Russia - threadbanned users in OP

More air defense up and running.

This was an impressive hit!

This has been discussed before, but here goes again. If it was possible to implement regime change in Russia, why do you think that it has not been done before now? For sure there has been enough protests from time to time. Putin smashed them all. Now no more protests. Also maybe for the same reason that regime change has not been possible in N Korea, China, Iran etc.?

There is a big problem with the way this war has been framed in both the media and politics.

The key moment was the Russian defeat at Kharkiv. I think that in particular made important people extrapolate that Russia was a lot weaker than what it was and gave politicians an excuse to drag their feet on weapons deliveries. Putin was clearly stung by that defeat and shortly after instituted mobilization and the construction of the massive belt of defences in the occupied regions. We're now in the "oh ****" moment we're it's starting to dawn that the situation isn't as easy for Ukraine as we would have liked. The killing thing is that it would be much less difficult if we had given Ukraine more of what it needed much earlier. Instead we waited for 8 months after Kharkiv and gave Putin time to build up his defence.

We will have to wait and see how things go, but the current situation isn't sustainable. The video today of the Ukrainians storming a trench and killing a few Russians looks cool but it's not something Ukraine are going to be able to do for the hundreds of villages, towns, and cities that are going to need to fall before they can win.

It seems clear to me that we're going to see more precision stand-off weapons sooner rather than later. Storm Shadow, HIMARS, Excalibur, etc. Keep an eye out on forthcoming deliveries. Surely the people in charge know what they are doing this time...

I’ve seen quite a few videos and posts on VK (Russia’s Facebook) against the war and questioning the whole thing. It’s not as oppressive as it’s made out to be. Members of the public have been interviewed on BBC too giving differing opinions on the war. When it gets to the stage or organised rallies that’s generally when the authorities step in

Yes, and in Russia, you will also get a lot of "No Comment", or similar in televised street interviews. Much more than here in the west, where a "no comment" generally means a lack of interest, or just could not be bothered. In Russia, step out of line, and the reaction will be sharp and brutal. The case recently where in a children's school, a teacher overheard a child say that his dad was against the war, and the teacher reported it, result? Father arrested, child taken into care.

Now that's several weeks ago - look if the Russian citizenry at large were opposed to this war, it would stop tomorrow.

But they're not - they are complicit in every way at this stage.

That's like saying every British/American citizen is at fault for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

These helicopters are a problem for Ukraine, but at this loss rate, Russia won't have any left in 6-8 weeks.

Before the war, they had 133 of them.

Oryx says 35 of them have been lost. This does not include the 4 lost in the past few days.

How many of them are operational right now? It could be as low as 40.

Might be more comparable using: German citizens being at fault or complicit in the genocide.

If a Russian was raping, beating and murdering a woman on a Moscow street, would you think it's ok for someone watching to ignore it and not step in or say something?

But it's ok for them to stand back, stay silent when it's a Russian in Ukraine doing the same to Ukrainians?

Iranian women had the guts to try. The Chinese citizens also.

It's a lame excuse, same as the excuse that will be used in the future.... We didn't know what was happening in Ukraine.

Even Russian living abroad, instead of protesting outside the Russian embassy, they decide to hold rallys in support of the war.

Yes I know the excuse... Oh but think of their family back in Russia.

So every US citizen is complicit in the torture of POW's because they didn't publicly denounce thier governments treatment of the POW's?

Is every US citizen guilty because they didn't protest about the Mai Lai massacre?

I'm not sticking up for Putin (may he die a horrible death and soon) but this idiotic tarring of every single Russian citizen because they are not as vocal (anti war) as you would like is beyond ridiculous.

The fact that speaking out against Putin and his war can get you sent to the Gulag also seems to slip your mind.

Are you saying there wasn't widespread protests in the US about the US involvement in the Vietnam war?

Not as vocal? Ah FFS they are not vocal at all.

Only they have the power to change the course of their country. I guaran-****-tee they will play the victim card after all the war crimes have be recorded and prosecuted in court.

Nonsense. There were plenty of protests throughout the Vietnam war in the USA.

As for treatment of POWs, a lot of this was not public but again, there were many protests about Guantanamo etc. Maybe not in the masses, but certainly in pockets and they weren't afraid to call out their government on it. Russians seem to just shrug their shoulders and move on, or worse they actively support the operation.

You've been saying that since May 2022. Yet here we are still.