Russia and its “Special Operation” in Ukraine

[sidcow]

3 minutes ago, TheAuthority said:

I'm from Stourbridge mate.

 

Never mind.  You got out, that's the main thing.

[TheAuthority]

7 hours ago, tonyh29 said:

PS ...  wasn't John la Carré  English  ?  

He was British (dad was friends with the Krays)

He chose to take Irish citizenship after the Brexit vote, of which he said;

"This is without doubt the greatest catastrophe and the greatest idiocy that Britain has perpetrated since the invasion of Suez"

Sorry OT. Go Ukraine!

[TheAuthority]

1 minute ago, sidcow said:

Never mind.  You got out, that's the main thing.

Bathams & Enville ale. - I miss that - God's nectar.

 

[TheAuthority]

7 minutes ago, Jareth said:

Oh yeah? Say Aluminium Oregano and bottle of water. 

The one that grates on my soul is "Leisure"

They pronounce it Leeeeezure. Worth buying an AR-15 for

 

Edited June 6, 2023 by TheAuthority

[blandy]

On 06/06/2023 at 14:33, bickster said:

Not sure what your point is?

Here's a topographical map of Kherson and the Dnipr, You'll notice the right bank is a hill and the left bank is a flood plain. Man in video doesn't understand basic geography and physics

 

It looks to me like the North (left?) side coloured orangey is higher than the south (right? side) coloured green. The Dam is towards the Top right of the pic isn't it?

[LondonLax]

16 minutes ago, blandy said:

It looks to me like the North (left) side coloured orangey is higher than the south (right side) coloured green. The Dam is towards the Top right of the pic isn't it?

The bits in green is where the Russians had been mining and building trenches the last few months. The bits in orange is Ukrainian higher ground. 

[blandy]

1 minute ago, LondonLax said:

The bits in green is where the Russians had been mining and building trenches the last few months. The bits in orange is Ukrainian higher ground. 

Yes, that's what I thought. I guess the landmines might (eventually) either get exposed or be covered much deeper with silt and mud. It's hard to see who gains from this blowing of the dam - the Ukrainians now have a much wider river to cross, the islands in the river are submerged, and the Russians appear to have flooded themselves, at least in part. Hydro electric power and water supplies for Ukrainians are lost. It looks most likely the Russians blew the dam, but it's not completely obvious, though preventing Ukraine crossing the river is clearly a likely factor. Locals reported a big explosion and then the sound of water rushing at about 2 am.

[sidcow]

44 minutes ago, TheAuthority said:

Bathams & Enville ale. - I miss that - God's nectar.

 

[LondonLax]

14 minutes ago, blandy said:

Yes, that's what I thought. I guess the landmines might (eventually) either get exposed or be covered much deeper with silt and mud. It's hard to see who gains from this blowing of the dam - the Ukrainians now have a much wider river to cross, the islands in the river are submerged, and the Russians appear to have flooded themselves, at least in part. Hydro electric power and water supplies for Ukrainians are lost. It looks most likely the Russians blew the dam, but it's not completely obvious, though preventing Ukraine crossing the river is clearly a likely factor. Locals reported a big explosion and then the sound of water rushing at about 2 am.

I think on the balance of factors this helps Ukraine more than Russia but I’m not going to an accuse Ukraine without evidence. Hence why my current favourite theory is miss-hap.  

The local reports talk of a loud bang waking them up and then rushing water. I would suspect a concrete dam catastrophically failing under load would create an explosion like bang, so the reports from residents doesn’t rule that out.

Unless some video evidence turns up it will probably require forensic engineers to go in and try to work out what caused it, but that is not likely to be possible for a long while yet. 

[chrisp65]

4 hours ago, magnkarl said:

Russia is operating off of maps from 1942

Where’s the source for Russian maps being 80 years old?

[Mandy Lifeboats]

11 minutes ago, chrisp65 said:

Where’s the source for Russian maps being 80 years old?

There are many references and sources to outdated maps.  Here is just one. 
 

Quote

“Russian Military received outdated maps of Ukraine”

https://mil.in.ua/en/news/russian-military-received-outdated-maps-of-ukraine-prior-to-invasion/

 

[LondonLax]

2 hours ago, bickster said:

Not a criticism of you but you (and that Sky video posted above) reminded me, that its often been said that the canal was Crimea's water supply and people imagine that this means all the water is cut off to homes etc, it isn't the case. The canal supplies water for agriculture not domestic use

On the Kerch Bridge. I'm not sure they can take it out now, they need to give Russians an escape route when they take the peninsula back otherwise Ukraine will end up with a humanitarian crisis.

EDIT: Also has there been confirmation that the canal is out as the Dam isn't fully breached only the top level, so the canal may still be serviceable

One of the main reasons they built the bridge was because the Ukrainians had cut off the water canal to Crimea and they were having to truck in tankers of drinking water to Crimea on the ferry. Crimea would presumably collect and treat rain water for their reservoirs but would still need the reliability of a dam for periods of low rain.

[bielesibub]

1 hour ago, chrisp65 said:

Where’s the source for Russian maps being 80 years old?

At a guess, the "this map belongs to Joseph S" scrawled on the back might be the give away

[magnkarl]

3 hours ago, chrisp65 said:

Where’s the source for Russian maps being 80 years old?

It was supposed to be a joke, considering they invaded with maps of Soviet bases in feb 22 and missed almost all their targets on the first few days of lobbing missiles at Ukraine. 

Let’s just say it wouldn’t surprise me.

[chrisp65]

2 minutes ago, magnkarl said:

It was supposed to be a joke, considering they invaded with maps of Soviet bases in feb 22 and missed almost all their targets on the first few days of lobbing missiles at Ukraine. 

Let’s just say it wouldn’t surprise me.

See Mandy’s response above…

[LondonLax]

Interestingly enough the Washington Post interviewed a Ukrainian general in November who claimed attacking the dam and flooding the river was one of Ukraine’s proposed tactics. He also had said they hit it with HIMARS and damaged one of the sluice gates. 

Quote

On one occasion, as Ukrainian forces plotted a counteroffensive in the Kherson region, they conducted a test strike using an American-provided HIMARS rocket launcher to puncture three holes in one of the floodgates of the Kakhovka dam.

Maj. Gen. Andriy Kovalchuk, who led the Kherson offensive, told The Washington Postlate last year that the goal was to see if the water level of the Dnieper River could be raised enough to stymie Russian crossings but not flood nearby villages. The test was a success, Kovalchuk said, but commanders decided to hold off on such an operation.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/06/06/ukraine-russia-kakhovka-dam-hydroelectric-war/

[Mandy Lifeboats]

Last night the Russia MOD proudly posted a video of a Leopard 2 being destroyed by an attack helicopter.  
 

It’s been taken down because the very last frame of the video clearly shows that it’s a combined harvester. 

Edited June 7, 2023 by Mandy Lifeboats
Speeling mishsteaks

[magnkarl]

 

36 minutes ago, Mandy Lifeboats said:

Last night the Russia MOD proudly posted a video of a Leopard 2 being destroyed by an attack helicopter.  
 

It’s been taken down because the very last frame of the video clearly shows that it’s a combined harvester. 

Video above for anyone wanting a laugh.

[Mandy Lifeboats]

A nice couple of stills from the Russian video showing the Tiger 2 tanks being destroyed.

 

 

 

[magnkarl]

4 minutes ago, Mandy Lifeboats said:

A nice couple of stills from the Russian video showing the Tiger 2 tanks being destroyed.

 

 

 

I mean, so far the tractor has proven a very dangerous enemy for Russia, so I guess they're enacting revenge.