Russia and its “Special Operation” in Ukraine

[magnkarl]

6 minutes ago, Mandy Lifeboats said:

Let us not forget the other threats Putin made in the last 6 months. 

Finland would find itself on the front line of a war if the joined NATO. 

Russia reserves the right to attack Polish airbases used to ship weapons to Ukraine. 

There would be massive consequences if NATO interfered. 

There would be massive consequences if NATO armed Ukraine. 

There would be massive consequences if NATO armed Ukraine with Himars. 

All those threats.  Nothing happened. 

 

Putin says the the West is trying to destroy Russia.  But the true picture is that NATO hasn't even given Ukraine the most effective Western weapons. Let's see how long Russia last against Cruise Missiles, F16 and modern tanks   But even that's not our best kit.

 

 

The f16 is old by now, but it would smoke any Russian plane. The f35 would eat any Russian position without ever being spotted. The Scandinavian part of NATO along with Finland and Sweden would probably beat Russia in an air war. That’s a lot of JAS Gripen and F35s.

Give Ukraine some second hand Abrahams and F16s and Russia wouldn’t be able to do jack.

[TheAuthority]

2 minutes ago, trekka said:

Enough of these puns! Let the man go back home to his family with pride. 

You're right. I bet he's roaring to get back to them.

[trekka]

5 minutes ago, TheAuthority said:

You're right. I bet he's roaring to get back to them.

That's just a whim away, a whim away, a whim away...

[sidcow]

Bless him but I can't be the only person who finds this photo a bit creepy? 

[bickster]

Quote

Their names have not yet been made public, but, most likely, the Russians released:

– Swedish citizen Matthias Gustavsson;
– Croatian citizen Vekoslav Prebig;
– British citizens John Harding, Andrew Hill, Dylan Healy, Shaun Pinner and Aiden Aslin;
– Moroccan citizen Brahim Saadoun;
– as well as two U.S. citizens – Alexander Drueke and Andy Huynh.

Best guess I've seen as to who was released

mil.in.ua

[astondalston]

5 minutes ago, sidcow said:

Bless him but I can't be the only person who finds this photo a bit creepy? 

 

[Genie]

20 minutes ago, astondalston said:

 

It’s good to know what Mick Lynch was doing before RMT.

[NurembergVillan]

41 minutes ago, sidcow said:

Bless him but I can't be the only person who finds this photo a bit creepy? 

[trekka]

Just watching Zelenskyy's address to the UN General Assembly.  The man is a bloody hero. 

[avfc1982am]

 

[djdabush]

Seemingly the prisoner swap involves a large amount of the Mariupol defenders. 

 

 

[Panto_Villan]

Yeah, it’s great to see the Azov defenders making it back home. We shouldn’t forget the 70+ that were murdered a couple of months ago in that staged fire at the prison camp, but frankly I didn’t think any of them would make it back. 
 

Meanwhile on the other side Russia is apparently sending those arrested at the anti-war protests straight to the mobilisation centres to get drafted. It was an easy joke to make but apparently they’re actually doing it. What a world we live in.

[TheAuthority]

7 hours ago, trekka said:

That's just a whim away, a whim away, a whim away...

Sure, but he just sleeps toniiiiiiiiiiiiiihgt

[Mandy Lifeboats]

I was listening to an interview from a US General who is responsible for the training of US Troops.  He simply laughed at the idea of 300,000 troops being sufficiently trained and arriving on the battlefield.  He said the US couldn’t do that despite having much superior organisations.  
 

Apparently most of these 300,000 will be former soldiers who probably haven’t picked up a gun in 20 years.  But it’s the specialist roles that need reinforcement and these aren’t quick to train. 
 

I am paraphrasing him heavily but the tone of his message was that they are cannon fodder or will arrive far too late.

[magnkarl]

8 hours ago, djdabush said:

Seemingly the prisoner swap involves a large amount of the Mariupol defenders. 

 

 

This is 100% good for Ukraine. They've handed over cannon fodder and gotten extremely motivated and experienced NCO's back. From looking at what these guys are made of I'm sure they'll take a few week's R&R and then be right back either commanding or training people.

[magnkarl]

32 minutes ago, Mandy Lifeboats said:

I was listening to an interview from a US General who is responsible for the training of US Troops.  He simply laughed at the idea of 300,000 troops being sufficiently trained and arriving on the battlefield.  He said the US couldn’t do that despite having much superior organisations.  
 

Apparently most of these 300,000 will be former soldiers who probably haven’t picked up a gun in 20 years.  But it’s the specialist roles that need reinforcement and these aren’t quick to train. 
 

I am paraphrasing him heavily but the tone of his message was that they are cannon fodder or will arrive far too late.

It takes 12 months to 'make' an ok soldier. It takes 2-4 years to make a specialist\officer.

All the officers and trainers are dead/deployed, you do the maths of what is going to arrive in Ukraine..

[BleedClaretAndBlue]

7 hours ago, Panto_Villan said:

Yeah, it’s great to see the Azov defenders making it back home. We shouldn’t forget the 70+ that were murdered a couple of months ago in that staged fire at the prison camp, but frankly I didn’t think any of them would make it back. 

Just gives Russias claim about denazification being a reason for going into Ukraine even less than the zero credibility it had to begin with, as the main pocket of neo-nazi far rights are from that very Azov battalion, and they’ve just released about 200 of them for Putin’s mate, a Ukrainian Oligarch, Viktor Medvedchuk. Where’s the uproar and rhetoric in Moscow over this? Putin bails out his mate and puts 200 Nazi’s back on the streets

[ml1dch]

40 minutes ago, Mandy Lifeboats said:

I was listening to an interview from a US General who is responsible for the training of US Troops.  He simply laughed at the idea of 300,000 troops being sufficiently trained and arriving on the battlefield.  He said the US couldn’t do that despite having much superior organisations.  
 

Apparently most of these 300,000 will be former soldiers who probably haven’t picked up a gun in 20 years.  But it’s the specialist roles that need reinforcement and these aren’t quick to train. 
 

I am paraphrasing him heavily but the tone of his message was that they are cannon fodder or will arrive far too late.

This may well be the same chap, or if not he's saying very similar:

 

[magnkarl]

Another good article showing why mobilising untrained young men in Russia won't work. Russia already has a good example just a month or so old.. The third army corps was given 'the best' equipment, look where it went..

The Russians Spent Months Forming A New Army Corps. It Lasted Days in Ukraine

Quote

The 3rd Army Corps on paper is a powerful force, with several brigades encompassing 10,000 troops in a dozen or more battalions equipped with hundreds of T-80 and T-90 tanks and other vehicles.

But it’s a hollow formation, staffed by old, unfit volunteers including drug and alcohol addicts. And when the 3rd AC’s vanguard rushed to northeastern Ukraine’s Kharkiv Oblast last week in a desperate bid to block a Ukrainian counteroffensive, the corps just ... melted away.

 

[villa89]

9 hours ago, Panto_Villan said:

Russia is apparently sending those arrested at the anti-war protests straight to the mobilisation centres to get drafted. It was an easy joke to make but apparently they’re actually doing it. What a world we live in.

Imagine how fast they'll surrender, will it be before or after they shoot their own commanding officer in the back.