Gpig

wtf a new level for you and by level I mean a lower level.  NOBODY here thinks the death of any child is just acceptable.  The responsibility for that death though is the aholes that started this war.

Yup. In words of Captain Blackadder: " War hasn't been fought this badly since Olaf the Hairy, High Chief of all the Vikings, accidentally ordered 80,000 battle helmets with the horns on the inside".
 

It is ridiculous that anyone would prioritize a PC wargame over the events we are seeing unfold on the ground in Ukraine.  These events have global impact - we have seen this already, and it is just the start, and merit staying informed about as much as possible.  Why?  Because if you live in a democracy in the western world, at some point you will be asked to use the phenomenal power of your vote to influence this war and it is your responsibility to understand what that means...or at least it should be.
The lack of sacrifice I am referring to is on anyone who is not willing to put aside hobbies and free time and actually devote that time to staying informed about this war as much as they are able.  Everyone on this thread is willing to put that work in, and yes, sacrifice time, in many cases money, and it at least one case volunteer for military service. These are very small sacrifices compared to what the average Ukrainian is going through (Haiduk's dedication and ability to keep us informed while his country is being torn apart is frankly humbling) but everyone here is at least willing to do that much, along with personal donations etc.  
Based on your posts, you are not even willing to sacrifice a distraction from a wargaming hobby.  Now, I do not know your personal circumstances - perhaps you are a humanitarian aid worker who has to deal with the cost of this war on a daily basis, and just want to come here to get away from it all.  I get that, but for the rest of us here this is where we go to put the time in and do our small part.
I appreciate the shout out for CMCW, we had a lot of fun doing that title and have future plans - trust me.  However, right now I would prefer you respect what is going on here as something more than a bunch of "war-porn voyeurism"; it is a communities' efforts to understand what is going on and support each other while it happens.  We did the same after 9/11, and Iraq '03, and Afghanistan, and the Crimea...and now the Russo Ukrainian War.  CM will be there after this war is over, it has survived a lot in the last 20 years, but for now this is bigger than my hobby.  If it is not based on your personal circumstances, hey we get that, however, there is no need to come here and make trouble for those that are just trying to sort through the mountains of information (good, bad, and ugly) and make sense of it.

I am not talking about CMCW (I do believe it is best CM game so far) because of an obvious lack of time. As soon as war is over, I will go to that subforum.
And my "obsession" with war stems from the fact that I wanted to leave my past in the past. But now my past is threatening my quiet European life and everything I stand for.  I cannot stop them with bullets but at least I will make their propaganda less successful, at least here. 

That's just your opinion. Given that Steve opinion is the one that counts...
If you don't like this thread go contribute something to one of the other CM sub forums instead of trying to derail this one. There are still discussion going on in other threads, dispute your claims otherwise. Go contribute to those discussions and stop being off topic here.

1000 pages and 1M views, well safe to say that this thread has expunged the shame of the Peng Thread being the largest and mostest longest on the forum.  This is now the Forum Thread of Legend...we well all be able to tell our grandchildren that we were here, and they will all think we are lying about it - which is the exact opposite situation with aforementioned Peng Thread.

Hey guys, this is HISTORY under our eyes ! 🇺🇦
 
 

Page 1000 incoming... I think it's only right to mark this milestone with a bone  

Todays Russian storages being hit
Velykyi Burluk, Kharkiv oblast - reportedly large logistic center of Russian troops
Donetsk. Oil storage
Donetsk. Ammunition starage
 
Makiivka (Khanzenkove railroad station area), ammunition storage and logistic center
 

Thanks for the tanks!

On a megayacht, it has to be taking place on a RU General Staff megayacht.
As long as we're not serious, I ran across this thing that made me laugh really hard. I work and spend way too much time on the Internet lately, so maybe that's why find it hilarious. If after taking a look, community will ask me to delete my account, that's fine, I understand.
 

Been out there twice now, as a civilian aid worker, different this last time, aid convoy was shelled, no one hurt, but the signs that the Russians are shelling villages etc for fun very obvious, more widespread firing. Watched a massive firefight  (from safety of a cellar) lots of night time artillery. Things more tense. Last time  I am going, as my missus says at 64 I am to old, hey in my head I'm still a 21 year old soldier. Sadly i see peace has more chance of platting fog than stopping this war at the moment.
 

UKR prototype of Bohdana 155 mm SP-howitzer fires on Zmiinyi island not far from Vylkove village, Odesa oblast. The range is about 36 km. 

Oscar for this action and special effects! 😀
PS. Video is not real, but... ))))
 

Ukraine received 50 Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drones since Russian invasion
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/russia-ukraine-war-tb2-bayraktar-drones-fifty-received
"Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov revealed on Tuesday that Ukraine has received 50 armed drones from Turkish arms company Baykar since Russia's 24 February invasion.
In a Facebook post Reznikov thanked Ukrainians and Baykar for the donation of three Bayraktar TB2 armed drones following a social media fundraising campaign that collected $20m to buy three of the aircraft.
Baykar on Monday said it refused to take the money and would instead donate the drones to show solidarity with the Ukrainian people."
"Reznikov said Ukraine and Turkey are continuing work to build a joint Baykar plant in Ukraine to locally build drones, an agreement that was signed before the war.
“Ukraine's plans to buy Bayraktar are also large-scale,” he said. “Since 24 February only, the Ministry of Defence has armed our military with up to half a hundred 'airplanes'".
Reznikov added that Ukraine has already signed a memorandum of understanding for more drones, which were expected to be delivered in July.
“We have also received a new request from the command of the armed forces of Ukraine and thus, in the near future, almost all capacity of the Baykar Makina plant [in Turkey] will be focused on meeting the needs of the armed forces. It's about ordering dozens more drones,” he added. 
Ukraine and Turkey have close defence industry cooperation, a relationship that has flourished in recent years. 
Ukrainian companies also produce the Baykar’s engines, and Turkey was known to have sold more than 20 Bayraktars to Kyiv over the course of the past two years. Reznikov’s information significantly increased that number. 
Frequent flights between Turkey and Poland over the last two months indicate that Turkey has continued to deliver TB2s and its MAM-L ammunition to Kyiv.
In January, Al-Monitor reported that Ukraine got a 30 percent discount for the TB2 drones, paying approximately $7m for each."

So far the official EU stance was that Lithuania is executing UE sanctions. This article quotes some random person, without even pointing his/ her affiliation. AFAIK there wasn't as much as a single word about any talks of making exemptions for Kaliningrad from official sources. EU and US declared support for Lithuania. 
TBH this article is another one  from Reuters that perfectly fits into infensified RU propaganda campaign that you were warning us of a few days ago. I call BS on it.
Edit: what's also noticable is huge RU bot activity in the comments sections everywhere this article is quoted. Go figure... 

Well we have to find one first....

So I encourage everyone to simmer down a bit - it is not like we are going to solve it here.  We all have opinions that are influenced by current events, and the heat is understandable.  I would offer that we perhaps take a step back and maybe take a bit more pragmatic view of this whole thing.
As far as I can see many seem to be weighing in on the strategic end state for Russia; however, this cannot be viewed in glorious isolation:
Western Strategic Endstate - this is a gross oversimplification because "The West" is comprised of many nations, all with their own interests; however, we can probably sum up the western desired end-state as a "manageable version of the former status quo".  In simpler terms, the west just wants the stability and order they have enjoyed for 30+ years so we can all stay rich - while at the same time allowing that wealth to slowly distribute globally.  Kind of a weird global trickle down theory of wealth but if you crunch the numbers it actually happened, although not nearly as fast or as equitable as a lot of people wanted.  The West wants to remain top dog globally and ensure that it holds the pen that writes the global order.
Ukrainian Endstate - beyond basic survival, Ukraine will be focused on security and integrity of its state.  It needs to be secure and free from what is happening right now in all its forms, and allowed to chart its own destiny as a collective entity within the international community.  I think that Ukraine in the EU and NATO is almost a certainty as elements of that end-state. In fact being within NATO is about the only guarantor of security for any nation neighboring Russia right now.  NATO is too big to fail and even Russia recognizes that triggering an Article 5 above recognized conflict thresholds is suicide. 
Russian Endstate - Only China and its growing global power is a viable challenger to the western bloc - and Russia already knows this, Putin's pipedream of somehow re-creating a third global power pole around Russia was weak-tea for domestic consumption.  So wither goes Russia?  
Well first off, I get the heat and anger...and it is well deserved; however, the idea that the endstate is the elimination of the Russian people, as a people, is a dead end.  We would break that Western Endstate if we endorsed a war of extermination in any form - so be angry, but western support will dry up the instant we get into the "destruction of Russia" territory.  Beyond the disruption to the global order this is just a bad idea for so many reasons, all centered on the fact that Russia currently holds roughly 6000 nuclear warheads. 
Now I know some will say - "Ya but they are all under tight control in concentrated areas" - well good for them; however, if Russia fractures into several smaller states or duchies or freaking warlord centric tribes we basically have the worst parts of Africa with the power to kill millions rolling around the floor.  Make all the arguments you like, we dodged a bullet in '91 and this would be a lot worse than that because we are not talking about dissolution into already semi-functioning former vassal states, we are talking new states and non-state entities.   For example, what happens when a break away semi-state decides that a 500 year old grudge is worth firing off nuclear weapons?  What happens when a non-state group decides that Ukraine is to blame?  Or the EU?  Or the US?  Way too many factors to control and recall my rant on relative rationality, it gets more relative the smaller the social structure you are looking at.
So no, I am sorry, but the break up of Russia or total dissolution is not on the grown ups table, and likely will not be unless we are talking WW3.  Too many of our interests are threatened by this eventuality, to the point that if it did happen we would likely be talking about the largest intervention operation in history to secure those nukes, and we are highly likely to miss some. 
The contraction of Russia, however, is definitely on the table.  As I wrote previously, Russia must be punished, be seen to be punished, and know it has been punished.  In the West, I frankly suspect that we do not care what government rules Russia - so long as it is rationale, reasonable and we can rely on it for normal business.  We do business and support dictators around the world right now (e.g. Saudi Arabia) and frankly could care less if another one rules Russia with an iron fist...so long as they stay in their lane and know their place.  So regime change is also very likely on the table, the US has already signaled this.  As is, the serious reduction in the Russian economy its ability to sustain military power is definitely on the table.  This is to ensure that it cannot threaten its neighbors for some time; time to build security guarantees with any and all neighboring nations that want them...why?  Because stability.
So what is the strategic endstate for Russia?  Contracted, Compressed, Constrained, and most importantly Contained...but not Shattered.  We need a semi-functioning state in the penalty-box, cooperating in war crimes trials and paying reparations, selling off its nuclear stockpile "in kind for destruction"...all the while still selling cheap energy to us and not China.  Russia's deep cultural dysfunction needs to be in a box where it can be happy at how miserable it is and leave the rest of us alone...not thrown up all over the geopolitical dance floor with a nuclear weapon in hand and mascara running down its tear soaked face while it blames us for "wanting to sleep with every other nation in the bar!!"

Endorse all of this. This war...for the West at least...is about stability. And the strategic thinking as far as I can tell isn't focused on any end state yet other than "how can Ukraine win without anyone triggering WWIII". 

DMS, Russia has started the most unnecessary war in approximately forever. Then proceeded to wage it with a unique blend of genocidal barbarity and complete incompetence. Russia then turns around and tries to play the victim, and claim everyone is out to get them. To put it mildly that isn't going to work. Russia has managed to focus at  least two continents on ensuring that Russia can't do this again for generations. I mean what did you expect would happen? Putin's fantasy of a quick victory and a parade in Kyiv? That ship hasn't just sailed, it sunk with all hands
I ma going to repeat Von Rundstet's quote to the German high command when it became clear D-Day had been a success. "Make peace, you fools". It was good advice then, and even better advice now. Because if Putin ruins the ENTIRE Russsian army in pursuit of his Ukrainian fantasy Russia will find out how much of its outer reaches are unhappy with Moscow's less than enlightened ruling style. You won't like the answer very much.

Or maybe he figures he can do more harm where he is? 😂

@ 1:05 especially.