Ukraine Invasion - Please do not post videos showing attacks/similar

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HungryHippos said:
Whilst I am not defending the action, I suppose it's reasonable to assume that any vessel going to Russian or Ukrainian ports in the black sea are taking risks and could be targets.
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By the rules of warfare you're not supposed to open fire on neutral flagged merchant ships unless they are ignoring your demands to stop and be searched (obviously a Ukrainian flagged merchant ship would be a legitimate target but I'm pretty sure no merchant ships flying Ukrainian flags are trying to run the blockade for that exact reason). Even then you're supposed to stop and rescue the crew if it looks like the ship may go down.

Interesting fact, the USA tried to convict the head of the German navy for his role in the U-boat sinking of US merchant shipping in the Atlantic, but he won the case on the basis that the US Navy did the exact same thing to Japanese merchant ships in the Pacific so it must be their policy too.
 
According to the BBC, it was an anti-radiation missile, and from what Russia operates, I’m guessing it was possibly a variant of either the KH-25, KH-31 or KH-58 family, which are designed to home in on transmitting enemy radars. If you were deliberately targeting a civilian ship, an anti-radiation missile would be a weird way to do it, as it’d home in on either the monkey island above the bridge, or perhaps the foremast, which housed a navigation radar on some ships I worked on, all well away from the waterline or the engine room, which you’d want to hit if your intention was to either sink or cripple a ship. It’d be a waste using an anti-radiation missile.

My guess this was fired at a Ukrainian air defence system in the area, and unintentionally homed in on the ship’s navigation radar instead.
 
The Funktopus said:
My guess this was fired at a Ukrainian air defence system in the area, and unintentionally homed in on the ship’s navigation radar instead.
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It's a possibility, during the Falklands a cargo ship was sunk by an Exocet deflected into it by the ECM on a British warship so there is a history of that type of thing.
 
Grim5 said:
Russia knows exactly what it's doing

Why does Russia drop a small bomb that causes minor damage on a ship instead of using torpedos to sink it? If the ship is such a huge threat then it should be sunk. What Russia is doing is playing mind games to try and scare ships into not picking up Ukranian grain

If these ships were actual military targets Russia would be doing its best to completely destroy and sink them, yet it's not - all civilian ships that have been attacked were minor attacks to scare ships away. This is a war crime in international water
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The Russians are targeting the shipping insurers. Once they get scared then civilian ships won't be able to get insurance. That stops them sailing to Ukraine
 
Hades said:
The Russians are targeting the shipping insurers. Once they get scared then civilian ships won't be able to get insurance. That stops them sailing to Ukraine
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If this keeps up they'll start wondering if they can bomb any merchant vessel without reprisal in international waters. Inaction is as usual highly counterproductive.
 
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XPE said:
Has there been a reduction in missile attacks or are they just not getting reported? We just used to hear about bombers taking off every few days now they fire 1 missile.
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Funny I was thinking this the other day.

I only assume that stocks are low and they are going to wait to try to target energy infra again in a month or so time.

Must be a hard call for Russia limited stocks of missiles target : Shopping malls or energy infrastructure, of course they will not target the military much
 
Mercenary Keyboard Warrior said:
Funny I was thinking this the other day.

I only assume that stocks are low and they are going to wait to try to target energy infra again in a month or so time.

Must be a hard call for Russia limited stocks of missiles target : Shopping malls or energy infrastructure, of course they will not target the military much
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My guess is they are saving up for a big hit on the grid once winter sets in.
 
potatolord said:
My guess is they are saving up for a big hit on the grid once winter sets in.
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From what I've seen (or not seen) in Odesa telegram channels the amount of attacks are less frequent. Rumours are Russia are waiting for the weather to get much colder and then will target power.

It was only a week or two ago it was 28c there. Heating is being turned on next week I believe.
 
Ukraine have started to produce their own version of the Shahed drone with longer range en-masse.

They've said if Russia attacks their power / heat infrastructure again this winter they will respond in-kind.

They also have much better air defence now whilst Russia's is being thinned out.

Might make the Russians think again about their patriotism once they are left in the dark and freezing.

Don't bet on the government to fix things for their serfs as fast as Ukraine have looking after their populace.
 
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XPE said:
Has there been a reduction in missile attacks or are they just not getting reported? We just used to hear about bombers taking off every few days now they fire 1 missile.
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Most likely husbanding stocks for when the winter hits so they can take out power sub stations.
 
XPE said:
Has there been a reduction in missile attacks or are they just not getting reported? We just used to hear about bombers taking off every few days now they fire 1 missile.
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Russian strategic aviation are/were in the middle of their change over to winter procedures and training cycles which probably resulted in a downturn and attention has been more on Israel so stuff less reported, though lately seems to be only a small number of missiles.
 
XPE said:
Has there been a reduction in missile attacks or are they just not getting reported? We just used to hear about bombers taking off every few days now they fire 1 missile.
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They're supposed to be saving up stock for when the winter properly hits Ukraine to strike at energy infrastructure
 
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