The Ukraine war thread
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Nukes in Belarus:
Russia will station tactical nuclear weapons in neighboring Belarus, President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday, marking the first time since the mid-1990s that Moscow will have based such arms outside the country.
Putin made the announcement at a time of growing tensions with the West over the Ukraine war and as some Russian commentators speculate about possible nuclear strikes.
“Tactical” nuclear weapons refer to those used for specific gains on the battlefield rather than those with the capacity to wipe out cities. It is unclear how many such weapons Russia has given it is an area still shrouded in Cold War secrecy.
Experts told Reuters the development was significant since Russia had until now been proud that, unlike the United States, it did not deploy nuclear weapons outside its borders.
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@Mik said in The Ukraine war thread:
Like that military shotgun they showed. What a home defense weapon!
You can buy the Saiga in the U.S. I wouldn't want to come before the judge when the DA plops that nasty looking sucker on the evidence table.
Always remember, Operation Valkyrie was an act of sedition.
Warning: I post things that interest me. Read and comment at your own discretion. -
@Jolly said in The Ukraine war thread:
I wouldn't want to come before the judge when the DA plops that nasty looking sucker on the evidence table.
Here's Kyle...
Link to video -
@Jolly said in The Ukraine war thread:
@Mik said in The Ukraine war thread:
Like that military shotgun they showed. What a home defense weapon!
You can buy the Saiga in the U.S. I wouldn't want to come before the judge when the DA plops that nasty looking sucker on the evidence table.
But just imagine all the zombies you could dispatch.
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Ukraine using JDAMs
“As for the winged aerial bombs – JDAM, we use them as well,” Ihnat said.
He added that Western-made bombs are extremely accurate and the Air Force uses them to deliver successful strikes against critical enemy targets. At the same time, Ihnat said that Ukraine could use more of them, suggesting that the current supply is insufficient.
The Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) is a conversion kit that can be strapped to a wide variety of conventional air-dropped bombs to give them guidance and control capabilities comparable to those of modern smart bombs.
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Russia is actively looking to acquire weapons and munitions from North Korea in exchange for food, a U.S. National Security Council official said.
The potential arrangement is being brokered by a Slovakian arms dealer, NSC spokesman John Kirby said in a virtual briefing with reporters Thursday.
"We remain concerned that North Korea will provide further support [of] Russia's military operations against Ukraine and we have new information that Russia is actively seeking to acquire additional munitions from North Korea," Kirby said.
"We also understand that Russia is seeking to send a delegation to North Korea and that Russia is offering North Korea food in exchange for munitions," he added.
"Russia has lost over 9,000 pieces of heavy military equipment since the start of the war, and thanks in part to multilateral sanctions and export controls, Putin has become increasingly desperate to replace them," Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement about Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"Schemes like the arms deal pursued by this individual show that Putin is turning to suppliers of last resort like Iran and the DPRK," she said.
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Assassination of a pro-war blogger:
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https://www.ft.com/content/e0823df3-e5ec-4c44-a111-a0c311e3e107One of Russia’s most influential pro-Kremlin war bloggers, Vladlen Tatarsky, was killed in a blast at a restaurant in St Petersburg on Sunday.
The incident took place at around 6pm local time, in the centrally located Universitetskaya Embankment, according to the ministry of internal affairs, which confirmed Tatarsky’s death.
St Petersburg governor Alexander Beglov said that 25 people had been injured, with 19 of them hospitalised. Russia’s state investigative committee has opened a criminal case of “murder by a publicly dangerous method”.
Tatarsky, whose real name was Maxim Fomin and who has more than 560,000 subscribers to his Telegram channel, was meeting supporters and subscribers in the restaurant.
According to local news outlet Fontanka, an unknown woman handed Tatarsky a statuette of himself, possibly stuffed with explosives, that exploded about five minutes later. The Ren-TV channel posted a video showing Tatarsky taking the figurine out of a bag and looking at it, film allegedly shot by a social media user directly before the explosion.
The venue has alleged links to Wagner mercenary group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Fontanka reported that Prigozhin had owned two different cafés in the same location as the restaurant where the explosion took place. The bar located there now hosts a discussion club at weekends called “Cyberfront Z” — Z being a symbol of those supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Tatarsky is one of the most prominent pro-Kremlin “military correspondents” and a native of Makiivka in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine. He had fought on the side of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic as well as for units of the Luhansk People’s Republic.
Last year, his popularity increased after his video from a ceremony at the Kremlin celebrating the annexation of Ukraine’s occupied regions went viral. Tatarsky was shown in it, saying: “We’ll defeat everyone. We’ll kill everyone. We’ll rob everyone we need to. Everything will be as we like it.”
"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
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"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
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“Little by little I am learning the art of being quite content by doing very little slowly” ~ Lionel Hardcastle
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“Little by little I am learning the art of being quite content by doing very little slowly” ~ Lionel Hardcastle
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"My pronouns are FA/FO." - Mik, 2024
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Too early to know, although Navalny’s recent outpouring of sympathy for Ukraine should not be considered outright support:
Navalny is the darling of the liberal West and its media for no other reason than he is Putin’s enemy. People here really no idea of what Navalny believes. Navalny is to Putin what Trotsky was to Stalin.
I have never been much of a fan of Navalny given his past association and support of Russian nationalists.
https://www.rferl.org/amp/navalny-failure-to-renounce-nationalist-past-support/31122014.html
https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-evolution-of-alexey-navalnys-nationalism
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Russia releases video of suspect
Russian investigators have detained a woman in their hunt for the killers of pro-war blogger Vladlen Tatarsky in Sunday's blast at a St Petersburg cafe.
In video released by authorities - most likely recorded under duress - Darya Trepova is heard admitting she handed over a statuette that later blew up.
But the 26-year-old does not say she knew there would be an explosion, nor does she admit any further role.
Investigators said they had evidence the attack was organised from Ukraine.
However, Kyiv officials said it was a case of Russian infighting.
More than 30 people were wounded in the bombing in Russia's second city.
Tatarsky (real name Maxim Fomin), aged 40, had been attending a patriotic meeting with supporters in the cafe as a guest speaker late on Sunday afternoon.
A video circulating on social media showed a young woman in a brown coat apparently entering the cafe with a cardboard box.
Images showed the box being placed on a table in the cafe before the woman sat down. Another video showed a statue being handed to Tatarsky.
In a brief excerpt of her interrogation released by the Russian authorities, Darya Trepova appeared under duress as she sighed repeatedly.
When her interrogator asked if she knew why she was detained, she replied: "I would say for being at the scene of Vladlen Tatarsky's murder... I brought the statuette there which blew up."
Asked who gave it to her she responded: "Can I tell you later please?
