Russian invasion of Ukraine

As a south African I hope that the arms trade between Russia and South Africa doesn’t go unpunished.

I only read bits and pieces about the war but this has passed me by. Have any SA sanctions been put in place already?

Nope. I suspect the international community will move swiftly though. Thing is we’re doing enough self harm as is. Last thing we needed is dodgy arms deals on the sly.

The capabilities of the ex German/Polish/Slovenian MiG29s is a bit unclear but they have been partially upgraded to NATO standard.

As a South African myself it also worries me that this Putin/ANC thing could be a prelude to Russian interference (approved of by the ANC) in next year's general election.

An adapter for pylons and an iPad worked for the AGM-88 HARM.

No negative shim required.

I hadn't thought of that but yeah, sounds plausible.

Russians allegedly overreacting to the threat of new western supplied weapons and ends up shooting down their own aircraft. Fnar.

There were three T34s but two wouldn’t start.
A few tweets show them in the marshalling area out of sight of the reviewing area.

I don t follow this thread closely, please excuse me if this was mentioned here.
Some down to earth reporting here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sKPTED59Tw

Just watched a couple.
Humbling.

Did Dr Bikes over the winter in London. Overcast, wet, miserably dark days, usually stationed in a wind tunnel, and so cold we’d take cardboard and carpeting to stand on, despite boots and double layer wool socks.

Working on metal in that weather is a challenge. It steals the heat right out of your fingers and hands, especially if you’re wearing thinner mechanic gloves. I think the coldest it got was -3C or thereabouts, and after 30-ish seconds in just double nitrile gloves I’d lose sensation in my fingertips to the point I couldn’t be sure I was actually turning a jagged barrel adjuster etc.

Really put into perspective what those boys in -30C Ukrainian cold are dealing with, especially the mechanics and tank crews.

What is going on in Belgorod?

https://twitter.com/PhillipsPOBrien/status/1660608298104631297

Genuine?

Russian false flag?

Ukrainian provocation as a distraction for the upcoming counteroffensive?

All options seem mad

Uno reverse is going on. Doesn't look like a false flag because ukraine_defence instagram account is sharing stuff regarding it.

I guess they can poke around some villages to distract and stuff or boost morale but Belgorod is kind of a huge city.

Looks more of a psy ops joke to make Russia get a taste of it's own medicine. ukraine_defence also shared voting ballots for referendum.

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Great trolling from Ukraine there.

On a more serious side, actually raiding Russia through the softer areas of front line would be a good way to put the Russians off balance and open up the South for liberation.

Not going too be a false flag unless Russia has some how acquired some vehicles recently transferred from the US to Ukraine

They’ve got a sense of humour, the Ukrainians, using Russia’s playbook and even nomenclatures against them. Also, supporting and encouraging armed insurgence by Russians within Russia is a very clever legal workaround to attacking Russian soil themselves.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-says-it-advances-bakhmuts-flanks-entrap-russians-2023-05-22/

Russian governor: 'Sabotage group' is being repelled

Translation: ‘Sabotage group’ has not yet been repelled

The raid seems to be over but it's good to see Ukraine changing the narrative of this war. Until now the prospect of pro-Ukrainian forces crossing the border on a brazen raiding mission in broad daylight in Russia was unthinkable. Will Putin divert troops from the front line to bolster border defences or will he view that as a trap? If he does nothing you can bet on more cross-border raids happening in the future!

Would Russia allow Belarusian troops to man its borders? Seems a pragmatic solution but also looks weak if you can't control your own border

Any news on casualties or impact? Russia’s claiming ‘scores of saboteurs’ killed, but there’s not much clarity.

Things are getting tricky for Sino-Russian relations.

https://www.reuters.com/world/russian-hypersonic-scientist-accused-betraying-secrets-china-sources-2023-05-24/

How a UK farmer became a merchant of war.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DxIeXdn86Lg

So a apparently a drone hit an oil pipeline in the Pskov Oblast. Just curious ast to how it got there. Did they manage to fly it from Ukraine and all the way across Belarus without it being detected, or was it launched from the territory of another country?

Hundreds, maybe thousands of vehicles were abandoned when US left Afghanistan. Taliban would be happy to sell them. A lot of surplus military vehicles can be bought right in the US.