Page 5 of 155 FirstFirst 123456789101112131555105 ... LastLast
Results 101 to 125 of 3870
  1. #101
    Thailand Expat misskit's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Last Online
    @
    Location
    Chiang Mai
    Posts
    47,990
    Russian health ministry documents show how Russia is preparing for casualties

    I have been given a copy of document issued today by the Russian Ministry of Health which shows it is anticipating a major medical event in which doctors have to be drafted from across the country.


    It indicates Russia is anticipating a massive medical emergency and has ordered health organisations to immediately identify medical staff ready to relocate and work.


    The document from the Russian Ministry of Health is signed by the deputy health minister and dated today - February 25.

    It asks medical organisations to be ready "to be promptly involved in activities aimed at saving lives and preserving the health of people in Russia".


    Russian medical institutions have been ordered by the Health Ministry to send a list no later than 6pm to the deputy health minister of "medical specialists and medical workers… indicating their full name, place of work,
    positions & contact details".


    The document makes it clear these medics will be deployed somewhere and will be offered a "reimbursement of travel and accommodation expenses, as well as payment of labour is expected from funds from the Federal Centre of Medical Disasters".

    The letter has a long list of medics it is looking for: trauma, heart, maxilofacial and paediatric surgeons, anaesthetists, radiologists, nurses (including for operating rooms) and infectious disease specialists.


    The letter shows the Russian Ministry of Health is clearly anticipating a major medical event in which doctors have to be drafted from across the country. The letter is signed by Deputy Health Minister Plutnitsky. Following publication of the document, two Russian doctors confirmed that they have seen it.

    This order from the Russian Ministry of Health has been issued as Russian forces reportedly advance on Kyiv and other cities in Ukraine.


    I understand doctors were gathered together yesterday and told to ‘get ready.’ Today, the document from the Russian Health Ministry arrived.

    I am told this is highly unusual and almost unprecedented.


    After viewing the document, tonight a Ukrainian military official told me it could indicate that the medics are being drafted to assist with casualties from Russia’s invasion in Ukraine.




    "This letter clearly demonstrates that the Russians did not expect to face such a level of resistance and losses. They wanted to make a blitzkrieg operation and should have finished it by now, but they are still far from achieving their goals," the Ukrainian military official told me.


    This would tally with reports from a senior US defence official who said today "there is greater resistance by Ukrainians than the Russians expected," and that Russia is not moving on Kyiv as fast as they anticipated and that Russia may have lost a "little bit of their momentum".


    The Ukrainian military official also expressed concern and said one interpretation of the document could be that 'Putin has the intention to go until the end, despite huge losses of personnel.'


    Tonight I have asked Russian officials if it is true Russia is preparing for a mass casualty event and if it is because Russia has met more resistance than it anticipated in its operation against Ukraine.

    https://www.itv.com/news/2022-02-25/...for-casualties

  2. #102
    5 4 Knoll
    david44's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Last Online
    @
    Location
    At Large
    Posts
    21,017
    News by Europeans for Europeans from Europe not some pundit in USA or Russia who may never have visited teh continent.

    Many different reporters from all over Europe with English commentary no CNN no RT no ads

    Live: Watch Euronews UK (English) from Un. Kingdom.

  3. #103

  4. #104
    Thailand Expat misskit's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Last Online
    @
    Location
    Chiang Mai
    Posts
    47,990
    West Kicks Russian Banks Off SWIFT, 'Paralyzes' Central Bank Assets

    Major Russian banks will be kicked off the SWIFT financial communications network and Russia's Central Bank's assets will be "paralyzed," the EU has announced.


    EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen outlined an unprecedented package of "massive" sanctions Saturday night as part of the 27-member bloc's response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.




    Russia’s financial institutions that have been sanctioned in recent days, including Russia's largest banks, will be ejected from the SWIFT network, thwarting their ability to conduct transactions internationally, von der Leyen said in a late-night press conference in Brussels.


    She said the bloc would also “paralyze the assets of Russia's central bank.”


    "This will freeze its transactions and make it impossible for the Central Bank to liquidate its assets."


    The measures were outlined in coordination with the U.S., Britain and Canada.

    In a statement the White House said the package would “impose restrictive measures that will prevent the Russian Central Bank from deploying its international reserves in ways that undermine the impact of our sanctions.”


    Russia’s Central Bank has amassed some $643 billion in international reserves in recent years, largely through sales of oil and gas. The cash pile — the world’s fourth largest — was supposed to be Russia’s insurance policy in the event of Western sanctions.


    But the measures have gone far beyond what the Kremlin could have expected from the bloc, which has previously been reluctant to impose sanctions that could hurt European economies.


    “The Russian army is committing barbaric actions during its invasion of Ukraine. It is bombing and launching missiles, killing innocent people,” von der Leyen said.


    “We are resolved to continue imposing massive costs on Russia. Costs that will further isolate Russia from the international financial system and our economies.”

    The allies also agreed to impose restrictive measures to prevent the Russian central bank from "using international financial transactions to prop up the ruble", he said.


    Wealthy Russians connected to President Vladimir Putin's government will also no longer be allowed to use the so-called golden passport system to obtain European citizenship for themselves and their family members.

    West Kicks Russian Banks Off SWIFT, 'Paralyzes' Central Bank Assets - The Moscow Times

  5. #105
    Thailand Expat
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Last Online
    @
    Posts
    38,456
    Russian loyalists clash with pro-Ukrainian protesters



    Australian-based Russian loyalists have clashed with pro-Ukrainian protesters and showed their support for the Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine outside the Kremlin's Sydney embassy.

    The small group of supporters gathered outside the Russian consulate repeating the regime's propaganda, while bearing flags and insignia associated with the Russian military takeover.

    The group appeared to be led by a Russian-educated pro-Putin activist Simeon Boikov, who goes by the nickname the Aussie Cossack.
    He confronted several men protesting in support of Ukraine.



    The pro-Putin protesters displayed various flags to show their support for the Kremlin's invasion.


    Full article- Russian loyalists clash with pro-Ukrainian protesters (msn.com)

  6. #106
    In Uranus
    bsnub's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Last Online
    @
    Posts
    30,411

    ‘It’s not rational’: Putin’s bizarre speech wrecks his once pragmatic image

    Looking dead-eyed into the camera on Friday, Vladimir Putin gave one of the most bizarre speeches of his 22 years as Russia’s leader, a directive that managed to sound alarming even in a week when he has ordered tanks into Ukraine and missile strikes on Kyiv.

    “Once again I speak to the Ukrainian soldiers,” he said, addressing his enemy. “Do not allow neo-Nazis and Banderites to use your children, your wives and the elderly as a human shield. Take power into your own hands. It seems that it will be easier for us to come to an agreement than with this gang of drug addicts and neo-Nazis.”

    The speech seemed to be ripped from an alternate reality – or from the second world war, where Putin appears to be spending more of his time as he launches the kind of broad military offensive not seen in Europe for nearly 70 years.

    All this week, Putin’s megalomaniacal tendencies have been on display like never before. He has summoned his aides for a surreal national security council that resembled a television reality show and launched tirades about Lenin and decisions made nearly 100 years ago.

    He has also, for the first time, spoken about his maximalist goals in this war: regime change in Kyiv, toppling the government of Volodymyr Zelenskiy and replacing it with a more pliant leadership. Putin’s call for a coup in Kyiv indicates that if Russia wins this war, Zelenskiy will almost certainly not remain in power. How he achieves that is anyone’s guess.
    A number of analysts predicted this as Russia deployed more than 60% of its ground forces to Ukraine’s borders and demanded concessions that could never be granted.

    But Putin’s unhinged appearances and apparent drive to war have raised questions of whether he remains a rational leader.

    “Despite Crimea and everything else, Putin had always seemed an extremely pragmatic leader to me,” said Tatyana Stanovaya, the founder of R.Politik. “But now when he’s gone in this war against Ukraine, the logic in the decision is all about emotions, it’s not rational.”

    Those emotions are deeply rooted in history and the historical injustices suffered by Russia. Dmitry Muratov, the editor of Novaya Gazeta, said he saw Putin as a man with “a historical map in his mind and a plan to use his military to achieve it”.

    Central to that map is Ukraine, which he has described as an artificial state. “Modern Ukraine was wholly and fully created by Russia,” Putin said in a historical sleight-of-hand, “namely Bolshevik, communist Russia.”

    To help picture it, state TV ran a map earlier this week showing Ukraine cut up to represent which parts were “presents” from various leaders, including Stalin, Lenin and Khrushchev. Some commentators said it represents the partition that Putin himself might be imagining if he gets his way.

    While once the map may have been viewed as fantasies or media trolling, a western diplomat based in Ukraine on Friday pointed to his speeches and to that map as a serious sign that Putin was weighing up a dismantling of the country.

    “He is not pretending any more. For the first time I think he’s revealing who he really is,” the diplomat wrote.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...ragmatic-image

  7. #107
    Thailand Expat

    Join Date
    Aug 2017
    Last Online
    Today @ 03:29 PM
    Location
    Sanur
    Posts
    7,995
    Quote Originally Posted by sabang View Post
    Well if (IF) that is true, CIPS just got a massive boost and they will be laughing all the way to the bank in China. SWIFT is no longer a monopoly.
    More importantly, Putin is being frustrated by arms manufacturers back home. Rifles and ammunition are plentiful, but commanders are reluctant to use scares stocks of missiles and anti tank natures because they have already used up available supplies. Russian firms are predicting a 3 or 4 month backlog on new orders.

  8. #108
    Thailand Expat
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Last Online
    @
    Posts
    38,456
    It would be good to see a link on that swatch. How long is Putin intending to be in Ukraine I wonder- or how long might he need to be.

  9. #109
    In Uranus
    bsnub's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Last Online
    @
    Posts
    30,411

    Half of Russian troops amassed around Ukraine now invading, U.S. says

    Russia has now pushed more than half of the 150,000-plus troops it had arrayed around Ukraine into the country, three days after an initial invasion that has met stiff, determined resistance and run into logistics and coordination problems.

    The capital city of Kyiv has been breached by small groups of Russian troops, but the main thrust still appears to be on the horizon, as armored columns push from the north, west and south in a bloody dash for the seat of government. A spokesperson for Russia’s Defense Ministry said that as of Saturday morning “all units were given orders today to develop the offensive along all axes in line with the operation plan.”

    No major cities have yet fallen to the invading forces, as Ukrainian troops armed with Javelin anti-armor missiles have managed to temporarily blunt the Russian move for Kharkiv in the East, and several lunges toward Kyiv. The fierce resistance and quick-strike guerrilla tactics have spoiled hopes Moscow may have harbored for a quick, relatively bloodless fight.

    A U.S. official said Saturday that Russian leaders appear “increasingly frustrated” with how their long-planned invasion has gone so far.

    Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov claimed in a Saturday Facebook post that his forces have killed around 3,000 Russian troops, destroyed 100 Russian tanks and shot down seven helicopters. He added that Russians have killed nearly 200 Ukrainian civilians, including three children. POLITICO could not independently verify those numbers, but the Ukrainian side has had little hesitation about posting videos to social media sites of damaged Russian convoys and dead and captured Russian soldiers.

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has refused to leave the capital city, assuming the role of a wartime leader and posting a series of videos criticizing the West for not doing enough to help. His regular videos and statements urge his troops, and country, to fight on.

    Russia has launched more than 250 ballistic and cruise missiles at targets across the country over the past three days, and more tanks, armored vehicles, and electronic warfare capabilities have been seen flowing into the country over the past 24 hours. Ukrainian officials have posted images of a high-rise apartment struck by a missile, underscoring the continued danger to civilians.

    In response, NATO allies have scrambled to resupply Ukrainian forces. U.K. Defense Minister Ben Wallace held a donor conference Friday aimed at shoring up support, and 27 nations pledged to send more weapons. Germany, long resistant to permitting European nations from sending weapons it made to conflict zones, reversed its fence-sitting position on Saturday, permitting the Netherlands to transfer 400 rocket-propelled grenade launchers to Ukraine.

    Separately, the Netherlands also said they would send 200 Stinger ground-to-air missiles to Ukraine, and a U.S. defense official confirmed that American arms have continued to flow throughout the fight.

    President Joe Biden unlocked another $350 million in military aid for Ukraine on Friday night, a package that will include more Javelins, the defense official said. Belgium on Saturday also pledged 2,000 machine guns and 3,800 tons of fuel to Ukraine.

    Poland, Latvia and Estonia are also pushing more weapons into Ukraine via a bold new land bridge option using Polish border crossings, as the skies above the country are full of missiles and Russian warplanes.

    The rapid reequipping effort marks a remarkable new moment in post-Cold War European history, with a majority of the continent openly working to defeat Russian forces in the field and showing no inclination to hide their intent to punish the Kremlin.

    “It is remarkable that so many western governments — the US, the UK, the Dutch — are *overtly* shipping anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons to Ukraine right now in the middle of its war with Russia. Not even hiding it. Publicizing it. Loudly,” tweeted Andrew Exum, previously a top Pentagon official in the Obama administration.

    Zelenskyy claimed, after a call with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, that Ankara would block Russian warships from entering the Black Sea — an assertion the Turkish government denied. A 1936 convention requires Ankara to permit foreign navies through its waters into the sea. “In time of war, Turkey not being belligerent, warships shall enjoy complete freedom of transit and navigation through the Straits,” the Montreux Convention reads.

    Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Kyiv, addressed the West in a video posted to his official Telegram page: “Civilians are getting shot with rockets. With special operations, civilians getting killed. And it’s happening in the heart of Europe,” he said in English to maximize the reach of his message. “Get into action now,” he added — tomorrow it could be too late. Klitschko also ordered a curfew in the capital lasting from 5 p.m. to 8 a.m. each day until Feb. 28.

    Meanwhile, the Russian advance continues, though seemingly not without problems. Videos posted on social media sites show armored columns held up due to the lack of fuel or confusion over where they are. Ukrainian citizens also stepped in front of advancing tanks to halt their drive toward urban centers.

    The Pentagon’s latest assessment is that Russian commanders have had to “commit a bit more logistics and sustainment capability, like fuel specifically, than what we believe they had originally planned to do this early in the operation,” the defense official told reporters Saturday.

    On Friday, NATO activated the NATO Response Force, a 40,000 strong formation with air and artillery assets attached, for the first time since its inception in 2014 following Russia’s initial invasion of Ukraine and annexation of Crimea.

    “Russia’s attack on Ukraine is more than an attack on Ukraine,” NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said Friday. “It’s a devastating horrendous attack on innocent people in Ukraine, but it’s also an attack on the whole European security order.”

    On Friday, the U.S. and its allies placed sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. There’s a growing appetite on both sides of the Atlantic to kick Russia out of the SWIFT global banking system, and U.S. officials continue to debate whether to impose full blocking sanctions on Russia’s Central Bank — which would all but cut off Russia from the global financial system.

    President Biden and European leaders have said their troops won’t enter Ukraine to fight Russians, but it’s clear that the alliance is quickly building a potent defensive wall along its eastern front, and the war that Putin entered by choice is taking a toll on his forces, and the Russian economy.

    https://www.politico.com/news/2022/0...raine-00012089

  10. #110
    Thailand Expat tomcat's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2005
    Last Online
    @
    Posts
    17,203
    Quote Originally Posted by bsnub View Post
    On Friday, the U.S. and its allies placed sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
    ...not enough: all Russian government ministers/vice ministers should be hit with sanctions as they're Putin toadies...might as well throw in the directors of all defense manufacturing facilities...nail 'em all...

  11. #111
    Thailand Expat
    Troy's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Last Online
    Today @ 03:01 PM
    Location
    In the EU
    Posts
    12,202
    Quote Originally Posted by sabang View Post
    It would be good to see a link on that swatch. How long is Putin intending to be in Ukraine I wonder- or how long might he need to be.
    I first saw this in a Twitter feed but it had no verified sources. It has also been published in various media including the Daily Fail...

    Estonia's former defence chief Riho Terras has now claimed that Putin's war is not going to plan because Russia is fast running out of money and weapons, and will have to enter negotiations with Volodymyr Zelensky's government if Kyiv holds off the Russians for 10 days.

    Russia's tyrant has allegedly convened a meeting with the oligarchs in a bunker in the Ural Mountains, at which it is claimed that he furiously vented that he thought the war would be 'easy' and 'everything would be done in one to four days'.
    Citing Ukrainian intelligence sources, Terras claimed that the war is costing Russia around £15billion-per-day, and that they have rockets for three to four days at most, which they are using sparingly.
    He claimed that Putin's plan has relied on panicking the country, firing missiles at residential buildings 'at random' to 'intimidate' the Ukrainians, trigger mass army desertions, national surrender, and Zelensky's flight from the country.

    Terras also alleged that Russian special operations have been near Kyiv since February 18, and had planned to swiftly seize the capital and install a puppet regime.
    Why Putin's 'PS15BILLION-a-day' invasion ISN'T going to plan | Daily Mail Online

  12. #112
    Thailand Expat
    malmomike77's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2021
    Last Online
    @
    Posts
    13,632
    On the Beeb live feed

    Making Molotov cocktails in a park
    Sarah Rainsford byline
    BBCCopyright: BBC


    On the day Vladimir Putin ordered his soldiers into Ukraine, Arina had planned a dance class after work and then a party. Three days later, the English teacher was making Molotov cocktails in a park.

    I found her crouching on the grass with dozens of other women, grating polystyrene chunks as if they were cheese and ripping sheets into rags for homemade bottle-bombs.

    Such scenes are unimaginable to most in Europe. They were unthinkable here too, once.

    But Dnipro is now preparing to defend itself against advancing Russian troops.

    "No-one thought this is how we’d spend our weekend, but it seems like the only important thing to do now," Arina told me, the young teacher’s face and hair sprinkled in white dust from the polystyrene.

    "It’s pretty terrifying. I think we don’t really realise what it is we’re doing; we just need to be doing something," she said.

    A few metres away, Elena and Yulia told me they’d left their children with grandparents in order to come and help make these weapons.

    "Sitting home doing nothing would be even scarier," Elena said, not pausing her grating even for a second.

    She laughs and says that she’s a good cook, and this process is not so different.

    "I can’t believe this is happening to us, but what choice do we have? No-one consulted us on anything," Elena said.

  13. #113
    Thailand Expat
    BLD's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2022
    Last Online
    Today @ 05:44 PM
    Location
    Perh/laos
    Posts
    3,027
    Quote Originally Posted by sabang View Post
    Russian loyalists clash with pro-Ukrainian protesters



    Australian-based Russian loyalists have clashed with pro-Ukrainian protesters and showed their support for the Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine outside the Kremlin's Sydney embassy.

    The small group of supporters gathered outside the Russian consulate repeating the regime's propaganda, while bearing flags and insignia associated with the Russian military takeover.

    The group appeared to be led by a Russian-educated pro-Putin activist Simeon Boikov, who goes by the nickname the Aussie Cossack.
    He confronted several men protesting in support of Ukraine.



    The pro-Putin protesters displayed various flags to show their support for the Kremlin's invasion.


    Full article- Russian loyalists clash with pro-Ukrainian protesters (msn.com)
    That Simon bloke has a YouTube channel and goes about goading the police into arresting him for being places he shouldn't be during lockdowns etc, very anti authoritarian. Reminds me a bit of a bloke we had here in oz called Jack van tongeran who was a racist who used to blow up Chinese restaurants. Doing about 30 years in jail now I think. Same kind off asshole

  14. #114
    Thailand Expat David48atTD's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2016
    Last Online
    @
    Location
    Palace Far from Worries
    Posts
    14,389
    Related to Ukraine because of the current conflict where Putin used Belarus a an attack point for northern Ukraine.

    He wants to follow the Russian and Chinese Dictators and rule forever.

    OH ... he also wants Russian Nuclear weapons to be allowed on Belarus soil.

    The Fucker ...

    ---

    Belarus To Vote On Constitutional Changes Seen As Tightening Lukashenka's Grip On Power


    Russia launches Ukraine invasion-c4180000-0aff-0242-265d-08d9f2e186a4_cx0_cy9_cw0_w1023_r1_s-jpg
    A referendum on February 27 is expected to tighten authoritarian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka's grip on power in a vote denounced by opponents.

    The regime of authoritarian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka is set to hold a vote on February 27 with the aim of tightening his grip on power in Belarus and possibly ending the country's nuclear-free status.

    Lukashenka, 67, has proposed amending the constitution, the third time he has done so since coming to power in 1994, that would allow him to rule to 2035, offer him a new lever of power, and abolish a section of the document defining Belarus as a “nuclear-free zone,” possibly paving the way for the return of Russian nuclear weapons to Belarus.

    Belarus To Vote On Constitutional Changes Seen As Tightening Lukashenka's Grip On Power
    Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago ...


  15. #115
    In Uranus
    bsnub's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Last Online
    @
    Posts
    30,411

    How Ukrainian defiance has derailed Putin’s plans

    Three days after the invasion there are signs that Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine is not quite going to plan. In the Sumy region, close to the border with Russia, a local resident came across an extraordinary sight. On a country road lined with birch trees, a Russian armoured vehicle had broken down.He pulled up in his car and stopped. There was then a surreal conversation.

    “Looks like you guys broke down,” he said to three Russian soldiers, standing by the road. “We ran out of fuel,” one replied. “Can I tow you back to Russia,” he joked. They laughed and asked him for news. “Do you know where you are going?” he inquired. “No,” they answered.

    Further along the road other Russian vehicles had conked out. The driver told the hapless soldiers that “everything is on our side” and that Russians were busy surrendering. No one from Putin’s invading army seemed to know where they were going, or why they were even in Ukraine, he concluded.

    It is too early to describe the Kremlin’s operation to seize and subjugate Ukraine as a failure. The war has only just started. Putin may yet prevail. The Russian military enjoys overwhelming superiority over Ukraine’s armed forces. It has numerous combat aircraft, a vast navy and 150,000 deployed troops.

    And yet by Saturday, it was clear Putin’s blitzkrieg operation to remove Ukraine’s pro-western government had run into unexpected difficulties. Evidently, there were logistical issues. Re-supplying troops in a vast enemy country was proving a challenge.

    So was seizing Kyiv, Ukraine’s defiant capital, home in normal times to three million people. The Kremlin’s original plan, according to Ukrainian intelligence, was to encircle the city with land forces and, during a night operation, to fly in 5,000 elite paratroopers.

    They would storm the Mariinsky presidential palace, detain or kill Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and take control over key government buildings, including the foreign and defence ministries. Having mopped up resistance, and arrested key figures, Moscow would install a pro-Russian puppet administration.

    This has not happened. Instead, Kyiv remained under government control this weekend after Ukrainian forces repulsed a series of attacks. Zelenskiy has encouraged his citizens with homemade videos. Meanwhile, Russian parachutists who tried to seize an airfield in the city of Vasylkiv, as a bridgehead to grab Kyiv, were beaten back.

    “Our 40th Brigade was powerful. It repulsed the attack,” Nataliia Balasynovych, Vasylkiv’s mayor, told the Kyiv Independent newspaper. “They [Russian troops] landed with parachutes in the fields, forests and villages.” She added: “The worst fighting was on Decembrists’ street. The whole street was on fire.”

    Air defence units said they had shot down an Ilyushin-76 transport plane near Bila Tserkva, 80km south of Kyiv – one of several downed enemy aircraft. Ukraine’s military command said it had wiped out an entire enemy column around the city of Kharkiv, something video appeared to confirm.

    Since the invasion began on Thursday, Russia has lost 14 aircraft, eight helicopters, 102 tanks, 15 heavy machine guns and one BUK missile, the Ukrainian military said. It had also lost 3,500 soldiers, with 200 taken hostage, it added.

    These figures are hard to verify. But they illustrate the almost universal hostility which has greeted invading Russian forces. The Kremlin has had most success in the south of the country, where it has captured large swathes of territory, including much of Kherson province and the city of Melitopol.

    Videos have shown some extraordinary acts of civic resistance. In Bakhmach, in the Chernihiv region, a resident tried to stop a tank with his bare hands. He knelt in front of it before his friends dragged him away. In another viral clip, shared by Ukrainian media outlets, a man jumped in front of a military convoy, with vehicles forced to swerve.

    There are also numerous interviews with Russian soldiers who have surrendered. On Thursday, Kremlin forces captured Sumy, 60km from the Russian border. By Saturday, however, locals appeared to have taken some of the city back, and to have captured a young Russian conscript, who appeared dazed and confused

    The invasion has caused a vast human exodus, with tens of thousands seeking refuge in the west of the country and beyond. It has also prompted a wave of patriotic feeling. From Lviv to Dnipro in the centre and Kharkiv in the east, volunteers have been picking up weapons, making molotov cocktails or removing road signs to confuse the invaders.

    “I’ve had calls from 10 people asking how to help,” Lviv resident Olga Bileychuk said. “Some of the girls wanted to make molotovs but were told only boys could do it. It’s quite sexist.” Others were joining defensive units, she said. One friend gave his Land Cruiser to a Ukrainian soldier seeking to rejoin his brigade in distant Mariupol, which has been holding out against Russian attack.

    The creative classes have also been doing their bit. Many have taken up arms, having originally fought in 2014 when Moscow annexed Crimea and kickstarted an armed uprising in the Donbas region. Two standup comedians were busy preparing food in a closed restaurant in Kyiv on Saturday, as a curfew was introduced. Others shared anti-Putin memes.

    So how did we get here? One explanation is the increasingly erratic behaviour of Putin himself. Speaking before the invasion, a senior Ukrainian intelligence official said Russia’s president lived in a strange parallel reality. He had succumbed – like dictators before him – to believing his own version of the world.

    “Putin thinks that Ukraine’s government is corrupt, western and irredeemably Russophobic,” the official said. “He understood the Ukrainian people, by contrast, would welcome Russia and intervention. He considers us to be rural Russians.” Putin’s spy agencies had told him what he wanted to hear, he added.

    The official continued: “We have always understood Russians better than they understand us.” Other commentators noted that Putin, an amateur historian, had forgotten one of the great lessons of the second world war – that the best Soviet soldiers were Ukrainian.

    It is impossible to know if there is growing unhappiness within Putin’s national security council over the decision to go to war. On the eve of the invasion last week all of its members signed off on Putin’s plan to recognise the separatist Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics as independent, an act that pushed the button on military action.

    Western defence attaches have claimed that Valery Gerasimov, Putin’s most senior commander and the chief of the general staff of Russia’s armed forces, had warned the president that invading Ukraine might not be straightforward. And so it has proved. For now, though, Russia’s military and political leadership are firmly behind the operation.

    As losses mount, difficult questions pile up for the Kremlin. In the face of Ukrainian intransigence and resistance, how does it intend to govern the country? Any Donetsk-style puppet government would lack legitimacy. Even if Moscow succeeds in seizing Kyiv, months and years of problems lie ahead. Nobody expects Ukrainians to capitulate. More likely is partisan war.

    The driver who came across the broken-down military carrier best summarised Putin’s predicament. “I asked the whole column,” he said of the Russian soldiers. “No one knows where they are and where they are going.”

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...d-putins-plans

  16. #116
    Thailand Expat
    malmomike77's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2021
    Last Online
    @
    Posts
    13,632
    From the Beeb, the latest claimed Russian loses



    BREAKING
    Ukraine claims 4,300 Russian deaths so far

    Ukraine's deputy defence minister has released an estimate of the losses she says the country's forces have inflicted on Russia so far.

    Kyiv's Hanna Malyar said in a Facebook post that the numbers for the first three days of the conflict were preliminary and liable to change.

    The BBC is unable to verify these claims - and Russia has not released casualty numbers.

    Ukraine estimates Russian military losses so far to include:

    4,300 deaths
    27 planes
    26 helicopters
    146 tanks
    706 armoured fighting vehicles
    49 cannons
    1 Buk air defence system
    4 Grad multiple rocket launch systems
    30 vehicles
    60 tankers
    2 drones
    2 boats

  17. #117
    In Uranus
    bsnub's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Last Online
    @
    Posts
    30,411
    If you want to take a deep dive, reddit has some good stuff. I am looking at these;

    Reddit - Dive into anything
    Reddit - Dive into anything
    Reddit - Dive into anything
    Reddit - Dive into anything

  18. #118
    Thailand Expat misskit's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Last Online
    @
    Location
    Chiang Mai
    Posts
    47,990
    Ordinary Ukrainians Rally to Defend Homeland From Russia
    Thousands of civilian fighters volunteer their service, including many from abroad, as authorities distribute rifles and others assemble Molotov cocktails and coordinate support


    In the battle for Kviv, Russian troops are facing not only Ukrainian armed forces but also thousands of civilians including a pizzeria owner and a political consultant.


    Authorities say they have distributed 18,000 rifles to volunteers in the capital willing to fight. Websites and social media channels published instructions on how to make Molotov cocktails. Groups are spontaneously coordinating storage and distribution points for food, clothes and fuel. The battle is even drawing home fighters from abroad.


    “I am fulfilling my duty as a Ukrainian citizen, a father and a son,” said Kostyantyn Batozsky, a 41-year-old political consultant who said he was brandishing a weapon for the first time.


    Russian troops are closing in on Kyiv from the north and west, and gunbattles are already taking place within the city. Ukrainian officials said dozens of saboteurs who had infiltrated Kyiv had been killed.


    “Stop the enemy everywhere, wherever you can,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a televised address late Friday. “Burn enemy vehicles with whatever you can.”

    MORE Ordinary Ukrainians Rally to Defend Homeland From Russia - WSJ

  19. #119
    Thailand Expat misskit's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Last Online
    @
    Location
    Chiang Mai
    Posts
    47,990
    Ukraine says it downed missile launched by Russian bomber flying over Belarus

    KYIV (Reuters) - Ukrainian forces have downed a cruise missile that was launched by a Russian Tu-22 strategic bomber from the territory of Belarus, Valery Zaluzhny, the chief commander of the armed forces, said on Sunday.

    Ukraine says it downed missile launched by Russian bomber flying over Belarus

  20. #120
    Thailand Expat misskit's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Last Online
    @
    Location
    Chiang Mai
    Posts
    47,990
    Russia-Ukraine latest news: Belarus ‘to join Russian invasion’; fighting in Kharkiv – live updates

    IVE – Updated at 12:37


    Ukraine’s former defence minister says there is information about airborne troopers from Belarus on planes bound for Ukraine.

    Page not found - MSN

  21. #121
    Thailand Expat misskit's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Last Online
    @
    Location
    Chiang Mai
    Posts
    47,990
    ^A bad sign this war will spread.

  22. #122
    Thailand Expat misskit's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Last Online
    @
    Location
    Chiang Mai
    Posts
    47,990
    Putin orders Russian nuclear deterrent forces to be on highest alert

    DETAILS TO FOLLOW

    https://www.rt.com/russia/550767-put...-forces-order/

  23. #123
    Thailand Expat misskit's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Last Online
    @
    Location
    Chiang Mai
    Posts
    47,990
    ^ Who does Putin think is going to whack him with a nuke?

  24. #124
    Thailand Expat misskit's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Last Online
    @
    Location
    Chiang Mai
    Posts
    47,990
    Ukraine Launches Website for Russians to Find Killed Soldiers

    Ukrainian authorities on Sunday launched a website to help Russian families track down soldiers who have been killed or captured fighting in Moscow's invasion of the pro-Western country.


    The site — 200rf.com — contains pictures of the documents and corpses of Russian soldiers Ukraine said had been killed since President Vladimir Putin launched the attack.


    It also has videos of soldiers Ukraine says it has captured.


    "I am talking to you in Russian because this site was created for you," Viktor Andrusiv, an adviser to the Interior Minister, said in a video posted on the site.


    "I know that many Russians are worried about how and where their children, sons, husbands are and what is happening to them — so we decided to put this online so that each of you could search for your loved one who Putin sent to fight in Ukraine."

    Andrusiv said that over the past three days Ukrainian forces had captured almost 200 Russian soldiers and more than 3,000 Russian troops had died.


    "We have documents, photos and videos of all of these people," Andrusiv said.

    The name of the site references the well-known term Gruz-200 (Cargo-200) that was used by Soviet military for corpses being flown back from the war in Afghanistan in the 1980s.


    Russia's defence ministry has so far given no details of any military losses in Ukraine since launching a multi-pronged attack Putin called a "special operation" to protect two separatist regions.


    The head of the North Caucasus region of Dagestan, Sergei Melikov, on Saturday became the first official to report the death of a Russian soldier in Ukraine.


    He posted a tribute on his official Instagram page, paying homage to an officer he said had been killed during the "special operation to defend Donbas."


    The Kremlin has launched a major propaganda campaign to control coverage of the war in Ukraine and has ordered media to use only Russia's official versions of events.


    Moscow has long been accused of covering up losses suffered by its forces as they backed pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine and fought in Syria.


    Lev Shlosberg, a prominent liberal politician, has suggested Russia's military was using mobile crematoriums to destroy evidence of those killed in Ukraine.

    "There is no war. No dead. No tombs. People will just be no more. Forever," he wrote on his blog.

    Ukraine Launches Website for Russians to Find Killed Soldiers - The Moscow Times

  25. #125
    Thailand Expat misskit's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Last Online
    @
    Location
    Chiang Mai
    Posts
    47,990
    The Ukrainian commander in Kharkiv says dozens of Russians surrendered

    The commander of the Ukrainian forces in Kharkiv, Oleg Synegubov, has claimed that dozens of Russian troops have surrendered amid ongoing fighting in the city, which is about 20 miles from the Russian border.


    He also claimed that the captured soldiers had complained of demoralization and misunderstanding of the mission, as well as lack of fuel.


    Synegubov posted photos of some of the suspected Russian soldiers captured on his Facebook account, rtv21.tv reports


    He warned civilians to stay inside, saying: "Leaving their positions, Russian fighters are trying to hide among civilians, asking people for clothes and food."


    Social media videos Sunday showed several abandoned Russian military trucks surrounded by Ukrainian soldiers in Kharkiv, while fighting was reported to continue after an overnight bombardment by Russian artillery.


    Earlier Sunday, Vadym Denysenko, an adviser to Ukraine's interior minister, said Russian forces had tried to "enter our cities." But the city of Kiev, the city of Chernihiv, the city of Mariupol, the city of Kharkiv, are completely under Ukrainian control. "Despite the fact that the Russians are sending their sabotage groups and they are shelling critical infrastructure, we have defended all our cities."21Media

    Photos The Ukrainian commander in Kharkiv says dozens of Russians surrendered

Page 5 of 155 FirstFirst 123456789101112131555105 ... LastLast

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •