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[heydude6]

Supposedly, lend-lease was what allowed Russia to beat Hitler during Stalingrad. so yes, I would say that's major. I've been hearing some other hopeful news lately, which is a nice contrast to the doomerism I was previously engaging in, in the emotion thread. That's enough emotions now though.

[brewer bob]

According to der Spiegel, Germany's Foreign Intelligence service claims to have intercepted Russian radio communications where Russians discuss the killing of civilians in Bucha.

Also, a video apparently shows Ukrainian troops killing captured Russian soldiers, claims the New York Times.

[Flying Teasets]

The UN has voted to suspend Russia from the Human Rights Council: https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/04/1115782 Russia announced it was quitting anyway after the vote was called.

[nenjin]

"We'll start our own Human Rights Council! With blackjack and torture!"

[EuchreJack]

Ok, please try to refrain from reacting in this thread.
Serious mode....engage.

[martinuzz]

Nobel Prize winner and chief editor of the now banned independent Russian newspaper Novaja Gazeta, Dmitri Moeratov, has been attacked while travelling in a Moscow train.
An unknown person threw a mixture containing red paint over him.
On Twitter, he says that "they threw oil paint on thinner basis through the train wagon. My eyes burned agonizingly".
The people who did this yelled "Moeratov, this is for our boys".

Today, Novaja Gazeta announced that they will continue their journalism with a new newspaper based in Europe, Novaja Gazeta Europe.


I really hope it was just paint, and we're not going to see a death by poison gas or radiation sickness obituary soon.


EDIT: in other news, Pink Floyd came back together for the first time in 8 years to record a new song for Ukraine.
'Hey, Hey, Rise Up' is written in support of Ukraine and it's inhabitants.
It contains singing from Boombox' singer Andrij Khlyvnyuk, from a protest song he sang when Kyiv was attacked by Russia.
Khlyvnyuk is in hospital, recovering from being hit by a bomb fragment.

[anewaname]

On the lend lease that passed in the US Senate, it is called the "Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022" and it states "LOAN AND LEASE OF DEFENSE ARTICLES TO THE GOVERNMENTS OF UKRAINE AND EASTERN FLANK COUNTRIES.", so it is potentially not just for the Ukraine.

It looks like it passed the Congress too and only needs Biden's signature but don't quote me on this, I'm just looking at this.

[martinuzz]

British Fox reporter Benjamin Hall, who survived an attack in Ukraine, while his two colleagues, Pierre Zakrzewski and Oleksandra Koevsjynova were killed, shared the first news about his condition since the incident (march 14).
He has lost half of one of his legs. His other leg's foot is missing. His hand underwent reconstructive surgery, one of his eyes is blind and his hearing is severly damaged. But at least, he is still alive.

[Starver]

Russia admits 'significant' losses, while still maintaining the "fake news" line on anything that makes them look particularly bad (rather than incompetent?)...

Don't have the link at hand, but reports from Ukrainians who were under the thumb of Russian forces near Kiev, until the tide turned, was that the invaders said they expected to only be there "for four days", until they captured Kiev (and... presumably, helpfully provided the 'correct' leadership).

Either it was (what turned out to be) an optimistic estimate by the command[1], or they also lied to their troops. Whoops!



[1] Given the stalled column of vehicles, we all saw, I would suspect this. They were eager to send in a vehicle for every corner, and presumably at some point a Goodwill Parade Of Power with cheering locals and flower-strewing galore to honour the 'rightful' leadership.

[Strongpoint]

Russian army launched a ballistic missile with cluster submunitions on Kramatorsk railway station knowing that there are thousand of people waiting for evacuation, dozens dead, 100+ injured

[Strongpoint]

Russians have abducted 121 000 Ukrainian children according to Ukraine’s ombudswoman

Also, this

[Starver]

Also, this

(Synopsis/copypaste for those that don't want to create a Facebook account?)

[nenjin]

The level of brutality of the army of terrorists and executioners of the Russian Federation knows no bounds - raped children…

A 14-year-old girl was raped by 5 occupying men. She is pregnant now. Bucha.

An 11-year-old boy was raped in front of his mother - she was tied to a chair to watch. Bucha.

A 20-year-old woman, raped by three occupiers in all possible ways at once. Irpen.

There is no place on earth or in hell where racist criminals can hide from retribution!

Rape is strictly prohibited by Article 27 of the 1949 Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War.

I appeal to the UN Commission for Investigation Human Rights Violations during the Russian Military Invasion of Ukraine and the expert mission set up by the OSCE participating States in accordance with the Moscow Mechanism to take into account these facts of Russian war crimes in Ukraine.

The racist occupiers must bear the strictest responsibility!

[brewer bob]

Russia has reorganized its command of the operations in Ukraine, according to BBC.

Spoiler: from BBC live reports (click to show/hide)

Russia has reorganised its military command - Western official

A Western official confirmed Russia had now reorganised the command of its operations in Ukraine with the general now in charge having had extensive experience from Syria.

The forces which invaded on 24 February were organised and commanded separately from the district from which they had come.

“There was really poor coordination across those different commands,” said the official, since Russian forces had never trained to work in this way. The Southern Military District Commander is now in charge of operations to attempt to provide better co-ordination - this is reported to be General Alexander Dvornikov.

“That particular commander has a lot of experience of Russian operations in Syria. So we would expect the overall command and control to improve,” the official said.

In terms of timing, the Western official thought political imperatives might take precedence over military priorities in Russia pushing forward to get some kind of success ahead of 9 May when the country marks victory in World War II. Western officials said they were seeing the piecemeal sending of more forces towards Donbas rather than pausing to allow forces to regroup properly.

“There's a tension between the military logic of getting the force properly set for a reinvigorated Russian operation into the Donbas, potentially using more appropriate tactics and learning some of the lessons from the disastrous operations largely so far, against a political imperative to actually get on with the operation and move quickly,” said the official.

Russia is thought to have slightly fewer than 100 battalion tactical groups available for operations, once they have been reconstituted after current moves. This would be a "substantial" Russian force but the official said Russian tactics have meant that even with numerical advantages they have been held back by smaller numbers of Ukrainian units acting in a far smarter way and with surprise.

“Unless Russia is able to change its tactics, and be far more effective at using all the tools to its advantage, if it fails to do that, then it's very difficult to see how they succeed in even these limited objectives that they've reset themselves, and certainly not at the pace that I think they would hope to do," the official said.

[brewer bob]

The Guardian says Russian casualties are higher than officials admit, and that some soldiers are refusing to fight in Ukraine.