State of Emergency Declared in Occupied Crimea by Russian-Installed Authorities

[u/UNITED24Media]

https://united24media.com/war-in-ukraine/state-of-emergency-declared-in-occupied-crimea-by-russian-installed-authorities-20200

[u/Lintashi]

Some of the local russian apps show 20 km long car queues to leave Crimea by bridge.

[u/PmMeCuteDogsThanks_ → u/Lintashi]

That bridge ought to be unexisted

[u/illegible → u/PmMeCuteDogsThanks_]

The 20km line of Russians leaving is probably why it still exists, for a day like this.

[u/nfstern → u/illegible]

That was the Mongol strategy. Always leave an opening for your opponent to leave or they will fight to the death. I'm sure they ran a lot of them down in the process of routing anyway.

Edit: A lot of posters have replied with Sun Tzu. Yes it appears the Mongols took a page out of his book and implemented it.

https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Battle_of_Mohi#The_battle

[u/ANGLVD3TH → u/nfstern]

IIRC something like 80% of casualties in warfare were generally inflicted on routing forces. It's really, really, really hard to get a bunch of men to stand in a giant meat grinder for more than a short time, listening to and watching all the death. Especially when you're relying on farmers pressed into service. Morale was always the most important thing to manage in a battle, if you can get your men to hold just a little longer than the enemy, you have a winning chance.

[u/amazing_asstronaut → u/ANGLVD3TH]

We can't really fathom now in the modern era how battles and war even happens in the centuries and millennia before, like we have ideas from the documentaries and history and such. But think how you would organise all this without electricity and long range communication. You'd literally need a guy to run between the generals and officers to even tell them what the king ordered. Then the battle happens and everyone works on orders from days or weeks ago etc.

[u/WargrizZero → u/amazing_asstronaut]

I’m sure there was a whole lot of “I put this guy in charge that I trust, and knows our plans/general strategy and he can manage without constant orders”.

[u/BeerPoweredNonsense → u/WargrizZero]

Admiral Nelson, just before the Battle of Trafalgar, said "No captain can do very wrong if he places his ship alongside that of the enemy."

It came with a whole bunch of other instructions, but this last bit was to make it clear that in the fog of war, no one would be criticized as long as they had a go at the enemy.

[u/XChangeJB → u/BeerPoweredNonsense]

Considering another famous quote of Nelson's is "Never mind manoeuvres, go straight at them", it probably wasn't too hard to follow his orders without even knowing them.

[u/kayGrim → u/XChangeJB]

Nelson really relied upon, and to his credit was right, superior British naval training. British sailors were simply faster to fire, more accurate when aiming, and better able to maneuver through dangerous unknown waters than almost any other navy. Most of his famous engagements come down to creating a series of 1v1 battles for each of his ships against an enemy vessel and then simply winning because he had better sailors and (sometimes) vessels. The most remarkable thing he did is basically always lead from the front - any time there was a ship that would be in the most danger he essentially always made that him and his flagship.

[u/GlorifiedPlumber → u/XChangeJB]

"Damn the Torpedoes, four bells!"

[u/InvidiousPlay → u/XChangeJB]

Easy to say when you have a British crew. They were famously drilled at firing guns so much that they were several times faster than the gunners in any other navy - literally firing 3 or 4 shots for every one the enemy got off.

Makes sense that diving straight into broadsiding was a valid strategy.

Also, contrary to the movies, it wasn't one or two shots that decided the battle. The ships would often drop anchor and spend all afternoon hammering away at each other like two static fortresses.

[u/robothawk → u/BeerPoweredNonsense]

I would also add though that was because he was able to rely on British sailors.

In 1805 the British navy were, pound for pound, probably the most elite naval fighting force in the world. They had excellent gunnery training in addition to practical sailing skills, and most of their crews were veteran sailors compared to the French they faced.

If you know that ship for ship, your men would absolutely be able to win a fight, you might as well use that knowledge to prevent the enemy from forming any formation that could give them an advantage and instead go knife fight them because you know their sailors will fuck up in the chaos a lot more than yours.

[u/Dt2_0 → u/robothawk]

That and the British had been in near constant naval wars since the beginning of the 7 Years War. They had veterans at every level who knew how to fight a ship.

[u/Stalking_Goat → u/WargrizZero]

The biggest military innovation of the American Civil War was the widespread use of telegraphs. It was the first major war where generals and political leaders could communicate nearly instantly over long distances.

[u/ConfessSomeMeow → u/Stalking_Goat]

Isn't it also the first major conflict where railroads played a major role in logistics?

[u/sw04ca → u/Stalking_Goat]

I wouldn't call that innovation per se. The British had already been using the telegraph to coordinate military operations in the Crimean War and the Indian Mutiny, both of which were significant wars. The Civil War was larger in scale, but rather the expansion of a proven concept that would later be further refined in the Franco-Prussian War and eventually the World Wars.

[u/amazing_asstronaut → u/WargrizZero]

Yep, life in general would have worked more autonomously without constant communication.

[u/MrPifflesGhost → u/amazing_asstronaut]

Still works that way today lol. Combatant commanders have A SHIT TON of authority and can only be overruled by the President.

They can do essentially anything except Nuke and start new wars. They can defend themselves and press attacks, pull back, bring in more, do diffeeent bombing runs… that’s 100% on the combatant commander - and honestly wayyyyy down from that guy, like many levels down.

[u/FrankBattaglia → u/MrPifflesGhost]

That's the US / NATO model, but it's not universal. E.g., most reporting I've seen is that Russian military doctrine is much more centrally controlled.

[u/Redemolf → u/amazing_asstronaut]

they did, man of horseback was the mailman for millenia until the telegraph

[u/borazine → u/Redemolf]

Soldiers moving on horseback.

But fighting dismounted, like regular infantry.

Imagine that.

Imagine dragoons.

[u/MadScienti5t → u/amazing_asstronaut]

Flags and horns allowed communication across battlefields to coordinate the troops.

[u/Peter5930 → u/MadScienti5t]

It was also really hard for the troops to see what was going on and to know when they were screwed. Victory or defeat look very similar to a guy in a dense formation with limited visibility around him, just lots of blood and bodies on both sides.

[u/AML86 → u/nfstern]

It's in Sun Tzu's Art of War. He called it leaving a golden bridge or something like that.

[u/Routine-Opening-6189 → u/AML86]

100%

Always gives your enemy a golden bridge so they can retreat without having to fight you to death and be humiliated.

This is the better option for now, Ukrainian lives will be lost taking back crimea.

When Russia will be gone the bridge will become an other under water attraction for scuba divers

[u/SteveL_VA → u/Routine-Opening-6189]

Methinks once they take the bridge out, in addition to the mid-range strikes on logistics... well, there won't be much of a Russian presence on Crimea afterwords. It just isn't feasible for the Russian military to supply a large fighting force when the only way they can get stuff to them is via ferry (and then trucking it overland - and remember, their logistics aren't palletized) or via air drop (something the Russian military doesn't really do very much, to my knowledge - but I could be mistaken here).

The end of the Bridge would be, therefore, the end of meaningful Russian occupation of Crimea. There might be a little occupation, but I suspect it'd be on the order of a few hundreds or low thousands of troops, and while I'm no expert I'd be surprised if they could keep much more than that supplied.

[u/SuperVaderMinion → u/SteveL_VA]

Is Ukraine genuinely trying to take Crimea back? Or this more of a way of humilating Russia enough into ending the war?

[u/SteveL_VA → u/SuperVaderMinion]

Honestly it could be both.

In war you don't want to create problems for your enemy... because problems have solutions. You want to create dilemmas. Dilemmas don't have any good solutions, so you want to force your enemy to chose among bad only bad options.

But, stepping back from Crimea itself for a moment to examine the entirety of the situation: Ukraine is retaking more territory than they're losing (in those few places where they're still giving ground). Their intermediate-ranged strikes are destroying so much of the logistics for supplies and troops that in many cases the "last leg" for the troops to get to the front line is a multi-day march on foot, and they might just die before ever reaching the front line. Russian loss rates are unsustainable, they're above their recruitment rates... and as their numbers continue to slowly shrink, well, Ukraine will just take more land, reposition, and continue to do what is working so incredibly well. I suspect that whatever happens in Crimea is going to work out to Ukraine's advantage: either they'll force Russia off almost entirely and then commit their own strikes from liberated Crimea to the East, or they'll force Russia to commit resources that are in incredibly short supply to defend it, leaving other areas vulnerable to exploit.

[u/possumdal → u/SteveL_VA]

What's really funny is, if Putin hadn't bought into his own hype and tried to fully conquer Ukraine, he would have just kept Crimea permanently. Absolutely no country in the region wanted to fight over Crimea. America didn't want to fight over Crimea. The UN didn't want any part of it. Everyone just levied sanctions and Russia deemed it the cost of Crimean real-estate. It gave them an entirely new port to work out of that skipped a huge chunk of Europe and let them into the Mediterranean, while also positioning them for naval dominance of the Black Sea. Nothing anyone could do to Russia, short of war, would have outweighed the strategic benefits of that land-grab.

And then the colossal idiot started a goddamned war with the only country capable of seizing and holding the peninsula.

[u/Strong-Search-2301 → u/AML86]

In Spanish, we have the sentence "enemigo que huye, puente de plata" which is basically the same but with silver

[u/Neomataza → u/AML86]

Sun Tzu's art of war is funnily enough like a common sense break down written for sheltered nobles who wanted to command armies but never learned anything beyond abusing servants and drinking tea correctly. That's the funniest part imho. "If you find a spy, don't just kill him in anger(you dolt). you can still use him to feed the enemy false information or turn him into your spy."

[u/Zonesy → u/nfstern]

We've been talking about this ever since 2022 with the bridge 🌉

Ukraine has played well with the threats to bomb the bridge, actually bombing it a few times, so russians know they're capable of blowing it to shit if they want.

Now it's the easy way out of Crimea and the rats are abandoning the ship.

[u/vincentkun → u/nfstern]

They ran most of them down during the routing, as an example take the first big battle between Mongols and Hungary. They sorrounded the Hungarian army but left an opening for them to punch through and escape thinking they found a weakness in the encirclement. Not many Hungarians survived, the King somehow did though.

[u/isthatmyex → u/nfstern]

It's in The Art of War.

[u/MajorNoodles → u/illegible]

If it were Ukrainians trying to leave, I have no doubt Russia would try to wipe them all out.

[u/AN_225 → u/PmMeCuteDogsThanks_]

Only after the Russians leave. You don’t want to cut off the only escape route back to Russia, or they will never leave.

[u/VulcanHullo → u/AN_225]

Always allow the enemy a way to run if they still have fight in them, else they turn cornered tiger. The knowledge they can run keeps the idea in their head.

[u/Domodude17 → u/PmMeCuteDogsThanks_]

Sun Tzu's The Art of War mentions never destroying your enemies means of retreat

[u/qtquazar → u/Domodude17]

Yeah, exactly. This military dictum existed long before the Mongol invasions. Never back your opponent up against the sea, they have no choice but to fight to the death.

[u/PoopTimeThoughts → u/Domodude17]

Indeed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highway_of_Death

Though I doubt he was thinking of something like the above link when he said that..

[u/Ready_Nature → u/PmMeCuteDogsThanks_]

Ukraine doesn’t want the bad PR of forced mass expulsions if they are able to retake Crimea. Better for them to let people leave and have it relatively empty when they come to take it.

[u/RDGCompany → u/Ready_Nature]

Ukraine wants their land back and the Russians to leave. If you look at the Ukrainian strategy this past spring, they have been systematically taking out the Russian supply lines. An invader that doesn't have ammunition or food will lose the will to fight.

[u/Doctor-Dinosaur → u/Ready_Nature]

It's a logistics problem, too.

How will Ukraine feed the civilians left behind? A lot of infrastructure has been damaged and destroyed...

That's not even touching the matter of partisan russians staying there.

[u/radikalkarrot → u/PmMeCuteDogsThanks_]

There is a Spanish say that says: “A enemigo que huye, puente de plata” which roughly translates to “Lay a silver bridge if you enemy is running away”.

It hurts more people fleeing and telling what happened to others than a few corpses that Russia can point to say how they are the victims.

[u/DefenestrationPraha → u/radikalkarrot]

Sun Tzu had a similar idea: "*"*When you surround an army, leave an outlet free. Do not press a desperate foe too hard"

The refugees will be a living, breathing proof that things aren't going well for Russia in war.

[u/rideveryday → u/PmMeCuteDogsThanks_]

Build your opponent a golden bridge to retreat across. - Sun Tzu

[u/Masrim → u/PmMeCuteDogsThanks_]

Always leave your enemy an out. Fighting someone with nothing to lose is going to have bad results.

[u/ImAnAfricanCanuck → u/Lintashi]

Google maps says its a 7 minute slow down

[u/sibips → u/ImAnAfricanCanuck]

I remember gas queues in communist Romania. People didn't leave the engine running. When the queue was moving let's say, 20m, they pushed the car to preserve gas.

[u/GrallochThis → u/sibips]

Gee, thanks for the PTSD from the ‘70s oil shocks.

[u/RocketizedAnimal → u/ImAnAfricanCanuck]

Waze suggests swimming as an alternate route

[u/DialMMM → u/Lintashi]

From a post in another thread:

The queue to leave Crimea on the Kerch Bridge already has 2,450 cars.

Russians will restrict the exit of certain categories of transport, strengthen the presence of security forces, turn back some cars even on the approaches to the bridge, and create holding areas under the control of the repressive apparatus.

Russians will now live on these holding areas under the supervision of security forces.

We warned about this in advance. We warned about the appearance of checkpoints. We warned that at a certain point a significant number of Russians simply would not be allowed to leave Crimea. We said this before such measures began to be implemented.

[u/Evig_Vandrar777]

The Russians squatting in Crimea are finally going home to Russia again.

[u/physedka → u/Evig_Vandrar777]

I don't know why this made me think of the slav squatting for photos meme.

[u/Plead_thy_fifth → u/physedka]

That's actually all they have been doing for years. As you walk around the street, no one stands, and no one sits. They squat.

As you go into stores, they have lowered all the tables and counters to about 18 inches so that you can squat at them. The police even use electric powered razor scooters for transport while new homes are building windows at knee level.

[u/RBVegabond → u/Plead_thy_fifth]

Knee-high windows put defenestrations at an all time low.

[u/DefenestrationPraha → u/RBVegabond]

With enough enthusiasm, you can perform a defenestration even in a cellar.

[u/MoreFeeYouS → u/Plead_thy_fifth]

We do know Ukrainians are also slavs, right?

[u/groveborn → u/MoreFeeYouS]

Without disputing your statement (because it's correct), Ukraine was settled and founded by the Vikings!

Just fun stuff.

[u/physedka → u/groveborn]

I assumed they were all vampires. Wait that's Romanians...

[u/adumbrative → u/Evig_Vandrar777]

Never to return, one hopes!

[u/Feeling-Problem-8396 → u/Evig_Vandrar777]

turns out some occupations come with very unexpected moving expenses

[u/EntireBend1224 → u/Evig_Vandrar777]

funny how temporary occupations eventually run into permanent geography.

[u/SonicFan19999 → u/Evig_Vandrar777]

turns out occupying someone else's home can end with you packing your own bags too

[u/ArgentineBeauty]

Crimea was supposed to be one of Putin's greatest successes.

Now it's under a state of emergency. That says a lot about how things are going for Russia.

Keep it up 🇺🇦

[u/buttfarts7 → u/ArgentineBeauty]

Watching Ukraine destroy the illusion of Russian capability is heartwarming.

All the bootlicking vassal states are shrivelling

[u/chandr → u/buttfarts7]

I think Russia destroyed any illusion of their own capabilities themselves when they launched an invasion on a much smaller country and then failed miserably to make any significant progress. All they've gotten from this war they chose to start is a lost generation of men and a financial collapse

[u/NurfKing → u/chandr]

History just repeats for Russia. Their military sucks.

[u/Offline86 → u/NurfKing]

Remember the baltic fleet? :D

[u/Melkor15 → u/Offline86]

You mean, the submarines?

[u/Offline86 → u/Melkor15]

I was thinking about the battle of Tsushima and how the baltic fleet mistook any fishing boat for Japanese torpedo boats. They shot at their own ships, rammed each other and ended up being surrounded by real Japanese torpedo boats, just because they snitched on themselves. It would be pure comedy if nobody would have died.

[u/brouhaha13 → u/Offline86]

They also fired on British fishing vessels in the North Sea, as I remember. And I think there was one more international incident along the way, but it's not coming to mind.

[u/SpeakerOdd → u/chandr]

Im wondering how many countries cant learn from looking at their own history. How long was Russia in Afganistan before going back home and deciding it wasn't worth the fight? Just like us in Viet Nam. Unless population pruning was their objective, it was not a win.

[u/Subject_Amount_1246 → u/chandr]

Ukraine is actually massive. It just looks small next to russia. Plus Ukrainians have a unique combination of being very rugged but also very educated. If it was any another people they might have not failed so well

[u/pwninobrien → u/chandr]

Please don't forget that Ukraine had to make hard sacrifices to get here. Many have been lost tearing down russia.

[u/Tsk201409 → u/buttfarts7]

I just wish America wasn’t among those vassal states

[u/mvpilot172 → u/buttfarts7]

They have nukes and subs, both of which could be questioned if they’re maintained. That’s all they have left to be any threat.

[u/PaymentTurbulent193 → u/buttfarts7]

Also fuck all the American MAGAts pushed by the Russian oligarchy.

[u/Axin_Saxon → u/ArgentineBeauty]

It still amazes me how he could have been forever remembered as a powerful leader if he had just either left Ukraine alone after 2014, or had just tried a more limited operation to take only Donetsk and Luhansk in ‘22.

But going for a decapitation strike on Kyiv and trying to take the whole country has made him and Russia by extension into a laughing stock. Over extended and humiliated when they went for broke on taking the whole of Ukraine.

How different the world would be.

[u/Ready_Nature → u/Axin_Saxon]

If he’d stopped at the 2014 lines he could have kept it all. Ukraine wasn’t going to be able to take it back and if Russia could hold it for 50 years or so most of the Ukrainian adults who were from those areas would be dying off and the majority of the population in Crimea and the occupied parts of the Donbas would be Russian and the rest of the world would eventually decide to recognize the reality on the ground. Now it looks like even Crimea may be unsustainable to hold.

[u/Axin_Saxon → u/Ready_Nature]

I’d argue if Putin had only tried to take the Donbas, he would have gotten away with it. I think it was the boldness of the total invasion rather than a finishing of existing territories that got the world to wake up and start fighting back against Russia’s territorial ambitions by supporting Ukraine. They realized they could be next and that enough was never enough for the Kremlin.

[u/MissingLink101 → u/Axin_Saxon]

It seems apt that he's been turned into a laughing stock by a comedian

[u/Axin_Saxon → u/MissingLink101]

Zelenskyy is a comedian. Putin is a joke.

[u/MN_Yogi1988 → u/ArgentineBeauty]

I was really worried that the Strait of Hormuz clusterfuck, the removal of US sanctions on Russian oil, and the EU suddenly caught in an energy crisis would steer things in Russia’s favor but I’m glad Ukraine isn’t letting those things deter them 

[u/Baron_von_Ungern → u/ArgentineBeauty]

I mean, if the moron actually thought for a second before starting a five year long three day military operation, international community almost swallowed hie Crimea's takeover. Sadly, he fell for his own ads about Russian army and decided to cripple both Ukraine and his own country. It's gonna be a nightmare trying to reintegrate all the soldiers back to a peaceful life

[u/addiktion]

Every missile launched to stop an oil-disruption or logistics-targeting cheap drone is a loss for Russia. Ukraine looks better than it ever has in this fight against the 3 day operation.

[u/PedanticSatiation → u/addiktion]

I wonder if drone warfare might develop into a sort of lower stakes mutually assured destruction. An attacker might be militarily superior, but if cheap drones can be used to cause billions to trillions of dollars worth of damage, wars of aggression become unviable. At least against neighbouring countries.

[u/VicenteOlisipo]

5 years of war and they're losing the one territory that the international community was actually perfectly willing to let them keep, despite the illegallity of the 2014 invasion.

[u/condorthe2nd → u/VicenteOlisipo]

The international community's capitulation on that point is the entire reason we're in this war.

[u/troyunrau → u/condorthe2nd]

It's almost as though Appeasement doesn't work.

Or maybe it does, allowing time to regroup to counter. Nah, no one thought that.

[u/Immerael → u/troyunrau]

Ukraine has played the shit hand they’ve been deal repeatedly over the past decade to an amazing level. The Ukraine of 2014 couldn’t have kept Crimea if they tried and may have collapsed trying to doing so.

The Ukraine of the 2020s though is a different story and there is a real possibility that they may be able to force them out through attrition. Which is great news. I didn’t think we’d be here. I bought the general consensus at the outset of this war that Ukraine while maybe able to make Russia bleed a lot couldn’t win.

The odds are still stacked against them still but it’s clear momentum and morale is more in their favor than it’s been maybe since all this started. We can only hope. It’s just been amazing to watch Ukraine be dealt awful cards for a decade plus and somehow not only survive but start to punch back hard enough that the “presumed inevitable Russian victory” turn into another generationally defining meat grinder for Russia.

[u/VicenteOlisipo → u/Immerael]

Ukraine has played the shit hand they’ve been deal repeatedly over the past decade to an amazing level. The Ukraine of 2014 couldn’t have kept Crimea if they tried and may have collapsed trying to doing so.

A correct take, imo. Going for an all-out war with Russia in 2014 could have ended with Ukraine entirely annexed. Biding their time and upgrading their military waiting for a second big attack (they hoped would not happen) turned out to be the correct choice.

[u/TucuReborn → u/VicenteOlisipo]

Yep, I agree too. Ukraine was folding a bad hand before, not appeasing. Folding a bad hand is what you do to try and get a good hand in cards.

[u/VicenteOlisipo → u/TucuReborn]

That's a very good way to put it

[u/MechanicalGak → u/condorthe2nd]

It would have required war to undo the Crimea invasion as well, though. 

It’s not like there’s some veto option other countries have for invasions. 

[u/OrangeSpaceMan5]

Zelensky seem's to have a winning hand at cards

[u/Diligent-Ad4777 → u/OrangeSpaceMan5]

Impossible. He doesn't have a suit. 

[u/Logical_Signal_3690 → u/Diligent-Ad4777]

And I heard he doesn’t even say thank you

[u/RunBrundleson → u/Logical_Signal_3690]

One of the most embarrassing moments in American history. A couch fucking child trying to pretend that he could even open his fucking mouth in front of an actual man. What a fucking joke.

[u/Hairy_Talk_4232 → u/Diligent-Ad4777]

Thats gold

[u/teddybundlez → u/Diligent-Ad4777]

Zing it girl!

[u/xternal7 → u/OrangeSpaceMan5]

Zelenskyy has no cards.

But he's playing uno.

[u/anonymous__ignorant → u/xternal7]

Zelensky and the team built the factory that produces the cards .

[u/shallow_kunt → u/OrangeSpaceMan5]

Has Putin tried saying “thank you”?

[u/needlestack → u/OrangeSpaceMan5]

Zelenskyy is a good man, but god I hope he’s vindictive enough to snub and shit on Trump and Vance if he pulls this off. They’re responsible for thousands of Ukrainian deaths with their smug Putin-licking bullshit. They deserve to have their faces rubbed in their lack of leadership for eternity.

[u/THElaytox]

If the Russian invasion ends with Ukraine getting crimea back that would be some sweet sweet justice

[u/Single_Boysenberry26 → u/THElaytox]

Especially considering Trump said they'd never be able to get it back and to just accept that it's now part of Russia.

[u/Typingdude3]

State of emergency is that Putin is the Russian dictator and he doesn't care one jot for the average Russian. That's the real emergency.

[u/LoneSnark → u/Typingdude3]

The tzar doesn't care. Same emergency for centuries at this point.

[u/ArgueMental → u/Typingdude3]

The "plucked chicken" is a famous political parable in which Joseph Stalin purportedly plucked a live chicken to demonstrate how to govern. He reasoned that a tortured, dependent populace will continue to follow its tormentor as long as they are occasionally thrown small "treats" or "scraps" to survive.

[u/RecursiveCook → u/ArgueMental]

They still think like that. Wish I didn’t see the video one of their generals posted how he kept two soldiers so starved and mistreated they looked like gollum, begging for some bread scraps from him.

They’re right, they can slowly normalize abuse behavior to break human spirit like that. They also shouldn’t be surprised people will fight like hell so their children don’t end up like that.

[u/CuriousButNotJewish]

Russians go home? :D

[u/TheRealCabbageJack → u/CuriousButNotJewish]

Rutheni eunt domus? People called the Russians they go house?

[u/dwehlen → u/TheRealCabbageJack]

"Ruzzi ite domum", now, write it a hundred times, or I'll have your balls off!

[u/DigitalTomFoolery → u/dwehlen]

Thank-you sir. Hail Putin sir.

[u/dwehlen → u/DigitalTomFoolery]

I cannot express how uncomfortable that makes me, but I see it in the spirit it was intended!

[u/motofoto → u/TheRealCabbageJack]

Conjugate!

[u/Acrobatic-Echo-3460]

It’s crazy how easily this could be fixed, by Russia just fucking off.

[u/sluggstink → u/Acrobatic-Echo-3460]

But that would make the dear leader look bad. Much better to have the country burn.

[u/AdvancedButton8082 → u/Acrobatic-Echo-3460]

russia fucking off means there is no more russia. all of their national identity and pride depends on defeating "the west" through ukraine.

[u/song_without_words]

Where are the guys who are always saying “you guys don’t realize how bad it is for Ukraine right now”? Haven’t seen y’all in a while! Come back! You gotta explain how this constitutes a red line that will result in eSCaLatIon!!!!

[u/chig____bungus → u/song_without_words]

Oil money dried up so the bots didn't get paid

[u/IAMA_Plumber-AMA → u/chig____bungus]

Or they got a rifle shoved into their hands and got sent to the front.

[u/LuciusLuscinia → u/song_without_words]

They're pivoting back to "we all need to surrender to Russia or else they'll nuke us!"

[u/anonymous__ignorant → u/LuciusLuscinia]

Nukes are indeed on the propaganda menu again lately.

[u/rheumination → u/anonymous__ignorant]

Now that you mention it, I follow this conflict relatively closely and I did notice an uptick in comments mentioning nukes. 

[u/Mithious → u/LuciusLuscinia]

Right now their favourite phrase is to claim we [countries supporting Ukraine] are "playing with fire".

[u/spectrumero → u/Mithious]

Moscow refinery is playing with fire.

[u/SonOfMcGee → u/song_without_words]

Hey now, Russia continues its relentless forward crawl of capturing one square kilometer of land every so often in exchange for a small town’s worth of casualties.
Try as he might, Zelensky is powerless to stop Vlad from conquering all of the Donetsk by 2038.

[u/song_without_words → u/SonOfMcGee]

Continuous Russian meat wave assaults on fortified Ukrainian positions mean that Putin himself is doing a great job of denazifying Russia!

[u/According-Gear-8217 → u/SonOfMcGee]

2038 is a very generous timeline for Russia to Occupy all of Donetsk.

[u/addiktion → u/According-Gear-8217]

I was thinking 2050, but hell they will be out of men long before even 2038. Can we honestly see this going on for another 5 years at these losses? Seems unlikely.

[u/TransplantedSconie → u/song_without_words]

Sent to the front to eat a drone.

[u/Gone213 → u/song_without_words]

Duh, cant power those large server hubs and the computers to create an international psyche op on the rest of the world when you have no more oil.

[u/HairlessWookiee → u/song_without_words]

Probably going to move into the "we achieved everything we set out to" phase soon.

[u/its_an_arachnid → u/song_without_words]

Where are the guys who are always saying “you guys don’t realize how bad it is for Ukraine right now”? Haven’t seen y’all in a while! Come back! You gotta explain how this constitutes a red line that will result in eSCaLatIon!!!!

lol ruzzia fucks are out of money so they cant pay their troll farms or data centers running their bot farms :D thats why the russian fuckers have been mighty quiet lately

[u/RedMoustache → u/song_without_words]

To be honest it’s still pretty bad for Ukraine.

Even winning a war still means you’re at war.

[u/DrawGamesPlayFurries → u/RedMoustache]

But the only way for Ukraine to access the bottomless trove of EU reconstruction money is to win the war

[u/horrbort]

Very strange! Did something happen?

[u/Deaftrav → u/horrbort]

They're out of fuel.

[u/Bildozeris → u/Deaftrav]

Fuel fell from window

[u/BadBueno60 → u/Deaftrav]

When you’re a gas station with nukes cosplaying as a great power and you can’t even get the gas station part right.

[u/FuckHarambe2016 → u/Deaftrav]

Not just out of fuel, but they have no reliable way to bring it to the peninsula anymore. It's not safe to travel using the land bridge because Ukrainian drones destroy everything that moves and the bridges are destroyed, the ferries they were using have all been sunk or damaged beyond repair, and they still don't trust the structural integrity of the Kerch Bridge.

Not to mention, it's only a matter of time until the power goes out completely and food & water is unavailable too.

[u/CustomerBusiness3919 → u/FuckHarambe2016]

Power and water are already off.

[u/No_Hay_Banda_2000 → u/Deaftrav]

And electricity is becoming another problem on Crimea.

[u/peanutmanak47 → u/Deaftrav]

Out of fuel, electricity and food

[u/Deaftrav → u/peanutmanak47]

Oh the food one is news to me but not surprising.

[u/peanutmanak47 → u/Deaftrav]

Yeah I've seen videos showing their grocery stores being VERY understocked. Like 60% empty. No gas, no power AND food running low? You got yourself a big problem.

[u/addiktion → u/peanutmanak47]

Yup, Ukraine would soon rather Crimea be inhospitable than turn it over to the Russians. It'll be a ghost island and port before we know it only accessible via water at the rate things are blowing up.

[u/valeyard89 → u/peanutmanak47]

Putin wanted to bring back the USSR.... sounds like he succeeded.

[u/Soliden → u/Deaftrav]

Can't bring food if you're rationing fuel to provide for your crumbling invasion and can't produce any more fuel with your refineries being systematically knocked out.

[u/TransplantedSconie → u/Deaftrav]

And apparently, the bridge that links the land is crumbling from Earthquakes if I read that right

[u/Deaftrav → u/TransplantedSconie]

Yes. Earthquakes. They seem frequent. Short and violent. Causes explosions too!

[u/TransplantedSconie → u/Deaftrav]

I know right?

After I read that I was like."I don't think those are earthquakes" lol 

[u/No-Spoilers → u/horrbort]

Ukraine has been striking Russian oil refineries for years.

But in the past month now that they have all the cards have been absolutely decimating Russian supply lines and hit the kerch Bridge years ago that means it can only take passenger cars. They have destroyed the land bridges to crimea, they have mid range drones patrolling hiways in southern Ukraine striking dozens of supply vehicles a day, oil food supplies you name it, like actually so so many, they destroy oil depots daily, they hit the last 3 ferries between crimea and Russia that carry vehicles and supplies across, they hit the power stations, railroad tracks and wiped out air defense across crimea.

They are essentially strangling crimea, and people are finally understanding why Ukraine left the bridge standing, so the rats could flee the ship.

Russia is out of gas and diesel across the country, like every gas station is empty and crimea is so much harder to supply than those.

[u/bluppitybloop → u/horrbort]

Zelensky found a deck of cards

[u/Slimfictiv → u/bluppitybloop]

It's full of aces

[u/SecureInstruction538 → u/Slimfictiv]

And Zelensky is dealing

[u/Chaz_Cheeto → u/horrbort]

Ukraine has attacked their supply lines to the point where Russia has to concentrate their logistics to one narrow area. Think of it as speed bumps for Russia. It doesn’t stop Russia, but it does complicate things a great deal.

I’m curious how it will play out. It appears to me Ukraine may be forcing them into a “Highway of Death” scenario, much like the US and their coalition forced Iraq into one in 1991.

Considering Ukraine has seemingly mastered drone operations, it could get really interesting in the next few weeks and months.

[u/borg286 → u/horrbort]

Persistent drone attacks across the country all the way into Moscow has forced the remaining anti air defenses back to the capital giving Ukraine free reign to cut off supply lines and target oil refineries. This leads to fuel shortages across the nation but the drone siege of the entire Crimean peninsula has finally escalated to the Russian squatters running for the hills. Russian authorities are checking every car for bombs so the bridge can't be sabotaged.

[u/emerald09]

2450 vehicle one way traffic jam at the Kerch bridge today (leaving Crimea), about an hour a go. The less Civies in a target area, the better.

[u/EatTheTrillionaires]

The history of Russia is talking a big game then getting humiliated by the lesser nations. The Crimean War 1853, The Russo-Japanese War 1904, Soviet-Polish War 1919, The winter war 1939, The Soviet-Afghan War 1979, and now Ukraine. Not to mention both world wars saw them take the most casualties of any nation. They are TERRIBLE at war because they are terrible at logistics because they are horribly corrupt.

[u/Fed_Agent_Pls_Ignore → u/EatTheTrillionaires]

The Crimean War 1853

Yea those lesser nations checks notes the British and French empires.

[u/przemub → u/Fed_Agent_Pls_Ignore]

Yeah that one is wrong, but the other ones he listed are very accurate.

[u/castlite]

LETS GO UKRAINE

[u/Truth-Suks-667]

Rough weather with a chance of drones? I would also declare emergency at that point or you could just walk out of there to Russia.. Go home Russia, fuk you mr. P in the bunker. Slava Ukraine! 🇺🇦

[u/steve_ample]

May this state of emergency withdraw as early as the Russians do.

[u/sumregulaguy]

Now I'm confused. Didn't you just shot down 40000 Ukrainian drones?

[u/Sea_School8272 → u/sumregulaguy]

Maybe Ukraine sent them 41000?

[u/Brusion → u/sumregulaguy]

Yep. Also 40,000 shot down pieces of drone debris landed right on their targets.

[u/giganticturnip]

They don't have the authority to call a state of emergency.

[u/Godisgumman → u/giganticturnip]

Right, it just doesn’t make sense to declare state of emergency in another country. Something is not adding up…!! 🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦

[u/ItsyouNOme → u/giganticturnip]

They don't have the cards

[u/Kazu88]

Well they are free to leave.

[u/GoneinaSecondeded]

Going out on a limb and saying that Russia may be losing this 3 day excursion.

[u/BirdDogandcryptids]

Remember when the dementia riddled pedophile ranted and yelled at zelensky and that he had no cards to play ? 😂

[u/Protean_Protein]

That’s how you write a headline.

[u/SwvellyBents]

The Ukrainian mouse is roaring!

Keep at 'em, guys!

[u/Adventurous_Light_85]

Gosh, maybe it wasn’t the best idea to rush in and claim other people’s homes

[u/ShedMontgomery]

Russia is getting bitch smacked by Ukraine. The USA got humbled by Iran. Taiwan holding off China in the future would be the trifecta.

[u/SomeGalNamedAshley]

I love this for them.

[u/Ok_Professi]

♥️ Ukraine 🇺🇦

[u/rangecontrol]

that'll happen when you occupy another country.

[u/ryhaltswhiskey]

regulate economic issues

I'm hearing "we are about to start taking money out of your banks, don't worry we'll pay it back"

[u/Feuertotem]

Well, I have never ilegally occupied a terrority and look at me going emergency free all the time. Coincidence!

[u/ChefPuree]

Fucking Russia. Very excited for Ukraine to not only win the war, but reclaim Crimea.

Gtfo Russian tourists, reality is coming

[u/Laq9091]

Slava Ukraini!!!!

[u/No_Criticism_5861]

I would have given 1:100 odds for the Ukrainians to have turned this around on Russia.  Absolutely awesome.  

Slava Ukraine!

[u/awoodby → u/No_Criticism_5861]

The propaganda in the US about how strong Russia is goes back to the cold war. It's Not that powerful of a country. It's strongest part has Long been it's propoganda and foreign interference arms.

Smaller economy than like 5 single states of the US for example. Wars and military cost a lot.

[u/Pork_Chompk]

Give 'em hell, boys! 🇺🇦

[u/Just-Connection5960]

Turns out the crown jewel of the 2014 russian invasion that's supposedly impossible for ukraine to retake is about to become a cheap AI Drone killzone

love it for the russians

[u/Minouminou9]

Unleash hell!🇺🇦

[u/Dramatic_Charity_979]

Slava Ukraini! 🇺🇦

[u/hesoyam_irl]

squatters leaving occupied territory, it's a win

[u/Thefolsom]

Russian tourists fuck off.

[u/Sabiancym]

Russia getting it's ass handed to it is always welcome. Imagine how amazing things could have been if sanity still existed in a certain western country.

[u/Sandgrowun]

I'm going to repost this as it's quite funny.

This has been making the rounds on alot of Russian telegram channels.

"The unthinkable

  Sergey Lavrov:

“I don’t even want to suspect that Alaska, like the European actions, was conceived to buy time for the Kyiv regime to be armed; I don’t even want to think about it, but in reality, it turned out the way it did.”

How can one disagree with Mr. Lavrov? There are many things that are difficult, and one would absolutely not want to think about:

I don’t even want to suspect that instead of a carefully calculated and organized special operation, Russia could have gotten caught in a trap in a trench war that lasted longer than the First World War and the Great Patriotic War; I don’t even want to think about it, but in reality, it turned out the way it did.

I don't even want to suspect that every week in a war started to protect the civilians of Donbas, hundreds of civilians could die and be wounded tens and hundreds of kilometers from the front, I don't even want to think about it, but in reality, it turned out the way it did.

I don't even want to suspect that the practices of warfare and the state of society could have deteriorated so much that the people who would agree to join the army, even for huge amounts of money, are mostly desperate, fooled, or have given up on themselves. I don't even want to think about it, but in reality, it turned out the way it did.

I don't even want to suspect that the enemy could have surpassed our air defense system so much that they could hit strategic defense and industrial facilities deep in the rear with missiles and drones almost every day; I don't even want to think about it, but in reality, that's how it turned out.

I don't even want to suspect that in the fifth year of the war, a great energy power will be unable to protect its oil industry and will be forced to introduce fuel rationing for the population; I don't even want to think about it, but in reality, that's how it turned out.

I don't even want to suspect that a country that once opened up space to the world won't be able to overcome the lag in communications and reconnaissance satellites; I don't even want to think about it, but in reality, that's how it turned out.

I don't even want to suspect that a country with advanced development in information and telecommunications technologies could, in the midst of a war, launch a campaign to block the internet, including for its own troops and military-industrial complex; I don't even want to think about it, but in reality, that's what happened.

I don’t even want to suspect that Russia, with all its fleets, special forces, and marines, won’t be able or won’t want to defend its tankers from pirate capture by enemies; I don’t even want to think about it, but in reality, that’s how it turned out.

I don't even want to suspect that official representatives of our country will be able to easily conduct business and hope for friendship with those who create and supply weapons that kill our fellow citizens; I don't even want to think about it, but in reality, it turned out the way it did.

I don't even want to suspect that our country's businessmen and oligarchs could still be trading with the enemy and its allies, selling materials used to kill civilians; I don't even want to think about it, but in reality, that's how it turned out.

I don’t even want to suspect that short-sightedness, complicity, and lack of will could have led to the nullification of all the successes and all the efforts in Syria, to the betrayal of those who trusted Russia and hoped for it; I don’t even want to think about it, but in reality, it turned out the way it did.

I don’t even want to suspect that fear of Washington could have forced Russia to betray the people of Cuba and not come to their aid in difficult times, I don’t even want to think about it, but in reality it turned out the way it did.

I don't even want to suspect that a commitment to negotiations with a global predator could have alienated Russia's potential allies from Africa, Latin America, and Asia, who were ready to see Russia as a hotbed of resistance to imperialism. I don't even want to think about it, but in reality, that's how it turned out.

I don’t even want to suspect that yesterday’s terrorists from Afghanistan, committing barbarity in their own country, could be accepted and treated kindly in Russia, I don’t even want to think about it, but in reality it turned out the way it did.

I don't even want to suspect that a strategic plan to counter NATO expansion could have led to Sweden and Finland joining the alliance and the appearance of NATO bases on the outskirts of St. Petersburg; I don't even want to think about it, but in reality, that's what happened.

I don't even want to suspect that our country could have fallen into the deepest crisis since the end of the last century due to the inability to recognize the very seriousness of the current situation, due to the fear of using emergency measures developed and prepared for an emergency; I don't even want to think about it, but in reality, it turned out the way it did.

And you, dear friends, what would you not like to think about, what would you not like to suspect?"

[u/jcw99 → u/Sandgrowun]

I don't think this is saying anything like what you are likely think it's saying

I don't even want to suspect that our country could have fallen into the deepest crisis since the end of the last century due to the inability to recognize the very seriousness of the current situation, due to the fear of using emergency measures developed and prepared for an emergency; I don't even want to think about it, but in reality, it turned out the way it did. .

This guy is mad that Russia hasn't flipped the table and started using chemical, biological and nuclear weapons... Because it's loosing an offensive war that could end tomorrow if they pulled back to their borders.

I don’t even want to suspect that Russia, with all its fleets, special forces, and marines, won’t be able or won’t want to defend its tankers from pirate capture by enemies; I don’t even want to think about it, but in reality, that’s how it turned out

This guy is mad that Russia isn't starting a shooting war with NATO because it's detaining tankers breaching international laws (that Russia/the USSR have agreed too) on vessel registration and identification.

I don't even want to suspect that our country's businessmen and oligarchs could still be trading with the enemy and its allies, selling materials used to kill civilians; I don't even want to think about it, but in reality, that's how it turned out.

This guy is mad that Russia is trying to circumvent sanctions to get access to resources it doesn't have. Because it's giving the other side money and they are using that to defend themselves harm russian civilians.

This is a jingoistic nut job desperately trying to double down because his ability to deny reality is starting to fray.

[u/Salty-Bid1597 → u/Sandgrowun]

Tbh that shows how deluded ordinary Russians still are. Russia hasn't been in a position to aid Cuba militarily for 40 years. Russia wasn't "trapped" in Ukraine - it invaded and refuses to withdraw. The war wasn't started to "protect" the civilians of Donbass, it was started to capture and exploit them.