Russian lawmakers authorize Putin to use military force outside the country, Part II

[Labster]

Day 470 of a 3 day war:

The destruction of the Kakhovka Dam hit me fairly hard, because it disproportionately hits civilians.  My hometown was one of a few cities affected by the collapse of the St. Francis Dam, where bodies were washed fifty miles downstream, and onto the beaches.  A terrible engineering failure; the Santa Clara remains undammed to this day.  And because of this, it provides over half of the sand on all Southern California beaches.

And then Russia did this on purpose, with the water level in the dam at a record high.  This raises the question of whether or not it was a structural failure -- early seismological evidence suggests it was an explosion -- but caused by bombing or intentional negligence is hardly the same as Mulholland's disaster.  This is something they wanted.  The Dnipro is a massive river, and it's an unimaginable loss of life to humans and animals with a huge amount of pollution unleashed.

-- Russia says they didn't do it.
-- Russia says they didn't do it, and it isn't so bad so why are people so upset about it?
-- And Russia's own positions got flooded and their own troops die.  Why would they pointlessly risk their own citizens?
-- Everyone looks at Russia awkwardly.  (malreynolds.gif)
-- The Dnipro a massive river, a mile across at the end.  Ukraine was not going to invade this way.
-- Russia also destroys other dams
-- UN tweets "Happy Russian Language Day" after the dam collapses, leading to protests against the UN in Ukraine
-- Russians targeting evacuation centers in Kherson, leading to a stop in flood evacuations
-- On the other side of the river, civilians can be evacuated but only if they agree to go to Russia.
-- People vaguely worrying about the Zaporizhzhia power plant which cools with water from the dam, but it also has its own cooling pond which is full.

-- Since I last posted, Bakhmut "fell" to the Wagner PMC forces
-- This means that they controlled most of the city proper, but not all of the defensive lines and artillery positions around the city.  Still a kill box.
-- And immediately after "winning", Wagner troops say it will leave the city in five days, which it did, and let the Russian army take over.
-- Going to rear after an assault is normal, but also seemed like a "we broke it, you bought it" situation for Russia.
-- Wagners complain that all of the roads out of Bakhmut have been mined, making it dangerous for them to leave, as world's smallest violin plays.
-- Theory going around that the Wagners are fucking off to Sudan, so that they can protect Prigozhin's gold mines in the civil war.
-- Of course he has gold mines from helping Sudan's most legitimate government.
-- Again, Bakhmut never had important strategic value, but only a political value to the Russians, and in particular to Prigozhin, who seems himself as Putin's successor.
-- At least Russia now has a safe place to put war materiel, inside of the Soledar mines, which they are doing.
-- Of course this is safe like a crypto exchange: completely "safe" until someone closes off the entrances and suddenly you can't get your dogecoins out.

-- The counteroffensive has begun!
-- There's really not much else in terms of details.  Offensives start with lots of small forces testing for weaknesses, feints, and shuffling troops around.
-- Ukraine is definitely pushing back in Bakhmut, which to me seems like an attempt to pin down some Russian forces while other operations start.
-- The Leopards have finally been unleashed to roam in their natural habitat.
-- Lots of activity in Zaporizhzhia oblast heading southwards, in hopes of encircling the left bank of the Dnipro -- and on some level, also encircling Crimea, given Russia's failure at naval supremacy.

-- Ukrainian BMP catches a fish.  I cannot recommend this 15 second video enough, especially if you're a Girls und Panzer fan.