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[Quarque]

Plausible conspiracy theory: Yeltsin didn't "choose" Putin as his successor, he was blackmailed.

[Strongpoint]

I am about two or three steps away from thinking Putin is the Antichrist.

He is Khuilo and he should retain this title in history. Calling him Antichrist is flattering him.

Also, Antichrist is meant to be loved by humanity, this is clearly not the case. Even Russian imperialists and neo-nazi despise this creature (for different reasons than you and I.) Putin is loved only by truly brainless people

[Starver]

I would be charitable if I said I believed it was a pure error. The buildings in Kiev that got targetted, apparently not too far away from some actual war-related place (chemical plant? - not that the actual striking of one of those is going to be too brilliant[1]) and the shopping mall that is much further away from the front-lines could be similarly not too much more distant from something 'legitimate' - with heavy-duty use of quotes there in a generally illegitimately created conflict - that should have been the recipient of the strike.

Or Russia just did as the US did in Yugoslavia (and in countless other cases) and precisely hit an imprecisely identified target (this time it wasn't a Chinese Embassy/whatever, though).

But these are just excuses. Every possible interpretation puts Russia (and/or those directly responsible within Russia) in a bad light, just various different hues of that light. Incompetance, carelessness, psychpathy, etc... If they choose to say anything about it (internally or externally), they will of course choose whichever version they can best spin. "There were International Mercenaries training there, in secret" or "Ukraine got a lucky interception onto our missile, which then fell onto their own mall" or something. So far, I've not heard of anything they said, so maybe it'll just be silence (publically, at least).


[1] We've seen what happens with actual chemical-plant incidents, and yesterday there was that single shipping-container of Chlorine apparently dropped in that Jordanian port..

[martinuzz]

If they choose to say anything about it (internally or externally), they will of course choose whichever version they can best spin. "There were International Mercenaries training there, in secret" or "Ukraine got a lucky interception onto our missile, which then fell onto their own mall" or something. So far, I've not heard of anything they said, so maybe it'll just be silence (publically, at least).

The Russian ministry of Defense told the Russian press agency RIA that the missile targeted a 'storage for Western weapons' near the mall, hit that, and that the subsequent fires destroyed the 'abandoned' mall

https://www.volkskrant.nl/nieuws-achtergrond/g7-verzekert-oekraine-van-steun-en-wil-oorlogsmachine-poetin-hard-raken-vrouw-en-dochter-biden-op-russische-sanctielijst~bdee0d5a/

Rusland: raketaanval Krementsjoek was gericht op wapenopslag

Rusland ontkent dat het een raketaanval op een winkelcentrum in Krementsjoek heeft uitgevoerd. Het ministerie van Defensie zegt tegenover het Russische persbureau RIA dat de aanvallen waren gericht op een nabijgelegen opslagplaats voor ‘westerse’ wapens. De explosies zouden vervolgens een brand hebben veroorzaakt die het ‘verlaten’ winkelcentrum in de as legde. De berichtgeving kon niet onafhankelijk worden geverifieerd.

Kyiv beschuldigt Rusland van het doelbewust uitvoeren van aanvallen op burgerdoelen. Behalve in Krementsjoek werden in de afgelopen dagen ook burgers gedood in Kyiv, Charkiv en Lysytsjansk. De leiders van de G7, de groep van vooraanstaande democratische industrielanden die momenteel bijeen zijn in Duitsland spraken al van een ‘oorlogsmisdaad’. De VN-veiligheidsraad heeft voor vanavond een spoedvergadering belegd.

In het winkelcentrum in Krementsjoek kwamen gisteren ten minste 18 mensen om het leven. Tientallen mensen worden nog vermist.

[MaxTheFox]

Plausible conspiracy theory: Yeltsin didn't "choose" Putin as his successor, he was blackmailed.

Yeltsin was pretty terrible in general. He may have a good reputation in the West, but he was a terrible leader.

Also, Antichrist is meant to be loved by humanity, this is clearly not the case. Even Russian imperialists and neo-nazi despise this creature (for different reasons than you and I.) Putin is loved only by truly brainless people

Yeah, that's my main reason for not truly believing that.

[Strongpoint]

Yeltsin was pretty terrible in general. He may have a good reputation in the West, but he was a terrible leader.

And a War Criminal. If the world didn't choose to ignore the war crimes of the 1st Chechen war and sanctioned Russia then, the world would be so much better now.

[Lord Shonus]

I'm seeing reports that the mall strike was a pair of Kh-22 (AS-4 'Kitchen') anti-ship missiles operating in the secondary land-attack role. Which would explain a great deal. The AS-4 doesn't use satellite or inertial guidance to hit specific coordinates - it is primarily a shipkiller missile that targets based on radar returns once it reaches the general area it is launched into. On land, the intended use is relatively isolated "bright" targets (ones that have prominent radar returns) such as bridges and power plants, or else "anything we hit in this area is good" targets such as airfields, supply depots, or basing facilities.

Against a city, they might as well be addressed with "to whom it may concern", and it is little surprise that the brightest radar return was a shopping mall. With a weapon of this sort, targeting a specific building is effectively impossible.

[nenjin]

Still begs the question what they thought they were shooting at.

[Lord Shonus]

Either they were shooting at a "nearby" car factory that may have also been hit, or they were using WWII standards and simply shooting at "Кременчу́к".

[Il Palazzo]

BBC has some maps with the reported hit spots. Looks like the plant was the target. One near-miss, one near-hit. Shit precision.
I can't figure out what plant that is on the google maps. Is it the 'road machinery' one?

[EuchreJack]

Spoiler: inappropriate joke from your OP, that should know better... (click to show/hide)

...I feel like the Ukrainians should grant Ukrainian citizenship to all the invading Russian forces, so that the Russian soldiers would be forced to kill themselves.

[brewer bob]

Quoting myself from the news thread:

So, I guess Erdogan finally decided to allow Sweden and Finland to join Nato

Apparently we're lifting the arms embargo and taking measures against Kurdish "terrorists". It's probably too early to say anything, but I'm getting really concerned about what'll happen to our Kurdish population.

In case if someone is wondering who are these "PKK terrorists" that Erdogan wants to be extradited, here's some examples:

13 years ago several Kurdish youth (aged 16-21 at that time) decided to light the door of the Turkish Embassy on fire after an evening in a bar. No one was injured, and the youth were convicted of arson. Most of them are now Finnish citizens after SUPO (The Finnish Security and Intelligence Service) interviewed them. Now Turkey wants them extradited.

Another "terrorist" is someone who allegedly insulted Erdogan at some point. He too is requested to be extradited.

There's probably connections to PKK with some of those who Erdogan wants extradited (12 in total, I think), but that doesn't really say much about whether they're terrorists or not. But if they were, I'm pretty sure they would've been deported already.

[scriver]

Extremely disappointing.

[EuchreJack]

If we're only talking about 12 people, I would think they could "mysteriously relocate" prior to the agreement beginning.
But it sucks those people have to move.

[Strongpoint]

A large POW exchange happened today. 144 Ukrainian soldiers (notably, 44 are from the Azov regiment) for 144 Russian. Many of those are seriously wounded and war is over for them.

The radical Russian segment of the internet is NOT HAPPY about that.