Russia Ukraine Update Thread

We know so much that they placed two B52s in Poland yesterday.

Also heard that Red Cross supply chain is breaking down.

And the government planes in the US are doing the same trial runs as the Russian planes these days.

The top US general in Europe said Tuesday there "could be" a gap in US intelligence gathering that caused the US to overestimate Russia's capability and underestimate Ukraine's defensive abilities before Russia attacked Ukraine.

This war isn't helping Russia sell military equipment.

a reply to: dragonridr

The Pentagon always overstated the Soviets/Russians, it helps them get a better budget. Russia's military, other than nukes, is mostly a joke of outdated, under-serviced relics.

Updates about the last night shelling In Ukraine:


- Last night there was an uptick in shelling in a number of areas. This is from Lysychansk, in the Donbass;
- Last night Russia carried out 30 shelling attacks over the past 24 hours in the Kyiv region, according to a statement the head of the Kyiv military administration stated this morning. Russia may be stopping ground ops near Kyiv but it is also increasing shelling;
- Shelling in Hostomel, Dmytriv, Bucha and Makariv. Russian shelling reported in Irpin, and towns along the highway to Zhytomyr;
- Last night, Russian forces also shelled Chernihiv and Kharkiv. Shelling also reported in the Kherson region, and in the Donbass (Avdiivka, Maryinka, Krasnohorivka);
- The head of the Chernihiv regional administration says there was no decrease in Russian shelling despite Russia's own claim that it would reduce its military activities in the region;
- There appears to be less Russian air activities during the day, and more during the night, which may be a sign that Russia is somewhat adapting.

More here (Twitter link). Scroll down for a footage from Irpin (Warning: Sensitive content), and a drone footage of the destruction in Mariupol.

a reply to: majesticgent

PM4U

Putin advisers 'too afraid to tell him the truth' on Ukraine -U.S. official

Reuters

WASHINGTON, March 30 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin was misled by advisers who were too scared to tell him how poorly the war in Ukraine is going and how damaging Western sanctions have been, a U.S. official said on Wednesday, citing declassified intelligence.

"We have information that Putin felt misled by the Russian military," leading him to mistrust the military leadership, the U.S. official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"Putin didn’t even know his military was using and losing conscripts in Ukraine, showing a clear breakdown in the flow of accurate information to the Russian president," the official said.

The official did not provide the intelligence report, but said the information had been declassified.

Just a few days ago Medvedev had an interview where he stated that everything that is going on with the 'special military operation' is directly approved by Putin.

Now this, saying it's not Putin's fault

And then this appears:

Twitter

The finger pointing begins...

The President of South Ossetia announced the intention of the republic to become part of the Russian Federation

Interfax

MOSCOW. March 30 (Interfax) - South Ossetian President Anatoly Bibilov has said that his republic intends to take legal steps to initiate the process of joining Russia in the near future.

Bibilov's statement was quoted by the press service for the United Russia party in a statement issued on Wednesday.

"I believe that unification with Russia is our strategic goal. Our way. The people's aspiration. We will move along this path. We will take relevant legal steps in the near future. The Republic of South Ossetia will be part of its historical homeland - Russia," the statement said.

The Ossetian people are divided, and their historical and strategic goal is "unification within one state," Bibilov said.

"This state is the Russian Federation," Bibilov said.

"This goal has been outlined by our people repeatedly, and we had the opportunity to make our centuries-old dream come true in 2014, when Crimea returned to its native harbor. We missed our chance then, but we can't let that happen again," he added.

Not the 'historical homeland' story again...

originally posted by: wordforword
Putin advisers 'too afraid to tell him the truth' on Ukraine -U.S. official

Reuters

WASHINGTON, March 30 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin was misled by advisers who were too scared to tell him how poorly the war in Ukraine is going and how damaging Western sanctions have been, a U.S. official said on Wednesday, citing declassified intelligence.

"We have information that Putin felt misled by the Russian military," leading him to mistrust the military leadership, the U.S. official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"Putin didn’t even know his military was using and losing conscripts in Ukraine, showing a clear breakdown in the flow of accurate information to the Russian president," the official said.

The official did not provide the intelligence report, but said the information had been declassified.

Just a few days ago Medvedev had an interview where he stated that everything that is going on with the 'special military operation' is directly approved by Putin.

Now this, saying it's not Putin's fault

And then this appears:

Twitter

The finger pointing begins...

I guess that would explain why he promised $45,000 to all the families who lose family members to the war in Ukraine, if Putin was being mislead, and wasn't outright lying, hard to tell. That's gonna add up fast. Let's say 15,000 have died already. That's $675,000,000, over half a billion dollars, already.

[Putin] said there would be payments of up to 5 million rubles ($45,000 at current rates after the currency tumbled) to the families of fallen Russian soldiers – after the Russian government finally confirmed casualties and said more than 500 of their forces had died. Ukrainian estimates of Russian troops killed are far higher.
Putin promises ‘additional payments’ of 5m rubles to Russian soldiers who die in invasion

a reply to: wordforword

Well thats why his military leaders are shooting themselves.

nypost.com...

originally posted by: dragonridr
Well thats why his military leaders are shooting themselves.

Maybe they can save a bullet and send each officer out with a cyanide capsule instead. I like that he was the head of a Panzer Division, very apropos.

originally posted by: dragonridr
a reply to: wordforword

Well thats why his military leaders are shooting themselves.

nypost.com...

This is morbid but what other choices do they have?..

originally posted by: randomuser

originally posted by: wordforword
Putin advisers 'too afraid to tell him the truth' on Ukraine -U.S. official

Reuters

WASHINGTON, March 30 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin was misled by advisers who were too scared to tell him how poorly the war in Ukraine is going and how damaging Western sanctions have been, a U.S. official said on Wednesday, citing declassified intelligence.

"We have information that Putin felt misled by the Russian military," leading him to mistrust the military leadership, the U.S. official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"Putin didn’t even know his military was using and losing conscripts in Ukraine, showing a clear breakdown in the flow of accurate information to the Russian president," the official said.

The official did not provide the intelligence report, but said the information had been declassified.

Just a few days ago Medvedev had an interview where he stated that everything that is going on with the 'special military operation' is directly approved by Putin.

Now this, saying it's not Putin's fault

And then this appears:

Twitter

The finger pointing begins...

I guess that would explain why he promised $45,000 to all the families who lose family members to the war in Ukraine, if Putin was being mislead, and wasn't outright lying, hard to tell. That's gonna add up fast. Let's say 15,000 have died already. That's $675,000,000, over half a billion dollars, already.

[Putin] said there would be payments of up to 5 million rubles ($45,000 at current rates after the currency tumbled) to the families of fallen Russian soldiers – after the Russian government finally confirmed casualties and said more than 500 of their forces had died. Ukrainian estimates of Russian troops killed are far higher.
Putin promises ‘additional payments’ of 5m rubles to Russian soldiers who die in invasion

Honestly, I think only Putin knows what is going on with Putin.

The money might be more of an appeasement to the grieving families.

This might be a bit dark but, in my opinion, this poster has a point here:

Russian provincial families are losing their sons in Ukraine. But they won't protest. Their son died as a hero + they get a payout. Great deal. Moreover, since their son died "for Russia", we must keep fighting till the victory. We don't want our boy to die in vain, do we?

Cynical it may sound, death of a son in Ukraine is a good deal, because:

1. He is an economic resource anyway
2. War is a good way to cash out this resource

It's not that his death is a win, it's that once he's dead or captured you just write off the lost resource.

Consider that men in Russia don't live too long anyway and the lives of men from poor towns and countryside are especially short. You can verify it walking through a small town in Novgorod or in Ivanovo. Yes, they die, but they wouldn't live too long anyway. Not much of a loss.

Parents all around the world sell their kids to prostitution and it surprises no one. These families view their children as an economic resource which must earn money for them, this way or another. That's exactly how much of the Russian poor view their children.

Source: Kamil Galeev Twitter account link

Dated 3/30/22

Russian soldiers caused a radioactive cloud in the most polluted area of Chernobyl

The specter of Chernobyl contamination was embodied this week by the action of Russian soldiers who invaded that area of northern Ukraine. A convoy of tanks and supply trucks traveled several times through the so-called “red forest” (because of the color the trees took because of the nuclear explosion), the most polluted area of the exclusion zone traced after the 1986 disaster. The military heavy vehicles raised a radioactive dust that could not only contaminate them, but formed a radioactive cloud that could cause another disaster throughout the region and even reach Kiev, which is 100 kilometers from the site.

7 buses with Russian soldiers presumably irradiated in the Chernobyl zone have arrived at the center of radiation medicine in Belarus. Possibly suffering not from relatively harmless surface gamma radiation, but from exposure to alpha and beta radiation from digging of trenches

[url=https://censor.net/ua/news/3329978/7_avtobusiv_z_imovirno_oprominenymy_v_zoni_chaes_okupantamy_pryyihalo_u_tsentr_radiatsiyinoyi_medytsyny]Link[/ url]

From google translate

Russian invaders, who probably received radiation in the Chernobyl exclusion zone on Ukrainian territory, are being treated in Belarus. This was reported by Censor.NET with reference to the Belarusian Telegram channel Belaruski Guyun. Read also: Ukraine managed to extinguish large-scale forest fires in the Chernobyl zone, - the Ministry of Internal Affairs "Gomel, about 7 medical PAZs came to the Republican Scientific and Practical Center for Radiation Medicine and Human Ecology. From the photo you can see that there are people in the cars. It should be noted that in this center on a regular basis bring Russian soldiers", – informs the edition. Chairman of the Association of Chernobyl tour operators of Ukraine Yaroslav Emelianenko believes that the Russian occupiers suffered radiation exposure when they dug up their positions in the Chernobyl zone, in particular in the radioactive Red Forest.

The Red Forest has soil that is highly radioactive from the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. It looks like Russian soldiers were kicking up dust, and even building trenches in this highly radioactive area and as a consequence have radiation poisoning. There are areas in the forest, if disturbed, where the radiation is lethal enough to kill a person in short order.

Watch on YouTube: Pentagon Press Secretary - Press Conference - March 30, 2022
Video works...by pressing the black arrow display

originally posted by: dragonridr
a reply to: wordforword

Well thats why his military leaders are shooting themselves.

nypost.com...

Hollywood movie clip: "Enemy At The Gates" - Nikita Khrushchev
P.s.- Video works - Press the black/white arrow display

Village near Kharkiv Liberated From Russians 'we're pushing the back' Says Ukrainian Soldier

It looks like the Ukrainians have a lot of Russian metal they can meltdown, so they make more weapons and ammo.

Glory to Ukraine!

Britain Will Take A Skeptical View Towards Russian Pledge To 'Scale Back Military' Says Raab

Putin's eldest daughter divorced over sanctions?

Frontline Town In Eastern Ukraine Endures Shelling As Residents Lack Heat And Running Water


'It's Hell': Ukrainians Describe Harrowing Escape From Besieged City Of Mariupol (WARNING: sensitive images)


'Some things break your heart but fix your vision'