Ukraine

Listen out for news around the Lyman area. Apparently a large force of Russians are surrounded and cut off.

Ukraine war: Many dead as rockets hit civilian convoy in Zaporizhzhia.

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At least 23 people have been killed and dozens more injured in a Russian rocket strike on a humanitarian convoy in south Ukraine, local officials say.

A huge crater next to a row of vehicles in the city of Zaporizhzhia testifies to the violence of the attack. Windows and windscreens have been smashed in.

The BBC saw half a dozen bodies lying at the scene, apparently civilians. Baggage and coats strewed the tarmac.

One shocked survivor told the BBC she heard at least three explosions.

Reacting to the attack in the early hours of Friday on the outskirts of the regional capital of the Zaporizhzhia region, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia was a "state-terrorist".

He said Russia launched 16 rockets on the city, and vowed to punish perpetrators for "every lost Ukrainian life".

Meanwhile, a Russian-installed local official blamed Ukraine for the attack.

The convoy was hit as people were preparing to travel to the Russian-occupied part of the region to pick up their relatives and also deliver humanitarian aid.

Near the missile's impact crater, the BBC spoke to Kateryna Holoborod, sat on her suitcase in a state of shock.

'We arrived in a line, to join a column going towards Kherson," she said.

"We got out to see what number we had in the queue. Then the first rocket hit, behind the wagons.

"We dropped to the ground. Then the second one hit in the centre of the queue. There was glass everywhere, people screaming and running. I don't remember much.

"It was very scary. I then got up to see what happened, help the injured. I tried to help an injured young man when the third explosion happened."

It goes to show that the Ukranians are playing a fair game in allowing the Russians to leave via the 10 mile straight road to safety.

I doubt the same outcome would have occured if the size 10 boots of the Russians were on the other foot.


www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-63102220

I stand corrected.

Keep your eye on Kherson in the next couple of days. Why is this important? It's because this is where the cream of the Russian army are. Things appear to be happening.

This is the problem Basel. Nothing has gone as he planned. He is cornered and his only way out is to retreat, but we all know the Ukes will not stop until they have reclaimed all their land including the Crimea. If that were to happen Putin would be finished. So, he's in  a hole which is getting bigger and bigger and there is no way out for him. He has lost and he knows it, therefore nobody can predict how he will react.
However, and this is just my personal opinion, I think he will resort to CW before he goes nuclear. Going nuclear will piss off the Chinese and the last thing he needs is for the Chinese to get involved in the East, plus going nuclear will unleash the full might of NATO. I would think that NATO has a complete bundle of strike packages all ready to go at any moment. I don't think NATO will respond with nuclear if Russia used a tactical nuclear device within Ukraine. However, if that were to happen then NATO will strike with the full might of their conventional forces.

What nobody knows are the communications going on in the background between Russia and NATO.

Let's just hope that the Russian people rise up and ditch this absolute moron.
Then, we can all become friends again an allow our economies to co-exist under a common legal framework. Nationalism eh, who needs it.

Why do you think Putin has not closed the borders to stop men fleeing the draft? It's because he sees these people as potential opposition. He is happy to see them leave. There are plenty of other men to replace them.
The Russian people have no say in who leads them. They never have.

My post was more in hope than with any confident that any of that will happen. The horrific reality of what is going on, on the ground, however is sanitised in no small degree by banner headlines depicting Ukrainian gains and Russian losses.