"All of Vlad's forces and all of Vlad's men, are out to put Humpty together again." (9 Viewers)

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On a more serious note:

At the United Nations, Russia is lobbying for a secret ballot instead of a public vote when the 193-member U.N. General Assembly next week considers whether to condemn Moscow's move to annex Donetsk and Luhansk in the east and Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in the south after staging referendums in the provinces.


There's a scent of shame overhanging this request. This should be rejected. Moscow knows that its motives are impure and they know that the rest of the world knows that too; hence the desire for a secret vote.
 
If this is true, the discussions in the bunker must be wild.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if the Orcs screwed up and nuked their own cities?
 
Wouldn't it be wonderful if the Orcs screwed up and nuked their own cities?
Shrug. Tell them such a "test" will be considered an act of war and the usual response will happen.

Personally, I'd also say that means a nuclear response on Moscow but what do I know?
 
Pro-Ukrainian sources report forces east of the Oskil river and in northeastern Kherson have slowed recent rapid advances to allow heavier units (MBTs and artillery) to be brought up. Russian sources also report Ukrainian forces pausing to mass for attacks on defensive positions. Early reports are that Ukrainians have started shelling defensive positions in and around Kreminna as preparations to puncture the Svatove – Kreminna line.

Exploitation phase may not yet be over, but Russian defenses are definitely stiffening and slowing the loss of territory. At least two Russian infantry brigades (one an all volunteer naval infantry unit) have been pulled out of the Donbas grouping in the last few days and pushed north to help with the defense of Kreminna and Svatove. This increases Russian overall strength in the area by about 20%, but may relieve pressure on Bhamut (at least to the north of the city).

In Kherson, Ukrainians are reportedly worried about bringing up heavy armour without infantry support. Defensive strongholds bypassed in the area may still have Russian troops able to call in artillery or attack armour columns with ATGMs. Speculation is that they're planning to advance south and west from Davydiv Brid to widen out the bridgehead there (crossing is supported by pontoon bridges only) and link up with other forces.

There are elements of at least eight Ukrainian brigades involved in the advances in the Kherson area, reportedly opposed by a strength of about six Russian brigades west of the Inhulets river. Russia now has elements of at least 14 regiments on the northern side of the Dnipro, including the full 7th Guards Mountain Air Assault Division and the 20th Guards Motor Rifle Division.

Russian forces may also be willing to give more ground in the area to the northeast of Kherson, as they have better prepared positions to fall back on. OSINT reports are that Russian forces have been building extensive fixed defenses in and around the towns/villages on the north bank of the Dnipro. Primary defense point seems to be Nova Kharkova and nearby settlements.
 
I note some in the thread aren't convinced it was real. I do hope an anti-armor weapon was kept trained on them until the operation was done and also too many soldiers got up out of position. They should have stayed down and kept the vehicle and crew under observation. Only one person should have approached the BMP-2 once it stopped and gave the people surrendering instructions.

Reports are that the surrender was geniune, but pre-arranged. Hence the cameraperson not being in cover.

Ukraine has set up a phone line for Russian troops to arrange their surrender by. The footage will reportedly be used for two purposes: to share via Russian social media channels encouraging surrender, and to share with Ukrainian troops on the process to accept Russian surrenders.
 
The Ukrainian troops appeared to be using ~standard police procedures during the surrender. Possibly that is how they have been trained for such actions?
 

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Nice read on how the war might end. I specially liked the part on not giving up to nuclear blackmail

" ... giving in to nuclear blackmail won't end the conventional war in Ukraine. It would, however, make future nuclear war much more likely. Making concessions to a nuclear blackmailer teachers him that this sort of threat will get him what he wants, which guarantees further crisis scenarios down the line. It teaches other dictators, future potential blackmailers, that all they need is a nuclear weapon and some bluster to get what they want, which means more nuclear confrontations. It tends to convince everyone that the only way to defend themselves is to build nuclear weapons, which means global nuclear proliferation."

 
Obviously, passing the Bosphorus is out of the question - so if it gets past Turkey, there will be serious questions.
I'm surprised that Russia hasn't ignored Turkey and sailed a new fleet up the Bosporus to the Black Sea. It's not as if there's a chain across the strait. What's Turkey going to do, unilaterally start a war and shoot at Russian warships as they pass by? I think the three reasons the Russians haven't called Turkey's bluff are: that there's little for the Black Sea fleet to do; the AFU anti ship batteries will sink any new arrivals unless they remain uselessly away from the combat areas; and, any new arrivals will be forever trapped in the Black Sea as Turkey will need to forcibly close the strait.
 

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