Russia and Ukraine

[Thumpalumpacus]

Couple of things here:

KYIV, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Russia acknowledged on Monday that scores of its troops were killed in one of the Ukraine war's deadliest strikes, drawing demands from Russian nationalist bloggers for commanders to be punished for housing soldiers alongside an ammunition dump.

Russia's defence ministry said 63 soldiers had died in the fiery blast which destroyed a temporary barracks in a former vocational college in Makiivka, twin city of the Russian-occupied regional capital of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.

It said the accommodation had been hit by four rockets fired from U.S.-made HIMARS launchers, claiming two rockets had been shot down. Kyiv said the Russian death toll was in the hundreds, though pro-Russian officials called this an exaggeration.

Russian military bloggers said the huge destruction was a result of storing ammunition in the same building as a barracks, despite commanders knowing it was within range of Ukrainian rockets.

[...]

Unverified footage posted online of the aftermath of the strike on the Russian barracks in Makiivka showed a huge building reduced to smoking rubble.

Igor Girkin, a former commander of pro-Russian troops in eastern Ukraine who is now one of the highest profile Russian nationalist military bloggers, said hundreds and been killed or wounded in the blast. Ammunition had been stored at the site and military equipment there was uncamouflaged, he said.

Another nationalist blogger, Rybar, said around 70 soldiers were confirmed dead and more than 100 wounded.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/def...023-01-01/

No doubt there will again be squealing all the same about Ukraine targeting civilian buildings. Before and after pictures alleged to be the building in question are posted in this Tweet.

... and one of five points retired Australian general makes in this article:

Western nations have taken a stepped approach to providing weapons to Ukraine. Eschewing the provision of tanks, fighter aircraft and long-range strike missiles, America and Europe have focused on simple to use, tactical weapons.

Part of the theory for this is to ensure that training and logistics are given to ensure that systems provided to Ukraine are supportable over the long term.

But there are also some in the US and Europe who see the provision of advanced weapons such as tanks and the long-range missiles as an escalation.

This is an interesting theory. How a nation that has been invaded, subjected to long-range missile strikes, destruction of its cities and the mass rape, torture and murder of its citizens can escalate the war by using weapons similar to its enemy is one of the great mysteries of this conflict.

Nice that this point was made here well before Gen Ryan posted his article.