The War in Ukraine

[briareos_kerensky]

Poland is ready to train Ukranian pilots on F-16s.

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And Biden opened about providing US-made F-16s to Ukraine.

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Ukranian forces have started the "I Want To Live" operation, in which Russian servicemen are taken as prisoners of war, under the care of the Red Cross, and can apply to refugee status in Ukraine or other EU nations.

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[Anpanman]

Doubt the 'I want to Live' would apply to Wagner's criminal draftees but there must be plenty of Russian soldiers thinking about taking advantage of this.

[huxley]

The impending meat grinder! Yikes.

[Neon Ignition]

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https://news.gallup.com/poll/505793/empire-twilight-russia-loses-support-own-backyard.aspx

[briareos_kerensky]

The Ukranian counteroffesive will start "tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, or in a week"

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While in Russia the internal frictions are starting to create bigger and bigger cracks

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[fishbowlhead]

I thought Putin desperately needed Lukashenko?

[Neon Ignition]

An insult from Putin's Cook?

->Open Spoiler<-

[Asura]

I thought Putin desperately needed Lukashenko?

Main thing is to remember that unless you're there, or know someone trustworthy who is, everything we see about the war and the geopolitical situation is being filtered through our media. I'm not suggesting they're lying to us in the same way that Russia's are (we've seen updates about Russian media where they're reporting things which seem pretty clearly false) but they have an agenda, like anyone else.

I guess what I'm saying here is that we don't really know the state of their relationship.

[fishbowlhead]

Main thing is to remember that unless you're there, or know someone trustworthy who is, everything we see about the war and the geopolitical situation is being filtered through our media. I'm not suggesting they're lying to us in the same way that Russia's are (we've seen updates about Russian media where they're reporting things which seem pretty clearly false) but they have an agenda, like anyone else.

I guess what I'm saying here is that we don't really know the state of their relationship.

Lukashenko has been a brutal dictator for year’s keeping Belarus under heel, most likely himself under Putins heel. If he’s gone it will most likely throw Belarus into chaos, at best cutting Russias access off through the country, worst case? Russia has to divert resources to put down an uprising, either way its a win for Ukraine.

If he’s truly on the ropes that is.

[briareos_kerensky]

Some sort of show of force maybe. Old ethnic tensions have started to bubble up again in countries that were part of the old Solviet Union, now that Russia has been shown to be a paper tiger. If Belarus follows suit after Lukashenko's death, Russia could just install a puppet regime, have that regime fake an annexion referendum, and absorb Belarus entirely.
That will basically tell neighbouring countries to stay in line, both US and EU have been wary of offering support in these uprisings.

[Neon Ignition]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2023/jun/05/russia-ukraine-war-live-moscow-claims-to-have-repelled-major-attack-in-donetsk-belgorod-energy-facility-on-fire?page=with:block-647d7ed98f08d8830e5b29a1#block-647d7ed98f08d8830e5b29a1

Russia claims to have repelled a Donetsk major offensive and to have killed 250 Ukrainian troops. There is currently no supporting evidence or information on Russian losses however

[MartyG]

At the EU parliament, there is a meeting going on at the mo ...

A two-day event has started in the European parliament that has brought together more than 200 Russian opposition and civil society activists to discuss how the EU can support Russian democratic forces.

Convened by four MEPs, the conference is entitled “The Day After”, and is meant to discuss strategy for a hypothetical post-Putin Russia.

Which is not the greatest name tbh - given the film ... at least they didn't call it, "Picking up the Threads"

[Neon Ignition]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2023/jun/06/russia-ukraine-war-live-dam-near-kherson-blown-up-by-russian-forces-ukrainian-military-says?page=with:block-647ed36b8f08ebf1ed8749e3#block-647ed36b8f08ebf1ed8749e3

A Dam near Kherson is destroyed flooding the area and placing 16,000 citizens are critical risk of life. Ukraine blames Russia for detonating the dam, whilst Russia blames Ukraine saying they shelled it.

[briareos_kerensky]

The Ukranian counteroffensive has either already started or is very close to start, and so the fog of war is allowing both sides to distribute potentially inaccurate or downrigth false information.

Like Russia, declaring dozens of armoured vehicles have been destroyed.

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But what Russia say are Leopard 2s, are agricoltural vehicles instead.

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Ukraine has started an hacking campaign in Crimea, where TVs broadcasted a deepfake of Putin announcing a mass mobilization

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Ukranian forces might be responsible of the attack on the Nord Stream pipeline after all, and the US knew about it

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Russia says F-16s going to Ukraine are capable of delivering nuclear weapons. While some F-16s are able to deliver nuclear bombs, the types going to Ukraine are not.

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Another batch of 20 German Marder IFVs will be delivered to Ukraine in the coming months. An other 60 are still available in mothballs are Rheinmetall.

Did you know the Russian KPTM-3 anti-tank mine is powered by a V625U button battery? Well, Russian troops think the mine is a good weapon, but cannot use it because they are delivered without batteries and are difficult to acquire in Russia due to cost and rareness. And if the mines are delivered with the batteries, the batteries are out of old stocks that are leaking acid or are complely dry due to age.

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[Anpanman]

The.....

Brill, thanks for collating all that for us.