Russia - threadbanned users in OP

And this how generous they have been in their support of Ukraine as a proportion of their own defence spending:

That's not a lot to be giving someone as a proportion of your own spending over 10 years. Or to put it another way: 'We estimated it would have cost us $7.5 trillion to defeat the Orcs, so that's how much we spent on ourselves this past decade - here's $42 billion, now run along and defeat our greatest enemy since the end of WW2 with 0.6% of our ten year defence expenditure, there's a good lad.

Another way to view it. Although it's more to show how much Eastern Europe view the threat of Russia and how much I'd love to visit Estonia

It's March

No one here claimed that amount of damge, they just quoted the claim by the partisans. Why do you have to turn everything into a personal attack?

Its has been stated by many that there is a second Russian line behind the frontline that shoot retreating conscripts. We have seen footage of young Russian conscripts being forcably removed from thier homes, the majority of the conscripts dont want to fight. 

So when those same conscripts die, by the hands of either side, you don't think that is tragic ? 

Loss of human life anywhere is tragic, but if the only good Russian is a dead Russian, how do we see this conflict ending ? 

Russia must be forced from Ukraine, but without a golden bridge and increase from the current drip feed of military support how can peace be achieved long term ?

There are so many !

Are you saying you have never made one, or you don't know which one the OP is talking about ?

That photo must have been taken on a monday morning

@SlowBlowin I've zero sympathy or empathy for the Russian soldiers, conscripts, professionals , mercenaries,

I'm absolute geek when it comes to the history of warfare and normally I've respect for anyone who's served or is serving in the military even one of two on here I've clashed with, but In the case of the Russians Ive nothing,

But I do believe this war should never have happened in the first place,I'm following this 9 years and it should have been stopped on 2014 ,and now the only choice is war until either Russia withdraws or they are completely forced out,but that cannot and will not happen unless the Ukrainans are backed to the hilt ,not this drip feeding of weapons,they need 100 HiMars and GLSDBs , they need aircraft to give close air support,that can be jets or modern attack helicopters and drones equipped with standoff weapons,

Tanks are taking too long by the time any real number of western tanks are in place Russia could be able to counter those tanks ,

I honestly can't see any kind of negotiating with putin he's always broken treatys with ukraine and we've been through two mink's agreements which were broken by Russians trying to redraw the lines, we've seen similar again in south Ossetia in Georgia,a particular line was agreed to end that conflict, every few years the Russian military arrives and moves the fences further into Georgian territory.

So how can you negotiate anything if the Russians Keep changing the rules in their favor,

Russia wants ukraine gone and that not going to change,so either we sit back and say sorry it was nice knowing you's or we say we're all going in and this ends tomorrow.

But there's no appetite for that either.

The orcs have went to a very deliberate effort to make it look like the plane is ok by releasing a video like that.

Reminds me of the time when they opened the Kerch Bridge for a day to traffic the day after it was blown. Just a flesh wound they said, bridge would be fully reopen after a few days.

Everything putler and the orcs do in the media is for show. Could very well be that this is more theater to appease the internal audience.

As your a self confessed military geek can I ask do you believe effective flux compression weapons exist ?

I know both Russia and the US have been working on them for decades but I don't know if they are in any current arsenals. India has boasted that they have developed them and India is a Russian ally.

It seems to me that this conflict would be perfect for Russia to use them, given the use of starlink, drones and the supply of superior intelligence from the western allies.

I know its taken seriously as one of the last jobs I did before I retired was an installation (camera related) in the UKs drone operations center, located at a civilian UK international airport. The control rooms were inside a huge Faraday cage, I was told the cage was the most expensive component aside from the drones. 

The American Navy had planned to put rail guns on the Zumwalt class destroyers and then they were going with a different gun system which was too expensive to shoot and now going with hypersonic missiles instead,for something that was being developed back in the 50s we've not seen so much progress on flux compression weapons,the US Navys rail guns was the most promising system that looks like it was to be fielded,but that seems to have been knocked on the head for the time being,the new buzz is around directed energy weapons, they have seen some advances from the modified 747 which was armed with a proper active system which was used to shoot down other airborne targets but that was retired and is currently getting ready to be installed as a museum piece,

We're back to hypersonic missiles again something that the US fell behind in but they already have several hypersonic aircraft so it's not like they have zero experience with and it looks like several companies from Lockheed Martin, Boeing and others already have developed and tested hypersonic missiles,

While suggesting several future aircraft will carry directed energy weapons,

It's interesting times for weapons developments

Crazy conclusion at the end, but riveting until then. Is this part of the times are desperate, we need desperate measures theme that seems to be in play at the moment?

It's gas all of a sudden bellincat are no longer reliable because they didn't jump on the bandwagon when it came to a story in Belarus,

I doubt the Ukrainans signed off on this adventure into Russia by known separatists wearing clean and shiny fatigues