Russian invasion of Ukraine

Is anyone saying they shoudn't have, if it was them? It would seem like fair game

at least one ranking Ukrainian said 'weren't me guv'.

To be fair, it was more "can't confirm or deny because I don't have info of all the operations we plan". But the point still stands. Ukraine not exactly rushing to claim responsibility.

I reckon if it was a false flag by Russia, then Russian PR would be going crazy on Ukr right now, but they're not - I think they're embarassed and trying to downplay it

“What has happened is certainly not something that can be perceived as creating conditions comfortable for the continuation of negotiations,” Peskov said.

Is this ironic. Or something else. I forget.

Yeah. Flattening Mariupol is hugely conducive to negotiations.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/vladimir-putins-20-year-march-to-war-in-ukraineand-how-the-west-mishandled-it-11648826461

Some awful videos online and reports of mass graves being found of civilians in the area around Kyiv that the Russian's have now vacated

https://mobile.twitter.com/AseyevStanislav/status/1510333593180069896

Evidence of systematic executions of males.

My nan lived in a village on the outskirts of Bucha until she was evacuated a couple of weeks ago. She heard of grim shit going down. We haven’t heard from her driver who lives in Bucha since it was taken by russians a few weeks ago.

Old article from Vice about how conscripts are treated in the Russian military.

If you imagine that the average soldier entering Ukraine has lived under this level of abuse for the past year or so, then it starts to make sense how they have become are capable of treating civilians the way they have.

EDIT: Just to clarify, that does not excuse them in any way whatsoever..

Lots of terrible content of civilians shot in the streets, men shot with their hands tied, mass graves. Good that it's all documented although I don't believe in justice.
The only law that works there is NLAW.

Was listening to an interesting interview from Lithuanian veteran fighting near Kyiv - he said there's a lot of foreigners, a lot of them being veterans with decades of experience. Mentioned some interesting details how they're provided with basic guns but all the updates they have to add and fund themselves - like thermo optic scopes and some other updates, that's why they need donations.

He also mentioned that Ukraine's military is well organised and modernised while Russians are fighting like it was ww2.
I believe Ukrainians were even training together with NATO soldiers.

https://mobile.twitter.com/sumlenny/status/1510168073831165956

I saw the count of 45000 body bags mentioned somewhere on the first days of invasion. It was then speculated that Russians are ready to sacrifice that amount of soldiers of their own.

If it was meant for Ukrainians then it's beyond horrible.
Not sure what else can the civilised world do about it but add Russia to club North Korea with total embargo.

I wonder if Macron is still going to have daily phone calls with Putin or maybe these news will finally put a stop to him acting like some emotional support line.

These atrocities are worse than I could have imagined.
Well documented by first hand accounts of western reporters so not easily dismissed as fake. Add the 3 hour video of Russian soldiers mailing parcels of loot in the Belarus post office.
Orcs and Marauders are exactly the right terms for Ukraine to call them.

I wonder if Macron is still going to have daily phone calls with Putin or maybe these news will finally put a stop to him acting like some emotional support line.

Macron had two things in mind I think (I may be being cynical here):

1, A number of big French companies have big operations in Russia and trying to strengthen their ties to the govt in Moscow to develop more business opportunities
2, Election. Helping end a war is a big "Look how good I am internationally" electoral fillip for him. Sadly, it's backfired a bit. A random sample of one barman this week reckoned Macron's arse kissing and refusal to take a strong hand with Renault and the Mulliez family (Auchan, Decathlon, Leroy Merlin etc) has extended the war.

In my opinion western leaders simply don't understand Russia or Russian mentality. If Macron was raised somewhere in Murmansk - yeah, i'd trust him.
But now it's just a white collar talking to a thug.

Macron has been pretty much the first person on a plane to any conflict/high risk-reward situation in the last few years.

He’s trying his hardest to fill the void left by brexit Britain.

Chad, Russia, Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Niger. All in the last 2-3 years.

:(

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lost for words really apart from how powerful photography can be.

Bucha seems to have been visited by a hellish combo of Chechens who just kill anyone they fancy and Russian soldiers who are deNazifying where the “Nazis” were anyone who served in UA army or had tattoos that looked like they might have. You can see where their clothes had been removed for tattoo inspection.

I don't think it was tik-tok chechens, it was the good lads of Knyaz-Volkonskoye stealing and looting. It is amazing that russians are looking for nazis in Ukraine when Putin's own boyscouts are called the Nashi youth.

Russian state media openly advocate genocide.

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This is a horrifying, necessary read.

Here's the thread from the screenshot above:
https://twitter.com/sumlenny/status/1510910740261134338

Here's an English translation:
https://twitter.com/W_Kononczuk/status/1510923871641387014

This shit is published in RIA, a prime russian news outlet, which owns RT and others, with the target audience being the general russian public...

Suddenly all the seemingly-unbelievable reports of 'kill lists', 'death squads', takeovers of nuclear facilities etc from the start of the war, along with graphic evidence from liberated towns, make sense.

Wow, all of this and extending a hand to anyone who's feeling a bit opressed by Western values

Eyewitness reports saying they were there, different uniforms etc. even on an ITV news report that they raped and murdered a girl and then were in turn killed by townsfolk.

Fuck me this whole thing is dragging me down. Infinite scroll coupled with a brutal war is messing with my head. Tempted to turn off all news but it feels too important.