Russian Ukraine Invasion

[Yazata]

The woman who has gone viral as the Face of Ukraine on the internet. Her name is Olena Korilo, she's a school teacher in Kharkiv which has seen street fighting the last few days, where her apartment was blown up with her in it. Her little Mona Lisa smile kind of illustrates the unbreakable spirit of the people.

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[Kornee]

The woman who has gone viral as the Face of Ukraine on the internet. Her name is Olena Korilo, she's a school teacher in Kharkiv which has seen street fighting the last few days, where her apartment was blown up with her in it.  Her little Mona Lisa smile kind of illustrates the unbreakable spirit of the people.

[Image: b66019723ca86344fd9fb9b9d535163e]

The unfortunate collateral damage casualties of war.
And there was comparable 'gone viral' poster child pics of civilians devastated by the US (actually Israeli Yinon Plan implemented) and 'coalition-of-the-willing' 'partners' invasion of Iraq, MKII 2003?
Not from the (almost) fully controlled MSM. No sir. Saddam was a clear and present danger to world peace! Massive, ongoing collateral damage was perfectly acceptable. Just dry statistics coming in very late at that. The triumph of Madison Avenue spin.
And after all the destruction and loss of life was done sufficiently for the war planners likes, it quietly leaks out - the initial justification was based on a pack of premeditated lies. But trust 'Western' MSM to bury that inconvenient fact.

[Magical Realist]

The hacker collective Anonymous is hacking into Russian television stations and broadcasting REAL news of the Ukrainian invasion. Good for them. A little truth in a torrent of propaganda is a very good thing. Wake up Russia and overthrow your little tyrant.

https://www.thinkinghumanity.com/2022/02...aaebrOLwas

[Yazata]

If nothing else, Russian jets (or guided missiles) could start bombing the cities to rubble like they did in the Syrian intervention a few years back (Aleppo, etc).

They seem to be doing that at Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city. The Russians penetrated deeply into the city center, but suffered heavy casualties and losses of vehicles and were forced to retreat back to the city's industrial fringes.

Rather than trying that again, the Russians are making heavy use of GRAD multiple rocket launchers. These fire many unguided rockets in quick succession and are most effective at striking an entire area rather than a precise target.

https://twitter.com/Militarylandnet/stat...4501729280

https://twitter.com/Militarylandnet/stat...1162383362

There have also been photographs of the Russians moving up heavy long-range artillery outside Kharkiv. And there are reports of SU-34 jets dropping unguided "dumb" bombs on Kharkiv.

So there seems to have been a change of plans and the Russians have switched to a strategy of standing back and pounding the place.

Photo taken outside of Kharkiv of a GRAD launcher on a tracked vehicle.

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[Yazata]

Reports today that several eastern European countries that still fly old Soviet-era jets are giving them to Ukraine. These include Mig-29's from Poland, Slovakia and Bulgaria, plus Su-25 attack planes from Bulgaria. These three air forces have as many as 50 Mig-29's but some of them may not be operable and it isn't clear if they are donating their entire inventories of this aircraft type.

There's confirmation that Ukrainian air force pilots are already in Poland preparing to fly some unknown number of that country's 23 Mig 29's to Ukraine. Poland has been flying American made F-16's for some time and is purchasing the new cutting-edge F-35, so they were planning to retire the Mig 29's in a few years anyway.

The Ukrainian AF already flies Mig 29's, so its fighter pilots are familiar with them, it has trained mechanics and has spare parts.

[C C]

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
Well, at least Putin hasn't started launching nuclear warheads or even ordinary cruise missiles at those "old-weapon" donating, helping-hand countries yet. I'm starting to seriously wonder for the first time if he might truly be unhinged, what with the recent "nuclear alerts" escalating paranoia and threats. Maybe he's secretly dying of cancer and feels it would be cool to take the whole world along with him.

[Zinjanthropos]

Anybody know what the weapon is that ignites fuel vapour thats laid down prior to setting it off? I think it's a weapon that violates the Geneva Convention therefore it would be a war crime every time it's used. Thinking the Russians are about to step it up since whatever they're doing now is either not working or too slow.

[Kornee]

Anybody know what the weapon is that ignites fuel vapour thats laid down prior to setting it off? I think it's a weapon that violates the Geneva Convention therefore it would be a war crime every time it's used. Thinking the Russians are about to step it up since whatever they're doing now is either not working or too slow.

Look up MOAB - that's the 'wicked bomb' US version. Russia has an even better equivalent - dubbed FOAB.
Well ok it's a chore to do a web search, so here's a link to MOAB:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GBU-43/B_MOAB

[Yazata]

Anybody know what the weapon is that ignites fuel vapour thats laid down prior to setting it off? I think it's a weapon that violates the Geneva Convention therefore it would be a war crime every time it's used. Thinking the Russians are about to step it up since whatever they're doing now is either not working or too slow.

Thermobaric explosives

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermobaric_weapon

[Syne]

Russia has a "heavy flamethrower," that's basically a thermobaric missile battery, capable of "vaporizing human bodies." Producing instant death may skirt Geneva conventions, but collateral victims aren't likely to be so lucky.