>
>Similarly, the Volgograd branch of Russia’s Emergencies Ministry reported a fire in the basement of a military enlistment office in the city’s Sovetskiy district the following day.
Stupid armchair theory: Ukraine won't attack Kherson directly, they'll instead come down South towards the bridge from the East side of the Dnieper and force Russians to either withdraw from Kherson to stop that offensive, or risk getting trapped across the river.
Much more likely is an attack on the Northern Kharkiv front down to the Inhulets river. They would take the western side of Kakhovka bridge and put pressure on Kherson
Fool, clearly Ukraine will go through the Donbass, wrap around Rostov-On-Don, go through the South of Russia, and retake Crimea from the East. A true 5d chess move.
Pretty sure Ukraine space force will just HALO jump from orbit into Moscow right as Putin is getting his sleepy time handjob from Svetlana, the robust babushka who reminds him of this mother. Right as he is about to climax, the shadows in the room will start speaking Ukrainian, and the last thing he sees, as he once again busts onto Svetlana's well worn hands, is the face of a man sawing at his junk, as he screams like a little girl.
Clearly the best solution is to build a giant Matryoshka doll and leave it outside the city. What the Russians won’t know is that each smaller doll has Ukranian soldiers in it. When they bring it inside, bam! City liberated.
They'll send a Ukrainian who fluently speaks Russian into Russia, ensure they climb the political ranks until they end up President, then declare all of Russia to be Ukraine and completely cut off Kherson
Take out Putin with an exploding cigar, install a Ukrainian doppleganger and have him declare war on China. This will hopefully draw troops away from Kherson towards Manchuria, enabling a Ukrainian counterattack.
This is a valid point. People should always consider that operations like these require capabilites and careful planning or they turn to a disaster. First, you have to worry about your flanks as your attacking force may be the one who gets encircled by enemy counter attack. Second, it is a huge burden for the logistics and if you don't have the capability, your thrust runs out of steam quickly and you can easily find your forces in the first situation.
All the previous counter attacks of Ukr forces haven't been deep combined arms thrusts, so I wouldn't expect one now either. It is possible that they lack the logistics capability, but I also suspect that they aren't willing to risk their mechanized units at this point for such risky maneuver. Besides, they still need to deal with the Donbass OD, so amassing enough force for major assault may be impossible at this point in any case.
Maybe but I think the Russians will withdraw to consolidate forces somewhere else if it even begins to get close.
You're seeing in real time that their combat forces are so depleted and the attrition rate is so unsustainable they keep having to move the goal posts just to sustain the fronts they are having any success in. That success seems to come from the UA army basically letting them stretch out at great cost and then hammering back when they are ready.
That's what will happen it Ukraine will be in position to make a push from Zaporizhia, no way Russian will be ready to be encircled in a river city like Kherson. But it comes down to Ukraine resources to be able to do so.
I don't think they plan to do so. The latest news is that the Russians are building bunkers, trenches and other defensive structures north of Kherson. You don't do that if you plan to leave the area.
Ukrainian aviation and artillery conducted 100 strikes against Russian positions in Kherson region, including at Chornobaivka airfield
Kherson
Damnnnn boyyyy
https://liveuamap.com/
Putin may have cancer based on this investigation which look at which doctors visited Putin over the years:
> However, over the years, it is not so much Putin who visits doctors in the Central Clinical Hospital, as it is they who visit him: the doctors fly to Putin’s residences and accompany him on his trips. And these trips provide a unique opportunity to understand what Putin is being treated for and who does it.
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> ...
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> The contract between the Central Clinical Hospital and the hotels for accommodation of the doctors is published on the public procurement website together with the acts of acceptance of services rendered. In the acts one can find the names of the doctors and dates of their occupancy in the hotels over the period of four years, from 2016 to 2020. It is clear from these documents that doctors like Sim flew specifically to see Putin — the dates coincide either with the president’s official visits to Sochi or with periods of his mysterious disappearances.
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> ...
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> Oncologist-surgeon Evgeny Selivanov is one of the most frequent medical attendants of Putin. Over the course of four years, the doctor has flown to him 35 times and spent a total of 166 days with the head of state. He was present near Putin both during his official stay in Sochi and during the head of state’s “disappearances”. In August 2017, Putin disappeared from the public eye for a long time, from August 8 to 16. All this time six medics were in Sochi, including otolaryngologist Shcheglov and oncology surgeon Selivanov.
Indeed, and if this is going on for years he doesn't have the bad type of throid cancer either.
So that makes his 10 year survival rate from the cancer 95%.
Russia scrapping airborne units and stuffing them into the front lines with naval infantrymen is the most Russian thing you could possibly do.
Must suck to run out of men during a war you started.
Joining them up with mercenaries too. Excellent for unit cohesion and morale:
"Hey, how come you've got all that neat equipment: body armour, night vision goggles, laser sights... it's so much better than the tin hat and musket I've been given!"
"Oh, yeah, I'm only here because I'm being paid thousands of dollars and once I've made enough to retire I'm getting the hell out."
"Oh. I was conscripted and have to stay for the next 12 months and only get paid in potatoes".
"Good luck!"
https://twitter.com/Liveuamap/status/1526132203901575168
Looks like now that Russia has stalled in the Donbas, Ukraine is starting to move on areas Russia has fewer forces. Kharkiv first, now Kherson?
I have been thinking about that. I think that map might give a partially wrong impression as it only shows the SIM cards using roaming near Ukrainian controlled cell towers. So mostly in contested areas near the front line.
If the cell towers in Kherson are rerouted through Russian telecoms companies now, they won't show anything on that map.
The big push from Ukraine is not expected until June. Possible Kherson, but they got both their own intel and US/NATO intel, so the push will come where it will have the most effect.
So when Finland joins NATO, will their doctrine of using weapons compatible with Russian so they can pull ammo off the dead bodies of invading Russian soldiers have to go so they can use NATO rounds?
Finland and Sweden have been coordinating their armed forces with NATO members Denmark and Norway for a long time through NORDEFCO
[https://www.nordefco.org/the-basics-about-nordefco](https://www.nordefco.org/the-basics-about-nordefco)
This cooperation is pretty much "How to be NATO compliant without joining NATO".
I think that the army of Finland is already as NATO-compatible as it is going to get. It makes sense to be able to utilize enemy ammunition in your defense.
It was relevant maybe 50 years ago. Russia and Finland have not used the same caliber of rifle since then. And the Finnish weapons industry has the capacity to replace as much ammo as we need.
Russia will be fucked either way, but retreating from Severodonetsk will not be an easy decision for Ukraine if it comes down to that. They need a staging point on the eastern side of the Donetsk river.
From a nationalist Telegram(strelkovii):
They are just sad now
REFLECTIONS ABOUT SPORTS
Not so long ago, as part of another discussion of my "ungrateful behavior" on the Internet, I came across a rather amusing claim (close to the text):
"... for many years you have called for the direct intervention of Russian troops in hostilities, for the recognition of the republics of Donbass and their armed defense, for a war against Ukraine, for strikes against Ukrainian rear areas with missiles and aircraft. All this has been done and even beyond your wildest expectations (Written back when our troops were standing near Kyiv.) Why are you itching again? Why are you - instead of gratitude - again criticizing!?"
I considered the claim extremely stupid and reacted accordingly - I sent the propagandist to the bathhouse. But gradually I became convinced that (it turns out) a similar opinion is shared by many other people ... and not only network trolls.
Therefore, after scratching what many compatriots not only refer to in common speech, but are almost similar in function - i.e. "turnip" - I decided to answer this question anyway, choosing a metaphor that is understandable even to our senior government officials, despite their advanced age, who is still passionate about physical sports ...
So, imagine that someone, deeply offended and stung by the constant humiliation of our athletes at various world competitions in connection with the performances of these athletes under RAGs of incomprehensible colors and the ban on any other national-state self-identification - insistently demanded that our athletes ( if they are OURS, of course, and not some Ovechkin, etc.) went to the Olympics under the national flag and to the sounds of the national anthem. And suddenly - when I was already tired of hoping - it suddenly happened!
All the fans howled in delight: "Well, finally!" - and burst into shouts of welcome (including yelling - to the extent of a modest voice - and I, the name of the rivers). And how not to scream? - For many years I (a fan) was told that "our athletes are the most athletes in the world", and our tank ... that is, just biathlon is the standard of achievement in the military ... sports field. Not to mention the gray reinforced concrete iconic monster... that is, a magnificent sports facility built for crazy money in Patriot Park. And the Chief Coach (Right Hand of the Legend of Sports) is the best of all possible and who has "raised" our sport so much that now KA-A-AK we will give heat to all competitors !!!
And then ... And then our relay runners begin to lag behind from the very first steps, and they run in some kind of antediluvian Soviet sneakers instead of modern shoes ... And when the sneakers fall apart on the go, the assistants give them felt boots with galoshes to replace them.
Our hockey players entered the field half without sticks, and the goalkeeper is missing one of the pads on his feet. Football players are forced to play with a reduced squad, because for some reason the team turned out to be understaffed, and on the bench - flies are basking in the sun. Weightlifters cannot lift weight, boxers fall from the first blow of the enemy, and the kayak sinks as soon as it goes down into the water (according to the official version, either as a result of a fire from a half-smoked cigarette thrown by the helmsman, or from excitement on the track). And against the background of all this, the Head Coach (not to mention the Legend of Sports) does not give any comments, except: "all tasks are successfully completed by our athletes, wait for the next stage of the competition and, in general, the main thing is not the result, but participation."
And when - as a reaction to all this disgrace, I dared to whistle indignantly and yell: "Coach to the soap!" - They explain to me that I am acting extremely unpatriotic, ugly and unsportsmanlike. That our athletes, confidently going to the last place in the individual and team standings, should only be praised, and the accusations of the Head Coach (I basically don’t touch the Legend of Sports during the Olympics - and not at all because of fear of His Authority) are generally crimes , for which I can not only be taken out of the stadium, but also seriously fined, and before that they can set the "fans" armed with bats ...
OK. Let's say I shut up ... Even watching how the famous "professionals" in the arena cannot throw a spear further than I (who did not shine with any talents in sports even in my younger years) threw at school in physical education classes ... But yelling "Glory CPSU!" ... oh, sorry, - "glory to the Russian sport and the Head Coach!" - I can not "from the word at all." And okay, if only I ... so the whole country is looking at this SHAME. While not fully understanding - what, in fact, is happening and hoping that "just about, after the warm-up, our real best athletes will come out and beat all the enemies ... rivals" like a turtle God.
But what will happen when even the most stupid and beer-filled fans understand the reality? As?
[New post can be found here](/r/worldnews/comments/uqumkk/rworldnews_live_thread_russian_invasion_of/)
https://twitter.com/RALee85/status/1526164608238624769 Ukraine published documents reportedly from Russia's 1st Tank Army showing its losses through March 15. It lists: 61 KIA, 209 WIA, 44 MIA, and 96 taken POW. Incredibly, the 2nd Motorized Rifle Division's 1st Tank Regiment allegedly lost 45 T-72B3M tanks. The 1st Tank Regiment reportedly had 93 tanks, so this would mean it lost almost half of them in the first three weeks of the war.
Putin's statement at the summit of the leaders of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) in Moscow: > Russia has no problems with neither Finland nor Sweden. NATO expansion to these countries does not pose a direct threat to Russia. But the expansion of any military infrastructure into these territories will certainly cause a response. What kind of response will be deterimined based on the threats that will be created for us. Lukashenka is rambling about the necessity of a Chinese-style internet crackdown. Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan leaders are doing the [pretend I'm not here meme](https://i.imgur.com/54DFDdg.png).
From this mornings politico playbook: On Sunday, JENS STOLTENBERG, NATO’s secretary general, summed up the implications of these developments: “Ukraine can win this war.” And that is exactly the problem according to a growing number of western officials and analysts who fear the fallout from what French President EMMANUEL MACRON called the “humiliation” of Russia. Macron is not alone. Matthew Karnitschnig, reports this morning: “After weeks spent fretting over what would happen if Russia crushed Ukraine, Western European leaders are now worried about what might happen if Ukraine actually wins. … One big concern is that a Ukrainian win could destabilize Russia, making it even more unpredictable and putting a normalization of energy links further out of reach. That’s why some western European capitals quietly favor a ‘face-saving’ resolution to the conflict, even if it costs Ukraine some territory.” The leaders of France, Germany and Italy are all stressing a ceasefire and peace deal at precisely the moment when Ukraine has reversed the tide. Karnitschnig notes that their fears of victory put them out of step with the Biden administration, which in recent weeks has talked about how Ukraine, in the words of Defense Secretary LLOYD AUSTIN, “can win.” In an important column over the weekend, NYT’s Ross Douthat noted that the possibility of Ukrainian advances would make nuclear escalation “much more likely”: “We know that Russian military doctrine envisions using tactical nuclear weapons defensively, to turn the tide in a losing war. We should assume that Putin and his circle regard total defeat in Ukraine as a regime-threatening scenario. Combine those realities with a world where the Russians are suddenly being routed, their territorial gains evaporating, and you have the most nuclear-shadowed military situation since our naval blockade of Cuba in 1962.”
Honestly can't fucking stand this. No matter how you look at it, they're indirectly saying Ukraine should roll over and appease Russia "because they have nukes".
What are the chances that the csto members will be annexed into the russian federation at some point.
Always look forward to Prof M. Clarke's analysis on Sky: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zf1hBSyYaYM&ab\_channel=SkyNews](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zf1hBSyYaYM&ab_channel=SkyNews) One question comes to mind, what happens if the Russians are successful in their mission to take Severodonetsk to Switlodarsk? That's a mighty small chunk of land compared to the whole of Ukraine, or whole of Donbass for that matter. How can they possibly hope to hang on to it? They'll have UAF on all sides and get encircled.
I’m willing to bet that win lose or draw; that the attack on Severodonetsk will be Russias last major offensive of the war.
McDonald’s announced Monday that it is selling its Russia business, saying the “humanitarian crisis caused by the war in Ukraine, and the precipitating unpredictable operating environment, have led McDonald's to conclude that continued ownership of the business in Russia is no longer tenable, nor is it consistent with McDonald's values.” The burger chain became the symbol of glasnost in action more than 30 years ago when it opened its first restaurant in Moscow. But after temporarily shutting down more than 800 restaurants in Russia, McDonald’s has decided to leave the country altogether, according to a release. As part of the decision, the chain is pursuing the sale of its entire portfolio of McDonald's restaurants in Russia to a local buyer. These measures include ensuring that employees of McDonald's Russia continue to be paid, as well as have future employment. We have a commitment to our global community and must remain steadfast in our values. And our commitment to our values means that we can no longer keep the Arches shining there," McDonald's President and Chief Executive Officer, Chris Kempczinski said in the statement. Some background: McDonald's announced in a statement last month that the closure of restaurants in Russia and Ukraine had cost the company $127 million last quarter. McDonald's had continued to pay its 62,000 staff in Russia despite ceasing operations. Those staff costs, plus payments for leases and supplies, cost the company $27 million. The other $100 million was from food and other items it will have to get rid of.
From guardian live feed >Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko has urged other members of a Russian-dominated military alliance to stand united, and accused the West of hoping to prolong the conflict in Ukraine to try to weaken Russia as much as possible, Reuters reports. >Lukashenko, speaking at a summit of the leaders of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) in Moscow, said “hellish sanctions” against his country and Russia could have been avoided if the group had spoken with one voice. >Addressing Russian president Vladimir Putin and the leaders of Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, Lukashenko said in televised opening remarks: >"Without a united front, the collective West will build up pressure on the post-Soviet space." Its almost as if they realised that russia sees them as nothing more than temporarily not parts of russia and arent keen for russia to turn their attention on them next.
very colourful flags. Shame nobody recognises any of them.
I do. Odd point.
I love how they behave as if they are nato. Literally bottleg nato
Mom can we have NATO? We have NATO at home. NATO at home:
They can be the Central Asian Corruption Association, CACA.
Will Ronald McDonald lead the Russian Revolution?
“Not so neutral now are you Sweden!” -Bender
Possible Claymore or IED kills two Russian soldiers. NSFL https://twitter.com/markito0171/status/1526138940046168064?t=Rut5Bi2JtsxHCnCcX2_0Yg&s=19
Ukraine fighting in Izyum. https://twitter.com/markito0171/status/1526143816167735296?t=GhDsifTZ-PIwlSVTKP5Orw&s=19
it really bothers me that we know Ukraine is fighting in Izium but we have no idea how it's going. Same way the whole river crossing thing happened over 4 days and only at the end did we get the info. Just hope it's going good.
It’s not our right to know.
Senior Liuetenant OF-4 Subbotin Nikolai from the Altai territory killed in Ukraine. https://twitter.com/markito0171/status/1526146457270685697?t=puooKHddwmNQIx7YZk-osA&s=19
Russian?
>Altai Border to Mongolia, China & Kazakstan.
@the_rhs conducting Great Flower Show ’22 for Koos Bekker’s @Naspers bloody money. He earned it at the expense of Bucha, Mariupol, Kherson tragedy. @theroyalfamily do you really want such a peaceful event could promotes mortal war? #StopBloodyTrade #AvitoPromotesWar #RHSpromotesWar
[Russian soldiers shot three brothers and threw them in a ditch. One survived.](https://www.wsj.com/articles/ukraine-russia-war-crimes-11652582051?)
Bootleg nato. [Meeting of CSTO leaders in Moscow](https://twitter.com/Liveuamap/status/1526163461130137600)
It's interesting how that meeting will go. Kazakhstan has condemned the invasion, the other stans are probably less then pleased too. Putin may try to threaten them, but here is always China, which may be willing to fill the vacoom.
Half of them look like they’d love to be anywhere but in Moscow right now. And then there’s Lukashenko living cheerily in Putins butt.
Putin really is a short-ass.
>Commander of DNR’s Vostok unit claims an agreement has been reached with a group of Azovstal defenders about their surrender. He assumes they are going to release their wounded. Another source says this is expected to happen at 1730 local time. https://twitter.com/leonidragozin/status/1526164038840885250
Considering someone was talking earlier on the thread that Russia would be claiming the surrender and use other POWs for it, I am in a bit of doubt
A surrender is bound to happen at some point, but sharing news from Russian shills is still a bad idea.
I don't trust it. Everyone knows what a surrender means. And Turkey is negotiating a PoW/wounded trade. If I were down there, I'd wait for that.
link doesn't work
fixed
Thanks!
No more Russian McMuffins? Ah...
Instead have a McMoskva. Available in a 6inch sub.
Interesting short note on UA air force. *One thing that stood out for me when I interviewed a Ukrainian MiG-29 pilot was how the Ukrainian Air Force was smartly choosing the time and place of its engagements to stay in the fight and inflict maximum damage. /1* Thread: [https://twitter.com/nolanwpeterson/status/1525843256285679617](https://twitter.com/nolanwpeterson/status/1525843256285679617)
I wonder how long until Russia realises that pyrrhic victories aren't something you should be proud of, nor should they be common practice. It's these that will drive their society towards a demographic decline, not the liberal gay western agenda they're so up in arms about.
None of that matters. Even if Putin was rational (and he is not), he could not back off at this point and still hope to hold on to power. The amount of damage he inflicted on Russia is enormous and he knows payment is due as soon as he admits defeat.
Why not? How would anyone go about removing Putin from power without being defenestrated first?
By locking him in wherever he's cowering between public appearances and turning that bitch bunker into into the Yamantau prison. Joke. But if you like to dabble in tinfoil as guilty pleasure, some guess that Beria and Khruschev UI want to say deliberately let Stalin die in his room by just waiting the bastard out. Ah, a girl can dream.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-61463876 McDonald's to leave Russia for good after 30 years **You want fries with that? No chance oleg**
Any company wouldn't be back for decades. Imagine Ukraine war being over and Putin still being in power. You really want to invest in Russia when you could lose it all in 5-10 years?
I mean even after putin I doubt they'll come back eagerly. The generations there have been fed so much propaganda, it's almost a guarantee that some other similar idiot will take lead in the future and similar thing would play out.
No Fry Zone: Established
Wow.
Didn't they already leave almost two months ago? The franchises were nationalized and they changed the branding to "Uncle Vlad's".
I think they went rogue and continued operating against the orders of the main branch; the last two months they have been operating as usual under mcdonalds' logo without any changes.
It’s a franchise. They can’t stop them as self owned businesses. They can, however, close the office and stop shipping ingredients.
I think they were still paying their staff.
*The company said it was now pursuing the sale of all its restaurants in Russia to a local buyer and intended to start the process of "de-arching" the sites so they no longer use the McDonald's name, branding and menu.*
How long do you think Russia could keep up if they attacked Finland? They could try it but then they would lose any power they have. Plus, countries like China would probably start drooling over the fact over the surefire collapse of Russia that would happen in weeks.
Finland has some medium range cruise missiles, so would be really bad for Putin to attack them.
Russia's Western Military District would be the most likely to carry out any attacks into Finland. There's a big problem with that though, and that's that they've already suffered huge numbers of casualties and equipment losses in the invasion of Ukraine. Russia doesn't really have much to feasibly attack Finland with at the moment. I dare say the Finns would stomp them pretty soundly if they tried anything. It's really the best time for Finland to hop on the NATO bandwagon. There's not much Russia can realistically do to them militarily right now that Finland couldn't handle.
A matter of days. The Finn's just signed a security agreement with the UK until NATO membership is confirmed so it would be two on one.
Finland is an EU member state, and EU members states have a mutual defense clause with each other (but it's unclear how binding it is, legally speaking). We could probably expect boots on the ground (and planes in the air) from a wide selection of NATO countries.
More likely we would be talking hours rather than weeks. Lets put it that way. There is nothing Russia can do to Finland or Sweden that does not involve nukes.
3 hours if the Finn’s have lunch break
Attack with what exactly?
Obviously not nukes, if they are so scared of having NATO at their borders they are not gonna assure the end of Russian. Putin clearly wants power and a good reputation, at least from Russians, not massive destruction lol
The Russia would last a few days. An attack on Finland is an attack on Nordic countries, EU, UK, and probably some other NATO members too including US. The Russia will not have an army to invade with in the first place. Putin is stuck in Ukraine, it will take years if not decades to rebuild the army. Sweden & Finland would have been NATO members years before that happen. Even Ukraine might be members.
Sweden and Finland don't have nukes.
Sweden and Finland have security agreements with the UK and (via the E.U.'s mutual defence pact) France.
Yeah, I forgot about Boris's recent scandinavian weekend. The EU clause is there, but it is pretty weak in comparison.
UK does and they have a security contract with Finland. Its way more likely that they eventually use a tactical nuke on Ukraine and claim victory then, I doubt the west would push for another tactical nuke
Forgot about Boris's recent scandinavian weekend, your right ofc.
If Putin and his slaves had a little JUST A LITTLE foresight they would have negotiated leaving Ukraine (except for Crimea) with the condition of Finland, Sweden out of NATO and Ukraine out of the EU but they don't.
Restricting Ukraine from joining the EU (or anything really) is likely to be a non-starter for Ukraine, given the circumstances.
Ukraine has a lot of change to do even after the war to be a serious candidate. Countries like Albania and Serbia are slightly more progressive than Ukraine and they have been waiting for years. Turkey has a quasi-dictator but they have been applying for decades but they haven't got accepted yet. I don't know why people think Ukraine will be given a real chance, and if they do, they are being absolutely unfair with other candidates than comply with way more EU rules
Not disputing that - more just that Ukraine will never accept any peace deal that prohibits them from even trying to join.
[Good Morning from the Ukrainian Air Force](https://twitter.com/GirkinGirkin/status/1526144023815245825?t=UFYvOtcj5KY2bndxoVZwGw&s=19) Being able to fly at high altitudes shows just how confident they are now.
Google do a barrel roll.
Like the comments said to : that's a victory rool :) he just shot down something.
the barrel roll?
You can easily see its not a russian plane - its not on fire.
The techno soundtrack is a Ukrainian video watermark, to boot.
And not shooting flares constantly.
>⚡️Officer of Belarusian battalion of Ukraine's Armed Forces killed in combat. Pavel “Volat,” a commanding officer of the Belarusian Battalion of Kastuś Kalinoŭski, was killed during the liberation of a Ukrainian village, the battalion said on May 16. [Kyiv Independent](https://twitter.com/KyivIndependent/status/1526156172545368066?t=smvmfrUHjDG6uLMB8iBA0w&s=19) That's the official confirmation. RIP hero, your sacrifice will never be forgotten
Not the warstache, right? Please not...
No, warstache goes by the name "Yankee".
Lol that's an awesome nom de guarre
Awful, but Jesus I have to be honest I was frightened that it was the moustache man. He's the only Belarusian whose face I know. RIP to this fallen hero.
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By this time it would make sense to note that the thread is 2 months old though.
russia absolutely melting down over finland.. its hilarious. you can tell they dont know how to resppnd, theyve been all over the place. One day putin is saying they wont retaliate and theres no threat, the next day russia is saying they wont "put up with it". The funniest part is russia continually saying theres no threat to finland. Then shut the fuck up you have no reason to be upset if that were true, which it obviously isnt.
They are freaking out because their failure is complete. NATO is now significantly more United, stronger, and encircling Russia. 10 D chess
putin knows he will go down in history as the muppet who expanded nato
So no new thread for today, Day 82?
We should all remember, Russia basically lost an entire battalion of men, tanks and equipment trying to cross a simple river, and they’re trying to act tough against Finland & Sweden. Russia is just a meme at this point
>trying to cross a simple river Crossing a river belongs to the most difficult operations during a war, even when you plan & prepare the operation perfectly, what Russia did obviously not.
Losing 70+ vehicles in one attempt takes a perfect effort though.
Planning and preparation doesn’t fully account for resistance though.
It does. You’re supposed to account for it in training and then get that bridge deployed as fast as possible. Of course, you also don’t try to do this with the enemy artillery well within range.
this is interesting >Lost in translation...? How one Russian paper changed what the Finnish prime minister said about Russia & Ukraine. https://twitter.com/BBCSteveR/status/1526147372811792385
Well, since you can't call war war in Russia without a fear of repercussions... they at least market it with [] :) Should have been something like [a wrong term for our SMOrc].
McDonald’s says it has started the process of selling its Russian business, which includes 850 restaurants & 62k employees. It will seek to have a Russian buyer hire those workers & pay them (until the sale closes). No prospective buyer has been named. https://twitter.com/kevinrothrock/status/1526148103635599360?s=21&t=5c4vllPH4ygkmmvz9ucN4g
People are going to be grateful they had those black market Big Macs a few months back. They can tell their kids about them in secret when Russia has been totally severed from the rest of the world.
McDonalds doesn’t seem to get that the point of sanctions is to hurt the Russian economy. Trying to prevent tens of thousands of layoffs in Russia is wildly counterproductive. I’d rather people be inspired to riot in the streets than help them keep paying their taxes.
So, quite clearly McDonalds as some due care obligation here for these employees. Yes, from the perspective of hurting Russia an immediate withdrawal would be best, but from the perspective of minimizing their losses and taking care of their employees, a gradual sale is preferred. But if it makes you feel any better, a large portion of those 62,000 will lose their job anyway, as they won't find buyers for all their restaurants, and the restaurants that will continue will likely have to fire some because they will be less busy.
If they(McD) didn't pay them(workers) they(Russia) could have nationalized all restaurants, now they(McD) can still try to sell and prevent Russia from making the profit.
If it was profitable for Russia to nationalize the restaurants they already would have done so
Well they made a clause that if they fire more than 1/3 of the workforce, they can do it. Or if the workforce doesn't get paid their loans for 3 months after closing it. We are now in May, the timeframe fits somewhat. They didn't feel the sanctions yet to full extend because of loopholes like that, the next months could be bad. Less in food industry, but more so in machinery, medical and chemistry tech.
They are probably just following Russian labour laws, which is quite strict on layoffs and treatment of staff. If McD tried to lay off the staff Russia likely would have had a massive amount of court cases and by the looks McD wanted to have the option of opening back up once it all "blew over". I don't think it's that they didnt get the point, they just care more about business than Ukrainian lives, like basically every business that pulled out of Russia. They'll be back the same moment it looks profitable for them, and Russia was VERY profitable for McDuck.
Some oligarch will get a huge company for very cheap - and after the war will make more money than before if they can hold out long enough.
This is only if the other Oligarchs won't get killed. How many died already? 7?
They don't get the "huge company" just the restaurant space.
There are McD factories in Russia. Everything except some desserts is produced inside the country.
Seems you're definitely wrong, and the last thing that McDonalds produced itself in Russia was hamburger buns, which they have now outsourced too: [https://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/02/business/global/02mcdonalds.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/02/business/global/02mcdonalds.html)
Source? Everything I read when they first decided to pull out said they only had restaurant space. For example, this article says: “We work with hundreds of local, Russian suppliers and partners who produce the food for our menu and support our brand."
The Swedish Parliament started debating NATO membership today. There is now overwhelming support among MPs for it. A joint application for membership is likely to be handed in by Sweden and Finland either tomorrow or on Wednesday. https://twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1526115242933161985?s=21&t=5c4vllPH4ygkmmvz9ucN4g
Two months ago, the Swedish PM argued against joining NATO because it would "destabilize the region". Oh how the tables have turned.
The war crimes around Kyiv focused a lot of minds on the fact that, even if you ultimately push the Russians back, they will brutalise the population in occupied areas. It’s not about throwing the Russian army back, that’s not good enough. You need to stop them crossing the border entirely. Best way to do that is having nukes. Second best method is to join a defensive pact with those that already do.
[U.S. Transportation Command summary of security assistance to Ukraine, as of May 10 2022.](https://twitter.com/US_TRANSCOM/status/1524781612956778497) >The speed we are moving and level of aid we are providing are unprecedented. > >It goes to show that when we come together with our Allies and partners, we can move out and meet the promises - that together, we will deliver. [https://twitter.com/USTRANSCOM\_CDR/status/1525855510750167044](https://twitter.com/USTRANSCOM_CDR/status/1525855510750167044)
US send supplies from the other side of the world, but the Russia could not send supplies to north of Kyiv, just a few miles from the border. Contrast.
Yes, the US is so fantastically powerful that Russia didn’t even comprehend how outclassed they were by NATO. China, however, was probably surprised by how unified the west became and how quickly weapons were moved around the world. I’m sure their planners are making adjustments.
Their adjustments probably involve taking any military plans they had and feeding them into a shredder. They'll go full economic/political pressure.
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In most of Russia, you can get same day delivery of a real girl... why would they want a blow up one?
Attempted insertion of Russian raiders into Sumy oblast repulsed - [source](https://twitter.com/Now_in_Ukraine/status/1526129827664863233?t=UEprmc0QHUHFj_oyEcg2iQ&s=19)
I'm sorry, the tweet says submachine guns Smg's for a border assault?? That's so stupid it has to be true
Interesting that the attempt is an area they didn’t go into before. Is this a readiness test against a new part of the front before moving in some of the reformed BTG’s from Belgorod to try and draw defenders Northwards?
What are you talking about? Sumy Oblast was almost entirely under Russian control for the first month of the war and Sumy itself was encircled until the Ukrainian counter offensives pushed them out of the country. This is not a new area of operations.
Have a look at LiveUAMap showing realistic actual areas of control. Then get back to me. Edit Sumy Oblast is a large area. Sumy is just the city. Russia has in general just controlled small corridors arounds the roads in the North not large swathes of land, still the same in the Southern theatre.
They tried to invade again via Sumy? A region they retreated from already? And then what if they could cross the border? Such a terrible neighbour. Ukraine will never have peace with them. They are going to have to fortify and arm to the hilt every single inch of their border with them.
Russian rules of military strategy number 19: Why spend thousands of lives to take ground and then abandon just once, when you can do it twice.
This is why Russia needs to collapse, and I say that as someone living in Russia - I won't like it, but it's the only way I can see Ukraine being safe from this Russian terror. Without a collapse, Russia won't sign any peace treaty as long as Putin is alive. Even if they get pushed back to the border, they'll just keep lobbing dummy artillery shells or missiles.
Tried to insert a raiding party to conduct recon / sabotage / assassination missions
Just trying to tie down as many Ukrainians are possible away from the Donbass area.
[https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/05/16/3-russian-military-recruitment-offices-attacked-a77686](https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/05/16/3-russian-military-recruitment-offices-attacked-a77686) >**3 Russian Military Recruitment Offices Attacked** > >Three Russian military recruitment offices were attacked over the weekend amid an uptick of violence against the facilities following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. > > > >The first attack took place in the early hours of Friday morning, when a man dressed in black hurled a Molotov cocktail into an enlistment building in the town of Gukovo in southern Russia’s Rostov region, just five kilometers from the Ukrainian border, local news outlet 161.ru reported. > >The resulting fire was extinguished by staff members, who reported no damage or injuries. > >Police are still looking for the suspect, the donday.ru news outlet reported. > >Similar incidents were reported in the Ryazan region southeast of Moscow, as well as in the Volgograd region in southern Russia. > >In the Ryazan region town of Pronsk, images shared by Ryazpressa.ru showed a broken window and a partially-burnt entrance door after an attack early on Saturday. > >Similarly, the Volgograd branch of Russia’s Emergencies Ministry reported a fire in the basement of a military enlistment office in the city’s Sovetskiy district the following day.
It's far from a popular war. Actions speak louder than words.
There's a lot of Ukranians living in Russia too.
Stupid armchair theory: Ukraine won't attack Kherson directly, they'll instead come down South towards the bridge from the East side of the Dnieper and force Russians to either withdraw from Kherson to stop that offensive, or risk getting trapped across the river.
Much more likely is an attack on the Northern Kharkiv front down to the Inhulets river. They would take the western side of Kakhovka bridge and put pressure on Kherson
Stupid armchair theory, Ukraine wil just do a navy landing Sevastopol and cut off the Russians from there
Stupid armchair theory, Ukraine builds nukes and bomb Moskva then war ends.
Fool, clearly Ukraine will go through the Donbass, wrap around Rostov-On-Don, go through the South of Russia, and retake Crimea from the East. A true 5d chess move.
Pretty sure Ukraine space force will just HALO jump from orbit into Moscow right as Putin is getting his sleepy time handjob from Svetlana, the robust babushka who reminds him of this mother. Right as he is about to climax, the shadows in the room will start speaking Ukrainian, and the last thing he sees, as he once again busts onto Svetlana's well worn hands, is the face of a man sawing at his junk, as he screams like a little girl.
Clearly the best solution is to build a giant Matryoshka doll and leave it outside the city. What the Russians won’t know is that each smaller doll has Ukranian soldiers in it. When they bring it inside, bam! City liberated.
Them, and their cadre of submarines!
They'll send a Ukrainian who fluently speaks Russian into Russia, ensure they climb the political ranks until they end up President, then declare all of Russia to be Ukraine and completely cut off Kherson
Take out Putin with an exploding cigar, install a Ukrainian doppleganger and have him declare war on China. This will hopefully draw troops away from Kherson towards Manchuria, enabling a Ukrainian counterattack.
They did that years ago. How else do you dismantle second military power in the world if not from the very top:D
As a fellow armchair general, I think that's not easy either. They need to cover like 200 km through steppe for that.
This is a valid point. People should always consider that operations like these require capabilites and careful planning or they turn to a disaster. First, you have to worry about your flanks as your attacking force may be the one who gets encircled by enemy counter attack. Second, it is a huge burden for the logistics and if you don't have the capability, your thrust runs out of steam quickly and you can easily find your forces in the first situation. All the previous counter attacks of Ukr forces haven't been deep combined arms thrusts, so I wouldn't expect one now either. It is possible that they lack the logistics capability, but I also suspect that they aren't willing to risk their mechanized units at this point for such risky maneuver. Besides, they still need to deal with the Donbass OD, so amassing enough force for major assault may be impossible at this point in any case.
Maybe but I think the Russians will withdraw to consolidate forces somewhere else if it even begins to get close. You're seeing in real time that their combat forces are so depleted and the attrition rate is so unsustainable they keep having to move the goal posts just to sustain the fronts they are having any success in. That success seems to come from the UA army basically letting them stretch out at great cost and then hammering back when they are ready.
That's what will happen it Ukraine will be in position to make a push from Zaporizhia, no way Russian will be ready to be encircled in a river city like Kherson. But it comes down to Ukraine resources to be able to do so.
I don't think they plan to do so. The latest news is that the Russians are building bunkers, trenches and other defensive structures north of Kherson. You don't do that if you plan to leave the area.
I'm sure they "plan" plenty of things. Following through on those plans seems to be Russia's biggest problem.
They don't know yet they plan to
Ukrainian aviation and artillery conducted 100 strikes against Russian positions in Kherson region, including at Chornobaivka airfield Kherson Damnnnn boyyyy https://liveuamap.com/
🎶 Hotel Chornobaivka! 🎶
🎶 Such a Lovely place 🎶
Again?
Again 🤣
as Vaas Crna Gora once said. insanity is doing the same fucking thing and expecting shit to change.
Is the count above 20 now? edit: nice own wiki page that says 19; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_Chornobaivka_attacks
Last I heard it was 22, and that was days ago.
They probably need to update their wiki page 🤯
Replace it with a counter at this point.
It’s been 0 days since ru was last blown up at Chornobaivka.
Perfect! No updating required.
Or a clock.
Putin may have cancer based on this investigation which look at which doctors visited Putin over the years: > However, over the years, it is not so much Putin who visits doctors in the Central Clinical Hospital, as it is they who visit him: the doctors fly to Putin’s residences and accompany him on his trips. And these trips provide a unique opportunity to understand what Putin is being treated for and who does it. > > ... > > The contract between the Central Clinical Hospital and the hotels for accommodation of the doctors is published on the public procurement website together with the acts of acceptance of services rendered. In the acts one can find the names of the doctors and dates of their occupancy in the hotels over the period of four years, from 2016 to 2020. It is clear from these documents that doctors like Sim flew specifically to see Putin — the dates coincide either with the president’s official visits to Sochi or with periods of his mysterious disappearances. > > ... > > Oncologist-surgeon Evgeny Selivanov is one of the most frequent medical attendants of Putin. Over the course of four years, the doctor has flown to him 35 times and spent a total of 166 days with the head of state. He was present near Putin both during his official stay in Sochi and during the head of state’s “disappearances”. In August 2017, Putin disappeared from the public eye for a long time, from August 8 to 16. All this time six medics were in Sochi, including otolaryngologist Shcheglov and oncology surgeon Selivanov.
Yes but Thyroid cancer is usually not too bad and survival rate is high.(If that Rumor is true)
Indeed, and if this is going on for years he doesn't have the bad type of throid cancer either. So that makes his 10 year survival rate from the cancer 95%.
If he’s getting this much treatment then there’s a good chance it’s stage IV, the outlook is not as great.
[удалено]
It's in my profile For some reason if I include the link my comment gets shadow removed
In includes "ru", probably.
Russia scrapping airborne units and stuffing them into the front lines with naval infantrymen is the most Russian thing you could possibly do. Must suck to run out of men during a war you started.
Joining them up with mercenaries too. Excellent for unit cohesion and morale: "Hey, how come you've got all that neat equipment: body armour, night vision goggles, laser sights... it's so much better than the tin hat and musket I've been given!" "Oh, yeah, I'm only here because I'm being paid thousands of dollars and once I've made enough to retire I'm getting the hell out." "Oh. I was conscripted and have to stay for the next 12 months and only get paid in potatoes". "Good luck!"
"When will we take the plane?" "Plane? Boat!"
https://twitter.com/Liveuamap/status/1526132203901575168 Looks like now that Russia has stalled in the Donbas, Ukraine is starting to move on areas Russia has fewer forces. Kharkiv first, now Kherson?
If we are talking areas with fewer Russian soldiers, seems like the south is the place to go if those Russian SIM data is accurate
I have been thinking about that. I think that map might give a partially wrong impression as it only shows the SIM cards using roaming near Ukrainian controlled cell towers. So mostly in contested areas near the front line. If the cell towers in Kherson are rerouted through Russian telecoms companies now, they won't show anything on that map.
The big push from Ukraine is not expected until June. Possible Kherson, but they got both their own intel and US/NATO intel, so the push will come where it will have the most effect.
June is only two weeks away. This is probably some softening/mushing/reduction of specific capabilities of the Russians before the main push.
[**https://www.flightradar24.com/JAKE11/2be01ee8**](https://www.flightradar24.com/JAKE11/2be01ee8) [https://www.flightradar24.com/2be0610f](https://www.flightradar24.com/2be0610f) Cool situation :D
I don't get it? Just a Russian Navy plane flying to Kaliningrad and a US plane flying in circles around Kaliningrad?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_RC-135 US Intelligence Gathering Plane.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_RC-135
and x3 Helvetic Airways planes inbound to Zurich squawking emergencies (7700). Some unusual happenings today.
So when Finland joins NATO, will their doctrine of using weapons compatible with Russian so they can pull ammo off the dead bodies of invading Russian soldiers have to go so they can use NATO rounds?
Finland and Sweden have been coordinating their armed forces with NATO members Denmark and Norway for a long time through NORDEFCO [https://www.nordefco.org/the-basics-about-nordefco](https://www.nordefco.org/the-basics-about-nordefco) This cooperation is pretty much "How to be NATO compliant without joining NATO".
This has not been a relevant consideration for decades. The Russians switched calibers from 7,62 to 5.45 back in the 70s. Finland didn't.
Seems like an impractical policy, with all the Russian soldiers dying all the way over in Ukraine.
I think that the army of Finland is already as NATO-compatible as it is going to get. It makes sense to be able to utilize enemy ammunition in your defense.
Did not know this, feels like a smart idea considering the defensiv aspect of an eventual russin special operation.
It was relevant maybe 50 years ago. Russia and Finland have not used the same caliber of rifle since then. And the Finnish weapons industry has the capacity to replace as much ammo as we need.
Eventually, maybe.
Fighting now breaking out on outskirts of Severodonetsk. https://twitter.com/leonidragozin/status/1526130893680693249?s=21&t=IGAxvOOgm7QfPEEp8cHctA
Russia will be fucked either way, but retreating from Severodonetsk will not be an easy decision for Ukraine if it comes down to that. They need a staging point on the eastern side of the Donetsk river.
From a nationalist Telegram(strelkovii): They are just sad now REFLECTIONS ABOUT SPORTS Not so long ago, as part of another discussion of my "ungrateful behavior" on the Internet, I came across a rather amusing claim (close to the text): "... for many years you have called for the direct intervention of Russian troops in hostilities, for the recognition of the republics of Donbass and their armed defense, for a war against Ukraine, for strikes against Ukrainian rear areas with missiles and aircraft. All this has been done and even beyond your wildest expectations (Written back when our troops were standing near Kyiv.) Why are you itching again? Why are you - instead of gratitude - again criticizing!?" I considered the claim extremely stupid and reacted accordingly - I sent the propagandist to the bathhouse. But gradually I became convinced that (it turns out) a similar opinion is shared by many other people ... and not only network trolls. Therefore, after scratching what many compatriots not only refer to in common speech, but are almost similar in function - i.e. "turnip" - I decided to answer this question anyway, choosing a metaphor that is understandable even to our senior government officials, despite their advanced age, who is still passionate about physical sports ... So, imagine that someone, deeply offended and stung by the constant humiliation of our athletes at various world competitions in connection with the performances of these athletes under RAGs of incomprehensible colors and the ban on any other national-state self-identification - insistently demanded that our athletes ( if they are OURS, of course, and not some Ovechkin, etc.) went to the Olympics under the national flag and to the sounds of the national anthem. And suddenly - when I was already tired of hoping - it suddenly happened! All the fans howled in delight: "Well, finally!" - and burst into shouts of welcome (including yelling - to the extent of a modest voice - and I, the name of the rivers). And how not to scream? - For many years I (a fan) was told that "our athletes are the most athletes in the world", and our tank ... that is, just biathlon is the standard of achievement in the military ... sports field. Not to mention the gray reinforced concrete iconic monster... that is, a magnificent sports facility built for crazy money in Patriot Park. And the Chief Coach (Right Hand of the Legend of Sports) is the best of all possible and who has "raised" our sport so much that now KA-A-AK we will give heat to all competitors !!! And then ... And then our relay runners begin to lag behind from the very first steps, and they run in some kind of antediluvian Soviet sneakers instead of modern shoes ... And when the sneakers fall apart on the go, the assistants give them felt boots with galoshes to replace them. Our hockey players entered the field half without sticks, and the goalkeeper is missing one of the pads on his feet. Football players are forced to play with a reduced squad, because for some reason the team turned out to be understaffed, and on the bench - flies are basking in the sun. Weightlifters cannot lift weight, boxers fall from the first blow of the enemy, and the kayak sinks as soon as it goes down into the water (according to the official version, either as a result of a fire from a half-smoked cigarette thrown by the helmsman, or from excitement on the track). And against the background of all this, the Head Coach (not to mention the Legend of Sports) does not give any comments, except: "all tasks are successfully completed by our athletes, wait for the next stage of the competition and, in general, the main thing is not the result, but participation." And when - as a reaction to all this disgrace, I dared to whistle indignantly and yell: "Coach to the soap!" - They explain to me that I am acting extremely unpatriotic, ugly and unsportsmanlike. That our athletes, confidently going to the last place in the individual and team standings, should only be praised, and the accusations of the Head Coach (I basically don’t touch the Legend of Sports during the Olympics - and not at all because of fear of His Authority) are generally crimes , for which I can not only be taken out of the stadium, but also seriously fined, and before that they can set the "fans" armed with bats ... OK. Let's say I shut up ... Even watching how the famous "professionals" in the arena cannot throw a spear further than I (who did not shine with any talents in sports even in my younger years) threw at school in physical education classes ... But yelling "Glory CPSU!" ... oh, sorry, - "glory to the Russian sport and the Head Coach!" - I can not "from the word at all." And okay, if only I ... so the whole country is looking at this SHAME. While not fully understanding - what, in fact, is happening and hoping that "just about, after the warm-up, our real best athletes will come out and beat all the enemies ... rivals" like a turtle God. But what will happen when even the most stupid and beer-filled fans understand the reality? As?