Ukraine accuses Russia of firing at Belarusian village from Ukrainian air space
Ukraine has accused Russian aircraft of firing at a Belarusian settlement near the border from Ukrainian air space in an attempt to drag Belarus into the war in Ukraine.The Ukrainian air force said that at 2.30pm local time (12.30pm GMT), the state border service received information that Russian aircraft had taken off from an airfield in Belarus, crossed into Ukrainian air space and then fired at Kopani, a village in Belarus, reports Reuters.
âThis is a PROVOCATION! The goal is to involve the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus in the war with Ukraine!,â Ukraineâs Air Force Command said in an online statement.
The Ukrainian military said that two other Belarusian settlements were also targeted in the operation.
âWe officially declare: the Ukrainian military has not planned and does not plan to take any aggressive action against the Republic of Belarus,â the security service said.
I hope this is true. If Putin has started eating his own it might inspire the others to join up and depose him before theyâre put on the menu.
Not that theyâll be much better or necessarily stop the war, but they might be more open to good-faith peace talks.
https://twitter.com/dansabbagh/status/1502301326683873280?ref_src=twsrc^tfw|twcamp^tweetembed|twterm^1502301326683873280|twgr^|twcon^s1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fworld%2Flive%2F2022%2Fmar%2F11%2Frussia-ukraine-war-latest-news-we-are-dealing-with-a-terrorist-state-says-zelenskiy-biden-plans-fresh-russian-trade-crackdown-live
https://twitter.com/dansabbagh/status/1502302155222523913
As I recall, one of those generals was killed while he was at the head of the convoy, haranguing his troops to get moving and making himself a target in the process.
This is a result of Russia not having a tradition of having Non-commisioned officers. They are very officer heavy. They have only been building an NCO corps since 2008.
For example in the US army a squad leader is usually a staff sergeant (E6), a platoon leader is a lieutenant (O-1) who is assisted by a Platoon sergeant (E7), and a company commanded by a Captain (O-3) assisted by a First Sergeant (E8). Some companies rate a Major (O-4) as a commander but those are the exception.
By comparison in the russian army the squad leader is the equivelant of a captain (O-3) and the platoon leader is the equivalent of a major (O-4). The company commander is the equivelant of a Lieutenant Colonel (O-5).
This places a lot of what would be considered senior officers in more direct combat roles.
That sounds odd to me. Do you have a reference for it?
ETA: @NukeML
"But PAAAPAAAAA I want to 'gram! Canât you call Mr Putin and tell him to stop it? I want to TikTok NOW!â
Of course banning these social media outlets means the average Russian T**** will be off of them too - but will the state sponsored t***** still have access and be shit posting about Ukraine and all the other shit?
Shit, that is a steal. There was a cold war defector who brought a then mythical MiG-25 Foxbat, a Mach 2.8 interceptor that was torn apart and studied.
Viktor Belenko
I read that too. Historically Sniper targeted officers when possible. One might remember in Forrest Gump when he first gets to Vietnam and salutes the Lt. Dan he was told never to do that.
Putin appears to be truly unhappy with the FSB in Ukraine: he attacked the 5 Service SOiMS (FSBâs foreign Intelligence branch). Sergei Beseda, head of the Service, and his deputy Bolukh, head of the DOI, placed under house arrest, according to my sources inside.
This makes me think of CGP Greyâs Rules for Rulers. Any ruler has others he has to work with/control who have keys to power. And if he loses control of enough of themâŚ
The scuttlebutt from the open source intelligence people, and some of those retired generals the news loves to talk to is that with their communications borked and general disorganization. The officers canât really control things from behind the lines.
So they have to go to the front, or walk into problems just to know whatâs going on. Where theyâre being targeted by the same Ukrainian special forces units running the stinger and javelin attacks that are causing the problems.
So I donât think itâs just major generals getting clipped.
Holy crap, I finally read all of that. Wow. I canât believe tank armor and body armor is just stuffed with cardboard. When you order your military supplies off of Wish.
Wows.
What is funny is the US and NATO has been in the process of upgrading small arms to combat the use of body armor for a near peer conflict. I wonder how prevalent the use of fake armor is in the Russian army.
This is a WiKi article about the 2008 reforms which created an NCO corps. I remember distinctly because Russian officers were visiting the various NCO academies in the US in the 2012 timeframe. I was at one course at Fort Leonard Wood then and we frequently had Russian observers.
One of my professors in college, who was also a former Captain in the army during the Cold War, said was that the easiest way to render a fighting force ineffective was to take out as many Captains and Majors as possible. Generals are big picture thinkers, and Lieutenants specialize in small actions, but if you take out the middle, strategic orders canât really get acted upon.
Serdyukov is not the guy who was sacked because it was too good at detecting the corruption and ineficiencies of the army, and subsequently was framed, sacked uncerimoniously and replaced by the baffoon that let soldiers equip wish-quality walkies, vests and rations?
That would explain many things about why this reform has not been fully implemented.
I am sorry, but that doesnât list the commanders for different units. Do you have a reference that backs your statement? With the Russian Army having three different ranks of lieutenants, I find it very hard to believe that a captain would be in charge of a squad.
a plot to spread biological weapons with migratory birds, bats and insects.
Do these people hear themselves talking?
