Russian military vehicles roll through outskirts of Donetsk after Putin orders troops into Ukraine

[Teh One Who Knocks]

[lost in melb.]

I agree that's likely the motive behind Zalenski saying he's cooled on NATO, probably posturing for some sort of an agreement. It won't stop Putin from his next move though will it? Then his next... then his next. I hate to think of Ukrainians as being sacrificial warriors who we just arm to go die while their country is torn apart and children die... but if not Ukraine fighting then what will Putin do next? If the war ends tomorrow, will the sanctions continue for 10+ years as they well should or will we forget about it until Russia pulls this shit again?

I think as long as the agreement doesn't include disarmament, it's worth a try.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

By Paul Best | Fox News

Russia has confirmed its use of a thermobaric weapon system, or "vacuum" bombs, during Putin's invasion of Ukraine, the UK Ministry of Defense said Wednesday.

Vacuum bombs disperse explosive material over a large area that uses surrounding oxygen as fuel when it detonates, creating a blast wave that lasts far longer than conventional explosives. Thermobaric bombs are capable of sucking the air out of person's lungs, causing them to fill with liquid, or causing a person's lungs to rupture or explode.

"The impact of the [TOS-1A] is devastating," the UK Ministry of Defense said in a video. "It can destroy infrastructure and cause significant damage to internal organs and flash burns, resulting in death to those exposed."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said that she discussed Russia's use of vacuum bombs with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday.

"We talked about weapons that Putin is using, weapons prohibited in the Geneva Conventions, including cluster bombs and vacuum bombs, which caused severe suffering," Pelosi told reporters.

Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby, meanwhile, said Wednesday afternoon that he has seen "no indications" that Russia has used thermobaric weapons in Ukraine.



Oksana Markarova, Ukraine's ambassador to the United States, originally told reporters on Feb. 28 after meeting with Congress that Russian forces used a vacuum bomb.

"They should pay, they should pay a heavy price," she said at the time.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said on March 2 that Russia has moved vacuum bombs into Ukraine, accusing Putin of increasing "the brutality of its campaign against" the country.

"We have seen videos of Russian forces moving exceptionally lethal weaponry into Ukraine," she said in remarks at the UN. "That includes cluster munitions and vacuum bombs – which are banned under the Geneva Convention."



Human Rights Watch explains that vacuum bombs are "prone to indiscriminate use" due to their large blast radius.

"In urban settings it is very difficult to limit the effect of enhanced blast weapons to combatants, and the nature of enhanced blast weapons makes it virtually impossible for civilians to take shelter from their destructive effect," the organization said.

Vacuum bombs, or fuel-air explosives, were developed by the United States in the 1960s for use in Vietnam, according to the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation.

Russia used vacuum bombs in Chechnya in the 1990s and more recently during the Syrian civil war.



White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said last week that if Russia is using vacuum bombs, "it would potentially be a war crime."

International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan is investigating potential war crimes by Russia in Ukraine from 2013 to the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

[DemonGeminiX]

They are so full of shit.

[Muddy]

This is their "justification to invade Iraq", like we had.

[DemonGeminiX]

This is their "justification to invade Iraq", like we had.

Actually, their original justification was that Ukraine was run by Nazis and they were murdering Russians in the country... but Zelenskyy is actually Jewish, and the only Ukrainian Russians that have died are the ones Russia's murdered themselves in this invasion.

[Muddy]

Actually, their original justification was that Ukraine was run by Nazis and they were murdering Russians in the country... but Zelenskyy is actually Jewish, and the only Ukrainian Russians that have died are the ones Russia's murdered themselves in this invasion.

Agreed.. Just sayin' that's what they are currently feeding their people so they can have the warm and fuzzies about what they are doing..

[lost in melb.]

Agreed.. Just sayin' that's what they are currently feeding their people so they can have the warm and fuzzies about what they are doing..

Liberating the poor Ukrainians from genocidal Nazis and weapons of mass destruction

[lost in melb.]

Magnitude of sanctions ‘a classic red flag’: Ray Dalio

Washington| Western investors are raising the risk of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin using nuclear weapons, following powerful sanctions imposed on Russia that have smashed the rouble and wreaked havoc on the country’s financial system.

Billionaire investor and hedge fund manager Ray Dalio spoke of concerns earlier this week of Russia resorting to nuclear weapons, while a new analysis by BCA Research put the chance of them being used in the next 12 months at 10 per cent.....

https://www.afr.com/world/north-amer...DsqSgELg%3D%3D

[Teh One Who Knocks]

While Putin is a narcissist and probably a bit on the psychotic side, I doubt he is stupid enough to use nuclear weapons. And I'm pretty sure he would never launch against a NATO country because while he would inflict some horrific damage, it would also mean the end of him and Russia because every Western nuclear power would retaliate in kind and completely wipe out Russia.

[Godfather]

I hope not. If he does, I hope I just go in the initial blast. Not interested in nuclear famine and all that shit.

[Godfather]

Turn on translations... Russian General is saying the US is training migratory birds to carry bacteriological weapons into Russia

[lost in melb.]

[Teh One Who Knocks]

By Dom Calicchio | Fox News




In an interview this week with a German newspaper, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy downplayed the most extreme threats from Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, calling them "a bluff."

Putin notched up his rhetoric as the fighting continued only because "nothing else is working for him," Zelenskyy told the newspaper Die Zeit.

Recent moves by Putin have included the placement of Russia’s nuclear preparedness on "high alert" as Western leaders imposed tough economic sanctions and made what Putin described as "aggressive statements," Die Zeit reported Wednesday. (The newspaper's name in English is "The Time.")

Previously, Putin had claimed that any attempts by other countries to interfere in the Ukraine invasion would result in "consequences you have never seen," PBS reported.

But Zelenskyy voiced skepticism about Putin’s threats, the German report said.

"I think that the threat of nuclear war is a bluff," Zelenskyy told the newspaper, according to Business Insider. "It’s one thing to be a murderer, it’s another to commit suicide."

He continued: "Every use of nuclear weapons means the end for all sides, not just for the person using them.

"Putin’s threat shows a weakness," he added. "You only threaten the use of nuclear weapons when nothing else is working. I am sure that Russia is aware of the catastrophic consequences of any attempt to use nuclear weapons."

Putin is said to have grown frustrated as Ukrainian forces and civilians have put up a fight against the Russian military. The Russian forces have struggled, for example, in their efforts to capture Kyiv, the capital, which remained in Ukrainian control two weeks after the Russians invaded the country.



NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg also blasted Putin’s "high alert" order as part of the Russian leader’s "dangerous rhetoric," the report said.

Putin has drawn condemnation from leaders throughout the world for military actions in Ukraine that have included a deadly airstrike on a hospital earlier this week.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine entered its third week Thursday after getting underway Feb. 24. Russian forces have invaded regions in the north, east and south of the country, forcing more than 2 million Ukrainians to leave their homes, either to shelters inside Ukraine or to refugee sites in Poland or other countries.