Ukraine protests: Thousands march through capital
- over 100,000 by some counts
Ukrainian protesters besiege government building
Clashes amid huge Ukraine protest against U-turn on EU
Over 300,000 defy protest ban in Ukraine- "Fierce clashes erupt after protesters take to streets again, chanting "revolution" as anger against government grows."
What started as a protest against the decision not to sign an agreement with the EU seems to have escalated into a "Color Revolution" or "Arab Spring" style movement to force the government to resign. By some reports, the police are using violent tactics to suppress the street protests.
The Western half of the Ukraine has historically felt closer to Europe , and wants to move Ukrainian society in that direction. Eastern Ukraine feels culturally closer to Russia, and favors closer relations with that country. The current regime of President Viktor Yanukovich is part of that camp. The current confrontations can be seen as a clash between these two halves of Ukrainian society.
EDIT (2/24/2022)
This thread was originally opened in 2013 during the beginning of the revolt in Ukraine that eventually over-threw the dictatorship of the Yanukovyich regime and instituted democratic elections soon afterward. As of this writing, in the aftermath of the Russian invasion that began on 2/23, it is not clear whether or for how long Ukraine will continue to exist as an independent country.
Statements made nine years ago still seem relevant: "The Western half of the Ukraine has historically felt closer to Europe , and wants to move Ukrainian society in that direction. Eastern Ukraine feels culturally closer to Russia, and favors closer relations with that country... The current confrontations can be seen as a clash between these two halves of Ukrainian society." Some people have expressed the view that the confrontation between Russia and Ukraine, beginning in 2014, never really ended.
The invasion is also a result of certain grievances proclaimed by Vladimir Putin, the current President of Russia, and used by him as justification for armed attack and occupation. Western governments, and others around the world, have joined together in condemnation of this attack.
While we do not know what the ultimate outcome of these events will be, this thread will continue to be made available as a place to record news, ask questions and express opinions about the "Crisis in Ukraine."
This map will help track the latest developments.
Do not post anything about the Ukrainian military movement and strategy. This could actually result in casualties.
No discussion regarding nuclear war. As nuclear weapons are not being used by either side, nuclear war is off-topic.
When posting social media links, please (1) state the source [e.g. Reuters reporter? State-sponsored Facebook account? Civilian Twitter?] (2) clarify if it is fact or opinion and (3) summarize the information being presented.
Edited by Tabs on Mar 20th 2022 at 4:26:26 AM
I'm not insane, I'm not… not insane!
That's what everyone keeps saying.
Organized Canine Bureau Special Agent
Roman Venevitin of the Russian 72nd Brigade is interrogated and he mentioned what Wagner's doing to Russian Army personnel when they get into "altercations".
Edited by Ominae on Jun 8th 2023 at 9:46:31 AM
"Exit muna si Polgas. Ang kailangan dito ay si Dobermaxx!"
Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, June 8, 2023
- Ukraine has conducted counteroffensive operations with differential outcomes in at least three sectors of the front as part of wider counteroffensive efforts that have been unfolding since Sunday, June 4.
- Ukrainian forces conducted a limited but still significant attack in western Zaporizhia Oblast on the night of June 7 to 8. Russian forces apparently defended against this attack in a doctrinally sound manner and had reportedly regained their initial positions as of June 8.
- The Russian Ministry of Defense (Mo D) responded to the Ukrainian attack with an uncharacteristic degree of coherency and praised Southern Military District elements for repelling the attack and regaining lost positions.
- Russian sources provided explanations for claimed Russian successes during the June 8 attacks, praising Russian forces' effective use of electronic warfare (EW) systems, air support, and landmines against Ukrainian forces.
- Russian forces appear to have executed their formal tactical defensive doctrine in response to the Ukrainian attacks southwest of Orikhiv.
- Ukrainian attacks in western Zaporizhia on June 8 do not represent the full extent of Ukrainian capabilities in the current counteroffensive.
- It is additionally noteworthy that the Russian Southern Military District Forces deployed in this particular area are likely to be a higher quality force grouping than Russia has elsewhere in theater, and their defensive performance is unlikely to be reflective of defensive capabilities of Russian groupings elsewhere on the front.
- Russian forces and occupation authorities continue to exacerbate the humanitarian ramifications of the flooding resulting from the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant (KHPP) dam break.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin has reportedly postponed his annual press conference from June 2023 until November or December 2023.
- Russian forces continued to conduct limited ground attacks on the Kupyansk-Svatove line and around Kreminna.
- Ukrainian forces made limited gains around Bakhmut, and Russian forces conducted limited ground attacks along the Avdiivka-Donetsk City line.
- Ukrainian forces continued to conduct limited ground attacks on the administrative border between Donetsk and Zaporizhia oblasts.
- The Russian Mo D continues to posture itself as a firm authority over the defense industrial base (DIB) through emphasizing its ability to transport new equipment to the front.
- Russian occupation authorities are reportedly resorting to punitive measures against civilian populations in occupied Ukraine due to Russian occupation authorities' decreasing influence over civilians.
Organized Canine Bureau Special Agent
https://twitter.com/michaelh992/status/1667054274054967298
Michael Horowitz posted on his Twitter that Ukrainian Politsiia are patrolling the dam in Kyiv due to increasing threats against it.
"Exit muna si Polgas. Ang kailangan dito ay si Dobermaxx!"
Keep Calm and Parry On
Svidomi: The Supreme Court of the Netherlands rules to return "Scythian gold" to Ukraine. When Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, the Allard Pierson Museum of Antiquities in Amsterdam was exhibiting over 500 ancient Scythian gold artefacts on loan from four museums in Crimea. The Ukrainian government fought a long legal battle to have the artefacts returned to its custody instead of the museums in occupied Crimea, which saw a lower Dutch court ruling in its favour in 2021. The Supreme Court has now upheld that decision, which should clear the way for their transfer to the National Historical Museum of Ukraine in Kyiv.
Organized Canine Bureau Special Agent
https://twitter.com/RALee85/status/1532565777823502354
Didn't see this from last year. Russians used improvised armor on a KAMAZ truck.
"Exit muna si Polgas. Ang kailangan dito ay si Dobermaxx!"
Wrt the offensive operation, some comments by Rob Lee:
- Doing a combined arms breach through fortified Russian lines without air superiority was always going to be difficult and involve losses. But the footage we have seen isn't necessarily representative of the entire counteroffensive and we should wait to make strong conclusions.
- The conditions for this counteroffensive are not as favorable as they were in Kharkiv where Russia's defenses were very weak. That doesn't mean it will fail, but it means Ukraine will have to breach multiple lines of defenses to succeed, which will take time and involve losses.
- For folks asking about how the UA offensive is going. This isn't something you judge based on a few days of fighting. Footage of combat losses, which are to be expected, can have an anchoring effect. The offensive will play out over weeks, and likely months.
- My comment here is not meant to paint a rosy picture. Early impression is this looks much closer to Kherson than Kharkiv. Those who thought it would be difficult, with high levels of attrition, are therefore not surprised. But this is based on very fragmentary visual evidence.
- And an "agree" to Drawing conclusions solely from a few images and videos from the russian side doesn't provide the understanding of the situation. While I don't have all the details, I do have more knowledge than a few Twitter videos. I would advise to wait before jumping into conclusions.
Clearly, this isn't going the way the Kharkiv operation went last year, where Russian defences listed pretty quickly. If this succeeds, it will be a long slog with losses and waiting.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Yeah perun said the same in a video: attriction a some point CANT be avoided, you cant expect ukraine having a perfect 100% rate were every bullet and bomb land perfectly and russian just fold like made of cards.
Question is how much russia can hold before their line breaks and how much ukraine is going to bleed about it.
"My Name is Bolt, Bolt Crank and I dont care if you believe or not"
Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, June 9, 2023
- Ukrainian forces continued counteroffensive operations in at least four areas of the front on June 9, making further gains around Bakhmut and in Western Donetsk.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged on June 9 that the Ukrainian counteroffensive recently began and noted that Ukrainian forces still have offensive potential, a departure from previous Kremlin efforts to downplay Ukrainian counteroffensives.
- Contrarily, much of the Russian information space prematurely claimed that the Ukrainian counteroffensive has failed after Russian forces damaged more Western-provided Ukrainian military equipment on June 9.
- Ukrainian officials directly acknowledged that Ukrainian forces expect to suffer equipment losses during counteroffensive operations.
- The Russian command structure responsible for areas of southern Ukraine is unclear and likely overlapping.
- Russian forces carried out missile and drone strikes across Ukraine on the night of June 8 to 9.
- Several independent sources reported additional evidence that an internal explosion likely destroyed the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant (KHPP) dam on June 6.
- The White House revealed on June 9 that Iran is helping Russia build a drone manufacturing factory in Yelabuga, Republic of Tatarstan, Russia, underscoring the growing military cooperation between Tehran and Moscow despite Western sanctions.
- Chief of the Russian General Staff Army General Valery Gerasimov discussed increasing Russian-Chinese military cooperation with Chinese Central Military Commission (CMC) Joint Staff Department Chief of Staff Liu Zhenli on June 9.
- Russian and Ukrainian forces conducted limited and localized ground attacks south of Kreminna.
- Russian forces continued ground attacks near Bakhmut and on the Avdiivka-Donetsk City line.
- Ukrainian forces continued limited ground attacks on the administrative border between Donetsk and Zaporizhia oblasts and in western Zaporizhia Oblast.
- Russia continues to evade international sanctions and has reportedly restored access to key Western microchips and electronics that Russia needs to produce military equipment.
- A Ukrainian report states that Russian authorities may be preparing evacuations from northern Crimea.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on June 9 that Russia will begin deploying tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus in July 2023, and this is not an escalation from Putin's prior nuclear weapons rhetoric.
Organized Canine Bureau Special Agent
I've been staking out various pro-Russian accounts in social media and they're cheering on Putin for the Bradleys/Leopards that have wrecked tracks.
"Exit muna si Polgas. Ang kailangan dito ay si Dobermaxx!"
No surprising, bakhmut victory was very slow and grinding and many russian sphere did kinda fear the counterofensive specially the leopard so for many this have a "the ukranian beast have not teeth after all"
Which in many way show how concept of ukranian army have move from the "Ukranian will fall in 3 days". We also have to expect the russian sphere also share the same fear for russia that we have for ukranine
"My Name is Bolt, Bolt Crank and I dont care if you believe or not"
The law in the night
Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, June 10, 2023
- Ukrainian forces conducted counteroffensive operations in at least four areas of the front on June 10.
- Russian forces in Zaporizhia Oblast are continuing to defend against Ukrainian attacks in accord with sound tactical defensive doctrine.
- Russian milbloggers continue to highlight reported superior Russian electronic warfare (EW) capabilities as key to disrupting Ukrainian attacks.
- Russian sources claimed that Ukrainian forces have tactical advantages in conducting assaults at night due to Western-provided equipment with superior night optics systems.
- Russian sources continue to highlight the role of scarce military district-level Russian TOS-1A thermobaric artillery systems in defending against Ukrainian counteroffensive operations, though Ukrainian forces destroyed at least two of these key systems in recent days.
- Ukrainian forces are currently attempting an extraordinarily difficult tactical operation - a frontal assault against prepared defensive positions, further complicated by a lack of air superiority - and these initial assaults should not be extrapolated to predict all Ukrainian operations.
- Chechen Republic Head Ramzan Kadyrov established a clear rhetorical line between criticizing the Russian Ministry of Defense (Mo D) and criticizing Russian President Vladimir Putin.
- Russian forces targeted a Ukrainian operational airfield during another missile and drone strike on Ukraine on the night of June 9 to 10.
- Russian forces made marginal advances northeast of Kupyansk and continued ground attacks near Kreminna.
- Russian and Ukrainian forces both continued ground attacks in the Bakhmut area.
- Russian forces continued limited ground attacks along the Avdiivka-Donetsk City line.
- Ukrainian forces continued limited ground attacks near the administrative border between Donetsk and Zaporizhia oblasts and have made marginal gains in the area as of June 10.
- The Russian Ministry of Defense (Mo D) announced on June 10 that it plans to formalize the organization of volunteer formations.
- Russia is further consolidating a centralized media apparatus in occupied areas.
As retweeted by Michael Kofman: As mentioned before, positive developments are happening, visually confirmed now. The situation for russians deteriorates due to ongoing losses. However, reports of a major "breakthrough" through the main defensive line (composed of multiple layers) are premature.
In particular, it seems like they have so far picked the low-hanging fruit of the Russian defence lines and haven't yet begun attacking the toughest one of them.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Oh, bother.
Makes sense. Strike where they are weakest.
Disgusted, but not surprised
Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, June 11, 2023
- Ukrainian forces conducted counteroffensive operations in at least three areas of the front and made territorial gains on June 10 and 11.
- Ukrainian forces made visually verified advances in western Donetsk Oblast and western Zaporizhia Oblast, which Russian sources confirmed but sought to downplay.
- Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar stated that Russian forces are transferring their most combat-capable units from the Kherson direction to the Bakhmut and Zaporizhia directions.
- Russian forces conducted a limited series of drone strikes targeting eastern Ukrainian border areas overnight on June 10 to 11.
- Wagner financier Yevgeny Prigozhin characterized the Russian Ministry of Defense's (Mo D) plan to formalize volunteer formations by July 1 as an attack on him and his forces.
- Russia and Ukraine conducted a near one-for-one prisoner of war (POW) exchange.
- Russian forces continued limited ground attacks south of Kreminna.
- Ukrainian and Russian forces continued limited ground attacks around Bakhmut and on the Avdiivka-Donetsk City line.
- Ukrainian forces made gains near the administrative border between Donetsk and Zaporizhia oblasts and in western Zaporizhia Oblast as of June 10.
- Russian milbloggers claimed that rain along the Zaporizhia Oblast front may slow Ukrainian operations in the coming days.
- The Republic of Chechnya reportedly formed two new regiments - Akhmat-Russia and Akhmat-Chechnya - equipped with commercially-available Chinese armored equipment.
- Saboteurs, reportedly including Ukrainian partisans, conducted two discrete improvised explosive device (IED) attacks against railways in occupied Kherson Oblast and Crimea.
- Ukrainian forces continued counteroffensive operations in at least three sectors of the front on June 12.
- Russian forces reportedly launched a counterattack on June 12 following Ukrainian tactical gains near the Vremivka salient in western Donetsk Oblast on June 11.
- Russian milbloggers claimed that poor weather conditions grounded Russian aircraft, impeding Russian defenses against Ukrainian attacks near the administrative border between Donetsk and Zaporizhia oblasts.
- Wagner Group financier Yevgeny Prigozhin announced on June 11 that he had received an order from the Russian Ministry of Defense (Mo D) to subordinate his forces under the Russian military command.
- The Russian Mo D formalization efforts are likely intended to centralize control of Russian irregular personnel and supplies to respond to Ukraine's counteroffensive, as well as restrict Prigozhin's independence.
- Chechen Republic Head Ramzan Kadyrov continues efforts to rhetorically align himself with the Russian Ministry of Defense (Mo D) and further distancing himself from Wagner Group financier Yevgeny Prigozhin.
- Russian forces conducted limited ground attacks south of Kreminna.
- Ukrainian and Russian forces conducted limited ground attacks around Bakhmut.
- Russian forces conducted limited ground attacks along the Avdiivka-Donetsk City line.
- Ukrainian forces conducted ground attacks near the administrative border of Donetsk and Zaporizhia oblasts and made gains as of June 12.
- Russian sources reported that Ukrainian forces conducted limited counteroffensive operations southwest of Orikhiv.
- Social media video footage circulated on June 12 reportedly shows Russian barrier troops shooting Russian forces that abandoned their positions somewhere in Ukraine.
- Russia continues to strengthen the legal regime in occupied areas of Ukraine under martial law.
Edited by Risa123 on Jun 13th 2023 at 9:32:39 PM
The law in the night
ISW: Near-infrared imagery captured at 0400 am ET on June 7 indicates that flooding is heavily disrupting prepared Russian defensive positions on the east bank of the #Dnipro River – especially affecting Russian first-line positions in Hola Prystan & Oleshky. https://t.co/W6mPtd0HgQ]]
The Russians destroying the damn caused a lot of damage to themselves.
Babylon bee and right wing "comedy" not simping for the Russians challenge: impossible.
Goku Black
Per MSN: Ukraine war latest: Top Russian general killed in missile strike
He was apparently killed via storm shadow missiles per Russian millbloggers.
This is the first general killed this year. Curious what happened ?
"That's right mortal. By channeling my divine rage into power, I have forged a new instrument in which to destroy you."
State of Mind
With the pace of the fighting picking up, I imagine the leaders have to be more active responding to this or that, giving the other side more opportunity to pick up on chatter regarding their locations.
"What a century this week has been." - Seung Min Kim
Quote from eagleoftheninth from military thread.
I heard somewhere that supposedly Gerasimov was spotted very recently in Zaphorozia region and Ukrainians are hunting for him.
I will become a great writer one day! Hopefully...
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
x5 Did evidence turn up that the Russians blew up the dam? Or was it the Ukraines? I'm not caught up on the "Who did it?"
Edited by Zabilac on Jun 13th 2023 at 1:48:40 AM
The Power of Toons and Anime
Last I heard everything pointed pretty clearly towards Russia being behind it, but with it being unclear weather or not it was planned or an accident.
Oki
"Any campaign world where an orc samurai can leap off a landcruiser to fight a herd of Bulbasaurs will always have my vote of confidence"