International Russia/Ukraine Megathread V13

[lsa]

German prosecutors handed evidence of Russian war crimes in Ukraine

Dossiers of evidence of Russian war crimes in Ukraine have been presented to German federal prosecutors at the start of a campaign to use the principle of universal jurisdiction to bring war criminals to justice.

The cases were filed on Thursday morning by the Clooney Foundation for Justice (CFJ), representing 16 survivors and the families of victims in three separate war crimes cases: an indiscriminate missile attack on a coastal resort near Odesa that killed 22 people; the execution of four men in occupied territory in the Kharkiv region in spring and summer last year; and a series of executions and acts of torture and sexual violence committed outside Kyiv in March 2022.

full article
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/26/german-prosecutors-evidence-russian-war-crimes-ukraine

 

[AWilder]

German prosecutors handed evidence of Russian war crimes in Ukraine

Dossiers of evidence of Russian war crimes in Ukraine have been presented to German federal prosecutors at the start of a campaign to use the principle of universal jurisdiction to bring war criminals to justice.

The cases were filed on Thursday morning by the Clooney Foundation for Justice (CFJ), representing 16 survivors and the families of victims in three separate war crimes cases: an indiscriminate missile attack on a coastal resort near Odesa that killed 22 people; the execution of four men in occupied territory in the Kharkiv region in spring and summer last year; and a series of executions and acts of torture and sexual violence committed outside Kyiv in March 2022.

full article
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/26/german-prosecutors-evidence-russian-war-crimes-ukraine

See?!?!?! it's a soft invasion!

 

[Blunderbuss]

- You can have one as a pet?

They’re popular as pets in Japan. I would say it’s not a great idea though. They’re not domesticated. They have a ton of energy, sharp claws and some serious little fangs. They tear up furniture and stuff and I’m assuming use the bathroom wherever they feel like it.

They are cool little animals and love to play though

Yes, I believe the people who own those particular otters do reside in Japan. They have an absolutely insane set up for them, including their own bathtub. I believe they are bathroom trained, but they need to eat constantly. They're really cuddly and cute, but I am sure they are the exception.

 

[Denter]

Intention of war? To get closer to World Hegemon's No1 possible status.
Realpolitik comrade.

If you could bring any statements from 1850 to the present day they'd immediately understand this war. The exact same forces drove conflicts like the Crimean War (in reverse). This is just a normal war about territory and power, nothing special about it.

 

[SandisLL]

The claim about shotting down 2 Ukrainian Su 25 is correct...
While about Mig 29 remotely can't be true.
Because now ukr mainly are using their Mig 29 in air defense role against cruise missiles and relatively far away from frontline.

Su 25 : ukr looks that really had lost 2 and in one case there are suspicions that cos friendly fire . Ofc Ukr officials will behave like with missile in Poland....total denial till end of universe.
The missile they had used doesn't have sufficient range to be fired from Russian controlled areas. S-300 missile with passport range 90 km.

 

[SandisLL]

If you could bring any statements from 1850 to the present day they'd immediately understand this war. The exact same forces drove conflicts like the Crimean War (in reverse). This is just a normal war about territory and power, nothing special about it.

No, it is a bit different because Russian nationalists are seeing this as just one from first step in order to start establish world hegemony.
There isn't meaning just to grab some land.
Russian World ideology is to establish world hegemony. Like Japan in 1930 ies and Hitler had. Nothing less and it isn't even just to dream re establish some Tzar era territories etc.
Meaning is openly declared in two words: Russian World.
So sorry, even U.S should be Russian World according to them.
It is reality and might be done via soft or hard power....

 

[SandisLL]

BTW unfortunately for Ukraine looks that Europe already had threw them under bus.
Borrel admitted that Europe had supplied Ukraine approx 30% from promised ammunition.

While if we are talking about 35 mm ammunition for autocannons there really they can't supply a lot and quickly because a lot from their stockpile for these is stuff they had purchased from Switzerland with clause in sales contract that you need their permit in case if you will re export purchased things.. and Switzerland refuses to sign re export permit ...
.
There is another thing .. more painful for Ukraine.

 

[PEB]

I hear a lot of senior military bosses are really concerned about Johnson as speaker of the house. They worry they will do everything possible to upend US efforts in Ukraine.

 

[Hdfi]

German prosecutors handed evidence of Russian war crimes in Ukraine

Dossiers of evidence of Russian war crimes in Ukraine have been presented to German federal prosecutors at the start of a campaign to use the principle of universal jurisdiction to bring war criminals to justice.

The cases were filed on Thursday morning by the Clooney Foundation for Justice (CFJ), representing 16 survivors and the families of victims in three separate war crimes cases: an indiscriminate missile attack on a coastal resort near Odesa that killed 22 people; the execution of four men in occupied territory in the Kharkiv region in spring and summer last year; and a series of executions and acts of torture and sexual violence committed outside Kyiv in March 2022.

full article
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/26/german-prosecutors-evidence-russian-war-crimes-ukraine

Don't care.

These are the same guys supporting Israeli and American war crimes in Palestine and Syria, so fuck what they have to say about Russians.

 

[lsa]

The US claims that Russia has executed its own soldiers.
Russia has not commented on the accusation.

The US claims that Russia is executing its own soldiers who disobey orders during an intensified offensive in eastern Ukraine.

The accusation comes Thursday from John Kirby, spokesman for the US National Security Council.

He also claims that Russia is suffering "significant" losses in terms of soldiers and equipment.

- We have information that the Russian military has actually executed soldiers who refuse to follow orders, he says.

- We also have information that Russian commanders are threatening to execute entire units if they try to withdraw from Ukrainian artillery fire.

https://nyheder.tv2.dk/udland/2023-10-26-usa-beskylder-rusland-for-at-henrette-ulydige-soldater

 

[Hog-train]

 

[SandisLL]

Avdiivka and it's area is minefield.
Terricon himself isn't valuable as military positions because in drones era it is impossible to camouflage any larger positions....

Stuff where this Terricon created from mining industry waste still is usable:
Might install some very well camouflaged observation posts, a lot of them might be unmanned.
Basically well masked cameras ( daylight and IR ) etc and to use these for artillery and mortars fire correcting.

 

[SandisLL]

The difference between cameras connected via cables and drone is that radioelectronic warfare tools Ukr does have will not impact their work....

So you need to spot where is cable , monitoring station and will need to hit something physically....

 

[SandisLL]

Russia despite losses in technique and so on is pressuring ...Putin looks that had allocated more money for contractors etc and propaganda does works well so meat is supplied generously.

If Russia had managed to install a lot of observation posts in Terricon and these does exist now...and ukr will not manage to spot them and damage something.....then loss ratio will go in favour for Russia and not only Ukr will lost Avdiivka, they will lost damn a lot of manpower and technique.

 

[SandisLL]

Don't care.

These are the same guys supporting Israeli and American war crimes in Palestine and Syria, so fuck what they have to say about Russians.

I also will not waste time with your Lavrov type idiotism here.
Don't cry. FSB soon will pay dudes like you only 1 rouble per 1 post with profile you do have and this before tax.

 

[PEB]

The US claims that Russia has executed its own soldiers.
Russia has not commented on the accusation.

The US claims that Russia is executing its own soldiers who disobey orders during an intensified offensive in eastern Ukraine.

The accusation comes Thursday from John Kirby, spokesman for the US National Security Council.

He also claims that Russia is suffering "significant" losses in terms of soldiers and equipment.

- We have information that the Russian military has actually executed soldiers who refuse to follow orders, he says.

- We also have information that Russian commanders are threatening to execute entire units if they try to withdraw from Ukrainian artillery fire.

https://nyheder.tv2.dk/udland/2023-10-26-usa-beskylder-rusland-for-at-henrette-ulydige-soldater

This as I posted in the past is not an unusual tactic by Russians. Use dating back hundreds of years the concept is simple use maximum pressure at all costs till there is a break. Russia does not think of human life as highly as other parts of the world.

Russia lost more lives in WW2 then pretty much any other Country over 6 million. But key to this success is the meat in human life if you ran you were shot. People where thrown on to trains if they ran they were shot.

This is the problem Ukraine is facing as Countries like Slovakia drop support to Ukraine, budget impasse in the US it will be harder for Ukraine to press forward. This is a different type of meat wall in regards to Russia.

 

[SandisLL]

This as I posted in the past is not an unusual tactic by Russians. Use dating back hundreds of years the concept is simple use maximum pressure at all costs till there is a break. Russia does not think of human life as highly as other parts of the world.

Russia lost more lives in WW2 then pretty much any other Country over 6 million. But key to this success is the meat in human life if you ran you were shot. People where thrown on to trains if they ran they were shot.

This is the problem Ukraine is facing as Countries like Slovakia drop support to Ukraine, budget impasse in the US it will be harder for Ukraine to press forward. This is a different type of meat wall in regards to Russia.

Slovakia had supplied a lot .....really more than had been dreamed about...

They anyway can't supply much from their current stockpile.
While worst thing for Ukr now is reality: they does have land border with Ukraine....
And with just approx 23% votes " winners " looks that are dreaming to have land border with Russia.Like Orban.
Orban in open text had told Alivev in Baku that he does have land border with Russia. So this means that he is thinking that Ukraine is Russia. Realpolitik.
And ofc Orban might be only happy if ALL Ukraine will be incorporated in Russian Federation because then he will not have to pay for Russian nuclear fuel and nuclear waste, natural gas and crude oil and fertilisers transit via Ukraine transit fees to Ukr.
Simple business Realpolitik.....Money...is Lord.
.Orban openly admitted that Hungary will continue to purchase Russian nuclear fuel for power plants, natural gas and crude oil and fertilizers.
Pupp Zelensky still is brave to send poor lads to Bakhmut area while doesn't have balls to end transit via Ukraine to Hungary.
Maybe Zelensky clown should fight in trenches not to talk about business today,?
Lesser balls than crazy Hitler had.
Both with outlet Putin should be in trenches together with other parasites.

 

[SandisLL]

There is question I do not have answer.
If Russia had managed to install observation posts in Terricon ....
Then Ukr should as bare minimum to shell Rus controlled area in Terricon at least with some 500-3000 cluster ammo 155 mm rounds. ASAP.

 

[Rholk]

No idea if this has been posted yet:


True if huge.

 

[LeonardoBjj]

What’s this all for?’: Russian deserters call on former comrades to join them

Men tell of escape to Armenia, guilt and remorse as growing number of soldiers flee ‘criminal war’ in Ukraine

Sitting in a basement studio hidden in the centre of Yerevan, Artyom reflected on his decision to desert the Russian army after a year spent fighting in Ukraine.

Just two weeks earlier, the former platoon commander was living in a trench. He has since abandoned his post and fled to the Armenian capital.

“I did not want to participate in this war. I wanted no part in the imperialistic habits of our ruler,” he said. “But I do feel guilt in front of Ukraine. Guilt that I didn’t do this earlier … I could have said no, I just didn’t know what the consequences would be.”

Artyom, who asked for his last name to be withheld out of fear for his safety, is one of the growing number of Russian combatants who have fled the army over the past 20 months of war.

Coming from a small city in southern Siberia, Artyom said he joined a military boarding school as a teenager “because the army sounded prestigious”. He signed a three-year contract with the Russian military but quickly became disillusioned and as Russian troops invaded Ukraine, he was stationed on the border training conscripts.

But as Russia’s invasion faltered, forcing the Kremlin to announce a large-scale mobilisation, he was ordered to join the fighting. “I told my commanders that I do not want to shoot people; they knew what my stance was even if they bullied me for it.”

Artyom was assigned to lead a signal platoon unit tasked with maintaining communications networks, electronic warfare, and signals intelligence on the battlefield. He denied killing Ukrainians in combat and claimed he did not participate in or witness war crimes such as the killings of prisoners of war and civilians. But he still grapples with his role in the fighting.

He said he would be told to keep quiet when he sometimes discussed his views with other soldiers. “We are at war, what are you, a traitor?” he said they would tell him.

“I don’t try to excuse myself. My work enabled other forces to take part in the hostilities,” he said. “Throughout my time there, I kept on thinking about how to escape.”

Desertion and “voluntary” surrender are punishable by lengthy jail terms in Russia, and Artyom said his commanders threatened him with prison if he dared to leave his post. He said he also heard stories of service personnel being locked up in basements in eastern Ukraine after refusing to fight, reports that have been backed up by independent Russian news organisations.

“Worst-case scenario was to end up in a ‘Storm-Z’ squad,” he said, referring to so-called “punishment battalions” sent to the most exposed parts of the front with heavy losses.

His chance came last month when his commander gave him a few days off, at which point he decided to flee with the help of a Russian anti-war organisation. “I knew I only had two-three days before they would start looking for me, so I had to be quick,” he said. Russian authorities have since opened up a criminal case against him.

He arrived in Armenia via a third country. Like Georgia and Kazakhstan, Russians can also enter Armenia without a visa, and all three countries serve as a logical first stop for those looking to escape the fighting.

Aleksei is a second deserter who spoke to the Guardian in Yerevan. He said: “You see other Russians on the street here and you might not even know that you served together. It is not something you talk about.”

Unlike Artyom who was a regular contract soldier, Aleksei was called up as part of Vladimir Putin’s mobilisation in September 2022.

“To say I was shocked when I was mobilised, wouldn’t be saying anything at all,” said Aleksei, who also asked for anonymity. “We quickly realised we would just be meat for the war machine.”

He described how conscripts like him received poor equipment and a lack of basic training: “We bought it ourselves with our own money, including uniforms and clothes.”

Once in eastern Ukraine, where he was assigned to a communication unit, Aleksei said he quickly saw first-hand that he was participating in an “illegal invasion”. He recalled being stunned when a local taxi driver told him: “No matter what, Ukraine will win anyway.”

“All these stories of some kind of Nazis in Ukraine, the reason why we started the fight, they are just empty words,” he said.

The mood soured in his unit over the summer as Ukraine launched its counteroffensive and casualties mounted. “During the day Ukraine would start shelling our position, and you weren’t able to stick your head out. At night you still had to get to work,” he said.

Aleksei described the daily moral dilemmas he faced as a soldier participating in a war he knew was wrong. “I felt a responsibility for my team, I didn’t want the guys I have come to know well to die because I failed. But I realised that by setting up communication lines, I was indirectly killing other people.”

He said he witnessed drunken brawls among fellow soldiers, claiming that some of them resulted in deadly shootings. “As time went on, soldiers started to think what is this all for? Many of those who were enthusiastic about fighting started to question the purpose of it all.”

Using the same escape route as Artyom, Aleksei eventually made it to Yerevan last month after he was allowed to return to Russia for a short break.

Both men were helped in their flight by the Georgia-based anti-war organisation Idite Lesom, an idiom that literally means “go through the forest” in Russian.

The phrase is most often deployed as a curse, roughly translatable as “go fuck yourself”, which was what one of the soldiers said to the Russian authorities by deserting.

Idite Lesom’s founder, Grigory Sverdlin, said his group had helped more than 500 Russian soldiers to desert so far.

“If we find out that a person is involved in war crimes, we will not help him,” Sverdlin said. “But we are not investigative agencies, we reason pragmatically – even if he managed to shoot three times, let him not shoot the fourth, and then there will be someone to investigate war crimes.

“We believe that this is absolutely correct both from a humanistic point of view and from a pragmatic one – so that Putin has fewer soldiers.”

The group has recently seen a noticeable increase in requests from those wanting to desert. It is an assessment backed up by data released by the Russian court system, where, according to a tally by the independent news outlet Mediazona, 2,076 criminal cases were opened in the first half of 2023 against soldiers accused of abandoning their units without official leave. This is twice the total for 2022 and three times higher than the prewar figure for 2021. The real numbers are likely to be greater given the Kremlin’s systematic attempts to hide information about the military.

Darya Berg, the head of relief and evacuations at Idite Lesom, said: “Some of those soldiers who are deserting now were injured in the fighting and don’t want to go back having seen the horror. Others are exhausted since they haven’t been rotated since the war started in Ukraine.”

Nearly 50,000 Russian soldiers have died in the war in Ukraine, according to a recent statistical analysis. Another study showed that in 2022 the war in Ukraine had become the leading cause of death for young Russian men.

“I quickly realised that you return from Ukraine either without legs or in a coffin,’ said Aleksei.

For now, the two deserters’ future remains unclear. “I only have a vague idea about what’s next … I hope to get a refugee permit in a western country,” said Artyom, adding that he did not feel safe staying in Armenia given its proximity to Russia.

But claiming asylum in Europe could prove difficult. The west has not come up with a united approach to dealing with asylum claims submitted by men fleeing military service or the fighting.

Some western and Ukrainian officials have argued that by offering refugee status to Russian combatants, the host nation fails to hold them responsible for the invasion. The Lithuanian foreign minister, Gabrielius Landsbergis, has said that Russians opposing the war “should stay and fight against Putin”.

Others believe that encouraging Russian soldiers to desert would damage their country’s military abilities and enable Ukraine’s eventual victory in the war.

Pavel Filatyev, a former paratrooper, and Nikita Chibrin, a former army mechanic, both fled the Russian army from Ukraine and said they were still waiting for an decision after submitting an asylum application to France and Spain respectively.

More straightforward was Artyom’s message to his former comrades. “I would say to all those who are now at the front, those who know me and perhaps recognise me … guys, there is no need to participate in this criminal war. There is nothing sacred about it. There is always a way out.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...des-to-join-them-armenia-soldiers-ukraine-war

- Dont feel bad Artyom. You're a warrior