Russian Invasion of Ukraine 2022

Reklos said:

Someone posted a photo that appears to show either a Russian soldier or a soldier from one of the People’s Republics next to a Maxim gun.

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Both Ukrainian and Donbass forces use Maxim guns, usually in fixed position as they have higher sustainable rate of fire than PKs or 12,7 machine guns.

Husky_Khan said:

Apparently there were a lot of fake Special Forces operators.

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Not surprising, when you are dealing with fake veterans, most of them claim to be ex special forces.

More prisoners taken.





All Female Unit of Ukrainian Soldiers taken captive. These surrenders are picking up.



Repair Depot western Kyiv Front.



Bit by bit, Russia eliminates the main threat to bringing its Strategic Bombers in for carpet bombardments.

Reklos said:

All right. I have been paying attention to the Twitter chatter on both sides, but this is a particular take on why Russian infantry equipment has been lackluster. Do any veterans want to weigh on this if you have the time? Especially in regard to the last lines about night operations?




And from that exact same Twitter thread. Someone posted a photo that appears to show either a Russian soldier or a soldier from one of the People’s Republics next to a Maxim gun. No. I am unfortunately not making that up.

I also apologize if it duplicates, Twitter seems to like repeating despite there being a separate link.

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Used to we didn't get any but since I have joined in 2019, optics are standard issue.
Some may choose to qualify with iron sights if they have a red dotz while everyone loves an ACOG.

Night operation you have a PEQ which helps at night as it is basically point the laser and shoot.

The reason for optics is to allow for accurate fire at long range, or close range. So less of a sight picture is needed compared to iron sights

Now I will actually contribute to the conversation. Even the parliament is divided on this issue.

Right now there is no talk about the human flood that will eventually spillover in Italy, probably not like 2014 but yeah it won't be nice.

The government though managed to still do the "we will send the weapons to the resistance" with a UKRAINE DECREE.

From Il Foglio :

The premier sponsors Ukraine's membership. In the EU Council there are those who push for further sanctions and those who do not. On the parliamentary front, the question of trust in Sostegni is once again raised. The pitfall remains the reform of justice

It is "Mario is sending me" because "Italy wants Ukraine to join the European Union" and "I want to tell President Zelensky that Italy is side by side in this process". It is patronage, one would say the sponsor, which does not open the doors of the EU wide but which oils the negotiations with the EU. And therefore it is not the usual promise, the one that Mario Draghi formulated in Parliament in connection with the Ukrainian president, the praise of the resistance which is "heroic". And of course it is not the guarantee that the accession process, the Ukrainian “let us in”, the demand, the slow evaluation, can be shortened. Yet there were those who explained, and the government explained, that no European prime minister, at least until now, had expressed himself so clearly and that fate now excludes nothing, not even entry as a "political option". It means the open door as a western gesture, the choice of field, on the side of the attack against the aggressor's barbarism if there was "a precipitate of events".
This is why, and it was the other passage of the Prime Minister's intervention, that "we must offer hospitality to those who flee the war" but in the face of "massacres, we must respond with aid, including military". Italy will therefore proceed, again, with the dispatch of war material and will do so thanks to that Ukrainian Decree which in fact created the legal framework. Whenever a new expedition is established, a "communication" to the Chambers will suffice and no longer the vote, that walkway that benefits the "vlad parliamentarians", those drenched in the "and yet", the anti-resistance against the Ukrainian resistance.
Tomorrow, first in the Chamber and then in the Senate, Draghi will communicate in view of the European Council. The launch of "a further package of sanctions" is not foreseen, or at least the government does not foresee it. From the EU, from the drafts that are circulating, the answer is: "He should not be excluded". However, the risk is another. It is making sure that Europe can resist the severity of the sanctions already applied. Not even that "we will see, we will see" of the prime minister, in Palmanova, on Russian gas supplies, is equivalent to "we will give up Russian gas" right away. The European Council, which is loaded with expectations, Italy imagines it as an opportunity to carry out the energy reform that Roberto Cingonali, in his briefing to the Chamber, calls the "Repower EU". Among the measures there is also that of "state aid". And among the regulations that will enter, accepted by all 27 countries, is the taxation of extra profits which has already been adopted in Italy and which had made people cry out for unconstitutionality. Another taboo broken.
The ambition, however, is always the price cap, the fixed price of gas. It is a step-by-step route. Once these changes have been obtained in Europe it will be easier for the Med countries (Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece) and beyond (Germany is another of the most vulnerable nations on the energy side. Yesterday Scholz said "no" ) close the Russian gas taps. The guest of honor on Thursday will be American President Joe Biden. He is moving towards a "McUe", the Mediterranean atlan. For everything concerning the reforms, the parliamentary Donbas, what can be said is that there are more and more dossiers in the hands of the "super-secretary" Roberto Garofoli. The fiscal delegation has been postponed by a week to de-mine the pitfalls (the vote in the classroom was expected by March 28). There remains the hail of amendments presented to modify the Cartabia reform. Draghi had promised that he would not raise the question of trust (today it was placed on the dl Sostegni, tomorrow the vote is expected). The risk is not to launch it. We wanted to leave the parliament free and therefore any sinking that would mean abjuring the first Quirinal oath will always be left to the parliament. It is not only the Cartabia Reform, but the first hope of the encore Mattarella. It was February 13 and in order not to let him go to the Quirinale they swore: “We will do anything”. Perjury.

From Il Fatto Quotidiano :

The exact number is not and will not be in the records, because the session with the intervention by videoconference by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the agenda does not include a registration of attendance. But according to estimates made in these hours by professionals and classroom secretaries, more than 350 deputies and senators were absent from the joint session. In fact, if the hemicycle of Montecitorio was practically full, the stands made available to accommodate the senators were almost empty. "There are a total of 945 parliamentarians, between the hall and the grandstand we were at most 580", explains one elected.

Therefore, many more parliamentarians would have deserted than those who had announced the forfeit in the previous days: among these the elected members of Alternativa, the component of the Mixed formed largely by former members of the 5 Star Movement, who had defined the intervention of Zelensky "a forcing" and "a marketing operation". "Being in solidarity" with Ukraine "does not mean having to support propaganda aimed at raising the bar on incessant requests for war interventions such as the no fly zone or the dispatch of troops that would entail for Italy and Europe the official entry into a world conflict ”, their position. In the galaxy of the former pentastellates, Senator Nicola Morra had also explained that he would be "away for work". Also absent Emanuele Dessì, now in the Communist Party, and the founder of Italexit Gianluigi Paragone. As well as Bianca Laura Granato (Mixed), who ended up in the eye of the storm for having supported the need to have Vladimir Putin intervene in conjunction with the Italian Parliament (for "a level playing field"), who according to the senator is fighting "an important battle for all of us ”against“ the globalist agenda ”.

The loudest forfeit, however, was that of Vito Petrocelli, the M5S president of the Senate Foreign Affairs Commission who, after having voted against the resolution on sending weapons to Ukraine, chose not to participate in the session in which the president of Kiev spoke. . "Out of this interventionist government, which wants to make Italy a co-belligerent country", he wrote on Twitter immediately after, announcing that he wanted to vote against the conversion of the decree into law and more generally to be ready "not to vote anymore confidence in any provision, because the government's attitude on an issue that is relevant to me, that is, we become interventionists, is not acceptable and is the straw that breaks the camel's back ”.

Draghi ribadisce sostegno all'Ucraina, ma in Parlamento è sempre il Donbas

SchrodingersWehraboo said:

New Russian Prototype weapon spotted in Ukraine. The mind is a-boggled at what the role could be.

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Takchanka is basically a horse/drawn sled/carriage with a machine gun mounted on it.
Very iconic during the Russian civil war.

Also, the Ukrainians pulled this first, as is evident by one of @Chiron s post a while ago.

Well, after the Russian embassy in Warsaw was seen burning documents, this is an understandable move.

Russians back in Irpin where amazingly some buildings still stand.



Interview with Mariupol Resident.



UkA running out of weapons and gas. What isn't blown up is captured.



The Comrades taking time to prepare themselves spiritually for the upcoming struggles.

Video allegedly of British volunteer sniper and his unit.



Both sides trading kit... I think one side is getting a better deal though.





Speaking of the Russians finding stuff, here is an alleged video of Russian troops liberating Ukraine from the decadence of Western Consumerism.



Probably were planning on digging it up later, like a time capsule.

Just a little bit to win can go for a long time in urban combat, once defenders are compressed in a small enough pocket for the last stand.

Low flying CAS. If the UkA really did attempt encirclement, it wasn't very successful and busted quickly as the Russians launch vastly more sorties in Drones, Rotary Wing, and Fixed Wing craft in a day than UkA manages in a week.



Another UkA officer captured.





Bit by bit, Chernihiv-Nizhyn pocket is being reduced.



More surrenders.

Russians have issued a final Ultimatum to Mariupol Defenders to surrender by midnight (5 hours approximately as of posting this) or no quarter will be given. Given the number of Thermobaric Weapons they brought up, they mean it.

Hit the media limit and time for me to get ready for work.

Chiron said:

Should point out there has been no TB-2s for 12 days and the Russians are putting out vastly more drone footage.

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Ah, the SA-17 "Grizzly." Very modern SAM system with no real NATO equivalent that I know of. Really neat to see it in the field. Husky already posted a search radar, but I can contribute a battalion command post vehicle:



Also, rejoice, for the Ukrainians have released more TB-2 drone footage:



Amazing to see MLRS in action against the kind of target it was intended for; maneuver units in open areas. It's amazing that even unitary warhead rockets are scoring kills. These old systems are nothing to laugh at or take lightly.

In possibly related news:

Chiron said:

Bit by bit, Russia eliminates the main threat to bringing its Strategic Bombers in for carpet bombardments.

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Actually I'd say the S-200, aka the SA-5 "Gammon," is the biggest threat to them, because these missiles are designed specifically for destroying strategic bombers and have an insane range against them. (Since they are the size of a goddamned SRBM, they also have the raw kinematic performance to hit fighters. Israel lost an F-16 to a Syrian S-200 a few years back!) Ukraine decommissioned their S-200 sites in 2013, and did it crudely; literally hacking the cables to the equipment off with axes. (Here is a picture of how the cables were run through hardened tunnels at S-200 sites.) Ironically, this probably saved Ukraine's S-200s as they were (like most S-200s) installed at a fixed site, without the semi-mobile launcher. They would have been hit by cruise missiles on day one. Returning these to service is very possible, but they'll need a jury-rigged trailer mount (mounting the launchers on a new pedestal bolted to a flatbed trailer or truck). Data cables are just cables; some networking classes used to make students make their own CAT5e cables. It will take effort and money to re-activate them in this fashion but something tells me that Ukrainian air defense brigades have the full co-operation of their government right now. 🤔

Also, it is interesting to see increasing use of natural camouflage in the field as troops adapt to the problem of very persistent drone surveillance:

Husky_Khan said:

Video allegedly of British volunteer sniper and his unit.



Both sides trading kit... I think one side is getting a better deal though.





Speaking of the Russians finding stuff, here is an alleged video of Russian troops liberating Ukraine from the decadence of Western Consumerism.



Probably were planning on digging it up later, like a time capsule.

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Kadyrov was banned from instagram correct?

MOB JUSTICE IN UKRAINE?

• We’re going to have to play some fairly unpleasant footage to illustrate this point, so if you feel like making yourself a cup of tea, now would be the time. - Ian Miles Cheong
• More context here: - Account Suspended
• https://web.archive.org/web/20220319231005/https://twitter.com/youblacksoul/status/1505320607159922697 - Juan Sinmiedo - Twitter - Archive
• But there’s more. - S Stranger - Twitter
• this is happening with Russians in Ukraine - Vikrant - Twitter
• Here you have two girls tied to a tree with their trousers and undewear removed, being beaten and abused by the locals. - Ombre Bre - Twitter
• Ukrainians are already tying children to poles, lowering their pants. Gulyai-Pole, not a country. - Алексей Толстый - Twitter
• This has been used in Ukrainian politics since at least 2014 - Radio Free Europe
• They also use it in Russia. It’s principally opposition politicians who get doused in it, according to the media. - BBC NEws
• This is cossack symbology - Wikipedia
• This is not - Wikipedia

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Another Colonel has passed on. Rest in Peace Aleksey Sharov.



Sweden sending another five thousand AT weapons to Ukraine.



A third Kalashnikov Loitering Munition decided to surrender instead of attacking their Slavic brethren.



Belarusian Trucker Supposedly Mistaking American troops for Polish ones... But flips off the Humvee regardless.



Russian equipment captured by Ukraine.

Chiron said:

Russians have issued a final Ultimatum to Mariupol Defenders to surrender by midnight (5 hours approximately as of posting this) or no quarter will be given.

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If true, that's a war crime. I mean, saying surrender now or Thermobaric? That's not a war crime. But offering actual "no quarter" is. I wouldn't be surprised if this is happening, I would be surprised if Russia is actually just boldly announcing war crimes like that (which is why I doubt that is actually what was announced).



As for Russia fixing it's military after this, I think there's a fair chance they don't. Russia also only really invades places as a way to buff Putin's domestic policy. If Putin survives this (almost certain, but still a possibility he doesn't), then he's going to be in a weakened domestic position because of the perceived failure of the military. So he is going to need to crack down on the military, but the people he's going to blame can't be any of the ones that are politically connected, as he can't afford to piss off too many of his backers. Instead, he's going to have a strengthened position by choosing people for loyalty to Putin/favors to his backers instead of just skill.

Husky_Khan said:

the Ukraine.

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Please don't be a tool of Russian imperialism. It's Ukraine, not the Ukraine. Or else Ukrainians can start referring to Russia as the Russia and to Putin as the Putin.

Hmm, so Shoigu is having 'heart problems', and that's why he's been absent from the Russian propaganda stuff and defense briefings.

Wonder if his 'heart problems' started to coincide with his military getting bogged down in what he thought would be an easy 'win' in Ukraine.

Or maybe his Vatnik Vax has had some 'side-effects'.

Still, him being sidelined might be having some effect on how well Russian units are coordinating/acting as if there is not central field commander.

You guys are all going all out and off topic again.
Anyway, here is the latest map and daily summary: