President Zelensky is a hero

[Buster Crabbe's Uncle]

The bird'll cost more.

[BeBMan]

Bibs sez the huge Russian convoy heading towards Kyiv is rather a series of several, but for now essentially a large traffic jam:

Russian column near Kyiv hampered by breakdowns


Some clarity on that massive Russian armoured column heading south towards Kyiv.

Close analysis of the latest satellite images by McKenzie Intelligence Services reveals the following:

• The convoy is not 40 miles long, it’s a series of logistical ‘packets’ strung out along a major highway from the Belarus border, aiming to link up with Russian units on the northern outskirts of Kyiv.
• The convoy appears to be hampered in several places by broken down vehicles.
• The column consists of some armour (tanks) and infantry fighting vehicles but mainly logistical vehicles, implying plans for more than just a brief battle.

Separately, the imagery examined by McKenzie Intelligence Services shows a Russian parachute battalion dug in to the area of Hostomel airfield - Ukraine's most important international cargo airport and a key military airbase near Kyiv.

But their artillery is assessed to be outside the range of most of the capital.

The analysts say they have noted very little Russian progress over the past 24 hours.

[Wezil]

I said it before - Lada's

[BeBMan]

A US assessment about the Ru advance in the Guardian stream (no idea how to link to that, they don't offer a copy-link function like the Bibs):

The Russian advance on Kyiv has “stalled” as its forces face logistical challenges, including a shortage of food for some units, according to a senior US defence official.

The official claimed the Russian advance on the Ukrainian capital remains “basically … where it was yesterday” and cited a number of possible reasons, including Ukrainian resistance.

They said it was also possible the Russians were pausing their advance by choice:

One reason why things appear to be stalled north of Kyiv is that the Russians themselves are regrouping and rethinking and trying to adjust to the challenges that they’ve had.

But the official also noted that the Russian military had shown evidence of “risk-averse” behaviour when it came to its own troops.

You’ve seen it on the ground, where units are surrendering, sometimes without a fight. And they’ve got, a lot of these soldiers are conscripts, never been in combat before, some of whom we believe weren’t even told they were going to be in combat.

Updated at 4.44pm GMT

They do make more progress in the south, to link Donbas and Crimea.

But the advance to the capital looks like an epic fail so far, but of course, once they're able to bring in all their firepower it's a different (and potentially very ugly) story

[Proteus_MST]

Kiev falls in the next day or 2. No way they withstand that 40-mile convoy of tanks.

Don't bring Tanks to an urban battlefield (unless supported by enough Infantery that wwants to fight and doesn't run away, of course)

[Wezil]

I gather it's not all tanks either. It sounds like the entire mishmash of vehicles you would need to support a large troop movement.

[Berzerker]

Source?

Aaron Mate mentioned it on a podcast but I cant remember which one

[Uncle Sparky]

Seriously. POST LINKS, or you will join Kidiot on ignore.

[Berzerker]

it was a 5 second line in a half hour podcast, sorry

[Berzerker]

Zelensky is meeting with Russians for peace negotiations. I hope there is some chance of the Russian side wanting to cut their losses early and Zelensky being willing to formally recognize the loss of Crimea, Donbas and Luhansk along with some symbolic fig leaf concessions like meaningless constitutional bans on Nazis and membership in defensive alliances that Russia is not party to. He could also agree to step down as leader. Russia would agree to a ceasefire and withdrawal from the rest of Ukraine. The agreement would be vastly superior to continuing the war for all sides despite the gross injustice of the Ukrainians having to offer anything at all. Above all Putin could claim complete victory.

the reason I heard for the Ukrainian govt refusing to implement the Minsk deal is that would have given these eastern areas autonomy within Ukraine and that would have prevented membership in NATO

[BlackCat]

Some fun numbers - back in 2017 YLE (finnish tv company) made a poll that said that only 19% wanted to enter NATO - same poll last week had quite different numbers - 53% wanted to join while only 28% didn't want. Sweden have same direction.

Other fun numbers - Serb brags about the magnificence of russian economy - the four scandinavian countries denmark, norway, sweden and finland has a BNP higher than the russian

Same countries has btw. send some 10-15.000 handheld AA and AT thingies to ukraine.

Last, Maersk has decided to only transport food, medics and like to russia.

[DinoDoc]

The Ukrainian Army just captured a Russian TOS-1A thermobaric MRL https://twitter.com/oryxspioenkop/st...97710429425672

[Dinner]

I have heard them called Borodino or something like that. Air fuel bombs are about the worst explosion you can get short of a nuke. It seems Putin is willing to use them on cities otherwise why have it there?

[N35t0r]

I have heard them called Borodino or something like that. Air fuel bombs are about the worst explosion you can get short of a nuke. It seems Putin is willing to use them on cities otherwise why have it there?

If Chechnya is any indication, he doesn't seem reluctant to massacre civilians.

[Berzerker]

Source?

Aaron Mate... and he also said a professor from Ottawa researched the sniper shootings of protesters in 2014 when the PM had to flee. The shootings came from areas controlled by the right wing trying to overthrow the govt.

He said this during podcasts with Jimmy Dore

[Wezil]

Jimmy Dore? One of the Seth Rich conspiracy Theorists?

Oye.

[Berzerker]

I dont think he took a position, just reported it

if 1 strike and yer out is how you define credibility just who do you rely on for accurate information?

And its Aaron Mate who is the messenger

[Berzerker]

the photo of Zelensky in fatigues was from 2020 during a visit to the east when he was visiting the troops killing people who didn't support the coup. A Jewish PM paying Nazis to kill Russians. Well, we were paying them... and training them.

https://youtu.be/VOUIMVTAKmQ

from 10-11 minutes in

thats Aaron Mate explaining why the Ukrainian govt wouldn't implement the Minsk accords, the Nazis didn't want it and neither did we.

[BeBMan]

the reason I heard for the Ukrainian govt refusing to implement the Minsk deal is that would have given these eastern areas autonomy within Ukraine and that would have prevented membership in NATO

No, Ukraine being embroiled in any local or regional conflict is de facto preventing NATO membership for years. There are a number of criteria to meet to get into NATO, and one key element is the above (meaning you can't be in such an active conflict when you want to join) , because otherwise NATO would be dragged into all sorts of regional conflicts.

That is one of the main reasons why Putin launched this when he annexxed Crimea and supported the Donbas. The year long frozen conflict afterwards meant that Ukraine would not join NATO anytime soon (similar to Georgia), and Putin knows this, so all this talk about Nazis running the country, Ukraine getting nukes or being close to NATO membership is propaganda lies.

[Uncle Sparky]

Sorry Berz... Who the fvck is Aaron Mate? All I can find out is he's a talking head. He isn't reporting from eastern Ukraine or Russia or Donbas. The other talking head he brings in another talking head, who also hasn't been to the region, and also doesn't have a grip on the facts.
Russian propaganda bs. Ethnic Ukrainians are not attacking ethnic Russian/Ukrainians. Currently, ethnic Russian Ukrainians are fighting and dying trying to stop Russian troops... why are they doing that Berz?

White American cops are killing black Americans.

[Berzerker]

BeBro, there has been a war in eastern Ukraine for 8 years. Minsk was agreed to and never implemented by the Ukrainian govt. The Nazis didn't want it, the neo-cons didn't want it, and ofc Obama, Trump and Biden didn't want it, or didn't want it enough to tell Ukraine to end the war and uphold Minsk.

[Berzerker]

Aaron Mate has won awards for reporting on foreign conflicts, he got one for debunking an alleged Syrian gas attack. He doesn't have to be in Ukraine to report on events that happened there almost a decade ago.

I dont why you brought up white cops killing black Americans, cops kill people. The % of black people killed by cops mirrors the % of homicides committed by black people. If cops are chasing black killers more then it stands to reason cops will kill more black people. If you look at the % of Hispanics and Asians killed by cops you will see they're killed at lower rates than white people.