The Russian Defense Ministry said Monday that 63 Russian soldiers were killed in a Ukrainian rocket strike in the eastern Donestk Oblast in one of the deadliest Ukrainian strikes against Russian troops of the war.
According to Moscow, Ukraine used US-provided HIMARS rocket systems in the attack, which targeted the city of Makeyevka. According to RT, the strike hit a temporary housing facility used by Russian forces in the Donbas.
“The Kiev regime delivered a strike firing six projectiles from the US-made HIMARS multiple rocket launcher on a Russian unit near Makeyevka in the Donetsk People’s Republic. The attack … left 63 Russian service members killed,” the Russian Defense Ministry said, according to the Russian news agency TASS.
The Russian Defense Ministry didn’t say when the strike took place, but Ukraine’s armed forces said it struck a vocational school building housing Russian troops in Makeyevka on Sunday. Ukraine claimed the strike killed 400 Russian soldiers, much higher than the casualties confirmed by Moscow.
Daniil Bezsonov, the information minister for the Donetsk People’s Republic, also said Ukraine struck a vocational school that was housing Russian troops just after midnight on New Year’s Day. “A massive blow was dealt to the vocational school from American MLRS HIMARS,” he wrote on Telegram.
Over dramatization in order to get more arms from the west…!
Maybe? On under counting by the Russians. Who knows?
Doesn’t matter anyway. It’s a meaningless, pinprick attack. No matter the “count.”
both sides are likely lying, 63 then is the minimum possible 400 is the maximum possible the reality somewhere in between. It is bad, the Russian cruiser Moskova went down in bad weather and despite have a crew of 700 it seems only 50 died. So admitting to 63
Keep rubbing that ship like a lucky stone. You pro Ukie trolls just love your one-off “victories.”
The name of the ship was the Moskva, by the way, not “Moskova.”
So what was the official story then from the Russians? What do you suppose the reality was?
What I “suppose” is that it doesn’t matter. It’s one, freakin’ ship! Ships go down in wartime. From missiles, and from bad weather. Sometimes all of the crew is saved, sometimes part of it saved, and sometimes none. But, in any case, it just doesn’t matter. Just as the various pinpricks on the airfields don’t matter. And just as 63 dead soldiers in a missile strike don’t really matter. Not in a tactical sense, never mind a strategic one. So, why focus on them? PR reasons. That’s why.
It was the flagship of the Black sea fleet, it had about 500 aboard. The Russians admit to 1 killed and 27 missing. The Turks claim to have rescued 54. There is a huge discrepancy between the likely death toll and the admitted to death toll.
This establishes the reliability of Russian reports as low.
I do appreciated the Russian indifference for the lives of their soldiers, it means we will run out of Russian soldiers all the quicker and wrap this up.
I don’t rely on “Russian reports.” I don’t rely on Ukrainian “Ghost of Kiev” reports either. Still not seeing what the point is. Nations at war lie. We know that. Certainly, here in the West, that Russia does so is no secret. Even if the other side of that coin, ie the Ukrainian lying, which has been exposed over and over again, somehow is. But, OK, the Russians are fibbing about this boat. Who cares? Is the Ukrainian Navy (lol!) now dominating the Black Sea because the Moskva is gone? What is the tactical, never mind strategic, significance of that loss? There is none. And yet it was trumpeted hither and yon for weeks, and, even now, you can’t let it go.
As for “running out of soldiers,” again, you just don’t make any sense. Russia has multiple times the population of the Ukraine. And that was before Crimean and Donbass secessions, and before the refugees started leaving the Ukraine. The Ukraine has forbidden old men from leaving the country, as they are subject to military moblization. That Russia perhaps lied about what happened to the crew of the Moskva is not going to change those geo strategic realities.
It doesn’t matter if it was a 10 or 1000. It is a bunch of Russian youngsters dying for Putin’s personal war to get a small piece of land yet, he has more land than he knows what to do with.
Ukraine does not want Russian speakers and from a bi-lingual countruy wants to make it single nationality.
Guess what. If Zelenski wants to exterminate people he does not have the right on the land, it belings to people who for generations worked to have their homes, farms, businesses. And somebody would like to shoo them off! Does not work that way! After years of trying to keep this bi-lingual ciuntry together through Minsk agreement.
As it proved to be a sham — what we are witnessing is a partitiin of the country. It is a slow process as newly seceeded regions under UN Carter Aricle One, Parag 2, need to establisg life support from scratch. It takes time. Four more regions are likely to go as well unless Kiev reverses its policies and teturns their rights.
Let ya see what happens. These are early days.
Blah blah blah with your Russian BS propaganda.
Ukraine never banned the Russian language. It actually allowed for russian and other languages to be spoken for minority groups in the law of passes in 2012. Principle of state language policy.
If they are banning it now, i guess, we can see why.
Edit: here is a source that proves you are wrong and as usual just spewing kremlin BS.
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/jun/08/sergey-lavrov/russian-has-not-been-banned-ukraine-despite-repeat/
Pfffft. The very article you link to shows massive discrimination against Russian speakers and the Russian language. Bianca never used the word “banned,” and so you are attacking a straw man. One can oh so generously “actually allow” people to speak their native language and yet still discriminate against and even persecute those who do.
You are completely full of crap, as usual.
And the most absurd part of it is that you are so easily refuted, as here. Why do you bother? Do you think we are too stupid to read the very article you linked to?
I don’t know what you read or if you read the entire thing.
Don’t read my links, they are coming from a guy you disagree with and no matter what I post, you will always disagree with me even if I’m right.
But it’s ok, similarly, I won’t read you crap either.
I read all of it, and it shows widespread discrimination bordering on persecution of Russian speakers. Did you read it? Or just Google the headline and assumed it supported your position without reading it? And the sources I give are always good, and they say what I claim they say.
I provide a source and you questioned whether or not I read it?
Perhaps it’s what you do?
Your sources are crap. Don’t brag about it.
Dude. Your source documents repeatedly that Russian is prohibited in many contexts, whereas even English is not! And this in a country with a large Russian speaking population. You either didn’t read it. Or don’t care. Or are just trolling.
As for my sources, take issue with them when I cite them, if you can.
“your Russian BS propaganda….Ukraine never banned the Russian language..
1/ show where the poster said they banned it. you can’t.
2/ on other hand, yr link shows major 2019 restriction on russian use – same time zelensky was elected to fulfill minsk platform…so he pledged to enforce minsk’s regional autonomy…at same time as parliament decreed ukrainian the language of instruction with russian-first speakers in east schools etc.
“In April 2019, Ukraine’s parliament approved a language law making Ukrainian the mandatory language for public sector workers. The adoption of this law required citizens to know Ukrainian and obliged civil servants, soldiers, doctors and teachers to communicate in Ukrainian.”
Well, if you read the entire thing, Ukraine didn’t forbid the Russian language among minority groups. It only made Ukrainian language official in some sectors. This is not what the Russian propagandists are claiming. They are make it sound like Ukraine prohibited the Russian Language as a whole.
Now, are you aware of the minority language prohibitions in Russia?
I’m sure you don’t so look it up before you talk smack about Ukraine.
First off, that’s called a ground shift, sparky. Before you said banned, now you say something else.
Secondly, this
Now, are you aware of the minority language prohibitions in Russia? I’m sure you don’t so look it up before you talk smack about Ukraine.
is a classic both siderism/waddaboutism. Get back to me when the USA and NATO bankroll, arm, etc Russia. Then, and only then, will I entertain one to one comparisons between Russia and the Ukraine.
Don – You are correct: Russian language was not banned. However did you read the document in its entirety? in particular the following part: “The adoption of this law required citizens to know Ukrainian and obliged civil servants, soldiers, doctors and teachers to communicate in Ukrainian. Some exceptions were made under the law for some minority languages like English and other European Union languages. The Russian language does not fall under this category.” Same goes for publications. According to the link 30% of the Ukrainien population speaks primarily Russian. It is likely that among them there were civil servants, teachers or doctors who could only speak Russian. However because of this law they were prevented from practicing their jobs for the sole reason of not being able to communicate in the “right” language. Meanwhile someone who speaks ‘another European Union language’ is not affected by such restrictions. So a doctor who can only speak Dutch is allowed to practice in Ukraine even though 0% of the population speaks Dutch. Don’t you think it is quite discriminatory against a specific category of the population?
Silly troll can’t even cite to the right BS! He cites articles which literally prove him wrong!
What a stupid comment!
Says the stupid pro russia guy with a fake name.
Oh, and is your real name “Don Julio?” Are you a Spanish grandee? Even if you are, where’s the rest of your name.
Internet pseudonyms are par for the course. You use one yourself!
“Says the stupid pro russia guy with a fake name.”
…daaah…yuh shure tol thet russkie feller, mister don sir…if only i cud git my mitts on ‘im!……daaaaaah….
I agree Don. Everyone should use their real name. I know I do.
It is true, the more the better time to go back to Russia kids.
Looks like Ukraine’s power grid is gonna go down again soon
Seeing not even a hint of a desire to end the war on Putin’s terms going up among Ukrainians, I’d say that is a particularly bad thing for anyone who purports to be anti war to say as:
1) it is now even clearly said by the Russians attacks on civilian infrastructure to force them to ask for peace
2) it wastes highly valuable Russian munitions with very little impact on the outcome of the war
3) the grid can be repaired fairly easily again while the Russian soldiers cannot and may at some point ask why they are treated as dispensable while their missiles are used to try to freeze Ukrainian civilians – strengthening the Ukrainians will to fight them, rather than to strike directly at the supply lines feeding the soldiers fighting them.
At this point its not a question of when the Ukrainians seek peace so much as when the US and their EU vassals call it quits. Additional surges of refugees coming in from Ukraine probably won’t please the citizenry of latter, especially now that they are paying top dollar for US LNG to heat their homes https://www.care-international.org/news/targeting-ukraine-energy-infrastructure-may-provoke-second-wave-refugee-crisis
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-lng-exports-both-lifeline-drain-europe-2023-maguire-2022-12-20/
And the attacks on the grid haven’t helped the military supply lines you mentioned either https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/ukraine-braces-russias-relentless-power-grid-strikes-205962
Finally predicting that the Russian reaction to the attack will be strikes on the power grid is not advocating for those strikes any more than predicting that people outside when a thunderstorm hits are going to get wet is advocating for them to get soaked to the bone.
This could have been true if:
1) Ending support for Ukraine would stop the flow of refugees, it will not it will cause it to grow very significantly
2) Ending support for Ukraine would have prospects for returning the refugees, it will not it will make them permanent refugees
3) Ending support for Ukraine would cause gas to flow again, it will not EU has decided to end their dependence
The issue is that while your source does mention that this is part of the intended purpose they also call into question the idea that this has been successful in that it states that it is calibrated towards a cumulative effect, not transport interdiction.
I see your point!
US intel, US weapons system, Ukrainian grunts, Zelensky’s tumescent member. Another day in Kiev.
“Ukrainian grunts” Almost without doubt ‘retired’ USM specialists.
I agree. I served as a medical corpsman in Vietnam (31May 1967 – 31 May 1968), and quite frankly I’ve had with war. I amazed I made to old age.
Not much hope for World Peace, when we cannot have peace on our antiwar website… 😉
I am opposed to aggressive war.
You should start by calling out Russia as much as you call out the West. There is plenty of subject matter to criticize on both sides.
Liking pro Russia commenters here is encouragement and shows which side you are on.
Your endless yammering about “pro-Russian” commenters, as if being pro-Russian is as bad as eating blonde babies for breakfast, is adolescent and stupid, Don.
And you aren’t even able to discriminate between “pro-Russian” and “realist.” It’s boring and childish. Stop it.
Of course it is to you.
You talk as if you are the only one always right. Everyone else disagreeing with you is wrong and/or brainwashed.
And you are far from realist so dont try to brag about that one. I see your posts daily. They are mostly in favor of one side.
Not an inch of ground was gained through this attack and how many Ukrainians will now die in retaliation? Zelensky playing with the lives of his people.
It isn’t all about ground gained. A house riddled with termites or a car full of rust can appear sound until the first windstorm or bump.
Yes, “You have only to kick in the door and the whole rotten structure will come crashing down.”
Said somebody or other about Russia in the past…
Yes and it appears that this was what the Russians thought about Ukraine – remember that it was not Ukraine which invaded Russia expecting less resistance but the other way around.
Ukraine was preparing to invade the Donbass. USA and the Ukraine started the war.
Not when Putin started to build up for his SMO in March/April 2021.
Ground shift.
Only if you think that the Russian invasion was not planned to counter a Ukrainian build up or to counter a planned Ukrainian invasion is a ground shift.
Nope.
Jus as I thought – no reflection at all behind what you write – quite sad.
Troll.
Even sadder!
I don’t recall any Russians saying anything of the sort. But, I guess you know what they “thought” or “expected” anyway. Telepath as well as general. You wear many hats, Sir Michael.
Nor do I, which was why I did not make that claim, but they did attack with a force far too small to achieve the result they were presumably hoping for so some idiot must have thought it.
“Presumably.” IE YOU are presuming it. Which means less than nothing.
Yes I’m not privy to what is said in Russian meetings – but if no one claimed it would be so easy – what is your explanation for the under dimensioned force used for the SMO. Is it that you claim that they were just willfully getting themselves into this situation or that they are just so incompetent as to never give it a thought?
You are “not privy” to anything.
No but unlike some I can read the sources.
It could be argued that the Russians ended up vacating Kherson because of HIMARS strikes like this – so you have to be a little patient. Strikes like this achieve is lower capacity for the enemy to rest, build up forces or store munitions which in turn makes it much harder for them to take or even hold ground.
As I learned in the fist semester of law school, anything is “arguably” anything. Pretty sure there is no deep, wide river blocking resupply to Makiivka like there was to Kherson, General Michael64.
Pretty sure there was nothing blocking the supply line to Kherson before HIMARS made it difficult to use – but sure Makiivka is not the likely next place the Russians will evacuate as a goodwill gesture.
Again, general, there is that big river….
Sure for the other supply lines there are railroads – they have bridges too and the Russians have proven very incapable of sustaining their offensive without those being fairly undisturbed – actually they have shown themselves incapable of sustaining the level of artillery fire thy used to take Popasna in Bakhmut.
So though the river (which was made difficult to cross using HIMARS) is not the only kind of obstacle that can prove a significant issue for your friends.
Total nonsense. All reports are that the Russians out arty the Ukie five or ten to one on a regular basis.
No the reports are fairly conclusive that they have reduced shelling by a substantial factor – which goes a long way to explain why they have failed to take Bakhmut.
You do realize, don’t you General, that front line commanders always make complaints like those? And that’s assuming that your video is authentic, which there is no proof of, whatsoever. “Pavelcymbal2” indeed!
Here’s what a pro Western source (NBC news, rather than your YouTube Jerkoff2) said less than 2 months ago:
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/russia-ukraine-war-ammo-rcna56210
Three to one to five to one.
Exactly down from 10 to one in the days when Popasna was taken.
But still overwhelming. Now, run along and go watch some more YouTube videos.
Down by 50 to 70 percent at the very least (subject to how the Ukrainian artillery fire has developed) – still much higher than the Ukrainian fire, but evidently no longer enough to facilitate taking significant territory – so as I point out the game seems to have changed (it may do so again).
Youtube is calling you, troll.
Only to ask me your number 🙂
At the behest of the bosses in Washington and Brussels. And, of course, the charming Banderists.
Unless Russia stops playing footsie with Ukraine, these attacks will become deadlier.
Or unless Russia pulls out in the name of peace.
I don’t think Russia has any intention of playing footsie or softball any longer. But Russians are famously deliberate and methodical and not inclined to hasty reactions.
Supporters of Ukraine’s continuing the fight and champions of US military hardware and prowess tend to see events like this as victories, as good news. In reality, in the big picture, they are very bad news indeed.
What makes you think the Russian regime has played “footsie” or “softball” at any time since February 24 of last year?
“They MEANT to do that” got tired months ago.
I was using terminology consistent with the post I responded to. You really should have directed your question to the poster above.
That said, I think it’s entirely obvious that Russia launched the invasion intending to shock Kiev into negotiations and a quick settlement and that it did not expect the US-NATO pour in weapons, intelligence, strategic and tactical “guidance,” etc. Because they misjudged the Western commitment to using the conflict to weaken the Russian Federation, the Kremlin and the Stavka did not commit nearly sufficient resources for the war that has developed. Nor, initially, did they seriously attack infrastructure, command and control, and other targets that would typically be at the top of the list in a full-fledged invasion.
Criticism within Russia and from supporters outside the country has been sharply focused on Putin’s and Shoigu’s approach, using terminology equivalent to such English expressions as softball, footsie, kid gloves, etc. The most influential critics are those who would have preferred sending in 750K troops behind two weeks of aerial bombardment intended to wipe out infrastructure, command and control and to reduce much of Ukraine to rubble.
However the early phases of the war may be described, they are over. Russia understands that it is in an existential fight with the US and NATO, using Ukrainians as cannon fodder. It’s getting uglier and will almost certainly continue to do so.
The stubborn insistence by so many, including you, Thomas, that Russian setbacks, withdrawals, incremental advances, etc. are evidence of military weakness or incompetence is wrong and dangerous. It really should be obvious to any informed observer that Russian forces are fully capable of thoroughly devastating Ukraine in fairly short order. It should be obvious, also, that Russian forces haven’t, so far, undertaken to do that. I don’t think Russian leaders want to do that. But I think they will do that if the US-NATO pushes them to a point where it seems necessary.
That would be very, very bad.
Not with conventional weapons – if you believe that they could with conventional weapons then you are saying that Putin is sacrificing the lives of Russian soldiers (and in the end Ukrainian people) for his vanity project.
The US was blamed and rightly so for invading Iraq with too few soldiers, being unable to win the peace, if they had also been unable to end the war until they had found some way to compensate for trying to do the job without enough troops the scandal would have been orders of magnitude larger.
There’s that reading-for-meaning problem again. Try again, Michael.
So what did you mean, that the Russians can beat them with non conventional weapons?
In 2005 Russia helped the FBI nab an arms dealer attempting to buy surface to air missiles to sell on the black market by selling him a disabled missile which he then sold to an FBI informant posing as a Somali terrorist https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/jan/05/world.usa
Nowadays it’s not hard to imagine the Russians selling or giving very real surface to air missiles to arms dealers who then sell them to actual criminals instead of FBI agents. Viktor Bout being out of jail may not help facilitate this but it doesn’t hurt either. I imagine it would be quite a scandal if Mexican cartels downed an American border patrol helicopter in Texas. Especially if it was with a Stinger originally sent to Ukraine and subsequently captured or diverted. Like Obamas fast and furious 1000x.
And the cartels don’t seem like they are opposed to getting their hands on military grade explosives for their US operations (at least they weren’t back in 2011. Maybe they’re all on the CIA payroll by now, though. https://www.dea.gov/press-releases/2011/05/02/guilty-pleas-two-mexican-nationals-conspiracy-acquire-stinger-missile-and)
Thanks for providing the very best of reasons to fight the Russians – you are here straight out admitting that if the Russians cannot take Ukraine by conventional means they would or perhaps even should resort to terrorism (only civilian US planes fly over Mexican air space).
No I don’t mean resorting to blowing up civilians with car bombs like the Ukrainians did https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/05/us/politics/ukraine-russia-dugina-assassination.html
I mean that they would arm militants hostile to the United States. i.e. exactly what the US and NATO are doing in Ukraine.
Besides the cartels would have no reason to target American civilian airliners flying over Mexico. But they would have reason to target federal law enforcement aviation flying over the border states (assuming the current administration hasn’t ordered all of them leave the cartels alone and focus on political opponents instead).
And if they down such aviation with weapons originally supplied to Ukraine by NATO there will be a lot of domestic backlash against the US administration and erosion of American support for Ukraine (which at this point is a far more significant factor than any feelings the Ukrainians have on the matter).
This is not to advocate for Russia to arm the cartels, merely to point out the dangers of the US and it’s EU vassals continuing to escalate the conflict on Russia’s doorstep.
You wrote equipping Mexicans to down US planes that is terrorism as the only US planes over Mexico are civilian airliners, arming Ukrainians to fight Russians is not supporting terrorism they can fight the armed forces of the Russians.
They do not fly over Mexican territory – are you saying that the Mexican cartels are operating military level incursions into US territory?
No as you proposed the weapons captured by the Russians and supplied to the Mexicans will be the suspected source – this is an easy PR victory for upping the support to Ukraine and increase the fight against the cartels – I doubt that the cartels will opt to support the Russian efforts when they can get much more value from selling the weapons instead of challenging the US by shooting down one of their drones.
Trust me they know the risks – and you betray exactly how the Russians have been thinking about this too and it has only made the idea of supporting the Ukrainians to defeat people thinking like that more important.
Gotta say so far the plan doesn’t seem to be working that well.
I don’t know what “the plan” is and you certainly don’t know, although we can all see that Russian tactics have substantially changed and large numbers of reserves are being committed to battle. But we can’t know whether it’s “working” or not.
On the other hand, it’s perfectly clear that Ukraine is being wrecked, large numbers of Ukrainians are suffering and dying, and that something like a third of its population are refugees scattered about in, mostly, Europe.
Ukraine is screwed, but that is baked in the cake once the Russians invade. On the other hand at the end of this, Ukraine will be independent and Russia will be missing an army and an economy, so they are screwed too, funny thing is they screwed themselves with a little help from NATO.
It seems that you, like the people in charge of US-NATO policy, are happily willing to sacrifice Ukraine and Ukrainians tho the goal of weakening Russia. That’s truly despicable.
You know what I find despicable? Invading another country. How about Vlad sacrificing the future of Russia over some ill conceived notion of getting the old empire back together. Russia is rich in natural resources, you have plenty to work with to build a better country with indoor plumbing for everybody.
You now sound like Bianca.
“But Russians are famously deliberate and methodical and not inclined to hasty reactions”
Yes, we have seen a lot of this the last 10 months.
Actually, we have seen that in the last ten months. I’m not sure why that isn’t obvious to so many of you.
It looks like Russia is running out of stuff so it is either tactical nukes or human wave tactics.
I have been about Russia running out of stuff for months.
Don’t buy it.
I can’t think of a better way for Ukraine to motivate all of their enemies in Ukraine (Russian forces, Wagner, separatist armies, Czechians, PMC, etc. ) to redouble their efforts.
Yup, more death and destruction coming right up.
You think it motivates these people to know that they cannot gather anywhere without facing potential death and that the Russians cannot protect them from such missile strikes, i.e. that they are being beaten by sound military tactics.
Well I beg to differ – the best of the Russian forces were withdrawn from Kherson, because of strikes like this and because not even the Russians think that taking unnecessary casualties like this is good for morale or makes their fighters fight harder.
I’ll wait till the end of the week to reply.
I think it is a wise decision, I have no problem admitting that I could easily be wrong – it depends more on how things play out in the debate space than on what actually happened.
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/world/2023/01/03/Russian-anger-grows-over-strike-that-killed-dozens-of-troops-in-Ukraine
https://news.antiwar.com/2023/01/08/russia-claims-600-ukrainian-troops-dead-in-strikes-kyiv-denies-anyone-was-killed/
Well seeing as there seems to be very little truth to this story*, and even if true it does not shed more light on the notion that this would motivate all of their enemies in Ukraine (Russian forces, Wagner, separatist armies, Czechians, PMC, etc. ) to redouble their efforts – as this was not a redoubling of efforts strike.
That said I think that the current efforts near Soledar is more indicative that the Ukrainian strike has not (at the very least not yet) significantly sapped the will of the soldiers opposing them.
* on telegram you could find stories with pictures from Donetsk (Russian side) documenting the Russians even losing corpses of the trucks transporting them away from the strike area. I have not been able to find any corroboration of Ukrainian deaths from the Russian strike – (maybe you can find them) nor is there any debate in any of the media on this ‘outrage’ so either the Ukrainian OPSEC is vastly superior to the Russian (not very likely) or the story is false (possibly just exaggerated by more than a factor 10).
63 killed. How many maimed or crippled?
AP cheerleading for US MIC products:
Ukrainian forces fired six rockets from a HIMARS launch system and two of them were shot down, a defense ministry statement said. It did not say when the strike happened.
The strike, using a U.S.-supplied precision weapon that has proven critical in enabling Ukrainian forces to hit key targets, delivered a new setback for Russia which in recent months has reeled from a Ukrainian counteroffensive.
Key target? Really? Again, Russia has hundreds of thousands of soldiers. These sixty three were “key” why, exactly?
“Proven critical….new setback….reeled….” Total BS.
The Kiev regime and its Western sponsors are clearly committed to trumpeting Ukrainian “victories” to prevent growing doubts and recognition of the impact of the sanctions on Western populations from resulting in a reduction of support for the war. And the MSM is all in, of course, so we get this endless stream of stories turning every pinprick strike and every inch of empty ground gained into heroic achievements.
The propaganda campaign worked really, really well in the beginning, as these things usually do, but it’s clear that trouble is brewing.
Growing US Divide on How Long to Support Ukraine
Yes, and then even here at Antiwar.com we get the same cheerleading nonsense. And any objection to it is met with bad faith demands that you “prove” the sky is blue. And that’s from the moderator. The resident trolls will argue with you about which shade of blue it is until you get sick of it, and them.
So sad that even this one little corner of the internet can’t be truly antiwar. But instead feels the need to ape its lessers in the MSM. And to tolerate war mongering MIC trolls.
There are a few other sites that don’t buy into it, but most of them actually ARE pro Russian. And many of them indulge in anti Semitism, racism, misogyny, etc, as well as conspiracy theories.
I really wish this one site could be a refuge for a true antiwar stance, not pro Russian and not pro Ukranian either, and not filled with RWNJ or LWNJ ranters either.
While I’m at it, I also wish there were open threads, so that alternative news sources, such as those detailing the Ukranian losses, could be put forth by regular posters. And so that articles linked to other sites could be discussed.
I feel sad for the dead and injured Russian soldiers, and for their families. I would also feel sad for the dead and injured and their families if it had happened to Ukrainian soldiers. Everyone involved in the war is a human being with a human family, but war brings out the lowest in us and stark in that is the dehumanization of the enemy.
I would hope that we who are outside the actual fighting could maintain our respect for the humans who are fighting and dying on both sides, as well as for the civilians who suffer.
I find Zelensky and his cohort obnoxious, and their US/NATO handlers despicable. Yes, some of the Ukrainian troops are Nazis, but most are ordinary people conscripted to fight in a war they never wished for.
I continue to hope the neocons in Washington will see the futility of the war before it escalates to thermonuclear horror.
It is happening to Ukrainian soldiers. Routinely, much more often than it’s happening to Russian troops, because of geography, logistics, the balance of artillery and other standoff weapons capabilities and the different war-fighting styles. The people endlessly pushing and enabling Ukraine to continue to sacrifice itself for the US goal of weakening Russia are monsters.
And yet even the moderator here will demand that you “prove it.” The Ukies themselves, their USA/NATO sponsors, the mercs, all of them, even the occassional Western MSM journalist, have reported just what you say…that the Ukranians are sufferering much more severe casualties. And that on top of the fact that they have a much smaller population to call up troops from to begin with. That the Russians, far from using “human waves,” are using standoff weapons (of which they have far greater number and much more ammo for) to great effect. Multiple accounts, again, not at all connected to Russia, detailing the Ukrainian lack of training, the lack of firepower, the lack of everything, how the defenders at Bakhmut are being slaughtered every, single day with those stand off weapons, which they can’t respond to or defend against. All of which we hear little to nothing of on this site.
And yet a trivial, one-off raid on a dormitory somehow merits front page treatment, because an American fake wunderwaffe was used. Why? I asked, and got no good answer. Just the run around and a time wasting, bad faith demand for “proof” from the moderator. And the usual, prolix crop of BS from the main usual troll, as well as the usual subliterate non sense from the other usual troll.
What is this “even the moderator” stuff about?
As moderator, my job is to enforce some fairly narrow guidelines.
As a commenter, I speak only for myself. And I don’t “demand” anything. If I’m interested in a claim by another commenter, I ask for evidence. Either I get that evidence or I don’t. If I don’t, the only “penalty” is that I become less inclined to take what the other commenter has to say at face value.
In point of fact, I happen to agree with you that if Antiwar.com wants to report casualty numbers, it should do so thoroughly and with a sharp eye on both sides’ claims and the evidence supporting those claims.
But, I notice, Antiwar.com doesn’t really report on casualties in this war very much. Usually the news writers — I don’t know if there’s an editorial line or not — focus specifically on incidents that they can describe as US/EU/NATO “provocations” or “escalations.” Ukrainian body counts don’t really serve that focus very well, and casualty numbers in general are basically side notes.
Generally, moderators set the tone on websites and discussion boards. When you demand (or “ask for”)”proof” of something, that carrries more weight than if an ordinary commenter did so. Beyond that, as I mentioned, you damn well were already quite aware of the information that I provided before you “asked for” it. Seems like an attempt to derail, to me. To make me waste my time “proving” that water is wet. Ukies are dying in droves. Everyone who is not a fool knows this. Including you.
But, if you are not to blame, in any way, for Antiwar.com’s one sided reporting policy, then you have my apologies. But the one sided policy exists nevertheless.
And, in my view, these “reports” are more in the nature of cheerleading for the Ukraine and the USA/NATO than they are in denouncing provocations or escalations. They simply amplify the false message that the Ukraine is “winning” (with the help of the US wunderwaffen) which serves to bolster support for the war in the West, and helps perpetuate it. That is what these “incidents” are: made for media and social media “victories” to fool the morons in the West about what is really happening, while the Ukie grandpas and teens die in the trenches, shooting their rifles at artillery shells. Seems to me that last part is worth mentioning, on a site that calls itself Antiwar.com
“continue to hope the neocons in Washington will see the futility of the war before it escalates to thermonuclear horror.”
Versus changed mass western views due to the war’s impact on western economies, or even continued erosion of u.s. political support…’fraid a neocon reformation is about the least realistic hope I can imagine entertaining.
The neocons are the worst – the Dr. Mengeles of the intellectuals. The chance of one of those scary intellectual creeps – those irremediably, irredeemably sick, ambulatory moral deformities throwing off their planet-life-threatening madness, is absolutely minuscule compared with, say, the comparatively mild difficulty of oh, say a camel passing through the eye of a needle…
And those are their better qualities.
Yet another tactically (never mind strategically) meaningless “success” for the Fascist army. Russia has hundreds of thousands of trooops. It could moblize a million more. The loss of six, 63, or 400 of them means…what? Nothing, or its functional equivalent.
Why is this front page news at Antiwar.com? Sure, it is front page news on the bought and paid for MSM, because it serves a propaganda purpose. It bolsters the made in the USA war. But why here?
But, if such “stories” merit this much attention, why doesn’t the loss of far greater numbers of Fascist army members, which occurs every single day (even according to non Russian sources), and who are not so easily replaced, merit the same attention?
“But, if such ‘stories’ merit this much attention, why doesn’t the loss of far greater numbers of Fascis army members, which occurs every single day (even according to non Russian sources), and who are not so easily replaced, merit the same attention?”
Got any of those “non-Russian sources” handy?
Not going to do your Googling for you. There are credible reports from Western journalists and from Western mercenaries, and even admissions from officials of the Fascist regime and army itself. Of hundreds of soldiers a day being killed. Of whole units being hollowed out. Of exposed positions being hammered with artillery day after day, with little or no opportunity to hide, much less counter attack. Of counter battery fire being refused, because the ammo needed to be saved. Etc, etc.
You’re the moderator here, not me. You go look it up.
You made a positive assertion – claiming that something exists – if it is @knappster:disqus’s position that it does not, the burden of proof is on you – i.e. you show that it exists.
Trolls like you make a fuss about “burden of proof” and the like in internet blog comment sections. As part of your red herring, distraction campaigns. Have you not the seen the reports I alluded to either? If so, then you even more woefully uninformed than I thought you were. More likely, you are being less than candid.
No I make it only when it should be very easy to back up your claims and I doubt the veracity of the claims as I do not find them supported in here the non Russian media.
So if you have the reports ‘of far greater numbers of’ Ukrainian troops from sources that are not merely mirroring what the Russians say – do make them known.
There they are, troll.
Get off that Troll horse of yours.
It makes you sound like the real troll here.
Shut up, troll.
What does me being a comment moderator have to do with whether or not you can support your claim?
You’re the one constantly complaining that Antiwar.com fails to report only the news that you want to hear.
As a moderator, you have more input into what stories are run and/or featured than I do. I would have thought that was self explanatory. And, again, I am not going to go through the tedious trouble of “supporting” my “claims,” when that support has appeared even in the pro Ukie, anti Russian, rah, rah, sis boom bah, cheerleading Western media. If you have not seen the reports I referred to, then you are not even moderately informed about this topic. And, this is not a court of law, nor an “Oxford” debate. The reports are out there. Quite prominently. In my view, I am allowed to allude to that fact by reference, without having to submit affadivits and the like, on this internet blog comment section. Finally, it is not about what I “want to hear.” I could live without operational, battlefield reports at all. And most certainly ones that breathlessly detail, highlight, and overrate trivial, pin prick, made for media and social media, attacks, by either side. Buuuuut, if you are going to feature one side’s, then my view is that you should also feature the other’s.
As a moderator, I have exactly as much input into what stories are run and/or featured as you do. Which is to say, I can use the “link submissions” form just like you can.
I’m a comment moderator. I don’t write the site’s news stories, nor do I assign those stories.
I also don’t get to tell you to put up or shut up. But I do get to notice when you do neither.
Sigh.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-61742736 (200 Ukie soldiers dead per day, as per Zelensky aid)
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63580372 (100k Ukie soldiers dead overall, as per Gen Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff)
“In a video address on Wednesday, EU Commission head Ursula Von der Leyen said that 100,000 Ukrainian troops had been killed. However a spokesperson for the EU Commission later “clarified” blah, blah, blah…” https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63829973
https://www.stripes.com/theaters/europe/2022-09-07/wounded-ukrainian-soldiers-reveal-toll-kherson-offensive-7244535.html Five to one kill ratio in Kherson counteroffensive, according to Ukie officer, as reported in Washington Post.
“They’ve been taking extraordinarily high casualties,” [US mercenary] Milburn said of the units training with Mozart. “The numbers you are reading in the media [but not Antiwar.com!] about 70 percent and above casualties being routine are not exaggerated.” https://www.newsweek.com/wagner-group-targeting-volunteers-ukraine-mozart-group-russia-andy-milburn-1765321
I had to slog through umpteen thousand exaggerated reports of Russian casualties to find these glimpses of honesty, but these, and more, are out there. If 100 k Ukie soldiers have died in 10 months of war, that comes out to 10 k per month, or 333 per day. And yet, do we get a daily report here of those losses? We get the overall estimates, sometimes. But do we get a big, splashy, front-paged article every time 60 or so Ukie soldiers are killed? No, and that happens, on average, five times a day!
Not one of your sources supports your claim as in not one of them actually claims that ‘the loss of far greater numbers of Fascis army members’ in general – only one makes something that could be understood as such a claim but only for a the initial phases of one offensive.
First link: 200 is not actually 200 but according to the source.
And that was as of June 9, 2022 – i.e. before HIMARS had reduced the Russian artillery fire severely.
The second source claims:
Killed or injured i.e. casualties not KIA. So not claiming that far more Ukrainians are killed than Russians i.e. contradicting your claim.
The Ursula von der Leyen figure is just a repeat of the Milley claim wrt Ukrainian losses and does not specify Russian ones.
The Stripes article does actually not make the 5 to 1 claim but quotes a platoon commander – also it is regarding the start of the Kherson battle and not for the whole war – and only from the very early days of the Kherson battle (7 of September).
the final link again does not go into casualties of the Russian side, only concerns itself with a limited time and specific front i.e. Bakhmut:
No matter how you parse the numbers, they come out to far more than 63 Ukrainian KIA per day. Also, the relative “age” of the reported numbers suggests that the overall numbers are higher, not lower. As for the Russian losses, they are not germaine here. We have here a breathless, “Breaking News” report of 63 Russian soldiers killed. My point is that more than that number of Ukrainian soldiers are killed everyday, ON AVERAGE. Which the numbers more than bear out, and which suggests that, on many days, far more than 63 Ukrainian soldiers are killed. And yet we get no such breathless reports of those deaths.
The Zelensky aid said 100 to 200 hundred were being killed each day in June, to take just one example. Did we get articles here on Antiwar.com each day, in June, when that was happening, trumpeting that fact, even assuming that your bogus argument about the subsequent impact of the HIMARS wunderwaffen is correct? No, we did not.
One missile strike killed 63 Russian soldiers. That’s frontpage “news.” 100 to 200 Ukranian soldiers being killed, for a long enough period for a Zelensky aid to report it, and yet, apparently, that is not news. At least not on an everyday basis.
That’s the point. Which is fully sourced.
Edited to add: Ukrainian KIAs are clearly over 18,900. That being the case, they are clearly losing more than 63 KIA each day. (63x30x10=18,900).
Yes the Russian KIA is however not given as 63 by any of these sources – so your claim is just false even by your own sources – the 63 is from a Russian source not for the day of January 1, but for one missile strike – so now you are just moving the goal posts.
Only for the Milley claim – the other claims were for specific battles and or that plus very limited time periods and framed per day rates so no reason to believe that they have increased.
But they are to get attention you have to show that the Ukrainians are losing far more soldiers killed in one strike at one location to get the attention – furthermore there is every reason to suspect that the number of KIA here were above 100 as that number has been attested to by pro Russian sources.
In one strike at one location, it is big news in Russia where it is a scandal, so perhaps since even they think it important it is no surprise that it is also considered newsworthy here!
Yes and that would be news if there was either far more Ukrainians than Russian dead, they were killed in one strike at one location or if it was considered an outrage in Ukrainian news.
No we did not as that is the amount of killed there is on both sides on a lot of days, so nothing special – 63 (at the very least) in one strike at one location however is news.
One missile strike killed 63 Russian soldiers. That’s frontpage “news.” 100 to 200 Ukranian soldiers being killed, for a long enough period for a Zelensky aid to report it, and yet, apparently, that is not news. At least not on an everyday basis.
As indicates the Russian KIA is likely to be just as high – that in and by itself is no longer newsworthy – having that many killed in just one strike is – and that is by the Russians too, so perhaps you should complain to them – why do you think they make such a big scandal about it?
Another reason for me to resist “proving it” is that trolls like Michael64 will never be satisfied.
Not interested in your BS fine distinctions, your red herrings, your nonsensical military analysis, nor any other bogus argument you care to raise.
Well you wanted to complain that Antiwar carried the story because more Ukrainians were killed on average every day – I have to admit that I misread your claim to mean that you believed that far more were killed than there were Russians killed (on average every day).
Once I understood that you meant that there were more Ukrainians killed than the 63 that the Russian MoD have admitted to, the obvious question was why you thought that was a reason to ignore a news story that the Russians think a scandal.
I’m sorry for having wasted your time with tedious things like explaining what is newsworthy and what is not – so just go back to trolling Thomas for what is not his fault nor is a fault in general.
No longer reading, troll.
Did you ever?
First “Don” Julio claims I have no sources, then he edits his comment to eliminate that claim, and then, finally, he downvotes, without explanation, my list of sources.
Yes, he’s a class act, that Spanish Grandee Don Julio. And, clearly, he sets a standard of internet integrity that we should all aspire to!
So how hard was it to put up instead of whining when asked?
You don’t get a daily report of Russian losses at Antiwar.com, either. Look back through a few days of our news for casualty reports. They’re not common. The angle on this particular story was that the US HIMARS system got blamed by the Russian forces for a particular strike.
The “angle” is always overplaying the significance of the Ukrainian attack.
As to how hard it was to “put up,” it is more that it was annoying, because you knew as well as I did that this info was out there, and thus your demand for proof was not in good faith. In addition, the playing field is not level, so it actually does take some digging and sorting and clever Googling to retrieve it, because the inforverse is flooded with pro Ukie BS.
All those Ukrainians losses and yet, Russia can’t even gain any more territory. Heck, they lost 60% of what they initially occupied. That Ukrainian army with millions of losses daily, is pushing the Russians back in many fronts. How’s that for an Army of a handful soldiers with no ammo left.
Pretty good in my opinion.
But I get it, the Russians are regrouping and preparing for the massive counter attack.
Keep up your kool aid drinking.
See below. Average of over 300 Ukie soldiers KIA each day, according to pro Ukie sources.
Cute edit, by the way, as you claimed I had no sources. Shows a distinct lack of integrity on your part.
No you do not even read your own sources correctly – not one of them makes this claim the ones that come the closest are for casualties – i.e. wounded and killed not KIA.
Mindless nitpicking. Ukie casualties are high. Even the Ukies and their backers say so. End of story.
Not nitpicking – casualties are high on both sides – you want to portray them as something they are very likely not – that is the end of the story.
Troll begone.
Why does me pointing out your inconsistencies bother you?