Russian Terrorism Continues

[ichkeria]

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/24/world/europe/russia-kherson-ukraine-shelling.html

This don’t forget was the city that was going to be “Russian forever”
But since its liberation on 11 November has been repeatedly shelled.
Yesterday a 6 year old girl in the city was severely wounded by shrapnel from another blast.
These are civilians Russia presumably would claim are its citizens who voted 97% to be annexed to Moscow.

My only question, not for the first time, is W T F ?

[ynnafymmi]

Didnt Putin take history at school.Napoleon invaded Russia in 1812 promising his troops every thing would be fine and they would be dining on caviare and fine wines for evermore,hundreds and thousands of French troops froze to death.Hitler invaded Russia in 1941,promising his troops that the campaign would be over within six weeks,millions of his followers died in four years.The British-Yanks invasion of Iraq was supposed to last for a few weeks,hundreds of our troops died proving Blair and Bush wrong.Putin invades Ukraine telling his troops it would be all over by June.Hundreds of thousands of his troops who have died has proven him wrong.As we say up here in Scotland-Putin is a total heid-bangin eejit bampot.

[The Builder]

On a previous thread I mentioned "attrition."
I was wrong. Attrition involves some kind of calculated strategy. A regulated approach.

What you highlight here is indiscriminate. It has no strategic or military direction.

In answer to your question Ich....
F knows!

[ichkeria]

It's attrition in that Putin thinks he can wear down the population into some sort of surrender, not to mention outlast the support of the civilised world. At some point the realisation must come that that is not going to happen.

[Rosetta]

All these strikes must be music to Putin's ears, hoping that civil unrest will break the Wests resolve not to cave in, remove sanctions and buy his oil and gas. He has a basic assumption that the west are weak and will give in, I sincerely hope we stay strong and resist his tyranny.

[ynnafymmi]

We didnt give in to a nut-job like Hitler,Rosetta,highly unlikely we will give in to a Hitler loving nut-job like Putin.

[ichkeria]

One of the 10 ten this morning in Kherson city was a man who had come to evacuate his mum to Kyiv.
He burned alive in his car.

[Rosetta]

I agree, ynnafymmi, but I noticed some comments when Pres Zelensky went to meet Pres Biden, that some republicans were becoming less supportive of Ukraine with the cost of sending them arms

[Peter Pedant]

hi Itch
yeah war fatigue is setting in (" if you give up now, all you do is pencil in another fight in a neighbouring country in 2023" is losing power.)
Beeb had a long one about how Zelensky gave the Ukrainian economy to oligarchs...and the Reps for some reason want to decrease the aid to U ( and Z).

oh and one for the war crimes trial post war - -
1902 Treaty of Vereeniging
one of the clauses was - no war crimes trials xc those already started....
what ? the one at the end of the Boer War - yup,
read it

remember that Trump speech to the Poles was:
"I am going to strengthen NATO by withdrawing american troops from the east" (sic)
The Poles stopped cheering

[Peter Pedant]

What you highlight here is indiscriminate. It has no strategic or military direction.
Hi buildy - happry christo

nope - this was a war aim / war strategy from 2014. After Crimea 2014 ( that is ten years!) Putin said to the Russians in the Four provinces - "no electricity no water, no sewers, see how they like that to live under!"
and they did ! - the russian minorities made sure nothing worked there !

excuse me isnt Russia grying to er liberate these areas

well obviously yes ... and no

[ichkeria]

I don't think "war fatigue" is setting in at all Peter.
And as for the Republicans, I think that is overplayed.
Just now darkness and inactivity has in over Ukraine, due to the weather and due to the current terrorist camoaign by Russia against civilian infrastructure, and as usual civilians.
But the bottom line hasn't changed. Russia's military, for all its numbers, is weakening, Ukraine's is strengthening, and it is only a matter of time before the counter offensive regains momentum.
For now russia continues to batter away at Bakhmut, tho signs are it may be preparing for a pause/regroup there, and continues its attempts to counter attack towards the areas it lost in Luhansk and Kharkiv. Indications are that as part of the plan to put russia's faltering economy on a complete war footing, they are planning to sequester all funds of the oligarchs.

[sandyRoe]

I wonder if Putin would have launched an attack if Ukraine had kept its nuclear weapons?

[ichkeria]

He certainly wouldn't if Ukraine had joined NATO. And probably not had Ukraine had nuclear weapons, although that is such an unlikely scenario it interests me less.
The worry might be what will happen to Russia's nuclear weapons if the country breaks up. Opinion is divided on how likely that it.

[Khandro]

Unfortunately this isn't a unique method.

My German wife was a child in wartime Hamburg & was just saying how in 1943 over the course of seven days 'Bomber' Harris oversaw ten thousand tons of bombs being dropped on Hamburg and an estimated 40,000 German civilians were killed, -- just that 7 days alone!

Many bombs dropped on Hamburg were 'Fire-bombs'

'Firebombing is a bombing technique designed to damage a target, generally an urban area, through the use of fire, caused by incendiary devices, ...'


Then there was, Dresden, Bremen, Berlin ........... etc. etc.
He believed & told Churchill it was the only way to end the war.

[ichkeria]

The difference strategically, if not morally, is that war was being won by the Allies.
Russia is losing its war, rather hopelessly. And therefore resorts to terrorism. Plainly it is not going to draw that war to an earlier conclusion by those tactics.