I remember seeing a video like this of Russians in Afghanistan in the early days of the internet and being like holy shit what am I watching. Now I see stuff like this every day and worse. Its crazy how wars are just televised now
google street view in Russia is always fascinating (to me, at least). That refinery complex that Ukraine droned in Ryazan is massive... but man, some of those buildings look like they've already been bombed (think most of the street view footage is from 2021) edit: lol, raw asbestos just falling off of these (presumably HPS) lines right at the entrance to the refinery
Putin laying the groundwork to go scorched earth on Ukraine. ETA: Putin will still use this internally in Russia to legitimize the mobilization that was announced earlier this week, however ISIS claiming this alongside the very detailed public warning the U.S. gave two day ago (that I had not seen) and apparently the detailed intel the U.S. shared with Russia about an impending attack should provide some fact based rebuttal to Putin trying to lay this at the feet of Ukraine on the international stage.
Another Chapter in Glorious History of Russian Navy! This may have gotten overlooked by the mass terror attack near Moscow yesterday, but it’s definitely a story in the proud tradition of the Russian Navy worth bringing some attention to. As first reported in the Kyiv Independent on March 21 and subsequently picked up by a number of other European and US media sources, the unfortunate Russian fishing trawler Captain Lobanov was initially thought to have been sunk in a “friendly fire” incident off Kaliningrad during naval exercises conducted by the Russian Baltic Fleet on March 19. The Daily Mail seems to have the most comprehensive coverage of this tragic farce and its subsequent attempted coverup by Russian authorities: Spoiler Russia has accidentally destroyed its own fishing trawler in the Baltic Sea in a shocking friendly fire incident amid botched war games. The fishing vessel - named the Captain Lobanov - is seen trailing smoke after suffering a missile attack off the coast of Russia's exclave Kaliningrad. There was an apparent attempt to cover up the acutely embarrassing blunder by Vladimir Putin's Baltic Fleet with initial reports saying there was an unexplained 'explosion and fire' on the trawler. Three were killed and four wounded in the suspected Iskander-M missile strike, with the stricken seamen able to escape on a lifeboat. … The captain's cabin was completely destroyed in the strike, with this ship suffering considerable damage. Earlier reports suggested the vessel had sunk but the wreck was towed into harbour following the incident on Tuesday when war games were underway in the Baltic. Survivors are in now recovering in hospitals in the Kaliningrad region, though one is said to be in a serious condition. The wounded were allegedly interrogated by FSB security service officers, and ordered 'not to talk about the incident'. Now the Russian Navy has never really been noted for its nautical efficiency or excellence, and 120 years ago an earlier version of the Russian Baltic Fleet sailed into immortality with its spectacularly ill-fated voyage half-way around the world to try and avenge the loss of Imperial Russia’s Eastern (Pacific) Fleet at Port Arthur (now Dalian Lushan in NE China) to a Japanese surprise attack that marked the start of their 1904-05 war — only to be utterly annihilated at the Battle of Tsushima over a year later that brought the war to an end. There are a couple of excellent videos on this nearly unbelievable exercise in sheer incompetence and misplaced hubris on youtube: Mad Dog (In 80 Blunders Around the World — The Russian Baltic Fleet by how is toast — hilarious history), and Worst Navy — The Dumbest Russian Voyage Nobody Talks About by Blue Jay. It seems attacking innocent fishing boats (even their own!) has a long and hallowed history in the Russian Navy