Russia's invasion of Ukraine: Part 5

wanderingmaker3 said:Ever tried taking on a thankless job—like trying to calculate exactly how many trucks we need just to keep everyone fed?
It’s a massive number, but honestly, that’s not even the hard part.

The real issue for the US Army is morale and basic training.

Thank God you didn't have to fight while starving.
Well, some people certainly have.

If a soldier is left hungry for three days straight, he stops giving a damn about his country or his supposed ideals. Period.

When I think about all those Russians fleeing, I can't help but wonder how many are actually genuine refugees who just can't stand Putin—or even the ones who might agree with him but really don't want anything to do with being sent to the front lines—versus how many are just various sleepers, spies, and other creeps getting orders to infiltrate through Europe.

Kate Lewis3 said:Here's an incredible fact for you: people actually need food to function. That goes for construction workers on a job site just as much as soldiers sitting in a trench.

Back when they were invading Ukraine, they could have easily just relied on looting food supplies to get by. But in occupied territories, they aren't allowed to do that—not because of any moral compass, mind you, but simply because those areas are being treated as part of Russia itself.

The kind of brutality that would make even Pyongyang blush.

https://twitter.com/vestnikstabilno/...58768%2Fpage-2

Benjamin Taylor6 said:Back when they were invading Ukraine, they could have easily just relied on looting food supplies to get by. But in occupied territories, they aren't allowed to do that—not because of any moral compass, mind you, but simply because those areas are being treated as part of Russia itself.

Even if they were allowed, the front lines in Donbas are already pretty much scorched earth at this point. Besides, you can't milk a cow twice. That is, assuming you even make it there before the Kadirovac guys get their hands on it.

I was just catching some clips of the protests online, and man, it’s heavy. We aren't even talking about simple police brutality anymore; this is straight-up state-sponsored terror designed to keep everyone paralyzed with fear.

The way they’re just snatching people up one by one, shoving them into those blacked-out buses and hauling them off toward who-knows-where... honestly, the vibe is terrifyingly similar to how things went down during the darkest days of the Tuskegee era or those old-school mass detentions in the States. It’s chilling.

And look, you can't really lay the blame on the regular folks living there. When you're stuck under a crushing dictatorship fueled by pure intimidation, your entire world shrinks down to just surviving—trying to put food on the table for your kids and making sure you don't stick your neck out too far against the regime.

A bunch of Azov fighters from Mariupol have been freed. I mean, this is going to be such a massive morale boost for the guys holding the line at the front.

Jason Fox2 said:When I think about all those Russians fleeing, I can't help but wonder how many are actually genuine refugees who just can't stand Putin—or even the ones who might agree with him but really don't want anything to do with being sent to the front lines—versus how many are just various sleepers, spies, and other creeps getting orders to infiltrate through Europe.

The sleepers and infiltrators are already entrenched. Besides, why would they even need external support for these operations when they can essentially just buy off local politicians?
It’s quite obvious that most of them align with Putin; they merely disagree on which specific actors should execute his plans on the ground...

ruggedowl13 said:A bunch of Azov fighters from Mariupol have been freed. I mean, this is going to be such a massive morale boost for the guys holding the line at the front.

Even the commanders are included.

https://twitter.com/IAPonomarenko/st...SpQVmqIqA&s=19

ruggedowl13 said:A bunch of Azov fighters from Mariupol have been freed. I mean, this is going to be such a massive morale boost for the guys holding the line at the front.

https://twitter.com/Noel_dotsol/stat...95671446327297
It’s blindingly obvious that a major prisoner exchange has been brokered here. On the flip side, people like Medvedchuk and those Wagner mercenaries have been sent back to Russia...

I don't really know what else to say, but the bottom line is that Ukraine has to win this and finally get out from under all this. We need to see Russia weakened as much as possible so they can just go their own way.
I honestly worry that there’s no saving Belarus at this point, and those Russians who actually want a decent life will probably have to pack up and move elsewhere.
I'm not even sure if Russia is truly capable of electing a sane leader. The closest thing they ever had was probably Gorbachev—though, to be fair, he wasn't exactly elected by choice, and most Russians just view him as a traitor anyway.
Even if they end up collapsing from within again, who's going to step in to save them? It'll likely just be someone else obsessed with the idea of Russian greatness and raw power.
Look at Canada—they're huge, and they've managed to thrive, to the point where they aren't even looking to give up the monarchy.🙂

The protesters who got hauled off yesterday have already been handed their military draft notices.

About 10% of the entire American population resides within the greater New York City metropolitan area—so, theoretically, we’re looking at a potential mobilization call for roughly 30,000 reservists in that region alone. In fact, that number should probably be even higher if you consider how much young people have migrated toward major hubs like New York or Los Angeles over the last two decades; those cities have a significantly higher concentration of men in their 20s and 30s compared to the rural heartland. Once you factor in families and friends, if even half of them decide to push back, you could easily see a crowd of 100,000 people gathering in Times Square.

But my bet? I think they'll play it smart and hold back right where things could actually get volatile—in places like New York, Los Angeles, or Chicago. Instead, they'll likely focus their efforts on rural areas (because let's be honest, who really cares about five angry mothers protesting outside a community center in some tiny town in the Midwest?) and then stretch the process out over time to ensure they don't hit everyone with a notice all at once.

To the folks who think Russia is going to change their tune once they start seeing body bags arriving in Moscow, let me tell you something—those bags aren't going anywhere. They’ll be scattered all across the Ukrainian countryside, left out in the mud and the snow like scraps for the beasts. Well, most of them anyway...

Once the temperature hits ten, twenty, thirty below zero, the real question is whose boots they’re gonna be stealing this time, just like they were from those Ukrainian soldiers this winter.

And as for winter being an ally to Russia? Honestly, Ukrainians know how to handle a cold snap just fine.

All that nuclear bluffing is nothing more than pure panic, and you can't give in to people like that. Yesterday it was just Crimea, so we looked the other way. Today it's just Luhansk and Donetsk, tomorrow it'll be Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

The day after tomorrow, it'll be Kyiv and Odessa, then maybe a little bit of Estonia, Lithuania, Poland... and if they come for us, we'll hit back with the nukes. But it doesn't work like that.
We're definitely in a "no turning back" situation now. You have to squeeze him harder, along with his inner circle and the Russian people, and eventually, they'll take care of him themselves. Especially the ones close to him—they'll turn when their own skin is on the line, and believe me, things are already heating up under their feet. He might actually survive the winter...

Swapping out Prokopenko and Palamar for Medvedchuk—that’s some wild PR maneuvering by Putin. Honestly, I don't see how the Russians can spin this one successfully.

analogbear5 said:Water is a huge factor too. Just a reminder: 1L weighs roughly 1kg. A soldier in active combat needs way more than 2 liters a day.

Sure, they can try scavenging from natural sources, but good luck dealing with dysentery, cholera, typhoid, and all that fun stuff.

Filtering local water for biological contaminants is actually easy and cheap. Whether it's the lightweight personal filters hikers carry today or larger systems, they aren't expensive because basic membranes handle biological filtration just fine. It's the soluble chemical pollutants that become a real headache. Even chlorine tablets are simple enough to use in the field. There are other options, too, but you'd need a total logistical meltdown before anyone actually ends up drinking contaminated water.

Then again, nothing really surprises me when it comes to Russian logistics.

feralnomad35 said:I was just catching some clips of the protests online, and man, it’s heavy. We aren't even talking about simple police brutality anymore; this is straight-up state-sponsored terror designed to keep everyone paralyzed with fear.

The way they’re just snatching people up one by one, shoving them into those blacked-out buses and hauling them off toward who-knows-where... honestly, the vibe is terrifyingly similar to how things went down during the darkest days of the Tuskegee era or those old-school mass detentions in the States. It’s chilling.

And look, you can't really lay the blame on the regular folks living there. When you're stuck under a crushing dictatorship fueled by pure intimidation, your entire world shrinks down to just surviving—trying to put food on the table for your kids and making sure you don't stick your neck out too far against the regime.

I was watching some of this stuff and I just don't get it. Is there seriously nobody over there who lost a son in Ukraine, has an AR-15 stashed in the basement and a bottle of cheap whiskey ready to go?

Hannah Alvarez2 said:I was watching some of this stuff and I just don't get it. Is there seriously nobody over there who lost a son in Ukraine, has an AR-15 stashed in the basement and a bottle of cheap whiskey ready to go?

You're just waiting for a new Chevy ☕

feralnomad35 said:I was just catching some clips of the protests online, and man, it’s heavy. We aren't even talking about simple police brutality anymore; this is straight-up state-sponsored terror designed to keep everyone paralyzed with fear.

The way they’re just snatching people up one by one, shoving them into those blacked-out buses and hauling them off toward who-knows-where... honestly, the vibe is terrifyingly similar to how things went down during the darkest days of the Tuskegee era or those old-school mass detentions in the States. It’s chilling.

And look, you can't really lay the blame on the regular folks living there. When you're stuck under a crushing dictatorship fueled by pure intimidation, your entire world shrinks down to just surviving—trying to put food on the table for your kids and making sure you don't stick your neck out too far against the regime.

Just look at how they handle things over in France or Germany when those protesters get absolutely hammered by batons. It's a totally different world.

bluemason3 said:Filtering local water for biological contaminants is actually easy and cheap. Whether it's the lightweight personal filters hikers carry today or larger systems, they aren't expensive because basic membranes handle biological filtration just fine. It's the soluble chemical pollutants that become a real headache. Even chlorine tablets are simple enough to use in the field. There are other options, too, but you'd need a total logistical meltdown before anyone actually ends up drinking contaminated water.

Then again, nothing really surprises me when it comes to Russian logistics.

You're talking about an army where basic essentials—underwear, soap, boots, bandages, batteries, even hand shovels for digging trenches—are being sourced through private donations. And we’re talking about summer operations.