Russian Invasion of Ukraine

  • Thread starter Rage Racer
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@Rage Racer The fact that Soviet soldiers, including those in your own family, behaved so heroically in the past is indisputable. And yes, it is regrettable that monuments raised in their honour are now being desecrated and destroyed. The question, however, is why - and that is obvious.

Putin and his filthy regime are the ones desecrating the memory of people like your great grandfather. My grandfather fought in WW2 as well, and I'm occasionally embarrassed by the UK Government and wonder what he would think of their behaviour today if he were still alive, but I can only imagine the shame, disgust and horror that people like yourself are having to deal with watching what is being done in your name and in the name of your predecessors, which is frankly an utter disgrace that will not only be held against the Russian people for the rest of their lives, but will also forever tarnish the memory of the honourable actions of the Russian military in the past - the evidence for which is already mounting. One only need look at the shameful legacy of Nazi Germany to see what your country faces, thanks to the vile actions of the dictator currently in charge of Russia, and the disgusting pigs that supposedly 'serve' your country in Putin's war machine.
 
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Rage Racer
but when Poles demolish the monuments in memory of Soviet soldiers who fought Nazis in Poland
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When they demolish monuments of other nations who took over their own nation for personal gain? The Soviets didn't help Poland, they re-conquered Poland from Germany. Neither Germany nor USSR wanted Poland to exist. So why on earth would Poland want to celebrate the soldiers of a nation which prevented them from existing in the first place?

Man, for a country that has no military, no money, and no quality of life y'all be smoking some quality herb over there.
 
Touring Mars
@Rage Racer The fact that Soviet soldiers, including those in your own family, behaved so heroically in the past is indisputable. And yes, it is regrettable that monuments raised in their honour are now being desecrated and destroyed. The question, however, is why - and that is obvious.

Putin and his filthy regime are the ones desecrating the memory of people like your great grandfather. My grandfather fought in WW2 as well, and I'm occasionally embarrassed by the UK Government and wonder what he would think of their behaviour today if he were still alive, but I can only imagine the shame, disgust and horror that people like yourself are having to deal with watching what is being done in your name and in the name of your predecessors, which is frankly an utter disgrace that will not only be held against the Russian people for the rest of their lives, but will also forever tarnish the memory of the honourable actions of the Russian military in the past - the evidence for which is already mounting. One only need look at the shameful legacy of Nazi Germany to see what your country faces, thanks to the vile actions of the dictator currently in charge of Russia, and the disgusting pigs that supposedly 'serve' your country in Putin's war machine.
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Sadly, the only shame disgust and horror that many Russians feel right now, based on what I've seen, is a consequence of the poor performance of the military rather than any sort of ethical qualms with invading and destroying a neighboring country.

Russians can fondly remember their great patriotic war as one of moral righteousness in the face of desolate evil just like Ukrainians will do in the future.
 
So I heard about the howitzer donations but I didn't realize that the US gave Ukraine 11 Mi-17 helicopters. The US has provided Soviet helicopters lmao.

Ha, apparently back in 2013 the US bought 30 Mi-17s from a Russian export company for use in Afghanistan because they worked well at hot and high altitudes. Now we're giving 11 of them to Ukraine to help the fight against Russia. Nice.

I guarantee that US materiel command and military leadership is learning quite a few lessons about equipment from this conflict. Any good military stocks at least a few bits of enemy equipment for testing purposes and even unique operations but providing them to users in need is probably not a primary goal of stocking them. That might be changing after this.
 
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I wonder if we have any combat ready Mi-24s "Hind" kicking around. One flew over me once in Texas, kind of in the middle of nowhere (serious Red Dawn vibes), so there are some here.
 
There are at least two Mig-29s sitting on an airport ramp in the Midwest (I think Illinois) right now. I just saw them in the story of a Cape Air pilot I follow. The two Mig-29s were parked next to each other on the ramp while a third, smaller, single-engine, blue and white Ruskie jet had people around it.

Edit: They appear to be stored at Quincy, Illinois airport.


...




This is from about 24 hours ago.

And this is VERY interesting. Not the part about Google Maps improving resolution, no. The part about two Su-57s just sitting randomly on a ramp, seemingly unavailable for action, one of them actually stacked behind what might be an Su-30.



Is this how 5th generation air superiority aircraft are treated these days? A quick look at the USAF 94th Fighter Squadron ramp at Langley suggests otherwise. Is this what we're up against, militaries who stack 5th gens on a ramp like a Part 61 flight school? Does anybody actually know what's going on in Russia? Because it doesn't seem very professional at all. It seems desperate.
 
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Eunos_Cosmo
We went from a Chinese Alliance with Russia to Russia is buying consumer grade drones from a Chinese manufacturer.
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It does feel like there are people on this thread who seem to be droning on and on at times.
Joey D
www.cnn.com

Ukrainian forces have repelled "numerous" Russian attempted advances in Donbas, UK defense intelligence says

Russian forces have started the battle for Donbas, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video address on Monday.
www.cnn.com www.cnn.com
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I've noted throughout the recent conflict, although no specifics are ever included, the UK Defence Intelligence seems to be quoted often and appears to have some good sources of information available to them.

I've come to the conclusion therefore that we have our best man on the job 🤔



Definitely NOT from Russia with love!
 
This person has highlighted a bunch of Russia military facilities in Kaliningrad if you're bored.

 
Eunos_Cosmo
I wonder if we have any combat ready Mi-24s "Hind" kicking around. One flew over me once in Texas, kind of in the middle of nowhere (serious Red Dawn vibes), so there are some here.
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The US has been operating Russian equipment for decades. The story of how they got their first Hind is pretty interesting:

Operation Mount Hope III - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
Keef
Is this how 5th generation air superiority aircraft are treated these days? A quick look at the USAF 94th Fighter Squadron ramp at Langley suggests otherwise. Is this what we're up against, militaries who stack 5th gens on a ramp like a Part 61 flight school? Does anybody actually know what's going on in Russia? Because it doesn't seem very professional at all. It seems desperate.
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Most Su-57's are test and evaluation prototypes, so they may face harsher lives than production models. The same was true of the F-22

F-16.net - The ultimate F-16, F-35 and F-22 reference

www.f-16.net www.f-16.net

That said, it wouldn't surprise me if some of the Su-57's were suffering neglect from budget issues.
 
Exorcet
The US has been operating Russian equipment for decades. The story of how they got their first Hind is pretty interesting:

Operation Mount Hope III - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

Most Su-57's are test and evaluation prototypes, so they may face harsher lives than production models. The same was true of the F-22

F-16.net - The ultimate F-16, F-35 and F-22 reference

www.f-16.net www.f-16.net

That said, it wouldn't surprise me if some of the Su-57's were suffering neglect from budget issues.
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There's something very amusing to me about the picture of the Chinook "scavenging" the Mi-25 (and then feeding it to the C-5), like a vulture making off with another animal's kill.
 
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It appears Putin is taking a hardline stance on a problem that has plagued Russia's oligarchs and economy for decades: The richest people don't invest in Russia, the invest in the rest of the world. They buy real estate in London and New York instead of Moscow or St. Petersburg which is why you never hear about amazing construction or housing projects in Russia. They invest in Boeing or General Motors which is why you never hear about groundbreaking aviation or automotive engineering and design in Russia. They invest in companies like Tesla and Google which is why you never hear about innovative tech companies from Russia.

Not anymore, says Putin. Rich Russians will invest in Russia, not in other countries. They'll buy Russian condos, they'll drive Russian cars, they'll fly on Russian planes, and they'll earn and spend Russian money. And they'll like it, because anything else the world has to offer is basically off limits now anyway. I suppose that's one way to solve the problem but unfortunately there is not much historical precedent for the success of isolationism. In fact, Cuba is a good example of what can happen under the weight of embargo, and that is basically nothing. Nothing happens. Nothing changes, nothing advances.

I hope Russian members of this forum are aware of how hard they and their people are getting screwed by their insane politicians. I think it would be a wise choice to leave Russia for a more fair country as quickly as they can, otherwise their future is going to be miserable for decades to come.

Russia is no longer a growing economy with a bright future of innovation. That last point about Russia's lack of domestic investment wasn't entirely true until recently - Yandex is was Russia's big new competitive tech company, the most visible aspect of which was probably their autonomous food delivery robots that swept American college campuses by storm during the pandemic but were swept away just as quickly by this war. Ohio State University's campus probably had at least 100 of them alone. All Russia had to do was not be an asshole and things would've been fine. @Rage Racer All Russia had to do was not be an asshole, and American students at universities across the US would still be paying money to have food delivered to them by Yandex robots. Instead, thousands of them have been decommissioned and replacements are being chosen to do the job - since the robots were shut down by Grub Hub less than a month ago, replacements have already been found because the market demand is strong. Since November 2021, Yandex has lost about 5/6 of its value. Russia killed its best chance at global tech competition for one small ****** war in Ukraine.

Vladimir Putin hates Russia, he hates the Russian people, he hates success, he hates progress, and he has destroyed his own country within two months. Unbelievable. It makes me angry that the Russian people can't and won't do anything about it, it's like they have no idea what's actually happening.
 
Keef
It makes me angry that the Russian people can't and won't do anything about it, it's like they have no idea what's actually happening.
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They don't have any idea what's happening. If there is one thing Russia excels at, it's propaganda. After all, they had about 70 years of Soviet propaganda to learn from.
 
Keef
I hope Russian members of this forum are aware of how hard they and their people are getting screwed by their insane politicians.
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Well, we do. Would be cool if 95% of population also care about it enough.
Keef
I think it would be a wise choice to leave Russia for a more fair country as quickly as they can, otherwise their future is going to be miserable for decades to come.
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Dont think so. If you don't have any foreign contacts, immigration in current situation would be tough. Resources are blocked and Europe is full of angry Ukrainian immigrants.
If regime in RF would fall in near future, country would skyrocket. If it doesn't, smartest move would be immigrate to Ukraine(sic) as it will be ideal country for investment.
 
Dennisch
Would be nice if they can use those planes to bomb the **** out of the military parade in Moscow on the 9th of May.
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I much rather they go after Putin's billion dolar mansion right there at the Black Sea.

Screen-Shot-2022-04-18-at-10-00-49-PM.png
 
Im really curious about how much power Alexander Dugin has in Russia.

People should never underestimate the power of ideology.

In the past people just called him a crazy man who had no value until people believe that his ideology is what is powering Putin to regain the Russian and Soviet Empire and usher in a new world order under rule of Eurasianism.
 
Keef
And this is VERY interesting. Not the part about Google Maps improving resolution, no. The part about two Su-57s just sitting randomly on a ramp, seemingly unavailable for action, one of them actually stacked behind what might be an Su-30.

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Last known location of the Moskva before Russia converted it into a submarine and sent it on a mission to denazify the sea floor. Or, as I read somewhere: losing a flagship in a land war.

Have seen people finding trees growing up on airbases, lots of fighter jets disassembled everywhere.
 
wowbaggerBR
Last known location of the Moskva before Russia converted it into a submarine and sent it on a mission to denazify the sea floor. Or, as I read somewhere: losing a flagship in a land war.

Have seen people finding trees growing up on airbases, lots of fighter jets disassembled everywhere.
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One thing that amazes me about Russian airbases is that they constantly store virtually all of their equipment outdoors, seemingly without any hangar space available for when storms and bad weather arrive, and they don't even have enough hangar space for their mechanics to work on more than a couple aircraft at a time indoors. They just don't take care of their stuff.

For comparison, here's Wright Patt AFB, an active Air Force Reserve base operating C-17s cargo planes. There are at least four hangars on the field to at least partially house the C-17 for maintenance and bad weather. In fact, you can see the tail of one sticking out of a hangar.

Here's something the Ruskies won't like to see, Oceana Naval Air Station, basically a land base for our carrier aircraft. Look at all those sweet, sweet F/A-18s lol. But also look at all the hangar space! Some are massive and tall, some are long and low, but the bottom line is that there is a ton of space to store and maintain these aircraft indoors. For reference, this is what inactive planes parked for maintenance looks like. One of them is even covered with a sheet. Compare this to various park jobs in Russia to guess how many Russian planes are actually inactive.

I mentioned the 94th before - our F-22s are stored under roofs on the ramp, protected from sun and rain. And look at all the hangars. The maintenance bases of these squadrons is even labelled so our soldiers can drive to work easier. :lol:

Ramstein AFB in Germany is primarily an airlift base and the imagery isn't 3D but you can still see almost all of the planes parked on organized taxi lines, designated parking spots, and the various hangars on the field for storage and maintenance.

Pensacola NAS is primarily a training base. Look at all the awnings to protect the planes from the Florida heat and thunderstorms. Oooof, and look at that A-5 Vigilante sitting in the scrapyard/museum.

I think you get the point. The lack of pride in ownership in Russia is a weird disease that runs all the way from the bottom to the top of society and it results in broken equipment, broken infrastructure, and the destruction of wealth overtime which is part of the reason I think Russia never climbed out of its post-Soviet hole and have chosen desperate moves like this war. They never outgrew their Soviet mentalities.
 
Keef
I think you get the point. The lack of pride in ownership in Russia is a weird disease that runs all the way from the bottom to the top of society and it results in broken equipment, broken infrastructure, and the destruction of wealth overtime which is part of the reason I think Russia never climbed out of its post-Soviet hole and have chosen desperate moves like this war. They never outgrew their Soviet mentalities.
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I don't know if this is something tied to a culture of not caring about ownership of stuff. I think is has more to do with the sheer lack of resources to do proper maintenance. I mean, if your country has the technological skillset required to put together a space program, an Akula submarine or a Sukhoi, your country knows full well how this sort of equipment should be maintained over the years.
 
wowbaggerBR
I don't know if this is something tied to a culture of not caring about ownership of stuff. I think is has more to do with the sheer lack of resources to do proper maintenance. I mean, if your country has the technological skillset required to put together a space program, an Akula submarine or a Sukhoi, your country knows full well how this sort of equipment should be maintained over the years.
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And if they didn't have a lack of resources then they sure as hell do now.

I think the symptom you suggest is related as well. So many things about how Russian society "works" are all related to the Soviet mindset where there was just a total lack of care and respect for anything and everybody. Even if the Soviets had the best engineers working on the greatest projects, once it was completed it was no longer in the engineers' hands, it was in the politicians' hands. Right there is an immediate lack of respect for the professionals who actually know how this stuff works. The politicians want everything done quickly and for dirt cheap, so instead of building smaller fleets of high quality products, they build massive and "impressive" fleets of crap that they can't actually maintain. Years go by and you end up with what are effectively scrapyards at most military bases across the country, where they're salvaging parts off some vehicles to keep others running. And the politicians are happy with this, they see this as an effective way to cut down fleet size and cut costs. Why spend all the money building a new engine when you can simply scavenge one that "works"? This is how the Soviets operated and it's how Russia continues to operate. They've got all the natural resources in the world, you can't tell me that can't gather enough resources. It all boils down to mismanagement and greed at the top, the failure of these oligarchs to reinvest in their own country rather than trying to prove their wealth to the rest of the world. It's a culture that they've fostered since at least the inception of the USSR.
 
When you have a small group of people stealing most of the country's wealth, there isn't much left to do. Even basic maintenance is apparently difficult for the armed forces of Russia.

Edit.

Pro-Russian blogger Valery Kuleshov died in Kherson today in a clear case of suicide.

aXrWO3V_460s.jpg


Case closed.
 
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Well I mean when you fire your gun away from you the bullet is eventually going to hit you. Only Nazis think the Earth isn't round.
 
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Dennisch
When you have a small group of people stealing most of the country's wealth, there isn't much left to do. Even basic maintenance is apparently difficult for the armed forces of Russia.

Edit.

Pro-Russian blogger Valery Kuleshov died in Kherson today in a clear case of suicide.

aXrWO3V_460s.jpg


Case closed.
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Bullet holes must mean that it bounced off the window and hit him.
 
Is this thread now closed or purposefully hidden? @Famine

I note that it seems to no longer appear in the threads listed under Opinions and Current Events when browsing that forum?
 
sirjim73
Is this thread now closed or purposefully hidden? @Famine

I note that it seems to no longer appear in the threads listed under Opinions and Current Events when browsing that forum?
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I'm not aware of that even being possible, and no - second thread down as of your post for me:

1650496224255.png
 

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