Here we go again-Ukraine once again

[Jimbuna]

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Ostfriese

A good many years (~30) have passed since I was a gunner in a Gepard tank, yet I still remember that it would be a stupid idea to fire continuously for a full minute
Usually bursts of 25 - 30 rounds are fired, and even back in the day firing more than two bursts per engagement was considered to be exceptionally rare.

Still hiding one in your garage, eh? Just in case that...?!

[Dargo]

Import volumes into Russia have fallen 89% compared to the week before the invasion.

[Ostfriese]

Originally Posted by Skybird

Still hiding one in your garage, eh? Just in case that...?!

Nah, it's not that dangerous here

[Dargo]

Sweden and Finland appear to have made some progress today in their NATO membership talks with Turkey. According to a spokesman for President Erdoğan, Turkey has observed "a positive approach" with the two Scandinavian candidate countries.

In particular, it would be about Turkey's objections regarding Sweden's and Finland's arms embargo against Turkey.

Today, senior officials from the three countries met for five hours in Ankara. Turkey is the only NATO member state threatening to block the NATO membership of Sweden and Finland. The main Turkish objection is that Sweden and to a lesser extent Finland would support the Kurdistan Workers' Party PKK and other Kurdish groups.

[Dargo]

How long before Russia send a brigade of babushkas into Ukraine?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...ceasefire-war/

[Jimbuna]

[Skybird]

The Russians have learned and adapted. Slowly, and not without repeatedly having gotten their rears delivered back to them, and even now the offensive is not impressive - but it keeps the momentum and it shows they use adapted tactics. And their traditional superiority - artillery and missiles artillery - is now being used to the very max. And shows how fearsomely effective it then can be.

Age limits have been suspended today for older men who want to join the Russian army.

It seems the Russians are willing to pay any price to complete the conquest of Donbass. They cannot get out of this war with nothing in their hands, they need a trophy. Whether this could be it or they try to continue after they got the Donbass completely, and Luhansk, remains to be seen. If they "feel fit" enough, they will continue. If they feel like having gotten sufficiently beaten up, they will seek negotiations for freezing of the status quo - until in some years they launch the next war.

Because one thing is clear: they want the Ukraine getting lost on maps and in history records, it has no right to exist, in their eyes.

With Donbass gone and possibly all coastline and harbours gone as well, the Ukraine would have neither access to the ocean for shipping, nor will the industrial heart support the remaining Ukraine. Which is what Putin aims at: to destroy the economic heart of Ukraine, to turn it into an unfit-to-live hollow torso of a state.

[Skybird]

On the German-Polish dispute, detaisl are still not clear and maybe never will be released to the public, but it has been specified that the Polish indeed demand the Leopard-2 A7v (V=verbessert/improved). This tank is being delivered to the German army since second half last year, and only a batallion that gets prepared to take the leading role in NATO's very high readiness reaction force next year has gotten its tanks upgraded to this latest standard. No chance that Germany has told the Polish they would get this latest tank - the German do not have enough of them themselves and from the around 100 tanks they have in that batallion they simply cannot afford to replace 200+ Polish T-72.



The Polish take the older Leopards that likely were offered, or they can shove it. Mind you, there is an ongoing little "war" between Poland and Nazigermany going on since many, many years, and the Polish side leaves not one opportunity out to agigate and kick against the Germans.

[mapuc]

By reading your posting about this ongoing issues between Germany and Poland, makes me wonder if Poland is still using what Germany did to them 80 years ago as an excuse for their behaviour.

Markus

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by mapuc

By reading your posting about this ongoing issues between Germany and Poland, makes me wonder if Poland is still using what Germany did to them 80 years ago as an excuse for their behaviour.

Markus

Oh you bet on it!



That "carricatures" showing Merkel with Hitler beard were printed in mainstream newspapers, was the norm in Poland, Greece, Turkey.

[Gorpet]

Originally Posted by Skybird

Oh you bet on it!



That "carricatures" showing Merkel with Hitler beard were printed in mainstream newspapers, was the norm in Poland, Greece, Turkey.

We have the same thing happening here in the United States.

[Aktungbby]

Russia is considering a new law that would hand 20-year prison sentences to battlefield defectors and others who volunteer to fight for foreign armies – the latest sign of President Vladimir Putin’s growing alarm at the state of his invasion of Ukraine.
The new bill introduced by leaders in the State Duma – the lower chamber of Russia’s legislature – would add penalties to the existing criminal code for those who participate “in an armed conflict, hostilities or other actions with the use of weapons and military equipment on the territory of a foreign state for purposes contrary to the interests of the Russian Federation,” according to translation of the proposed text.
The most grievous violators, including those who contribute to raising a militia that would operate outside Russia or indeed against its military, could face as long as 20 years in prison and fines exceeding 2.5 million rubles, or roughly $40,000.
Several Kremlin watchers familiar with inner workings in Moscow tell U.S. News the introduction of the bill reflects growing concern among Russian elites of the rates of defectors on the battlefield in Ukraine, along with reports that hundreds are volunteering to join specialized units in the Ukrainian army composed of disaffected Russian citizens.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, they say leaders in Moscow believe the law will help control the domestic population.
“Russia has seen significant brain drain over the past three months,” Colin Clarke, senior research fellow at the private intelligence firm The Soufan Center says. “The longer the war drags on, the worse it looks for Putin, and thus, the more he will seek to control the population and the information environment within Russia.”
“This could be a sign that the Kremlin is increasingly concerned that the war is becoming ever more unpopular domestically,” Clarke adds.
British intelligence reported this week that Putin has grown frustrated with the performance of his battlefield commanders and his top military advisers, firing some and distancing himself from others.
But among the most discomforting factors facing the Kremlin is a new, specialized Ukrainian army unit known as the Freedom of Russia Legion composed of Russian defectors. Established weeks after Russia’s invasion on Feb. 24, legion leaders said earlier this month that they receive hundreds of applications to join each day.
“There are a lot of people who want to,” a Russian representative said during a press conference organized by Ukraine’s Interfax news agency on May 4.
“Our legion also includes our Belarusian brothers. Our legion includes active and retired military of the Russian Federation and otherwise,” another soldier said. “People come from different countries to fight the Putin regime.”
The unit has subsequently posted several videos to its Telegram channel that it claims depict forces capturing Russians operating in Ukraine.
The Guardian reports hundreds of thousands of Russians have fled their homeland since Putin ordered the invasion, including intellectuals, journalists and other activists – but noted that few among Russia’s political or business elites have directly and openly criticized the Russian leader and the war.
“I want to go to the place where I can defend my homeland with a weapon, I’m trying every day,” one expatriate in Kyiv told the paper. “I am never going back to Russia.”
Those numbers, however, are expanding. A veteran Russian diplomat this week resigned his position in Geneva in protest of Putin’s invasion.
“Never have I been so ashamed of my country,” Boris Bondarev wrote in a public statement.

[Dargo]

Originally Posted by Skybird

The Russians have learned and adapted. Slowly, and not without repeatedly having gotten their rears delivered back to them, and even now the offensive is not impressive - but it keeps the momentum and it shows they use adapted tactics. And their traditional superiority - artillery and missiles artillery - is now being used to the very max. And shows how fearsomely effective it then can be.

Age limits have been suspended today for older men who want to join the Russian army.

It seems the Russians are willing to pay any price to complete the conquest of Donbass. They cannot get out of this war with nothing in their hands, they need a trophy. Whether this could be it or they try to continue after they got the Donbass completely, and Luhansk, remains to be seen. If they "feel fit" enough, they will continue. If they feel like having gotten sufficiently beaten up, they will seek negotiations for freezing of the status quo - until in some years they launch the next war.

Because one thing is clear: they want the Ukraine getting lost on maps and in history records, it has no right to exist, in their eyes.

With Donbass gone and possibly all coastline and harbours gone as well, the Ukraine would have neither access to the ocean for shipping, nor will the industrial heart support the remaining Ukraine. Which is what Putin aims at: to destroy the economic heart of Ukraine, to turn it into an unfit-to-live hollow torso of a state.

Russian's last offensive to take the Donetsk Oblast after this they have used their reserves and start talks about ceasefire. They just want it all to end, Ukraine to submit, for some west leaders to calm down (for now) Putin, and they can go back to their croissants, bratwurst and countryside villas.

[Dargo]

Russia says it expects Kyiv to accept its demands, including claims on occupied territories. Kremlin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Russian-occupied territories were not territorial concessions. Ukraine has repeatedly stated that it won’t give up any of its territories.