"All of Vlad's forces and all of Vlad's men, are out to put Humpty together again." (2 Viewers)

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Which supports my theory that Russians may consider every approaching civilian and vehicle a fair target.
The colored arm bands are supposed to be the distinguishing uniform markings as required by the Geneva Conventions. Killing a civilian without a valid military reason can still be a war crime.
 
but I wonder how many regular civilians in cars were considered possible insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan and destroyed by US and Coalition AFVs.
Same ROEs as the guys without a Ride as with one
The Five "S"'s
Escalation of force measure:
Shout
Show
Shove
Shoot to warn off
Shoot to kill

They were all considered as insurgents, but were left alone if overr 100 meters
Now per they guys I talked with in Vehicles, the 'Shove' for approaching vehicle was a warning shot near the vehicle, delay, the next into the engine, and if no attempt to veer off, FA into the cabin
 
It's a war crime, but I wonder how many innocent civilians in cars were considered possible insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan and destroyed "just in case" by US and Coalition AFV crews (and drone operators).

I was air crew so it was a lil complicated for us, but we always, always fired warning shots first that clearly let them know to not proceed, come closer, or move. We never fired in a lethal manner first.

There is a huge difference between the US/Coalition and what we are seeing from the Russians. Civilian casualties are an unfortunate side effect of war, but the US/Coalition takes great care to mitigate it. I think this comes down to the fact that we seem to place a value on human life.

We always flew with soccer balls, nets, and toys that we dropped to the children below, to try and give them some happiness in the tragedy of war. The Russians would rather drop bombs on the children.
 
This is a REALLY interesting development:

Russia to focus war on eastern Ukraine - Russian army chief
The chief of the Russian army says Russia will now focus its main war effort on the "complete liberation" of the eastern Ukrainian Donbas region.
The defence ministry said Russia had been considering two options for its "special military operation" - one covering the whole of Ukraine and one focusing on the Donbas.
The comments - carried by Russian state news agencies - hinted at a possible downgrading of Russia's war aims. Russian forces have met strong resistance in the north of Ukraine and around Kyiv.
Sergey Rudskoy, head of the main operational department of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, said 93% of Luhansk oblast and 54% of Donetsk oblast was under Russian control.
Russia had destroyed the vast majority of Ukraine's air force and navy, and this marked the successful end of the first phase of the conflict, he added.
However, the defence ministry did not rule out storming Ukrainian cities that had been blockaded and said Russia would react immediately to any move to close airspace over Ukraine - something President Zelensky has repeatedly urged.
The ministry also said Russia would continue its invasion until targets set by Putin had been achieved, Ria news agency reported, without specifying what the targets were.
 
Russian officials on Friday said they have destroyed a fuel depot in Ukraine that was reportedly one of the largest fuel bases in the country.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov in a briefing video said high-precision weapons and cruise missiles fired from the sea struck the fuel depot near the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on Thursday night.

Konashenk said Russia destroyed 24 pieces of military equipment, including seven tanks and five infantry vehicles, during overnight strikes.

The fuel depot reportedly supplied the Ukrainian army in the center of the country.

Ukrainian officials did not immediately verify the attack publicly.

Reuters reported it could not immediately verify the authenticity of the attack.



... and, when it comes to "but the US did it too" regarding war crimes ...

Around 300 people were killed when Russia bombed a theater in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol that hundreds of people were using as a shelter, officials said on Friday, citing eyewitnesses, The Associated Press reported.

The news outlet noted that it was unclear how eyewitnesses had come to those figures or if the site had finished being excavated by emergency workers.

A Ukrainian official said last week that over 100 people had been rescued following the Russian bombing of the theater, which had the words "children" written on either side of it.

The development comes as the Russian invasion moves into its second month, and as Mariupol has seen a number of buildings and sites struck by shelling. The southeastern city has also seen a mosque and a children's hospital hit by Russian fire.



I can't think of the US doing anything remotely similar since My Lai -- and we prosecuted that one.
 
DNIPROPETROVSK OBLAST, Ukraine — As Russia's all-out invasion of Ukraine enters its second month, fighting has intensified north of the capital, Kyiv. But Ukrainian forces now claim to have regained most of suburban Irpin.

According to Ukrainian regional defense officials, Russian forces are fanning out further around the city of Kyiv, but still aren't able to get into the city.

Slavutych, a city east of Chornobyl, is surrounded by Russian forces, and the city council has ordered residents to stay inside to avoid sniper fire.

Further south, Ukrainian forces claim to have pushed back hundreds of Russian troops and captured some of their tanks. It marks the first real series of counterattacks against Russian forces on the ground in Ukraine.

Ukraine said it destroyed a Russian supply ship yesterday, as it was docked in a seaport in the county's south. They also say Russia responded by firing two rockets at a Ukrainian military installation near the city of Dnipro overnight.


 
This is a REALLY interesting development:

Russia to focus war on eastern Ukraine - Russian army chief
The chief of the Russian army says Russia will now focus its main war effort on the "complete liberation" of the eastern Ukrainian Donbas region.
The defence ministry said Russia had been considering two options for its "special military operation" - one covering the whole of Ukraine and one focusing on the Donbas.
The comments - carried by Russian state news agencies - hinted at a possible downgrading of Russia's war aims. Russian forces have met strong resistance in the north of Ukraine and around Kyiv.
Sergey Rudskoy, head of the main operational department of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, said 93% of Luhansk oblast and 54% of Donetsk oblast was under Russian control.
Russia had destroyed the vast majority of Ukraine's air force and navy, and this marked the successful end of the first phase of the conflict, he added.
However, the defence ministry did not rule out storming Ukrainian cities that had been blockaded and said Russia would react immediately to any move to close airspace over Ukraine - something President Zelensky has repeatedly urged.
The ministry also said Russia would continue its invasion until targets set by Putin had been achieved, Ria news agency reported, without specifying what the targets were.

That definitely reads like they're dialing back war aims in response to being overextended.
 
Which supports my theory that Russians may consider every approaching civilian and vehicle a fair target.
Except we clearly saw a Russian AFV steer into oncoming lanes and run over a car in the opening days of the war.
It stopped, backed over the car and continue in it's way. (The elderly gentleman survived, somehow)

If you go back and watch the original video, the AFV opened fire through a couple trees from a side street of that intersection. The car was not a threat.

Several other cases of this happening, too.
 
That definitely reads like they're dialing back war aims in response to being overextended.

That and the fact that reality is setting in that the Ukrainians have beaten them to a stalemate. If Ukraine can hold out here, they can negotiate from a strong standpoint. This goes back to the discussions earlier about cowering down to Putler and giving in to his demands. I'm glad they have not done that yet.
 
Except we clearly saw a Russian AFV steer into oncoming lanes and run over a car in the opening days of the war.
It stopped, backed over the car and continue in it's way. (The elderly gentleman survived, somehow)

If you go back and watch the original video, the AFV opened fire through a couple trees from a side street of that intersection. The car was not a threat.

Several other cases of this happening, too.

Exactly. This is the fundamental difference between this Russian aggression and actions by US and other Coalition partners over the past 20 years. The US and Coalition partners typically tried very hard to avoid civilian casualties. They weren't perfect. Mistakes were made and, on a few occasions, actions were deliberately taken which went against rules of engagement and killed people unnecessarily. However, in those latter situations, the actors typically were tried in court.

What we're seeing in Ukraine is indiscriminate action against civilians without any attempt to determine if there's a threat. There are no TTPs in place of the kind that marathag marathag outlined. The Western military forces trained and practiced those types of TTPs rigourously prior to deployment and throughout their time downrange. This is probably another pointer to (a) the lower relative training level of Russian forces (you can't expect conscripts to perform these types of TTPs in complex operational environments), and (b) the lack of Russian leadership planning and preparation.
 
That and the fact that reality is setting in that the Ukrainians have beaten them to a stalemate. If Ukraine can hold out here, they can negotiate from a strong standpoint. This goes back to the discussions earlier about cowering down to Putler and giving in to his demands. I'm glad they have not done that yet.

Agreed. The main concern that I see in this move is that it may also be a shift of focus, to encircling Ukrainian maneuver units in the eastern third which, if successful, would likely be fatal to Ukrainian liberty in the short term.
 
Agreed. The main concern that I see in this move is that it may also be a shift of focus, to encircling Ukrainian maneuver units in the eastern third which, if successful, would likely be fatal to Ukrainian liberty in the short term.

Not so sure. It' seems like the bulk of the Ukrainian manoeuvre forces were in the west to help protect Kyiv.
 

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