Political impacts of Ukraine war

[HavokFour]

An unidentified drone has reportedly evaded detection in Romania and made it all the way into Bulgaria before exploding 1km away from a compressor station of the Trans-Balkan gas pipeline.

Unidentified drone explodes in Bulgaria, close to major gas pipeline

Bulgaria's prime minister said both Bulgarian and Romanian authorities had failed to pick up the drone as it made its way through their respective airspace. #EuropeNews

www.euronews.com

 

[YZT580]

An unidentified drone has reportedly evaded detection in Romania and made it all the way into Bulgaria before exploding 1km away from a compressor station of the Trans-Balkan gas pipeline.

Unidentified drone explodes in Bulgaria, close to major gas pipeline

Bulgaria's prime minister said both Bulgarian and Romanian authorities had failed to pick up the drone as it made its way through their respective airspace. #EuropeNews

www.euronews.com

First Germany, now Bulgaria. This is getting too close for comfort to an Article 5. Russia will deny it though so they have an out.

 

[GR66]

So, it appears that Russia's Arena APS system actually works...but there's simply too many drones out there for it to make a difference...

Expert: Russia’s Arena tank defense wasn’t the failure it seemed

A Russian tank that Ukrainian and Western observers had already written off as another failed experiment in anti-drone armor may actually have done exactly what it was built to do, just not enough of it. New battlefield testimony from a

defence-blog.com

A Russian tank that Ukrainian and Western observers had already written off as another failed experiment in anti-drone armor may actually have done exactly what it was built to do, just not enough of it.

New battlefield testimony from a combat drone specialist who spoke directly with the Ukrainian unit involved in the fight suggests Russia’s upgraded Arena active protection system, a hard-kill defense mechanism that automatically detects and shoots down incoming threats before they hit a tank, worked as designed against a wave of Ukrainian first-person-view drones, destroying seven of them before the vehicle was finally knocked out.

The tank’s active protection system appears to have functioned exactly as engineered, intercepting drone after drone in real combat conditions, but Ukrainian forces adapted by simply sending more drones than the system could physically stop, a tactic that has defined much of the drone war on both sides since 2023. Seven intercepted threats out of what analysts estimate is typically fifteen to twenty drones needed to kill a modern tank is a real technical achievement for Russian engineers, yet it changes nothing about the tank crew’s fate once the ammunition ran out.

The problem is scale. As long as there are more attack munitions than there are interceptors then the math is simply against the defender. That doesn't only go for APS systems...it's the same calculus for the Navy or for AD systems in general.

 

[Genetk44]

Trump has TACO’d again thereby hobbling the Ukrainians once more.

 

[McG]

Canada making a strong contribution for freedom & democracy according to these numbers.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2086976602563641490

 

[ytz]

What's disappointing is how much Europeans are cheaping out. And I would love for us to do more simply using our industrial base. Just pledge to ship a battalion of LAVs to Ukraine every quarter. Eventually they'll be tied to our defence industrial complex at the end of the war.

 

[Czech_pivo]

What's disappointing is how much Europeans are cheaping out. And I would love for us to do more simply using our industrial base. Just pledge to ship a battalion of LAVs to Ukraine every quarter. Eventually they'll be tied to our defence industrial complex at the end of the war.

The French, Italians and Spanish - and the Germans, have really not stepped up at all.

 

[ytz]

I want to see our government PNG this guy.

Let's be petty.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

The French, Italians and Spanish - and the Germans, have really not stepped up at all.

Well it seem by that graphic that the Germans are indeed stepping up, basically equal to our and the US contribution.

 

[Czech_pivo]

Well it seem by that graphic that the Germans are indeed stepping up, basically equal to our and the US contribution.

Yes, on par with us but you'd think that they'd be a bit higher up on the food chain in terms of total amount given. I guess there's still enough old DDR cadres kicking about to influence things.

 

[daftandbarmy]

Yes, on par with us but you'd think that they'd be a bit higher up on the food chain in terms of total amount given. I guess there's still enough old DDR cadres kicking about to influence things.

Germany has a huge 'Ostie' problem, and the Russians will exploit the hell out of that...

East Germany has narrowed economic gap with West Germany since fall of communism, but still lags

Despite improvements in recent decades, the former East Germany trails the former West Germany on several important economic measures.

www.pewresearch.org

 

[The Bread Guy]

Deja vu all over again ....

‘We’ve seen this somewhere in history before, haven’t we?’ Inside Russia’s plan to resettle 114,000 of its people in occupied Ukraine. — Meduza

Over the next 20 years, Russian authorities plan to resettle nearly 114,000 Russians in the occupied Ukrainian territories. Despite the grim circumstances, some people really are moving there. The independent journalists’ cooperative Bereg took Melitopol as its example — a city in Ukraine’s...

meduza.io

 

[HavokFour]

I can think of another conflict that is doing infinitely more damage with significantly more boats involved, and far less being shot at.

Under the bus they go in the name of salvaging the mess the US created.

[FT]JD Vance asked Ukraine to halt strikes on tankers using Russian port​

Archive

 

[Altair]

I can think of another conflict that is doing infinitely more damage with significantly more boats involved, and far less being shot at.

Under the bus they go in the name of salvaging the mess the US created.

[FT]JD Vance asked Ukraine to halt strikes on tankers using Russian port​

Archive

If only the USA had any leverage with Ukraine right now.

Ah well, I guess they don't have the cards.

 

[Czech_pivo]

Deja vu all over again ....

‘We’ve seen this somewhere in history before, haven’t we?’ Inside Russia’s plan to resettle 114,000 of its people in occupied Ukraine. — Meduza

Over the next 20 years, Russian authorities plan to resettle nearly 114,000 Russians in the occupied Ukrainian territories. Despite the grim circumstances, some people really are moving there. The independent journalists’ cooperative Bereg took Melitopol as its example — a city in Ukraine’s...

meduza.io

Where the f*ck are they going to find 114,000 Russians?
They are desperate to keep Russians in the Far East to check the Chinese
They are desperate to keep Russians in the Arctic to keep the economy going there
They are desperate to keep Russians still in all the various 'stans' in order to keep Russian influence alive and well
They have a shortage of young men of marrying age and procreating
Their existing male gene pool is overly represented on the alcoholic side of the equation
Their existing male gene pool lives on average (before this war) 11yrs!!! less than a Russian female - 68yrs vs 79yrs.
They are f8cked.
I might even put on my Bingo card for the 2027-2035 time frame the following - 'Polygamy will legalized by the Russian Orthodox Church'.

 

[PrairieFella]

Where the f*ck are they going to find 114,000 Russians?
They are desperate to keep Russians in the Far East to check the Chinese
They are desperate to keep Russians in the Arctic to keep the economy going there
They are desperate to keep Russians still in all the various 'stans' in order to keep Russian influence alive and well
They have a shortage of young men of marrying age and procreating
Their existing male gene pool is overly represented on the alcoholic side of the equation
Their existing male gene pool lives on average (before this war) 11yrs!!! less than a Russian female - 68yrs vs 79yrs.
They are f8cked.
I might even put on my Bingo card for the 2027-2035 time frame the following - 'Polygamy will legalized by the Russian Orthodox Church'.

The untapped source atm are Muslims from the Caucasus. Dagestanis, Chechens, etc. They have been pretty lightly affected in the grand scheme of things due to them being pretty rowdy to begin with, but I think Putin would rather flatten Grozny again than have to conscript ethnic Russians from Muscovy.

 

[Czech_pivo]

The untapped source atm are Muslims from the Caucasus. Dagestanis, Chechens, etc. They have been pretty lightly affected in the grand scheme of things due to them being pretty rowdy to begin with, but I think Putin would rather flatten Grozny again than have to conscript ethnic Russians from Muscovy.

I'd love to delve into the birthrates of the Moslems in the Caucasus vs the ethnic Russians throughout Russia. The scale will tip to the Caucasus's side in the future. All that will be needed is a single unifying (long shot) Moslem leader to call the banners and the Russians will be in a pickle. Lack of air power will kneecap them.

 

[Altair]

I'd love to delve into the birthrates of the Moslems in the Caucasus vs the ethnic Russians throughout Russia. The scale will tip to the Caucasus's side in the future. All that will be needed is a single unifying (long shot) Moslem leader to call the banners and the Russians will be in a pickle. Lack of air power will kneecap them.

Good thing Putin is liquidating 30k of them a month in Ukraine.

It's not the Moscovites and those in St Petersburg who are being seduced by the signing bonuses, it's the poor rural ethnic Russians from the regions.

 

[HavokFour]

Good thing Putin is liquidating 30k of them a month in Ukraine.

It's not the Moscovites and those in St Petersburg who are being seduced by the signing bonuses, it's the poor rural ethnic Russians from the regions.

And even then they're having difficulties finding enough bodies to replace those every month. So much so they're dipping into the female population now, lots of videos on social media being posted by Russian women that are receiving summons to join drone units. More specifically those that are students and those that have had children already, and have those children said in enrolled in childcare.

Here's a collection of some of them:

 

[Altair]

And even then they're having difficulties finding enough bodies to replace those every month. So much so they're dipping into the female population now, lots of videos on social media being posted by Russian women that are receiving summons to join drone units. More specifically those that are students and those that have had children already, and have those children said in enrolled in childcare.

Here's a collection of some of them:

You know what?

GOOD.

Not that I support this war, but in terms of equality, it shouldn't just be men bearing the brunt of the conflict and eating drones on the daily.