quote:

Presidential awards

The distinction of "Honorary Weapon" is awarded by the president. The specific weapon is a 9-mm caliber Fort-21.02 pistol with 16 bullets. The body pistol is made of structural steel, with the handle is made of noble wood. The name of the awardee is engraved on the plate. This distinction was established in 1995 under the President Leonid Kuchma, who himself has awarded the most pistols, numbering at 85. From 1995 to 2018, the Presidents have issued honorary weapons to 152 persons. Since 2019, no one has been awarded an honorary weapon

the popes toes posted:

shameful humans walk among us

https://twitter.com/AdamKinzinger/status/1499128664826523651

Jordan7hm posted:

Some Russians displaying extraordinary courage even just speaking publicly right now.

Majorian posted:

He lives in the UK; he's gonna be fine.

Sir John Falstaff posted:

Uh, I think there are a few examples of that not being fine.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poisoning_of_Sergei_and_Yulia_Skripal
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poisoning_of_Alexander_Litvinenko

nurmie posted:

You never know when a bunch of GRU goons sports equipment salesmen will decide to visit the famous Salisbury cathedral to admire its tremendous spire again.

KitConstantine posted:

Odesa sea attack appears to be off the table for a few more days
https://twitter.com/sentdefender/status/1499993801238396930?t=lHBv5zTQM85I7a8_X-rxTQ&s=19
https://twitter.com/sentdefender/status/1499998074176950275?t=aP3DmrNhg8MdfOd0CXnUGg&s=19

I think the navy isn't as committed to Putin's war as he could hope

Sekenr posted:

Everybody gets confused by meteorites mention. What he meant was that they are sometimes asked to analyze a theoretically possible but unlikely scenarios (think alien invasion), so they kinda half rear end it in favour of real work. So when they were doing Ukraine war analysis they thought there will be no harm in making it pretty to please superiors and are now blamed that analysis sucks.

Xerxes17 posted:

lmao you're quoting from sputniknews you absolute deadshit.

cinci zoo sniper posted:

My favourite oblast of Russia, Syria.

https://twitter.com/ilvestoomas/status/1500602398045315075

Rah! posted:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R-36_(missile)#R-36M_(SS-18)

Cocaine Bear posted:

We will give you your track suits if every oligarch sends 3 pigeons or sparrows to Kiev.

quote:

Olga [of Kyiv] answered that the murder of the messengers sent to Kiev, as well as the events of the feast night, had been enough for her. She then asked them for a small request: "Give me three pigeons...and three sparrows from each house." The Drevlians rejoiced at the prospect of the siege ending for so small a price, and did as she asked.

Olga then instructed her army to attach a piece of sulphur bound with small pieces of cloth to each bird. At nightfall, Olga told her soldiers to set the pieces aflame and release the birds. They returned to their nests within the city, which subsequently set the city ablaze. As the Primary Chronicle tells it: "There was not a house that was not consumed, and it was impossible to extinguish the flames, because all the houses caught fire at once." As the people fled the burning city, Olga ordered her soldiers to catch them, killing some of them and giving the others as slaves to her followers. She left the remnant to pay tribute.

TulliusCicero posted:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLdgM8VQu7I
*Meanwhile, near Vladivostok...*

DTurtle posted:

Very interesting article about a battle two weeks ago. Note that battle took place in a town roughly 90 km northwest of Mykolaiv, outside of which the current Russian front line runs.

A mixture of locals, territorial defense units, and regular army stopped the Russian advance in that first week. The article has some details

https://twitter.com/yarotrof/status/1504124755376549897
(quoted because of paywall)

quote:

The Russian assault began with missile strikes and shelling that hit central Voznesensk, destroying the municipal swimming pool and damaging high-rises.

Big Mean Jerk posted:

Hunter Biden is weaponizing Ukrainian bees!

wet_goods posted:

Need a new thread title

Risky Bisquick posted:

https://mobile.twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1514400875401392132

Nenonen posted:

Ukraine's coastal defense HQ earlier tonight:
https://youtu.be/i0xOSxgs6w8

quote:

Moscow
But who really knows you
Who knows there's a fire burning
In you so hot
Cossacks hey hey hey raise your glasses (hey, hey)

Dick Ripple posted:

How many sailors are usually on the Moskva?

Risky Bisquick posted:

could be true? Looks like the right ship.

Moskva

Doccers posted:

Not only Odessa, but also Mykolaiv, where the Moskva was built!

Chalks posted:

More confirmation that the order from Putin not to storm Azovstal was either misdirection or is being ignored by the army:

https://twitter.com/Podolyak_M/status/1518135228866473987

Adviser to the Office of President of Ukraine Podolyak posted:

(2/2) I suggest the Russian Federation to think about the remnants of reputation. This requires only three "Mariupol steps".
1. Declare a real Easter truce over Mariupol.
2. Immediately provide a rubber corridor for civilians.
3. Agree on a "special round of negotiations" so that we can pick up / exchange soldiers

Nenonen posted:

gum in "gumkoridor" is short for humanitarian (gumanitarskii), not rubber corridor...

peter gabriel posted:

Deteriorata posted:

Another dawn is breaking in Kyiv, and it's still Ukrainian.



(Very few webcams are active in Kyiv, probably due to OPSEC, so I'm going to start adding dawn pictures from elsewhere in Ukraine)


Coke plant, Kharkiv

KitConstantine posted:

Really good article in the New Yorker, ostesibly about the occupation of Melitopol but it touches on the whole southern occupied portion of Ukraine. Based on interviews with people who escaped Melitopol and the mayor who was kidnapped then released.

:snip:

It's long but I highly recommend reading it. It gives a picture of how the Russians are handling the occupation, and what kind of things they do even in cities that surrendered without a fight.

One gem:

quote:

...She had adopted a nickname for the armored vehicles that Russian soldiers drove around town, often with a big letter “Z”—the symbol of the Russian invasion—painted on the side: zalupa mashiny, or “dickhead mobiles.”

Humphreys posted:

RIP Vilerat. I can't remember if it was a dream or a memory, but I have the audio in my head him saying there's gunshots outside the room and went to investigate never to return.

Alan Smithee posted:

can someone drop agent orange on this fucker already

cinci zoo sniper posted:

It might be the “boil the frog strategy”. Announce 4 HIMARS systems shipped, sit out the Russian meltdown, quietly fly in another 40. What’s Russian going to melt down about then, that there’s more of the thing?

Edit:

Hot on the heels of this, Predator drones with Hellfire missiles for Ukraine.

https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/exclusive-us-plans-sell-armed-drones-ukraine-coming-days-sources-2022-06-01/

FishBulbia posted:

Edgar Allen Ho posted:

If majority russian areas that weren't historically russian as of the 15th century don't count as Russia I have bad news for North America

Herstory Begins Now posted:

Certainly looks like something guided, but also the footage is all edited very precisely to make sure you can't see any incoming projectile/munition

god please help me posted:

what the gently caress is going with the avatars in this thread

TheDeadlyShoe posted:

Brimstones can be fired from Reapers (aka second generation Predators). Adjusting Grey Eagles to fire Brimstones might involve some modifications, but it seems like a solved problem. They're about the same weight as a Hellfire and everything is designed to use NATO rails.

Nenonen posted:

Wrt using old tanks, the situation is not dire when you see T-62's in Ukraine. The situation is DIRE when you start seeing the new T-14 Armata at the front!

Fritz the Horse posted:

This thread has many European goons and plenty from Eastern Europe...

Charlotte Hornets posted:

Losses of DNR during this conflict according to info published by DNR ombudsman.



2057 dead
8526 wounded
10583 total losses of the above, that is ~50% of the pre-war DNR army (20k).

Charlotte Hornets posted:

Second column is just daily average for the week

Shes Not Impressed posted:

https://twitter.com/KyivIndependent/status/1539255682947502085?s=20&t=BIDFBkF8ztjfdS11h2m9yg

Kraftwerk posted:

What's the strategic value of Snake Island anyway?

cinci zoo sniper posted:

Yeah, it’s just 35km away from the shore.

Chill Monster posted:

Also I have no idea if China or India even manufactures soviet-compatible artillery, but maybe someone else does.

Hannibal Rex posted:

Some 2-3 weeks back, there was a separatist account that they were running out of 122mm ammo for the artillery pieces Russia gave them, as it's no longer producing shells for those. They had to be reequipped and retrained on old 152mm pieces from stockpiles.

KitConstantine posted:

Map time!
Today's article: https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-june-26

quote:

...
The Kremlin continues to manipulate Russian legislation to carry out “covert mobilization” to support operations in Ukraine without conducting full mobilization. The Russian State Duma announced plans to review an amendment to the law on military service on June 28 that would allow military officials to offer contracts to young men immediately upon “coming of age” or graduating high school, thus circumventing the need to complete military service as conscripts.
...
Key Takeaways

- Russian forces conducted a missile strike against Kyiv for the first time since April 29, likely to coincide with the ongoing G7 leadership summit.

KitConstantine posted:

I don't think I saw this posted yet - somehow the verbatim transcript of a call between Macron and Putin 4 days before the war was leaked, and a french outlet printed it all

A few selections:

quote:

Discussion of Minsk accords and the sepratists attempting to dictate policy to the Ukrainian government

Emmanuel Macron:
Me, I just look at the texts and I try to apply them! And I don't know what jurist will be able to tell you that in a sovereign country, the texts of laws are proposed by separatist groups and not by the democratically elected authorities.

Vladimir Poutine:

(Firm and annoyed tone) This is not a democratically elected government. They came to power in a coup, there were people burned alive, it was a bloodbath and Zelensky is one of those responsible.

orcane posted:

Is Turkey still operating those S-400 systems? I know part of buying them was as a "gently caress you" to their NATO partners because Erdogan strong!, but I wonder how much they value them now.

Trade them for Patriots and send them to Ukraine with the next batch of TB2s already.

cinci zoo sniper posted:

The best we know is they are. I reckon they may be having some second thoughts about it now.

mawarannahr posted:

Yes, they were delivered. I didn’t know this off the top of my head but I just looked it up by a web search (I use ) and Reuters says it’s true.

https://www.routers.com/article/us-turkey-security-usa-defense-russia/turkey-says-delivery-of-second-s-400-battery-complete-idUSKBN1W00AQ

cinci zoo sniper posted:

I meant that they’re still in Turkish arsenal.

I wish they were traded to Ukraine for Patriot replacements, as I’ve posted before, but that’s not something even suggested publicly.

cinci zoo sniper posted:

We’ve briefly touched upon using coastal anti-ship missiles for land bombardment a few months ago, when Russia posted footage of that, but we haven’t discussed Kh-22 in this thread, in the context of mall attack or otherwise.

[Tweet removed as it's in the reply I quote below]

This one sure does look like Kh-22, but I don’t think it’s a veiled threat, despite these being meant to nuke carrier groups or whatever. My speculation is that this was a choice dictated by economy, this being an old design and them having blown through 2500+ long range missiles already, if Ukrainian tally is accurate.

Shifty Pony posted:

Modern outdoor CCTV cameras which are designed for day/night use have very very sensitive image sensors. To keep those sensors from being washed out in bright daylight they used to have a mechanism to move an additional grey filter in the optical path but increasingly they just set the electronic shutter to use extremely short accumulation times (1/5000s or faster, here's a setups guide where the configure one to run 1/4000s indoors) because the electronics to support that are now cheaper than the extra filter. Combined with modern video encoding that makes stuff remarkably sharp in full daylight.

So yeah I can believe that frame is real, albeit extremely lucky since any particular pixel on the sensor is probably only actively capturing light 0.5% of the time or less.