Ukraine war mega thread

[David48atTD]

Really good read into one of Putins closest of his inner circle.

---

Yevgeny Prigozhin, known as Vladimir Putin's chef, revealed as Wagner Group mercenary boss

... there was one mysterious figure who stood behind Putin's shoulder that caught the attention of the press. The man, named Yevgeny Prigozhin, hovered behind the Russian president, personally serving him plates of food.

"Putin — as everyone knew — was mistrustful. Especially about food and drink, the easiest way to poison someone, as the KGB well understood," the Guardian's Russia correspondent Luke Harding wrote in Shadow State.

"How did Prigozhin gain Putin's confidence?"

As he won contracts to cater lavish events for the Kremlin, Prigozhin, who always made a point of personally serving the Russian leader, earned the nickname of "Putin's chef".

For years, he denied he was anything more than a successful entrepreneur who had cooked his way into Putin's inner circle.

But there were always whispers that he was responsible for more than just the hors d'oeuvres.

More is HERE

[sabang]

The Ukrainian military is also shelling the Kakhovskaya hydro plant located 5 kilometers from the town of Novaya Kakhovka. On October 21, at least five missile attacks on the power plant were repelled by Russian air defense forces.

If the Ukrainians destroy the floodgates, the water will rush downstream and create a giant wave with a height of up to five meters which will flood the zone of more than five kilometers. The wave will reach Kherson in just two hours. The damage to the dam would destroy the crossings used by the Russian military and cut the large Russian grouping on the west bank; but it will also destroy dozens of settlements.

Kiev traditionally assures that it is allegedly Russia that is going to destroy the dam. Making such statements, Ukraine ignores both logic and objective facts. Cui bono? Who really benefits from such an event? The answer is clear.

The Kiev regime also ignores the fact that the Russian military has all the necessary means to destroy the Kiev Hydroelectric Station located near the capital. In a retaliation strike, Russia could completely divide Ukraine along the Dnieper River, destroying all the bridges and communication lines. As a result of the disaster caused by the destruction of the Kiev dam, more than 10 million people will suffer. But Russia could win the war “in one day”.

The scenario of the division of the Ukrainian region by natural factor, an overflowing river, would lead to the inevitable attenuation of the conflict, which is in the interests not only of Russia, but also of the West.


FULL- Kiev To Launch Dam War On Dnieper RiverSouth Front

[bsnub]

Interesting Perspective

Except that it is not. It is just more Russian BS propaganda from one of your shit fake news sites.

Founded in 2015, South Front is a Russian propaganda website that claims to be non-profit and non-partisan. According to their about page, South Front is a “public analytical umbrella organization created and maintained by a team of experts and volunteers from the four corners of the Earth. SouthFront focuses on issues of international relations, armed conflicts, and crises. The organization provides military operations analysis, military posture of major world powers, and other important data influencing the growth of tensions between countries and nations.”
The website lacks transparency as they do not name an owner or editors and articles lack author names and bios.
In 2016, South Front was accused of being a Russian propaganda tool. In another 2016 article, they were accused of “spreading Russian propaganda during the [U.S.] election.” Finally, in 2017, their Wikipedia page was deleted due to being a non-reliable source.

https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/south-front/

[sabang]

How is that Russian shelling of Russian forces in the Russian controlled nuclear plant near Zapo going snubs? It must be true, because Straight Talkin' Zelensky told you himself. And then got back to begging for more money.

[bsnub]

How is that Russian shelling of Russian forces in the Russian controlled nuclear plant near Zapo going snubs?

More of your idiocy. The artillery fire has been confirmed to have been coming from inside of Russian held territory. More of the same shit propaganda you peddle, just like the Ukrainians launched rockets on their own POW's.

Your desperation is palpable.

[sabang]

Your desperation is palpable.

Who told ya that? The ghostly Ghost of Kiev?

[Hugh Cow]

It is not just your viewpoint that i disagree with. It is the way you appear to be blind to the Russian war crimes perpetrated on the Ukrainian people. I find it quite staggering how you are happy to mention Russian advances but are oblivious to the number of war crimes comitted on Ukrainian civilians by these same Russians on the way. These alone should prevent any support or justification for these torturers of civilians yet you press on with some mistaken hyperbole that it is the fault of everyone but the perpetrators of these horrendous crimes.

[sabang]

Actually, I am very mindful of atrocities and war crimes. You really should take a closer look at the Ukrainians- especially those far Right militias. They are awful.


'We're hunting them down and shooting them like pigs':

How Ukrainians are taking revenge on Russian collaborators | Daily Mail Online

[misskit]

^ After reading that full article, those people deserve being hunted down like pigs!

[sabang]

Then you have justified war crimes, and cannot condemn Russia for the same thing. You are on a moral slippery slope kitty.

[misskit]

Kremlin Says Everyone Must Suffer So Putin Will Win

With dozens of newly drafted troops already dead and Russian troops laying the groundwork for a retreat from a key Ukrainian city, the Kremlin has now revealed it is hoping to give its war a second wind by making ordinary Russians feel it as much as possible.


Sergei Kirienko, the first deputy chief of staff of the presidential administration, said as much Saturday in a speech to a national conference of teachers, declaring that the war the Kremlin has until now doggedly insisted is only a “special military operation” must become a “people’s war.”

“Russia has always won any war, if that war became a people’s [war]. We will definitely win this war: both the ‘hot’ one, and the economic one, and the very psychological, information war that is being waged against us. But for that it is necessary that it is precisely a people’s war, so that every person feels his own involvement. So that every person has the opportunity to contribute to our common victory,” Kirienko said.


His comments raised eyebrows on social media, where many noted this appeared to be the first time the presidential administration had dropped its absurd “special operation” euphemism, and others pointed out that millions of Russians had already fled the country in protest of the war.


Even as Kirienko made his comments, authorities in Belgorod on the border with Ukraine revealed they have erected concrete barriers to ostensibly keep the region safe from Ukrainians. And in Moscow, multiple media reports said local authorities had begun preparing bomb shelters in schools and hospitals—perhaps a theatrical move aimed at stoking fears of an attack in the capital.


Meanwhile, just one month after Vladimir Putin summoned tens of thousands of citizens to face death for him on the battlefield, at least 41 newly drafted troops have already been killed, according to a tally by Mediazona and the BBC. Among them were some who, by law, were not even eligible for the draft–including a Raiffeisenbank employee named Timur Izmailov, who was apparently tricked into visiting his local military recruitment office and then died six days after being tossed on the frontline.


Bizarrely, Kirienko insisted that the “most important battle” for Russia right now is the “battle for the youth”—a strange priority to name given the thousands of youth already killed to prop up Putin's delusional war against Ukraine.


An unnamed Russian soldier’s phone call to his mother offered perhaps the most succinct reply to Kirienko’s vision of a “people’s war.”


“Fucking scumbags! This fucking government pisses me off so much! They are so dumb, I am in shock,” he told her from the frontline in Ukraine, according to audio released by Ukrainian intelligence.


“This is how it will be: half the country will be jailed and half the country will go to war."


After his mother tried to reassure him by predicting Russia will soon take land from Poland, her son shot back that it is Russia that should be worried about losing territory now.


“Yes, yes, yes, with this fucking government it’s already been made clear.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/top-kr...win?ref=scroll

[misskit]

^^ Don’t slippery slope me after you posted that one line cherry-picked from a full article that put it all in context.

[sabang]

I vote Democrat, you vote Republican. Which of us deserves to Die?

[misskit]

^ Did you even read that article?

[sabang]

Anyone know, or remember Richard Falk? Just the latest voice to join the "show some common sense" debate:-



Disdaining Diplomacy, Seeking Victory

Ever since the Ukraine War started on February 24, 2022 the NATO response, mainly articulated and materially implemented by the U.S., has been to pour vast quantities of oil on the flames of conflict, taunting Russia and its leader, increasing the scale of violence, the magnitude of human suffering, and dangerously increasing the risk of a disastrous outcome. Not only did Washington mobilize the world to denounce Russia’s ‘aggression’, but supplied a steady stream of advanced weaponry in great quantities to the Ukrainians to resist the Russian attack and even mount counterattacks. The U.S. did all it could at the UN and elsewhere to build a punitive coalition hostile to Russia but coupled this with a variety of sanctions and the demonization of Putin as a notorious war criminal unfit to govern and deserving of indictment and prosecution. This perspective of state propaganda was faithfully conveyed by a self-censoring Western media filter that graphically portrayed on a daily basis the horrors of the war experienced by the Ukrainian civilian population, something to be avoided when dealing with U.S. regime-changing interventions or Israel’s violence inflicted on the long-suffering Palestinian people.

Such inflammatory behavior is underscored by a newly discovered West-oriented enthusiasm for the International Criminal Court, urging the tribunal to gather as much evidence as quickly as possible of Russian war crimes. This law-oriented posture is contradicted by intense past opposition to ICC efforts to gather evidence for an investigation of war crimes by non-signatories (of which Russia is one) in relation to the U.S. role in Afghanistan or Israel’s role in occupied Palestine. To some degree such one-sidedness of presentation was to be expected, and even justified, but its intensity in relation to Ukraine has been dangerously interwoven with an irresponsible and amateurishly pursued geopolitical war waged by the U.S. against Russia, and indirectly against China. It is a war with high stakes as determining the structure of world order in the aftermath of the Cold War and the ascent of China as a credible rival to U.S. dominance. Such a geopolitical war is being waged in a manner oblivious to the wider human interests at stake, and in a profound sense, contrary to the wellbeing and fate of Ukraine and its people.

Full Article- https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/10/21/ukraine-war-evolves-slouching-toward-armageddon/

[bsnub]

Did you even read that article?

Of course, he didn't, the headline fit his shit narrative and that was all he needed. Since before this war started he has shown a blind obedience to his shit narrative even after being humiliated time and again in this thread starting with idiotic masterpiece...

Still no Russian invasion then? How are the usual suspects gonna backpedal out of this when it becomes apparent that Russia is not going to invade Ukraine, as I have been telling you all along bedwetters? May as well start preparing your excuses now- you are gonna need 'em!

Every time he was proven wrong and made a fool of he just doubled down on stupid. He will continue to do so until the last Russian son of a bitch is killed and or beaten back across the border.

One thing is certain, his side is losing, even though he is desperately trying to prove otherwise. Every day, the humiliation piles with every defeat, and it becomes harder and harder for him to gloss that reality over.

Lots more butthurt is coming.

[sabang]

You have been a bit quiet on the war porn recently snubs. Any reason?

[klong toey]

No power in Kyiv at the moment but we need to eat Angie cooking for her family.

[panama hat]

^ point taken, snubbs. The country has to drag itself into 21st century thinking.

[HermantheGerman]

You really should take a closer look at the Ukrainians- especially those far Right militias. They are awful.

But it's all been gone through before, do you ever tire of repeating yourself? :-

[david44]

Enogodar/Enerhodar (manes energy giver a town built to generate) is the largest NPP in Europe.

To be very simplistic
At the production end like most energy plants it is a giant kettle.

However unlike a turbine , that can be turned off and becomes harmless it needs cooling to remain under control, waste needs responsible, monitored safe storage.

Even if not exporting power the reactors need cooling.

Water from the pools is used

The source is a large "cooling pond" easily seen on Google Earth between the 6 reactors and the Dnipro river, It is protected by an easily damaged sandbar. It is similar to a tide pool, any damage to the barrier the pool or the connecting network could be dangerous.

In normal times the pant could ironically import electric to help, but this has been cut several times due to the hostilities with each side blaming the other.

A month ago the independent Vienna based IAEA a UN Agency sited the risks

Director General’s Statement on Serious Situation at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant | IAEA



If Kherson is liberated as seems imminent the Dnipro river again become a front line again.

One thing we can be sure of any large , unannounced release of ionising radiation is a hazard and this could happen with zero warning, as we saw with Chernobyl aerobic dispersion may impact people, animals thousands of km distant.
I spoke to Ukrainians , Czechs and Austrians over my summer visit and while aware of the hazard very little the ordinary non combatant can do ensure their families safety bar emigrate.

More maps and data on Ukraine's NPP here, Rivne is the closet to W Europe near the Belarus/Polish/Ukraine tripoint and Sobibor.

Mapping Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant | Russia-Ukraine war News | Al Jazeera

P.S. Any dramatic changes in water levels possibly triggered by Dam busting will only up the ante, most of the dams include roads on top which may be blown by retreating or attacking forces during the short critical window before the weather "freezes" large scale infantry manouevres until the Spring.

[bsnub]

You have been a bit quiet on the war porn recently snubs. Any reason?

It is the weekend FFS I got a life unlike you. Enjoy this new documentary of one of the worst defeats in Russian history...



The coming defeat in Kherson will rank right up there, and let us not forget the massive defeat around Kyiv.

[bsnub]

There is no question the Ukrainians in Kherson have wanted the Russians out all along. This documentary is a must-watch. Filmed by a Ukrainian family covertly in Kherson. Absolutely stunning...

[sabang]

Celebrated in mainstream US media for its anti-Russian trolling, the Twitter operation known as NAFO was founded by a Polish antisemite to raise money for a militia that has hosted war criminals, white nationalists and wanted murderers.

Whether they know it or not, anyone who has checked Twitter for recent coverage of the Ukraine proxy war has likely encountered at least one of the thousands of trolls that comprise NAFO, or the “North Atlantic Fellas Organization.” Thanks to the efforts of NAFO and its “fellas,” any journalist or prominent figure critical of Ukraine or NATO on Twitter is likely to receive hundreds of replies accusing them of being paid by Russian President Vladimir Putin (or even performing fellatio on him) from accounts with Shiba Inu dog avatars.

Since its inception several months ago, NAFO has earned gushing praise from the Washington Post, which hailed it for “show[ing] that the tables could be turned on Russia, when it came to trolling.” The arms industry-funded, Washington DC-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), meanwhile, hosted an online panel highlighting NAFO as an instrumental weapon in the Russia-Ukraine infowars.


Yet NAFO’s beltway boosters often gloss over its role as a fundraising machine for the Georgian Legion, a US-backed Ukrainian fighting group that stands accused of gruesome battlefield atrocities. Several former members of the Legion have produced first-hand testimony documenting its perpetration of war crimes, including the torture and execution of POWs and civilians.

One NAFO founder explained that he chose the Georgian Legion as a funding recipient precisely because of the unit’s reputation as a band of “mercenaries and criminals” that was willing to carry out barbarous acts which could cause foreign governments to shy away from supporting it. Another NAFO founder has praised the Georgian Legion’s leader for “killing Russians since the ’90s.”

Among the Georgian Legion’s most notorious members are US fugitive and murderer Craig Lang, as well as Paul Gray, an American whose past involvement in several neo-Nazi organizations was never mentioned during the friendly primetime interviews he was granted by Fox News and its local affiliates.

While providing a financial feeding tube to a militia that revels in its own atrocities, NAFO continues to attract effusive support from mainstream US journalists and think tankers who portray the operation as little more than a grassroots expression of online solidarity with Ukraine.

Obsessively online interventionists find meaning and purpose as “fellas”

Employing cartoon memes of the Shiba Inu dog breed, NAFO’s postmodern aesthetic, irreverent style and dedication to viciously trolling any critic of the Ukraine proxy war has garnered the adulation of Western media and interventionist government officials alike.
To outsiders, the lingo that flows through internal NAFO chats might seem unintelligible: “fellas” refers to members; “nafoarticle5” is a call to action that urges “fellas” to dog-pile on a particular social media post; “vatnik” serves as a pejorative for Russians and virtually anyone critical of the US-backed proxy war. Phrases such as “NAFO expansion is non-negotiable” and sarcastic claims that they are funded by the CIA (which they simultaneously claim “doesn’t exist”) are also ubiquitous.

Behind the anonymously named Twitter accounts of NAFO members lies a base of extremely online, mostly male civilians seeking a sense of purpose and community. Some participants have tattooed Shiba Inu avatars onto their bodies while others have published photos of their newborn babies in the arms of an adult sporting a NAFO shirt.

One member of the troll operation tweeted a photo of an elaborate NAFO tattoo emblazoned on his arm, but has since deleted it.
In public, NAFO leaders market the image of a charity-focused community of do-gooders, however, many posts by its fellas reflect the kind of psychologically deranged outbursts familiar to young adult men who spend endless hours ranting on a messaging platform built for gamers. In mid-October, for example, an administrator complained that she was forced to ban two members of the NAFO Discord for publicly plotting the murder of a third member of the community.

While US corporate media have declared that within NAFO “there is no command structure,” effectively releasing the group’s founders from accountability for the fellas’ behavior, this reporter found all the hallmarks of an organizational hierarchy. The group’s Discord server is run by founders, assigned administrators, moderators, and “forgers” who make memes used for harassing people on social media. “Verified fellas” are granted access to otherwise locked channels, while regular “fellas” are assigned more mundane roles.

“It’s preferred that people who are not heavily involved in the day to day do not speak on behalf of NAFO or what NAFO is to the press,” one administrator wrote in the server’s announcement’s channel.

How the pro-Ukraine NAFO troll operation crowd-funds war criminals - The Grayzone


Goodfellas.

[bsnub]

Can you find one source that is not Russian propaganda?

The Grayzone's news content is generally considered to be fringe^{[1][18][19][20]} and the website maintains a pro-Kremlin editorial line.^[30][31]
The website has supported the government of Bashar al-Assad in Syria,^[31] publishing content denying that the Syrian government used chemical weapons against civilians during the Syrian civil war,^[32][33][34] and accused OPCW investigators of a "cover-up."^[35] The website has also denied the scope of the Xinjiang internment camps and the Uyghur genocide, downplaying widely reported abuses by the Chinese government against Turkic Muslim minorities in Xinjiang.^{[1][14][13][18]} According to a report from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), Grayzone reporter Aaron Maté was the "most prolific spreader of disinformation" on matters concerning Syria, overtaking Vanessa Beeley.^[36]
The Grayzone promoted the Nicaraguan government's narrative on the 2021 Nicaraguan general election and the 2018–2022 Nicaraguan protests.^[37][20][17] The platform also conducted an "unquestioning interview", according to The Guardian, with Daniel Ortega.^[38][39] Blumenthal and Norton expressed their support to the regime dancing to "El Comandante se queda" (English: The Comandante Stays) a cumbia song composed in support of Ortega during the 2018 protests.^[39] The Grayzone published an open letter, promoted by RT, criticizing The Guardian's coverage of Nicaragua and one of its contributors, Carl David Goette-Luciak. Goette-Luciak was later arrested and deported by the Nicaraguan government. John Perry, writing under the pseudonym Charles Redvers, published a "confession" on The Grayzone of student protester Valeska Sandoval.^[17] The confession was false and Sandoval made it under duress while in prison.^[20][17][37]
In February 2021, tweets concerning a Grayzone article by Blumenthal were the first to receive a Twitter warning label stating "These materials may have been obtained through hacking". The story was titled "Reuters, BBC, and Bellingcat participated in covert UK Foreign Office–funded programs to 'weaken Russia', leaked docs reveal". The story referred to hacked and leaked documents and alleged that a British Army unit has used "social media to help fight wars".^[40][41]
The website published pro-Russian propaganda during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, including the debunked claim that Ukrainian fighters were using civilians as human shields, and that the Mariupol theatre bombing was staged by the Azov Regiment to warrant NATO intervention.^[25] The Russian fake news website Peace Data republished articles by The Grayzone in order to build a reputation as a progressive and anti-Western media source and to attract contributors.^[42]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grayzone

You have zero credibility as a poster here.