The Russian-Ukrainian War Thread

STURM

Well-Known Member

Whilst it's understandable that Ukrainian security personnel would want to prioritise their own nationals, the treatment some non white foreign students and workers have received is unacceptable. There is clear footage of foreign students not being allowed on a train and having to make way for a Ukrainian girl and of other students being manhandled at the Polish border. Another incident saw foreign nationals having a gun pointed at them.

Meanwhile the Ukraine has announced that it will be accepting foreign volunteers [like it has in the Donbass for the past few years]. I hope there's proper vetting or it could counter productive if the wrong type of volunteers are accepted - those over a certain age group, there for an adventure or there for ideological reasons. We've seen in the Congo, Biafra, Iraq and other places what happens when the wrong type of volunteers show up.
 

cdxbow

Well-Known Member
He might be in his mind to some extent, but I wonder what kind of info he gets. There are various people in his inner circle that can probably influence and manipulate him. It can even be (a bit of conspirology) that someone persuaded him to proceed with war to get rid of Putin in this way by presenting him as an unpopular crazy murderer, not as “a father of the nation”
Advisers to autocrats tend to be yes men, sycophants and grifters, none of which are likely to give good advice. Another area autocrats do really badly is succession planning, they tend to do the opposite! I don't think it's his advisers who have pushed this, I think this is basically his doing. We can only speculate why.
I'm not sure about the thousands of lost souls. Many Russian vehicles are coming up abandoned, with or without damage, not destroyed. It seems that the biggest failure here is Russian vehicle evacuation services. They're traditionally bad in the Russian armed forces (there was an attempt made to address this over the last GPV but it was rather half-hearted). Not only are there not enough modern evacuator vehicles, but they very organizational structures are insufficient. Even with some lone destroyed vehicles we can't be sure if they were taken out in combat or burned by locals after being abandoned. I suspect the question of Russian losses will be a messy one for a long time to come with no clear answers. The days of the 5-day war when Russia just published a complete list of their KIA are sadly long gone.
By now the death toll must be in the thousands. Over 450 vehicles have been destroyed on both sides. I take your point about a 'lost' vehicle may not of necessarily have lost their crew.
Neither side is very forth coming about casualties.
 

Arji

Active Member

Whilst it's understandable that Ukrainian security personnel would want to prioritise their own nationals, the treatment some non white foreign students and workers have received is unacceptable. There is clear footage of foreign students not being allowed on a train and having to make way for a Ukrainian girl and of other students being manhandled at the Polish border. Another incident saw foreign nationals having a gun pointed at them.

Meanwhile the Ukraine has announced that it will be accepting foreign volunteers [like it has in the Donbass for the past few years]. I hope there's proper vetting or it could counter productive if the wrong type of volunteers are accepted - those over a certain age group, there for an adventure or there for ideological reasons. We've seen in the Congo, Biafra, Iraq and other places what happens when the wrong type of volunteers show up.
Did they delete the article? I can't access that link.
 

Feanor

Super Moderator
Staff member
By now the death toll must be in the thousands. Over 450 vehicles have been destroyed on both sides. I take your point about a 'lost' vehicle may not of necessarily have lost their crew.
Neither side is very forth coming about casualties.
Total death toll, yes. I'll publish whatever casualty info I can come across. The entire Donbass War had only a little over 10 000 dead, and that's with months of heavy fighting in the '14-'15 campaigns, and includes all the civilians too. Let's see what happens with the battle for Kharkov. That one will show what is to come for Kiev, and likely show whether we can expect mass civilian casualties. I'm hoping not.
 

Feanor

Super Moderator
Staff member
Update.

Kiev.

Territorial defense in Kiev.


Around Kiev.

Fighting took place in Borodyanka, as Russian troops blocked Kiev from the north-east. It looks like there's some destroyed Russian trucks and a destroyed BMP-1, almost certainly Ukrainian.


Battle damage in Vasil'kov, Kiev region.


Another "Russian infiltrator" who was found out because he had Russian news apps on his phone.


Approximately 2000+ Russian vehicles were spotted west of Kiev by satellite.


Russian SpN near Kiev.


There's still no confirmation on the fate of the An-225. It may or may not have been destroyed.


Kharkov-Sumy.

The Kharkov city administration building was hit by an airstrike. It was apparently a gathering spot for Ukrainian territorial defense (and Azov members), and the building had munitions stored in it.


Something being burned at a military commissariat in Kharkov, probably documents.


Shelling in Kharkov.


Battle damage in Kharkov.


Allegedly Ukraine suffered 70 KIAs from the strike on Akhtyrka.


Zaporozhye-Dnepropetrovsk.

A Ukrainian Tochka struck Melitopol'.


Kherson-Nikolaev-Odessa.

Russian troops in Kherson.


Russian troops detain someone in Kherson.


Old footage from the first day of a Ukrainian column getting shelled near Kherson.


Mariupol'.

More footage of the two T-80BVs, Ukrainian, lost near Gnutovo.


A destroyed MT-LB, allegedly Ukrainian, near Shirokino.


Rebel forces near Mariupol'.


Ukrainian SP Arty battery in Mariupol'.


LDNR Front.

Battle damage in Schastye, allegedly from Ukrainian shelling of rebel troops after they took the town. I'm skeptical of the claims, we have footage of rebels shelling the town prior to their assault on it. At least some of the battle damage comes from them. Possibly all of it.


Shelling of Donetsk and Gorlovka continues.


Rebel forces have allegedly taken village Kremennaya north-west of Severo-Donetsk, threatening encirclement to the troops there.


Allegedly Ukrainian POWs in LNR hands.


Ukrainian POWs in Donetsk taken to the Alley of Angels, a memorial site for local children killed in the war.


Misc.

The OSCE mission is leaving the Donbass.


There are unconfirmed reports that Russian prison facilities at IK-1 (Zverevo) and the Taganrog jail are being emptied of prisoners in anticipation of Ukrainian POWs.


Ukraine confirmed losing 6 pilots in this war. Presumably 2 Su-27s downed, 2 Su-25s downed, and 2 people on the lost An-26?


Locals have stolen? a Russian BTR-82A.


Russian T-90A (maybe two, maybe one and the same?) and BTR-82A abandoned.


A Russian MI-35M prepping for combat, note the 8 Ataka missiles, and the Vitebsk defense suite.


More alleged Russian infiltrators in Kirovograd region.


Over 400 towns and villages in Ukraine are without electricity due to the fighting.


Russia's Council of the Federation says that transports carrying weapons on Ukrainian soil may be targeted by Russia. I have my doubts. Russia can't track down all regular Ukrainian troop columns to prevent them from moving, but they're going to hunt for unmarked trucks in western Ukraine?


Another batch of Javelin's is coming from Estonia.


Chechen fighters continue to publish videos out of Ukraine.


Info from Taganrog Russia of an explosion at the military airfield there. Apparently a Ukrainian missile shot down by Russian air defense.

 

Big_Zucchini

Well-Known Member
By timing and lack of splinter damage that looks more like indirect fire impacts from an automatic grenade launcher.
Definitely could be. As I said, the evidence of usage of cluster bombs is quite overwhelming.
Recently some countries put back into service improved cluster bombs that have dud rates far below the threshold of the convention.
The convention on the ban of cluster bombs is not a blanket ban, and some can simply not sign it.
But any usage of cluster bombs by Russia is simply morally wrong, even if not a crime.

Even if done outside populated areas, these duds are known to kill people roaming around them years after any conflict. There have been many reported casualties.
 

Feanor

Super Moderator
Staff member
By timing and lack of splinter damage that looks more like indirect fire impacts from an automatic grenade launcher.
This would make a lot of sense. Some of those Tigr-Ms rolling around Kharkov were definitely carrying AGS-17s.

Definitely could be. As I said, the evidence of usage of cluster bombs is quite overwhelming.
Recently some countries put back into service improved cluster bombs that have dud rates far below the threshold of the convention.
The convention on the ban of cluster bombs is not a blanket ban, and some can simply not sign it.
But any usage of cluster bombs by Russia is simply morally wrong, even if not a crime.

Even if done outside populated areas, these duds are known to kill people roaming around them years after any conflict. There have been many reported casualties.
For sure. To be honest, we should have expected the use of cluster munitions. Russia used them freely in Syria. We will likely see more restraint in their use here, but more restraint doesn't mean none.

As for listing things done by Putin's government that are morally wrong.... I don't think we have enough server space.
 

Capt. Ironpants

Active Member
Definitely could be. As I said, the evidence of usage of cluster bombs is quite overwhelming.
Recently some countries put back into service improved cluster bombs that have dud rates far below the threshold of the convention.
The convention on the ban of cluster bombs is not a blanket ban, and some can simply not sign it.
But any usage of cluster bombs by Russia is simply morally wrong, even if not a crime.

Even if done outside populated areas, these duds are known to kill people roaming around them years after any conflict. There have been many reported casualties.
Both sides (Ukrainian and LDNR) used them in 2015:

NATO dropped 1,765 cluster bombs during Op Allied Force (FR Yugoslavia,1999). Sorry it's wiki, but here's a link to one I happened to remember (cluster bombs intended for airport hit city center of Niš 3km from airport) on 7 May (civilian deaths and injuries), followed by more cluster bombs on the eastern part of the city on 12 May (civilian injuries) 7km from the airport:

From the article: "Today, hundreds of unexploded cluster munitions can still be found in the Serbian countryside, despite efforts by the Serbian government to clear all sites of such munitions."

More details here:

ICTY's take on NATO use of cluster bombs:


Russia, Ukraine and the US, among others, are not signatories to the 2008 Convention:

NATO did not use cluster munitions in Op Odysseus Dawn (Libya, 2011), firstly, I presume because a number of NATO members are signatories to the Convention, and secondly becsuse US and NATO countries condemned Gadaffi's use of them. Sadly, the warlords there continue to use them, including Haftar (spelled Hifter in 2011, but same guy -- widely considered a US asset when first inserted into Libya):


Above is historical and legal info. Personally, I hate the things and wish no one used them, but that's neither here nor there, just my private opinion, probably colored by my own experiences as someone whose job once included assisting injured civilians, comforting survivors of the dead (and photographing their bodies for documentation, which was distasteful, but had to be done), and filing reports on such incidents in conflict zones. So I'm just that way.
 

jref

Member
Hi, I've been following the thread quietly. I have no military experience whatsoever so I won't be engaging in any discussions and posting anything other than occasional questions.
Speaking of questions, can anyone comment on the accuracy of the map:
IMG_20220301_222718_488.jpg

And how's the situation around Mariupol'? The city seems to be cut off.

Thanks
 

Muukalainen

New Member
Putin's big problem with calling the Ukraine government "Nazis" is that it's president is a JEW, with both mother and father being Jewish. No Jewish person would have a bar of the Nazis .
I am unclear on this argument, not because I think the Ukrainian government is a Nazi government (its not), but that it is stated as if there is 0 truth to Putin's claim. To my knowledge and from this thread itself, I know there are at least the Azov Battalion and S14 as fairly large, unambiguously Neo-Nazi groups. I know little about S14, but the Azov battalion is an official part of the Ukrainian national guard. No, the Ukrainian government as a whole is not a Nazi government, but I do find their continued official acceptance of the Azov Battalion deeply problematic. Hell, even the US government agrees they are Neo Nazis and sanctioned them from receiving military aid. To be explicit, I do not even remotely think this legitimates Putin's invasion (it does not), but it is something that needs to be discussed honestly.
 

kato

The Bunker Group
Verified Defense Pro
Hell, even the US government agrees they are Neo Nazis and sanctioned them from receiving military aid.
Just as a note: The Azov battalion, its recruitment structures and its networking with multiple militant Neonazi groups in a variety of countries are under observation by domestic intelligence services in several European countries.
 

Steinmetz

Active Member
Hi, I've been following the thread quietly. I have no military experience whatsoever so I won't be engaging in any discussions and posting anything other than occasional questions.
Speaking of questions, can anyone comment on the accuracy of the map:
View attachment 48972

And how's the situation around Mariupol'? The city seems to be cut off.

Thanks
Looks fairly accurate to me, considering Russian breakthroughs on the Southern Front. The 58th CAA has been by far the most effective. North East direction is unclear, could be wrong. Western Kiev, I've seen and listened to radio chatter that indicates they've expanded much farther south and west of the city than is shown.
 

JGCAC

New Member
IIRC, there was footage of Su-57 Felons on the first day. Has there been any more information as to their operations?
 

Rock the kasbah

Active Member
Looks fairly accurate to me, considering Russian breakthroughs on the Southern Front. The 58th CAA has been by far the most effective. North East direction is unclear, could be wrong. Western Kiev, I've seen and listened to radio chatter that indicates they've expanded much farther south and west of the city than is shown.
That thin grey strip from Kyiv to Russia, is that the so called humanitarian corridor I have heard mentioned ?
 

DDG38

The Bunker Group
Verified Defense Pro
Hi, I've been following the thread quietly. I have no military experience whatsoever so I won't be engaging in any discussions and posting anything other than occasional questions.
Speaking of questions, can anyone comment on the accuracy of the map:
It's hard to assess the veracity of images without knowing their source, and in future if you post images please note where you obtained them from.
 
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