Raptorpat

happy birthday seight!

Also the added complexity that they aren't trained to fly the planes we have, so like Poland is contorting itself to come up with a way to send them their compatible planes (and backfill from us) while trying to get us to choreograph their dance for them so they're not technically directly sending Ukraine their planes.

Russia has already threatened that any non-Ukrainians that have come to fight won't be treated as POWs

If he can still shut it all down, that's not the crumble yet.

No, he's pounding them into oblivion for resisting and for coordinating with the west against him, and he's doing it because he knows they're on the cusp of, but don't have actual NATO protection. It's a punishment to them and a warning to others. A warning that's obviously backfiring with regards to other Russia-adjacent countries.

paging @Poof

They're going scorched earth now that it's clear they aren't just walking in, they're more geared to artillery and bombings anyhow.

Per @Poof:

All he can do now is threaten nuclear war, it's the only leverage he has left. So he will do it over everything now.

Russia has a conscripted military, and from what I understand they aren't sufficiently trained to use all this (apparently outdated) equipment and fight a war. They believe they're being sent on a peacekeeping mission in the separatist regions and then they instead find out their convoy is headed to Kyiv. Edit: But I think the intention was to blitzkrieg into the capital with minimal resistance, and there was no expectation of a protracted war. My guess is they'll do every possible thing they can before admitting Ukraine, because WW3 and Russia having the largest nuclear arsenal on the planet.

I saw scrolling the reddit live feed (can't find it now) that the alleged leak is that the order from on high is in to take Kyiv by Monday no matter the cost, explicitly overruling the concern from the paradrop division because they're going to take all the losses. If true, the next 24 hours could be even more rough both for the city and the hundreds of untrained and unequipped 19 year olds that are going to get torn to shreds after being thrown out of airplanes.

There's an agreement to remove certain Russian banks from SWIFT. Not a finance wizard so someone smarter than me can explain the actual scope of the agreement because all I can do is take it at face value and it doesn't sound as comprehensive as was talked about before. Edit: I guess this kind of explains it.

Seeing a lot about the rough condition the Russian military is in, both in terms of equipment and personnel. World's largest nuclear stockpile aside, not a great look if you base all of your leverage around wanting anyone beyond 20 miles of your border to fear your capabilities.

He only started once China got cold feet. They had a call and then a couple hours later Putin suggested he would do talks, but in Belarus and with nearly every condition being a poison pill.

I think that's why Zelenskyy is going out of his way to be in a position to get caught once the horde breaks through. They'll execute him, he'll have done nothing but defend his country and be martyred for it, and the Ukrainians will rally around each other rather than the puppet government that springs up.

There it is - damned if you do, damned if you don't.

congrats on your steam dick

Putin calculated in the costs of all the economic sanctions and being exiled from the international economy and community (basically talking everything the world can do short of physical conflict, which it can't do), and it was still worth it to him because he believes the current international order is just meant to prop up the west at his and everyone else's expense so it's worth breaking. What he didn't calculate was China getting cold feet, and this is the primary leverage point that will determine the outcome.

I know when the invasion started they banned all "political" posts. In other internet news, Anonymous breached and leaked the database of the Russian Ministry of Defense website. It's @youranontv on Twitter.

Which one, r/Russia?

The Russian Foreign Ministry threatened Finland and Sweden with "military and political consequences" if they join NATO.

That was embarrassing to look at. All sorts of accounts claiming that Russia isn't going to invade Ukraine juxtaposed with a pinned thread that says "CRIMEA IS OURS" - and then as soon as the invasion happened, they banned all political commentary. loooooooooooooooooooool