Countdown to the Russian invasion of Ukraine

As always, I do not trust anything I read. Both sides are politicizing and trying to sway opinions with lies and falsehoods. Keep an open mind and you will be less likely to be surprised by the outcome. All I care about is keep our soldiers out of this war, we do not need another Viet Nam, Korea, or such. Nothing is ever gained in those wars, only death and bloodshed is the outcome.
 

hollydolly said:
The corpses of Russian soldiers lie arranged in a 'Z' pattern inside a village re-captured by Ukraine on Monday, on the outskirts of Kharkiv


NO NO NO..!! Ukraine you must not sink to the levels of the Russians..:eek:


https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...ssian-troops-Z-pattern-Kyivs-men-advance.html
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But Ukrainians are Russians.

They've been living in democratic autonomy, and they want to keep it that way, but I'm sure it doesn't surprise Russia's Russians when Ukrainians act like Russians.
 

hollydolly said:
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The corpses of Russian soldiers lie arranged in a 'Z' pattern inside a village re-captured by Ukraine on Monday, on the outskirts of Kharkiv


NO NO NO..!! Ukraine you must not sink to the levels of the Russians..:eek:


https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...ssian-troops-Z-pattern-Kyivs-men-advance.html
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How terribly sad, *Sigh* war changes people!😩
 
A giant super-yacht said to be owned by Vladimir Putin was last night set to be seized by Italian authorities after they recommended it be impounded as part of sanctions against Russia.

Authorities in Italy said the $700 million The Scheherazade, which is more than 450ft long, and boasts spas, swimming pools and two helicopter pads was connected to a 'significant person' but did not name them.

The yacht has been the subject of an investigation by the Italian financial police since the end of March and has been in dock at Marina di Carrara near Pisa since September undergoing a refit.

The late night announcement came after fears grew that The Scheherazde was about to slip away and head to international waters and avoid any possible sanctions.

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A statement from the Italian Financial Police said: 'After verification by the fiscal authorities it has come to light that there is a significant economic connection between the owner of The Scheherazade and senior elements of the Russian government.

'On the basis of these elements it has been recommended that the yacht be placed on the current European Union sanctions list and the Minister of Finance in Rome has agreed.'

Tonight Mariateresa Levi of the Italian Financial Police told MailOnline:' I am not in a position to tell you who the actual owner is but we are satisfied that the yacht should be seized and in the next few hours officers will board and impound her.'

The Scheherazade's captain, Briton Guy Bennett-Pearce, has denied Putin is the owner but has refused to reveal who is.

There have been claims that the vessel may belong to Eduard Khudainatov, a Russian oil tycoon who has not been hit by sanctions. He is the former chairman and chief executive of Rosneft, the state-owned Russian company that deals in oil and gas. Mr Khudainatov is close to Igor Sechin, a Putin ally and chairman of Rosneft.

But activists and investigative journalists linked to Alexei Navalny, the imprisoned Russian opposition leader, are convinced that it belongs to Putin.

They obtained information which suggested that many of the yacht's crew were members of the Federal Protection Service, the agency that provides security for Putin and his acolytes.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...ure-yacht-linked-media-Russian-president.html
 
mellowyellow said:
Can't believe the Ukrainians incredible resolve and thinking of those poor souls under the steelworks, the food and water must gone by now.

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I've been thinking of that too! How awful. They can't bathe when they want to (or even need to), going to the bathroom must be terrible. Someone like me would have a rough time having to wait to use the bathroom whenever I needed to (water pills)...but then again, those who takes medications probably haven't had them for most of the time they've been down there. Food must be scarce and perhaps some or all have had to go without food or enough to eat. And what about those who have babies who need diapers and formula and those with small children? It's a terrible situation and I feel so sorry for them. I make Dua (a special prayer) for them daily. :cry:
 
hollydolly said:
Vladimir Putin will launch an all-out nuclear war on the West rather than accept defeat in Ukraine, Russia's chief propagandists have declared, in just the latest chilling threat coming from Moscow.

Margarita Simonyan, editor of state broadcaster RT and one of the Kremlin's highest-profile mouthpieces, declared on TV last night that the idea of Putin pressing the red button is 'more probable' than the idea that he will allow Russia to lose the war.

'Either we lose in Ukraine,' she said, 'or the Third World War starts. I think World War Three is more realistic, knowing us, knowing our leader.

'The most incredible outcome, that all this will end with a nuclear strike, seems more probable to me than the other course of events.

'This is to my horror on one hand,' she told a panel of experts shifting nervously in their seats, 'but on the other hand, it is what it is. We will go to heaven, while they will simply croak... We're all going to die someday.'

Simonyan's calm imagining of nuclear holocaust is just the latest threat issued from the top levels of the Russian state, after fellow propagandist Vladimir Solovyov, foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, and Putin himself issued threats in the last 48 hours.

The US and UK have dismissed such rhetoric as bluster but the increasing frequency of the threats coupled with the failures of Russia's military will raise fears that a Cold War-style standoff is now a realistic possibility before the war in Ukraine ends.

It comes after Russia successfully test-launched its latest nuclear missile - Sarmat 2 - last week, with Putin boasting it can strike targets anywhere on earth and cannot be stopped by any current missile defences.

Click here for the video... https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...e-TV-says-nuclear-strike-probable-losing.html
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Regarding this reply and the one about Putin if he has a terminal illness would he care? Well we have to suppose he's not only evil but out of his freaking mind. All those things put together means it's likely he doesn't give a damn about anyone or anything except glorifying his ego with what he may imagine would be a victory. Reading Margarita Simonyan's take on things is chilling! God help us all.

@Pepper You say he "has to be taken out". I've been thinking that for weeks!
 
OneEyedDiva said:
Regarding this reply and the one about Putin if he has a terminal illness would he care? Well we have to suppose he's not only evil but out of his freaking mind. All those things put together means it's likely he doesn't give a damn about anyone or anything except glorifying his ego with what he may imagine would be a victory. Reading Margarita Simonyan's take on things is chilling! God help us all.

@Pepper You say he "has to be taken out". I've been thinking that for weeks!
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He might not care but it takes more than one person to instigate the use a nuclear weapon...
 
hollydolly said:
A giant super-yacht said to be owned by Vladimir Putin was last night set to be seized by Italian authorities after they recommended it be impounded as part of sanctions against Russia.

Authorities in Italy said the $700 million The Scheherazade, which is more than 450ft long, and boasts spas, swimming pools and two helicopter pads was connected to a 'significant person' but did not name them.
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Wow,$700 million, is mind-boggling!
 
Russian kindergarten children dressed up in a variety of pro-Russian military outfits ahead of the country's Victory Day parade, a video on social media has shown.

Leading the group of pupils was one young boy dressed as a Russian tank with a white 'Z' symbol emblazoned on the front - a common feature of Moscow's military vehicles currently involved in fighting in Ukraine.

The boy was shown in military uniform and a leather helmet while a Russian flag flew on the camouflaged cardboard tank fashioned around him.

Other children were shown dressed as fighter jets, soldiers and army medics. At least two more were also dressed as tanks, decorated with red Soviet stars.

Their teachers also wore similar Soviet-style military costumes as the class paraded through the courtroom of the kindergarten.

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https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...-dress-tanks-adorned-Z-Victory-Day-event.html
 
At least 60 people are believed to have been killed in a Russian bombing of a Ukrainian school on Saturday evening, in which two people have been confirmed dead with dozens more still missing.

Around 90 people were using the Belogorovskaya school basement in the village of Bilohorivka as a bomb shelter when the site suffered a direct hit, Luhansk regional governor Serhiy Haidai confirmed via the Telegram messaging app on Sunday morning. Mr Haidai said emergency crews had found two bodies and rescued 30.

'Most likely, all 60 people who remain under the rubble are now dead,' governor Serhiy Haidai wrote. Russian shelling also killed two boys, aged 11 and 14, in the nearby town of Pryvillia, he said.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss tweeted today: 'Horrified by Russia's latest attack on a school in Luhansk, resulting in the deaths of innocent people sheltering from Russian bombardment.' She said the deliberate targeting of civilians and infrastructure 'amounts to war crimes' and 'we will ensure Putin's regime is held accountable'.

Footage and images of the school show the extent of the destruction, with large sections of the building reduced to rubble and a team of firefighters drafted in to combat the resulting blaze.

Rescuers managed to pull thirty people out of the ruins last night, Haidai said, but up to sixty more remain trapped in the basement and are thought to have been killed.

'The fire was extinguished after nearly four hours, then the rubble was cleared, and unfortunately the bodies of two people were found,' Haidai wrote. Rescuers continued to work from the early hours, attempting to clear the remaining rubble and free any remaining survivors.

Separately, Haidai said that according to preliminary information, shelling in the village of Shypilovo destroyed a house and 11 people remained under the building's debris.

There was no immediate response from Russian authorities.

The latest devastation in Luhansk comes just one week after the Lysychansk Multidisciplinary Gymnasium, a prestigious Ukrainian school built in the 19th century, was completely destroyed in another attack.
 
hollydolly said:
At least 60 people are believed to have been killed in a Russian bombing of a Ukrainian school on Saturday evening, in which two people have been confirmed dead with dozens more still missing.

Around 90 people were using the Belogorovskaya school basement in the village of Bilohorivka as a bomb shelter when the site suffered a direct hit, Luhansk regional governor Serhiy Haidai confirmed via the Telegram messaging app on Sunday morning. Mr Haidai said emergency crews had found two bodies and rescued 30.

'Most likely, all 60 people who remain under the rubble are now dead,' governor Serhiy Haidai wrote. Russian shelling also killed two boys, aged 11 and 14, in the nearby town of Pryvillia, he said.
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That is absolutely horrible...
I would like to think that the Russian army had intelligence on that hiding spot and didn't just target it.
But my heart and mind know better.
Thank you for all your updates.
 
OneEyedDiva said:
I remember when I was in a college class (I went as an adult), there was a vet who said that if people knew how close the U.S. had come one time to pushing the button (on a nuke), it would scare all of us. Good thing it takes more than one person!
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That's Right....October, 1962...the Cuban Missile Crisis. I was stationed at an USAF base in Germany during that time. As the Russian ships approached Cuba, we went on high alert. Every available F-105 was loaded with fuel, and a Nuke. The pilots were at the aircraft, ready to launch. We had written what might have been our last letters home....and hoped there would be someone there to read them. Had those ships Not turned around, none of us might still be here.

If Putin were to go completely Nuts, and widen his attacks to include NATO, this Mess could quickly get out of control, and Putin would likely use his "options"....in which case, the world would be devastated. There are "safeguards" in our nation that would keep any One person from triggering a Nuke, bit who knows if such measures are in place in Russia.
 
So now Putin is informing his people and his troops that the west was about to Attack Russia, before he gave the order to go to war with Ukraine.. :mad:


Vladimir Putin gave a chest-beating speech to his troops during Moscow's Victory Day parade today - telling soldiers that they are now fighting for the security of the nation against what he called Western plans to invade.

Seeking to re-frame his war in Ukraine as a war between Russia and the West, he declared NATO to be the aggressor and said he is trying to de-escalate the situation with a 'special military operation' against a 'neo-Nazi' regime in Kyiv, declaring that launching the attack was 'the only right decision' he could have taken.

He also sought to twist the truth of what is happening on the ground in Ukraine, hailing a day of 'great victory' despite Russia's battlefield defeats and telling his men they are fighting a just war despite plentiful evidence of war crimes in occupied territories.

'Everything indicated that a clash with the neo-Nazis, the Banderites [Ukrainian Nazi sympathisers], backed by the United States and their junior partners, was inevitable,' he said.

'We saw military infrastructure being ramped up, hundreds of military advisers working and regular deliveries of modern weapons from NATO. (The level of) danger was increasing every day. Russia preventively rebuffed the aggressor. It was necessary, timely and ... right. The decision of a sovereign, strong, independent country.'

Russian troops in Donbas are fighting on 'their land', he claimed, peddling his warped world view in which Ukraine is not a real country and Ukrainians are simply Russians waiting to be reintegrated into the motherland.

But he stopped short of what many had feared: An official declaration of war on Kyiv which would have allowed him to mobilise Russia's military reserves and conscript civilians in order to escalate fighting across the border.

The parade was much slimmed-down from previous years, with an aerial display that was due to feature his 'Doomsday jet' - allowing him to continue ruling Russia in the event of a nuclear blast - was axed at the last minute due to 'bad weather', though rumours and light cloud in Moscow suggested it could be due to fears of sabotage.

The vehicle parade was also downsized from previous years, featuring almost a third fewer than in 2020 because Russia has committed - and lost - so many of its ground forces in Ukraine.

Click here for the video of Putin's speech ...
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10796519/Ukraine-war-Victory-Day-parades-place-Russia.html
 

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