I fully expected that Russian forces would simply march in and occupy an country whose command and communications, energy grid and transportation infrastructure were all incapacitated, rendering Ukraine unable to offer any sort of sustained or co-ordinated resistance.
Did Russia fail at that or did they for some reason believe it was not necessary?

Posted by: Mr Green Jeans | Apr 7 2022 12:30 utc | 303

Opport Knocks | Apr 7 2022 9:49 utc | 286
you are somewhat mind dead if you still do not understand what occurred and why.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Apr 7 2022 14:04 utc | 305

@xototox
“that is not the goal of the Russian operation, the goal is demilitarization and denazification. And as far as I know, orders have been given from the commander in chief to spare civilians wherever and whenever possible.”
That’s not something to brag about. Too many Russia supporters are moral opium addicts. They are detached from the sense of harsh reality, they’re only after feeling good from moral superiority complex. They are addicted to noble ideals. I’m sick and tired of this “denazification” narrative. Russia is not in Roseland to persue such noble goal. Russia isn’t even being able to safeguard its own survival.
Russia has failed to protect its own soldiers. Russia has lost so many of its soldiers so easily. Russia should put their own lives first, instead of taking care of Ukrainian civilians.
Demilitarization and denazification don’t work when Russia is failing to have entire Ukraine under control.
Demilitarization and denazification don’t work when Ukraine is getting endless supply of weapons and money from NATO.
For demilitarization and denazification, Russia needs to carpet bomb all the Ukrainian cities, infrastructure and telecommunication, which Russia refuses to do. As a result, every passing day more and more Russians are getting sacrified.

Posted by: Ponta | Apr 7 2022 14:41 utc | 307

@200
It doesn’t matter what you believe or not. If Russia refuses to occupy Kiev and all Ukraine soon (which Russia should have done already long ago), Russia is doomed and does not deserve to survive.
If you believe Russia never means to occupy Kiev and all Ukraine because Russia is the good guy and it’s a morally bad thing to do, and Russia is only after the noble ideal of denazification, then it’s your “morality disease” which is unfit for survival.
If you have any sense of reality and survival instinct, you should know that Russia should have destroyed Kiev and other Western Ukrainian cities and facilities already and occupied all Ukraine already, and Russia should now be preparing to occupy the Baltic states then Finland and Sweden, which Russia is failing to do.
So many Russia supporters are infested with nobility syndrome. The have no sense of how the reality works and they’re preoccupied noble values. (denazification, earning the heart of Ukrainians). The only thing they care about is “feeling good” from noble causes. They do not understand NATO will occupy Ukraine if Russia doesn’t occupy Ukraine. That’s how the reality in this world works. In this world, if you don’t kill them, they will kill you. It’s either you or them.

Posted by: Ponta | Apr 7 2022 15:26 utc | 309

So Canada deployed a warship to support Ukraine. Where does this all end?
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/hmcs-halifax-leaves-for-deployment-as-part-of-nato-support-for-ukraine-1.6391019

Posted by: Krypton | Apr 7 2022 16:40 utc | 311

Wolle #314
Sadly, Canada has hitched its entire future to that of the U.S. It’s economy, it’s culture, it’s language, and yes, its (im)morality.

Posted by: krypton | Apr 7 2022 17:06 utc | 313

Posted by: Hausmeister | Apr 7 2022 7:12 utc | 253
Guess here is another one.
Things with Jews is like with vegans.
How do you find out if someone is vegan? You don’t, they will tell it yourself even if you don’t ask.
How do you find out who is Jew? You don’t have to, they will call you anti-semite when you state obvious facts not to their liking.

Posted by: Abe | Apr 7 2022 19:04 utc | 315

Kryton@312….are you familiar with the FOOLS thermal imaging system that Canada will be testing out? The feared Forward Operating Oar Launching System….take that, Russia.
Cheers M

Posted by: sean the leprechaun | Apr 7 2022 22:57 utc | 317

Posted by: Hausmeister | Apr 7 2022 7:12 utc | 253
@Abe | Apr 7 2022 19:04 utc | 317

Guess here is another one.
Things with Jews is like with vegans.
How do you find out if someone is vegan? You don’t, they will tell it yourself even if you don’t ask.
How do you find out who is Jew? You don’t have to, they will call you anti-semite when you state obvious facts not to their liking.

You are proving Hausmeister’s, RSH’s and others’ claims that your anti Jewish rants are disgusting and should stop. This has nothing to do with moralizing “Antisemitism” accusations from the “woke” side weaponizing this claim e.g. against Jeremy Corbyn. There is just no point to do Jew sniffing the way you do, it is ugly and pointless.
Do you accuse Vladimir Solovjev? I reckon you do not even know who that is. Or late Vladimir Davidovich Shirinovsky? What about Max Blumenthal? All those terrible Jews. Get a life.

Posted by: aquadraht | Apr 8 2022 6:17 utc | 319

Previous message from Russian telegram https://t.me/boris_rozhin/40748 one of the main telegram channels on Russia’s operation in Ukraine

Posted by: Nebo Sinee | Apr 8 2022 9:40 utc | 321

i case you are on this page not as a paid troll, but seeking information
Within minutes of a missile attack that killed dozens of Ukrainian civilians waiting to evacuate from Kramatorsk railway station, pro-Russian news Telegram channels reported that the strike was aimed at Ukraine fighters or hardware, according to open source intelligence and data analysts.
The posts were swiftly deleted when the horrific civilian toll became apparent.
“10 minutes ago — strikes on the Kramatorsk train station. Working against a consolidation of Ukrainian Armed Forces fighters,” reported pro-Kremlin channel Siloviki, meaning men of power. It was reposted on other pro-Kremlin channels. One of the channels that reposted it is run by Dmitriy Steshin, a Komsomolskaya Pravda journalist.
Andrey Kamyzhikin, a journalist from pro-Kremlin ANNA Telegram channel whose reports often appear on Russian state television, also reported a strike on the train station. He said there were “reports that Ukrainian Forces brought military hardware” to the station, in reference to a potential Russian target. ANNA news posted the same information.
Kamyzhikin posted images of an explosion at the railway station and a large piece of rocket fragment. “Our sources in Kramatorsk say that about 20 minutes ago the area around the train station was targeted with a strike. There are also reports that on the eve of this the Ukrainian armed forces brought hardware there,” the report said, adding the information was being checked.
Ruslan Leviev, a Russian military analyst who runs the Conflict Intelligence Team, a group that monitors Russian military movements and actions using open source data and other sources, reported that a pro-Kremlin Telegram channel posted a warning Thursday night to those trying to leave Kramatorsk to avoid using rail.
“I advise citizens who are now evacuating from Slavyansk, Kramatorsk and nearby settlements not to leave cities on railway transport,” said the post, which was still up Friday after the attack.
Russia’s Defense Ministry denied the attack, apparently carried out by Tochka-U missiles, claiming that only Ukraine used such missiles.
However, the Conflict Intelligence Team reported last month that Russia had started using Tochka-U missiles in Ukraine, geolocating video and photos of fragments of the missile taken March 6 in the village of Desnyanka near Chernihiv.
Belarusian military tracking group MotolkoHelp reported that about 30 Russian Tochka-U missile launch systems were spotted in southern Belarus last month.

Posted by: arvo | Apr 8 2022 15:27 utc | 323

and to all those who pretend they actually believe that the killing of civilians would be [gasp!] unthinkable to have been done by the noble russian forces, there might be a few fools who believe ye… those of us who can think, and read, why we google ‘russian war crimes’, maybe linked with ‘chechnya’, or let’s try ‘syria’, ‘georgia’, ‘libya’ etc.
other search terms would be ‘chechen fighters’, ‘wagner group’, and for good measure let’s try ‘politcaly motivated shootings and poisonings of dissidents in russia’
the sources here are the well-known neo-nazi organisations ‘amnesty international’, ‘medicins sans frontieres’, ‘Office_of_the_United_Nations_High_Commissioner_for_Human_Rights’, ‘human rightswatch’, ‘European_Court_of_Human_Rights’ etc. spoiler alert: you read the words ‘looting’, ‘torture’, and ‘murder’ a lot…
so who do ye think ye are fooling with your propaganda lie of the ‘noble’ russian forces who are only in ukraine to HELP? when there is such a well-established record of thuggery?
one more fact.. in the last ukrainian election, deemed free and fair by all international observers, the combined parties of the far right [those one could consider nazis or nazi-friendly] got A SINGLE SEAT out of the 450 seats of the parliament so it seems Ukraine is in less need of ‘denazification’ than russia [out of also 450 seats, far-right LDPR 21 seats, extreme-far-right RODINA 1 seat].
i know, facts are often so inconvenient…

Posted by: arvo | Apr 8 2022 16:29 utc | 325

fyi
https://twitter.com/SlowNewsDayShow/status/1512257184813359110
Slow News Day @SlowNewsDayShow
Lemme get this straight- Russia gets kicked out of the UN Human Rights Council on the same day Zelensky gives an address to Greece with a couple actual Nazis in tow?
We Live in a Fucking Cartoon
9:33 PM · Apr 7, 2022
955 Retweets 38 Quote Tweets 3,243 Likes

Posted by: michaelj72 | Apr 8 2022 18:24 utc | 327

now why would russia expel amnesty international and human rights watch? ye may have heard of amnesty international., like they defend and lobby for julian assange, so clearly they are a u.s.a. puppet?

Posted by: arvo | Apr 9 2022 0:15 utc | 329

Finance Minister and deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, a Nazi’s grand-daughter, delivers a Banderite Budget for Canada
https://www.cpac.ca/articles/2022-budget
@22:45
“Our rules-based international order, built from the ashes of WWII, today confronts the greatest threat since its inception. And so, our response has been swift and strong…
Russia has become an economic pariah, but the mutilated people of Bucha, shot with their hands tied behind their backs, have shown us that is not enough.
Putin and his henchman are war-criminals. The worlds’ democracies including our own, can be safe only once the Russian tyrant and his armies are entirely vanquished…”
More on Freeland: Four Very Close Degrees of Separation
http://coat.ncf.ca/research/Chomiak-Freeland/C-F1.htm

Posted by: John Gilberts | Apr 9 2022 16:31 utc | 331

from Counterpunch, April 8, 2022
Putin and the Church: an Unholy Alliance
by Kenn Orphan
Following what appear to be horrendous war crimes, Putin continues his rampage through Ukraine. It is becoming an exercise in absurdity for anyone to defend this war, yet it still has its supporters. Some may still believe that he wants to “de-Nazify” the country. While Ukraine undoubtedly has a serious problem with fascism and far right extremists, one need only to listen to Putin himself to understand that his “justifications” are pure nonsense.
Lest anyone has doubts as to Putin’s racist and imperialistic vision, he was quoted as saying:
“The United States continues to receive more and more immigrants, and, as far as I understand, the white, Christian population is already outnumbered … White Christians have become a minority, less than 50 percent now. … Russia is a vast territory, from its western to eastern borders, it is a Eurasian space. But as regards culture, even language group and history, this all is undoubtedly a European space, as it is inhabited by people of this culture. … we have to preserve all this to remain a significant centre in the world.”
In addition to this, Putin has a great ally in the Russian Orthodox Church. Kirill, patriarch of the church, has been one of the most vocal cheerleaders for Putin’s aggressive nationalism and this murderous war. In a recent sermon he declared that this was a “struggle to defend human civilization” against the “sin” of “gay-pride parades.” To odious men like Kirill, the scenes of cities reduced to rubble or bodies strewn on city streets, many with their hands bound, is somehow “holy” while human sexuality in all of its marvelous diversity is depraved. It is a testament to how extremist religious beliefs are fundamentally anti-human.
Without a doubt, Kirill cares little for the young conscripted Russian soldiers condemned to be cannon fodder in this imperialistic venture. As the death toll mounts, he has been able to spew bile from the lavish Main Cathedral of the Armed Forces, a monstrosity built two years ago as a celebration of Russian militarism. One can hardly fathom the depths of depravity required to design and construct this temple to war and then consecrate it to the Prince of Peace.
But before we wag our fingers too much, we should understand the danger in our own backyards. Most religious people hope and strive for peace and hold compassion as a supreme value. But religion has been frequently used by the powerful as a means of social control. It can be an effective bludgeon for silencing opposition and dissent. A loudspeaker for despots. An arm of state repression and militarism.
And this is most often a reciprocal arrangement. Whether it be the use of Islam to crush women’s rights in Saudi Arabia, or the use of Hinduism to subjugate Muslims and Dalits in India, or the use of Judaism to deny Palestinians their human rights, or the use of Buddhism to ethnically cleanse the Rohingya, or the use of Christianity to oppress women and persecute LGBTQ+ people in the United States, religious leaders and zealots will seize on any opportunity they are given to impose their worldview upon others, and they will utilize the state to this end.
Patriarch Kirill offers us a glimpse into state sanctioned, religious barbarism. His alliance with Putin underscores the need for the separation of church and state. And he is being lauded by racists, white supremacists and fascists the world over. But he is also a reminder that religious zealots have little use for this earth we call home. To them, it is stained with human sin. So, a “holy war” of fire and brimstone might actually be appealing to those with such nihilistic and misanthropic leanings. As the world inches ever closer to nuclear war, this should give us all good reason to be worried.
Kenn Orphan, April 2022

Posted by: thomas | Apr 10 2022 8:29 utc | 333