"All of Vlad's forces and all of Vlad's men, are out to put Humpty together again." (6 Viewers)

[Admiral Beez]

Interesting bit of info.

Although China has been somewhat politically supportive of Russia's actions re the Ukraine, they have also been somewhat quietly sending large amounts of humanitarian aid to the Ukraine (ie the Zelenskyy side of Ukraine) to the tune of about $10,000,000 since mid-march. Not a huge amount in the grand scheme, but it is a comment on what their view is regarding the happenings in Ukraine. The Chinese have been flying the supplies into Romania, from where it is trucked into Ukraine.

When asked why China was sending humanitarian aid to the Ukraine opposing the Russia invasion - which China has not condemned - the spokesman replied "Zhè shì zuòrén de wèntí" which translates as "It is a matter of being human".

I feel that China has a fair degree of FOMO. They don't want something big happening somewhere without the world seeing Beijing involved in some measure.

 

[vikingBerserker]

I will say, I've always thought China was very good at playing Chess

 

[vikingBerserker]

Not sure if this has been posted yet.

Ninth Russian general killed as Ukrainians launch devastating attack on HQ

VLADIMIR Putin has lost his ninth general while fighting in Ukraine following an attack on a military base. The tyrant’s war has taken a toll on Russia’s army as Major General Andrei Si…

www.thesun.co.uk

 

[MiTasol]

A source I saw earlier to day - yahoo - says they have now lost 10. Obviously someone somewhere is adding/missing a death.

A Russian general who commanded electronic-warfare units was killed in a strike that killed 100 soldiers, Ukraine official says

Maj. Gen. Andrei Simonov was said to be killed when Ukrainian forces bombarded a Russian command post near the city of Izyum.

news.yahoo.com

I also saw this item which is so b---- obviously the sort of thing you would expect from Putin given his history tho I think he is more likely to be targeting Russians who have escaped his control.

Putin's army of saboteurs 'could enter UK to attack key targets'

BRITAIN’S security services were on high alert on Saturday amid fears Putin’s army of saboteurs “could infiltrate the UK to attack key targets”, it was claimed. Senior offic…

www.thesun.co.uk

 

[GrauGeist]

A source I saw earlier to day - yahoo - says they have now lost 10. Obviously someone somewhere is adding/missing a death.

A Russian general who commanded electronic-warfare units was killed in a strike that killed 100 soldiers, Ukraine official says

Maj. Gen. Andrei Simonov was said to be killed when Ukrainian forces bombarded a Russian command post near the city of Izyum.

news.yahoo.com

I also saw this item which is so b---- obviously the sort of thing you would expect from Putin given his history tho I think he is more likely to be targeting Russians who have escaped his control.

Putin's army of saboteurs 'could enter UK to attack key targets'

BRITAIN’S security services were on high alert on Saturday amid fears Putin’s army of saboteurs “could infiltrate the UK to attack key targets”, it was claimed. Senior offic…

www.thesun.co.uk

If Putin wants to play that game, he had better make sure his ase is not dangling in the breeze.
Moscow has plenty of "key targets", too.

 

[Admiral Beez]

I also saw this item which is so b---- obviously the sort of thing you would expect from Putin given his history tho I think he is more likely to be targeting Russians who have escaped his control.

Putin's army of saboteurs 'could enter UK to attack key targets'

BRITAIN’S security services were on high alert on Saturday amid fears Putin’s army of saboteurs “could infiltrate the UK to attack key targets”, it was claimed. Senior offic…

www.thesun.co.uk

Putin just can't believe he's not the smartest guy in the room. Are his saboteurs any better at their jobs than his officer corps and line troops? Does Russia really want to send covert forces into Britain? I suspect the latter might be better at it than your guys.

 

[MiTasol]

Yeah - if he did that he might find his office plastered with SAS recruitment stickers - just before he expired of natural causes.

 

[JDCAVE]

That goes back to the Schoolyard Bully who gets his ass kicked by the kids who are tired of his sh!t - so he runs of crying like a whiney bitch, telling anyone who'll listen, that mean people beat him up.

That actually happened to me in school - the bully and his posse were hassling kids in the hallway, making them pay up to pass. As I came down the hall, he stopped me and said "a buck to go by" and I looked him square in the eye and told him to go eff himself. He poked me in the chest and said "your ass is mine after scho......".
He never get the last words out, I nailed his face with a left jab and followed with a right cross and he fell like a sack of bricks, then I stepped on him on my way past his clowns, who were standing like statues.
Got called into the Principle's office shortly after and given a three day detention.

Moral of the story: bullies are whiney bitches and I got a three day vacation for laying one out.

I did something similar. Pushed the bully down, sat on his chest and wailed on his nose. The teacher looked at the situation and wanted on by.

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

I also saw this item which is so b---- obviously the sort of thing you would expect from Putin given his history tho I think he is more likely to be targeting Russians who have escaped his control.

Putin's army of saboteurs 'could enter UK to attack key targets'

BRITAIN’S security services were on high alert on Saturday amid fears Putin’s army of saboteurs “could infiltrate the UK to attack key targets”, it was claimed. Senior offic…

www.thesun.co.uk

Is this Putin throwing bullshit into the air, or a media outlet trying to drum up clickbait? The rhetoric in that article is pretty overheated, which causes my bullshit detector to drop into active mode.

 

[Glider]

Is this Putin throwing bullshit into the air, or a media outlet trying to drum up clickbait? The rhetoric in that article is pretty overheated, which causes my bullshit detector to drop into active mode.

I would go for the Media outlet part of your posting. I also suggest your bullshit detector is working just fine.

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

I would go for the Media outlet part of your posting. I also suggest your bullshit detector is working just fine.

Thanks, appreciate the doublecheck.

Of course, spooks are gonna spook.

 

[FLYBOYJ]

Hmmmm...

Ghost of Kyiv 'killed' after shooting down FORTY Russian aircraft

Major Stepan Tarabalka, 29, a father of one, was flying a MiG-29 when it was shot down on March 13 battling 'overwhelming' enemy forces.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[fubar57]

 

[ThomasP]

I suspect that the saboteurs being talked about are of the cyber-warfare and hacking variety.

The US has transmitted a warning to all concerned (this includes NATO and such) that they should plan on various levels of cyber attacks to be attempted by the Russians. This includes the possibility of everything from data theft to destruction/corruption of data to ransomware attacks to impairment of soft and hard systems functionality. There have been Russian operatives spotted in the US using pretty sophisticated electronic systems and software to recon the accessibility to local internet based systems, and map/determine soft and hard access points to various systems.

The US has been upgrading the cyber security on its critical infrastructure over the last 20 years or so. Part of that upgrade includes limiting the access points to the systems potentially exploitable by cyber attackers.

An example of what we are talking about is the Cyber Partizan attacks on the Belarus/Russian railway system. Part of the attack was through hacking into the railroad's scheduling software (ie ticketing -> routing -> monitoring) through 'hardware' system access points. Some of the disruption was caused by the actual hands-on physical destruction of electronic control hardware used in the routing and monitoring systems, accomplished by dissidents within and without the railroad worker community.

 

[Jagdflieger]

I thought hyperbaric bombs were used attacking the steel plant in Mariupol.

The RF has made very limited use of their TOS-1A "Flamethrower" system - based on an MLRS system
If they had made use of "vacuum bombs" - we wouldn't be reading about Mariupol in the news anymore. So far I have not heard about NATO's intended response if Putin resorts
to this or similar non ABC weapons. After-all that is a real civilian killer weapon - since the UKF is to a high degree defensively embedded in urban positions.

TOS-1A Heavy Flamethrower System | Military-Today.com

The TOS-1A heavy flamethrower system is the latest version of the original TOS-1. It was accepted to service with the Russian Army in 2001. The TOS-1A saw combat in Chechnya.

www.military-today.com

 

[ThomasP]

Some interesting back ground info (maybe) for those not aware of some of the stuff leading up to the fighting between Ukraine and the Donetsk and Luhansk. (This includes me before before I began reading up on the subject )

"Donbas - Wikipedia"

"Donetsk - Wikipedia"
"Donetsk Oblast - Wikipedia"

"Luhansk - Wikipedia"
"Luhansk Oblast - Wikipedia"

 

[GrauGeist]

The RF has made very limited use of their TOS-1A "Flamethrower" system - based on an MLRS system
If they had made use of "vacuum bombs" - we wouldn't be reading about Mariupol in the news anymore. So far I have not heard about NATO's intended response if Putin resorts
to this or similar non ABC weapons. After-all that is a real civilian killer weapon - since the UKF is to a high degree defensively embedded in urban positions.

TOS-1A Heavy Flamethrower System | Military-Today.com

The TOS-1A heavy flamethrower system is the latest version of the original TOS-1. It was accepted to service with the Russian Army in 2001. The TOS-1A saw combat in Chechnya.

www.military-today.com

There is no international law forbidding thermobaric weapons.

They are not as devestating as you allude to - they've been used as recently as Syria.

A MOAB bomb in an urban center would be more devestating.

 

[fubar57]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/ukraine-ghost-of-kyiv-myth-1.6437895

 

[MiTasol]

Is this Putin throwing bullshit into the air, or a media outlet trying to drum up clickbait? The rhetoric in that article is pretty overheated, which causes my bullshit detector to drop into active mode.

Don't know - I just read the opening paragraph and went "well duh" - freeking obvious given his history

 

[J_P_C]

View attachment 666548​

quite nice kit - comparable to Italeri could be even slightly better