Russia and Ukraine

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Multiple European intelligence agencies accuse Russia of plotting sabotage across the continent

European intelligence agencies issued a major warning and accused Russia of “plotting violent” acts of sabotage across the continent as the Russia-Ukraine war continues to escalate.

The intelligence agencies have warned their governments that Russia has already begun to more actively prepare covert bombings, arson attacks and damage to infrastructure on European soil, directly and via proxies. The Intelligence officials warned that the Russian forces have little to no regard for civilian lives while conducting such operations.

The proclamation from Haldenwang came just days after two German-Russian nationals were arrested in Bayreuth, Bavaria. They were arrested by the German police for allegedly plotting to attack military and logistics sites in Germany on behalf of the Kremlin.

Meanwhile, in the United Kingdom, two men were charged with having started a fire at a warehouse containing aid shipments for Ukraine, last month. Following the arrest the prosecutors accused them of working for the Russian government.

In Sweden, security services are investigating a series of railway derailment incidents and in Estonia, the country’s Internal Security Service said that the attack on the interior minister’s car in February, this year, was allegedly perpetrated by Russian intelligence operatives

Not only this, Russia was also accused of attempting to destroy the signalling systems on Czech railways by the European nation’s transportation minister

https://www.firstpost.com/world/multiple...67282.html

Woah, that's not good! It seems that Russia is desperately trying to win by messing with other countries. Russia's trying to win knows no bounds. It's likely to get them into more trouble than they might get into now.

Didn't you say earlier that Russia isn’t trying very hard to win this war? Pick a lane, mate.

Boru

[ShinyCrystals]

Woah, that's not good! It seems that Russia is desperately trying to win by messing with other countries. Russia's trying to win knows no bounds. It's likely to get them into more trouble than they might get into now.

Didn't you say earlier that Russia isn’t trying very hard to win this war? Pick a lane, mate.

Boru

I thought I responded to you about that. I did say that I most likely have said it wrong, and that what I meant was that Russia is not doing much with their troops specifically other than gathering them and sending them out "to die" and Russia is not thinking much about their troops. That is only a small part of Russia's efforts in this war.

Here it is in case you missed it.

Boru

Oops! My bad! Looks like I should have thought it over more clearly.

BUT, what I think, and I mean think, that I meant was that even if they are trying, which I am sure they are, they are not seemingly doing much with those soldiers, specifically those soldiers in what was posted before, other than sent them out to die if that "motivation" that commander apparently had made was saying anything. It is like Russia is not even thinking of their soldiers well.

I'd say that is a good way to waste men on the battlefield if you ask me; even though Russia is big as I said and has a lot of manpower, or is at least supposed to.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Fair enough. I can only respond to what you said, not to what you meant to say.

Boru

[Thumpalumpacus]

Didn't you say earlier that Russia isn’t trying very hard to win this war? Pick a lane, mate.

Boru

I thought I responded to you about that. I did say that I most likely have said it wrong, and that what I meant was that Russia is not doing much with their troops specifically other than gathering them and sending them out "to die" and Russia is not thinking much about their troops. That is only a small part of Russia's efforts in this war.

Here it is in case you missed it.

Oops! My bad! Looks like I should have thought it over more clearly.

BUT, what I think, and I mean think, that I meant was that even if they are trying, which I am sure they are, they are not seemingly doing much with those soldiers, specifically those soldiers in what was posted before, other than sent them out to die if that "motivation" that commander apparently had made was saying anything. It is like Russia is not even thinking of their soldiers well.

I'd say that is a good way to waste men on the battlefield if you ask me; even though Russia is big as I said and has a lot of manpower, or is at least supposed to.

They're damned well trying to win this war. One approach they're using is mass-wave attacks, to be sure. They're also deploying glide-bombs, laying down serious artillery stonk, ramping up drone development and deployment, and using political avenues to isolate Ukraine.

Yes, mass-wave attacks are wasteful of troops, but this is an old tool in the Russian/USSR playbook. They have never cared about the well-being of their fighting troops, ground, air, or sea.

[ShinyCrystals]

I thought I responded to you about that. I did say that I most likely have said it wrong, and that what I meant was that Russia is not doing much with their troops specifically other than gathering them and sending them out "to die" and Russia is not thinking much about their troops. That is only a small part of Russia's efforts in this war.

Here it is in case you missed it.

They're damned well trying to win this war. One approach they're using is mass-wave attacks, to be sure. They're also deploying glide-bombs, laying down serious artillery stonk, ramping up drone development and deployment, and using political avenues to isolate Ukraine.

Yes, mass-wave attacks are wasteful of troops, but this is an old tool in the Russian/USSR playbook. They have never cared about the well-being of their fighting troops, ground, air, or sea.

I think I am aware of the strategy being in their playbook. I just don't think it always works, especially in this war. It can only last so long, can it?

But to go and cause trouble in other countries in Europe is another thing. In fact, it shows how desperate they are to win this war.

Still, specifically in regards to Putin, isn't he a war criminal already? I mean, this isn't helping his case if he is the one giving those orders to cause that trouble in other countries.

At the same time, I think the fact that they (Russia) are doing so badly right now also shows that they are desperate, that or it is just among their tactics.

[Thumpalumpacus]

Asia Times is not always trustworthy imo, but coming from a former undersecretary of defense and Senate committee staffer, I think it's pretty important:

France has sent its first troops officially to Ukraine. They have been deployed in support of the Ukrainian 54th Independent Mechanized Brigade in Slavyansk. The French soldiers are drawn from France’s 3rd Infantry Regiment, which is one of the main elements of France’s Foreign Legion (Légion étrangère).

[...]

The initial group of French troops numbers around 100. This is just the first tranche of around 1,500 French Foreign Legion soldiers scheduled to arrive in Ukraine.

These troops are being posted directly in a hot combat area and are intended to help the Ukrainians resist Russian advances in Donbas. The first 100 are artillery and surveillance specialists.

[...]

One of the questions to immediately arise from France’s decision to send soldiers from its 3rd Infantry Regiment is whether this crosses the Russian red line on NATO involvement in Ukraine? Will the Russians see this as initiating a wider war beyond Ukraine’s borders?

[..]

It isn’t clear how the Legionnaires can help the Ukrainians. The Ukrainians know how to operate artillery, and they have sophisticated intelligence support, some of it generated by their own FPV drones and spies and some of it thanks to US and other NATO intelligence and surveillance assets supporting Ukraine.

Anyway, the Ukrainian issue is not about how to use artillery but where the ammunition is supposed to come from. Ukraine continues to complain it lacks adequate supplies for 155mm howitzers.

[...]

A key question is how NATO will react to the French decision to deploy. As France is acting on its own without NATO’s backing, the French cannot claim support from NATO under its famous Article 5, the collective security component of the NATO Treaty.

Should the Russians attack French troops outside of Ukraine it would be justified because France has decided to be a combatant, and forcing an Article 5 vote would seem to be difficult if not impossible.

https://asiatimes.com/2024/05/france-sen...ttlefront/

[Leonardo17]

Beware of untrue contents from second-class media sources + social media:
 
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/ap-uk...43147.html
 
Emmanuel Macron has said that he “would” send French troops to Ukraine “If necessary” and has attracted criticism from other European leaders for saying just that. I believe he is ready to do as he says but still, if one French soldier dies in Ukraine this means direct NATO involvement into the conflict.
 
The FFL dates from the “Restauration” Era of King Louis-Philipe (1831). Jean Claude Van-Daime even has a movie called “Legionaire” about what this mercenary military structure is about. France has been using it mostly in it colonies and ancient colonies in the 20th century. I think it is safe to say that Wagner is a wanna-be FFL of some sort.
 
Still: If French troops enter Ukraine (if they haven’t already) they will more likely be in the form logistical support units that supervise Ukrainians (for instance) in the management of their new F-16’s, ATAMCS missiles and similar advanced military equipment.
 

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- It looks like something similar to Ukraine is happening in Georgia and Armenia. Moscow sees them as breakaway regions of its own and is working to try to take them over through powerful Oligarchs (in Georgia) and military pressure from neighboring countries (in the Case of Armenia)





Reuters

[Thumpalumpacus]

Beware of untrue contents from second-class media sources + social media:
 
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/ap-uk...43147.html
 
Emmanuel Macron has said that he “would” send French troops to Ukraine “If necessary” and has attracted criticism from other European leaders for saying just that. I believe he is ready to do as he says but still, if one French soldier dies in Ukraine this means direct NATO involvement into the conflict.
 
The FFL dates from the “Restauration” Era of King Louis-Philipe (1831). Jean Claude Van-Daime even has a movie called “Legionaire” about what this mercenary military structure is about. France has been using it mostly in it colonies and ancient colonies in the 20th century. I think it is safe to say that Wagner is a wanna-be FFL of some sort.
 
Still: If French troops enter Ukraine (if they haven’t already) they will more likely be in the form logistical support units that supervise Ukrainians (for instance) in the management of their new F-16’s, ATAMCS missiles and similar advanced military equipment.
 

---

---

 
- It looks like something similar to Ukraine is happening in Georgia and Armenia. Moscow sees them as breakaway regions of its own and is working to try to take them over through powerful Oligarchs (in Georgia) and military pressure from neighboring countries (in the Case of Armenia)





Reuters

I stand corrected. That's precisely I opened that post with my caveat.

[Deesse23]

The russian invasion of Ukraine seems to go real well, in fact so well that Putin just fired Shoigu.

[The Grand Nudger]

Yup. Slow hammer. All of his deputies got rounded up the past few months. I’m sure everyone knew where it would lead.