Russia invades Ukraine again?

[Tero]

Ukrainian soldiers who died defending an island in the Black Sea from an air and sea bombardment reportedly told an officer on board a Russian navy warship to “go fuck yourself” when asked to surrender.

There were 13 border guards stationed on Snake Island, a roughly 16-hectare (40-acre) rocky island owned by Ukraine that sits about 186 miles (300km) west of Crimea, when Russian troops bombed the island on Thursday.

All 13 soldiers died after refusing to surrender, Ukrainian officials announced.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/ ... land-death

[macdoc]

Not the brightest move....maybe family pensions are good. Also not the smartest move by the Russians to get bad press

[JimC]

An ABC news article:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-26/ ... /100859772

This was no assault confined to a couple of eastern regions but a comprehensive attack from all directions designed to wipe out any military resistance quickly and, presumably, overthrow the government.

There was talk in that first 24 hours of resistance. And there was still talk after that of resistance in western Ukraine that might make Putin's occupation more costly or contested, particularly if it was being supported by 'the West'.

But Ukraine has been left to fall by the United States and NATO.

The nature of Putin's strike has made very clear his strategic intentions: Ukraine's expected rapid collapse, and the fact the US and NATO were not able or willing to do anything about it, is what makes this such a profound turning point in Europe.

If Putin's aim was to demonstrate declining United States power and influence, it is hard to imagine a more effective way of doing it. And it happens at a point in time when other powers in Europe are divided and weak.

[pErvinalia]

The US can't defend everyone. And the US public has shown a distaste for waging wars on foreign soils.

I wonder if Putin will find this backfires, by encouraging NATO to add states in the east of Europe.

[Tero]

They are stuck with Putin:
Incumbent President Vladimir Putin has the right to seek re-election. Despite the two-term limit, Putin has been granted the right to run again for two more terms, after the 2020 constitutional reform. The winner of the election is scheduled to be inaugurated on 7 May 2024.

[Svartalf]

Not the brightest move....maybe family pensions are good. Also not the smartest move by the Russians to get bad press

If they had surrendered, maybe they knew what their conditions of life as POWs would have been, and they prefered a quick death?

[aufbahrung]

Not the brightest move....maybe family pensions are good. Also not the smartest move by the Russians to get bad press

If they had surrendered, maybe they knew what their conditions of life as POWs would have been, and they prefered a quick death?

[JimC]

The US can't defend everyone. And the US public has shown a distaste for waging wars on foreign soils.

I wonder if Putin will find this backfires, by encouraging NATO to add states in the east of Europe.

I agree that there is no way that the US, or NATO in general, could launch a military operation to save Ukraine from Russian domination, for a variety of valid reasons. That does not change the fact that Putin has successfully (at least for the moment) laid bare the impotence of the west to respond to his military adventurism.

NATO already has virtually all of the important states in Eastern Europe as members. Ukraine was potentially the final piece of the jigsaw, but Putin clearly rejected that as a bridge too far...

[L'Emmerdeur]

... not the smartest move by the Russians to get bad press

[pErvinalia]

Yeah I think they're well past that point.

[JimC]

All Putin cares about is the reaction of his Russian subjects, not anything from overseas. He will not be concerned with a minority of protestors, but he will need to carry a majority to give at least tacit approval to his ethnic Russian crusade...

[JimC]

How soon will it be before a Spetznaz team takes the Ukrainian president into protective custody?

[macdoc]

Since the Ukrainian Air Force is still flying maybe a Doolittle raid on Moscow might wake up the citizens.

[Svartalf]

How soon will it be before a Spetznaz team takes the Ukrainian president into protective custody?

I'm still waiting for a clique of oligarchs and generals to send a GRU team to take putin out of the pictures, hilarity ensues.

[Tero]

This is really irritating Putin. He was going to unify the old Federation and hand it over to a protege to finish after he retires in 2024.