Live Conflict Ukraine-Russia War

Vergennes

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Quasar

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So this has been bugging me:

According to Janes and other sources, Russia maintains around 130 SU-34's. At least 8 has been seen in the area and 4 shot down as of today. Of the 4, at least one has been identified as operating in Syria before transferring to Ukraine.

Now then, why would Russia transfer planes from Syria to Ukraine? Couldn't they use the other 100+ aircraft? Especially since the 559th bomber regiment in rostov oblast supposedly operates them?

guess they lack experienced pilots especially when you consider the average flight hour of a Russian pilot. they are looking for experienced pilos, this seems to me the only logical answer??? However, even for an experienced Russian pilot their recent experiance is mainly bombing cities and civilians in Syria so when they face some sort of Air defence they are falling from the sky. Traning... they lack traning, experience and obviously they have some problem with precision guided munitions. Further, Just a rumor but Russians may have IFF issue as well???
 
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Levina

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Blackwater/ Academi, pvt US military firm present in Ukraine.



 

Van Kravchenko

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Ther is absolutely no honor in provoking and facing a much stronger opponent and let your people slaughtered while you can step down and write down new elections so real politicians can win.

The Ukrainian people were sleeping and very softies to let a comedian without political background win the presidential elections while the country needed a strong guy with experience and diplomatic knowhow.

The same Tiktok-generation that voted for the comedian and all the disasters he brought, voted also for the mayor of Istanbul in Turkey and they really think that such populist bladi-bla-guys can run a country.

Zelenskey should have known that the West was using Ukraine against Russia and he should know that Russia doesnt accept NATO on his borders, like Turkey doesnt accept a Kurdish state on their borders, its a red line.

Zelenskey did nothing in all those years to talk and settle with those Donetsk and Luhansk regions, he didnt even implement the Minsk accords, he only shelled those regions with mortars.

And now he is sitting on a chair in the Ukrainian embassy in Warschaw and screaming his people into war, giving weapons to civillians and turning them into legitimate targets, inviting foreign mercenairies, aiding Banderistani extremists with javelins and trying to break Turkish-Russian relations.

The Russians have a problem with Zelenskey and his government and not with the Ukrainian people. Like Turkey has a problem with the Assad regime and not with the Syrian people.

He must go. Its over.
Said the one who put collonist flag on his accout.

With, or without Zelensky on power. Russia still try to take parts of ukraine. Then you insisted to go diplomatics without try to defend your land? Said one who only knows world politics from RTS game.

Its doesn't matter what you throw to Zelensky or to Ukrainian they already battle against invader, not like cowards who said to do shit this and that.

War already begin, your shit will not make any changes yet stoping Putin.
 

McCool

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My thoughts on the 12 days of war between Russia and Ukraine as well as debunking some extravagant claims that blackjack like to bombard this thread with before the start of hostilities.

  1. Russia's military have some very chronic logistics issue, any idea that the Russians could sustain rapid army maneuver to steamroll Europe should be out of question now.
  2. The Russian air force, despite being equipped with brand new fighter jets. It's payload, launching techniques remained the same as from the cold war. They have no targeting pods, they're short on precision munitions and they're bad at SEAD/DEAD
  3. Before the war, the Russian military win the "scare factor" by those supposedly operational Avangard, Tsirkon and Iskander SRBM. Now we know why NATO is wise to stock up on guided munitions instead of ballistic missiles.
  4. No, @blackjack Russia can't ground the Ukrainian air force by levelling the airfield. The Ukrainian air force are still (by the time of this writing) flying and doing sorties. I hope you accept this conclusion as the Russians will NEVER be able to ground NATO airplanes by using this already proven as failure method.
  5. Thermobaric and other wonder weapons as proven again and again would not win wars.
 

Bogeyman 

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Sanctions highlight money flow from Russian Jewish billionaires to Jewish nonprofits​


Jewish communities in Ukraine received a $10 million gift from a perhaps unlikely source Monday: a charitable organization founded by three Russian Jewish oligarchs who are being accused of having supported the regime of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The donation is small for the three billionaires behind Genesis Philanthropy Group — Mikhail Fridman, Petr Aven and German Khan — who are together worth $21 billion. But it is significant in part because it signals daylight between them and Putin, who on Thursday invaded Ukraine and plunged the region into crisis.

The gift is also significant because it comes as the West determines whether and how to penalize Putin’s allies by targeting their wealth. A day after the gift’s announcement, the European Union added Fridman, Aven and several other Russian businessmen to its sanctions blacklist as part of its response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.


“With these additional sanctions, we are targeting all who are having a significant economic role in supporting Putin’s regime, and benefit financially from the system,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a statement. “These sanctions will expose the wealth of Putin’s elite. Those who enable the invasion of Ukraine will pay a price for their action.”

The billionaires who face sanctions include a number of prominent Jewish philanthropists, whose giving is vital to the organizations they support but may get ensnared by financial sanctions as the West seeks to isolate Putin and his supporters.

Fridman and Aven, as well as Khan, appear among 210 names of prominent Russians on a list of possible targets for sanctions that was released by the US Treasury Department in 2018.

Dubbed “Putin’s list,” the names represent top political figures and so-called oligarchs who have amassed wealth and influence under Putin’s administration of the Kremlin. They are seen as potential targets for sanctions that would prevent them from participating in global commerce, in hopes of pressuring Putin to end the invasion of Ukraine.

At least 18 of the figures on “Putin’s list” are oligarchs with Jewish backgrounds, many of whom, as with the men behind the Genesis Philanthropy Group, have ramped up donations to Jewish charities around the world in recent years. Their giving has shaped efforts to commemorate the Holocaust, inculcate Jewish identity and fight antisemitism. Many have also given to Chabad, the Hasidic Jewish outreach movement, in Russia, and to Moscow’s Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center.

In addition to simply allowing people with wealth to assert their values and strengthen the organizations they favor, philanthropy can be understood as a form of “cultural diplomacy” when practiced by people close to leaders like Putin. It can also be useful in enhancing the reputation of people who accumulated wealth in an environment plagued by corruption.

Overall, charitable giving has risen substantially among wealthy Russians in recent years. And with the coming of age of a generation of Jews who were raised in the former Soviet Union, some who have made fortunes are starting to give back to their communities and are becoming an important force in Jewish philanthropy in recent years, according to Andres Spokoiny, CEO of the Jewish Funders Network.

“There’s also a trend among Russian-speaking Jewry of rediscovering a sense of Jewish identity that was denied to them when they were growing up and feeling a commitment towards it,” Spokoiny said.

Possibly the best-known Russian Jewish oligarch is Roman Abramovich, who made his billions in oil, steel and mining following the breakup of state-owned businesses after the fall of the Soviet Union. The owner of the elite Chelsea Football Club in England’s Premier League, he has reportedly donated more than $500 million to Jewish nonprofits in Israel and around the world.

Abramovich stepped back from Chelsea this week in anticipation of sanctions. But so far, Western sanctions have been concentrated on Putin himself, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian financial institutions. These add to sanctions on a limited number of Putin cronies imposed in 2014 following Russia’s annexation of Crimea and in 2016 amid revelations of Russian interference in the US presidential election.

The potential for new sanctions targeting oligarchs brings attention to the flow of money from Russia’s Jewish billionaires to Jewish nonprofits.

The $10 million donation announced by Genesis Philanthropy Group is going to support the Jewish Agency for Israel, Joint Distribution Committee, Federation of Jewish Communities of Ukraine, and regional and local Jewish community organizations to pay for evacuation and security efforts, food distribution and relief for elderly homes and orphanages.

During normal times Genesis also gives to mainstay Jewish causes like Hillel, Moishe House, Birthright, and Limmud, according to its website. The organization is perhaps best known for establishing the Genesis Prize, an annual $1 million award, dubbed “the Jewish Nobel,” given to prominent Jewish figures.

Asked by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency to comment on how the threat of sanctions is affecting the decisions being made by Genesis Philanthropy Group, the organization’s CEO Marina Yudborovsky released a statement: “Genesis Philanthropy Group has a long history of making independent grants and this follows that tradition. Our work is needed now more than ever, and we will continue to support Jewish communities around the world.”

On Sunday, Fridman, Genesis co-founder and trustee and one of Russia’s richest people, became the first Russian oligarch to speak out against the war, calling it a “tragedy,” according to the Financial Times. In a letter he reportedly wrote to employees of his London-based private equity firm, he said he was “convinced … war can never be the answer.”

Fridman is the controlling owner of Alfa-Bank, a major Russian financial institution that the United States and European Union last week placed under sanctions, limiting its ability to operate internationally.

Fridman’s statement was followed by a similar one from a second Jewish oligarch, Oleg Deripaska. “Peace is very important! Negotiations must begin as soon as possible!” Deripaska, an outspoken Putin supporter who has been under US sanctions, wrote on Telegram, according to the Financial Times.

Two other Jewish oligarchs with ties to Putin, Igor and Boris Rotenberg, became ensnared in sanctions announced by the United Kingdom last week.

Meanwhile, Abramovich, who’s been considered among the most likely targets for new sanctions, is reportedly aiding in the negotiations underway between Ukraine and Russia.


He has also made headlines over his charitable giving.

Last week, Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust authority, announced a donation from Abramovich, said to be in the eight figures. It will pay for a new building and a book inscribed with the 4.8 million names of Holocaust victims known to the museum. An Israeli news channel revealed that weeks earlier, before the fighting erupted in Ukraine, Yad Vashem had lobbied the United States against sanctioning Abramovich in light of his “contribution to the Jewish people.”

Abramovich has long denied that he is an ally of Putin, and his representatives told The Guardian newspaper last week that “it would be ludicrous to suggest that our client has any responsibility or influence over the behavior of the Russian state.”

Current sanctions appear not to have deterred Putin as yet, making it likely that the West will seek to go further in pressuring the Russian president however it can. That leaves uncertainty for the recipients of the largesse of Russia’s Jewish billionaires.

Spokoiny, of the Jewish Funders Network, is optimistic.

“I don’t see a problem yet,” Spoikiny said. “I hope that the important work that people are doing in Jewish communities is not affected by the sanctions.”
 
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