Ukraine

[malchior]

A lot of chatter tonight about how one of Putin's inner circle might have been targeted for assassination.

[Isgrimnur]

Daily Mail

His daughter Darya was also sanctioned by the US Treasury after she became chief editor of the United World International (UWI) website - which was owned by Yevgeny Prigozhin, who is suspected of interfering in the 2016 election between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.

[Holman]

Thots and pliers

[LawBeefaroni]

A Russian group has claimed responsibility. Darya was the target, or at least accepted collateral.

“This action (the assassination of Dugina), like many other direct partisan actions carried out on the territory of Russia in recent months, was carried out by the National Republican Army (NRA),” said Ponomarev.

“We have established contact with its fighters with the help of our Rospartizan Telegram channel, which covers the growing wave of resistance in Russia.”

He read out the manifesto of the NRA fighters, which was also published on the Rospartizan Telegram channel.

“We, Russian activists, military servicemen and politicians, are now partisans and fighters of the National Republican Army,” reads the manifesto. “We outlaw warmongers, robbers and oppressors of the peoples of Russia.”

Unfortunate acronym.



Guardian:

A former member of Russia’s Duma who was expelled for anti-Kremlin activities has claimed that Russian partisans were allegedly behind a car bomb which blew up the daughter of one of Vladimir Putin’s close political allies on the outskirts of Moscow.

Speaking in Kyiv, where he is based, Ilya Ponomarev alleged the explosion on Saturday evening was the work of the National Republican Army, which he claimed was an underground group working inside Russia and dedicated to overthrowing the Putin regime.

...
Ponomarev said partisans inside Russia were ready to conduct further similar attacks against high-profile Kremlin-connected targets, including officials, oligarchs and members of Russia’s security agencies.

The former deputy read what purported to be an NRA manifesto: “We declare President Putin a usurper of power and a war criminal who amended the Constitution, unleashed a fratricidal war between the Slavic peoples and sent Russian soldiers to certain and senseless death.

“Poverty and coffins for some, palaces for others – the essence of his policy. We believe that disenfranchised people have the right to rebel against tyrants. Putin will be deposed and destroyed by us!”

[Max Peck]

Unfortunate acronym.

Maybe not -- after all the NRA is all about opposing tyranny.

If it was me, I'd have gone with Gopniks Opposing Putin.

[Kraken]

Well, I for one hope that Ukraine and "our" partisans aren't resorting to terrorist assassination. Because that's what this was, even if we deplore their victim.

[malchior]

I don't think they much care about how their initials in Russian - HPA are romanized.

[Max Peck]

I don't see the Ukraine government being behind this. There's no benefit to the war effort in killing a propogandist and plenty of diplomatic repercussions if they were linked to it.

I have no idea whether this NRA is real, or possibly just a smokescreen for some faction in Russia that is jockeying for position.

[LawBeefaroni]

FSB issues kriminal sopena:

[Brian]

It's all true. The FSB agents found a Nazi flag and four copies of The Sims in the rented flat.

[Carpet_pissr]

Well, I for one hope that Ukraine and "our" partisans aren't resorting to terrorist assassination. Because that's what this was, even if we deplore their victim.

Terrorist assassination? Or just vanilla assassination?

[malchior]

The good thing is that absolutely no one believes this story including the people telling it.

[Kraken]

Well, I for one hope that Ukraine and "our" partisans aren't resorting to terrorist assassination. Because that's what this was, even if we deplore their victim.

Terrorist assassination? Or just vanilla assassination?

Bombs are a terror technique. Proper Russians use a poke from an umbrella. By using a car bomb, they missed their primary target and endangered bystanders.

[LawBeefaroni]

Proper Russians use a poke from an umbrella.

Domestically they use defenestration or 9x18 Makarov. A car bomb isn't that far off. Certainly sends a message.

The real exotic stuff like ricin umbrellas and polonium they save for the West, particularly the UK.

[LordMortis]

Well, I for one hope that Ukraine and "our" partisans aren't resorting to terrorist assassination. Because that's what this was, even if we deplore their victim.

Terrorist assassination? Or just vanilla assassination?

Bombs are a terror technique. Proper Russians use a poke from an umbrella. By using a car bomb, they missed their primary target and endangered bystanders.

I thought the proper Russians report on people falling out of windows.

[Apollo]

Well, I for one hope that Ukraine and "our" partisans aren't resorting to terrorist assassination. Because that's what this was, even if we deplore their victim.

Terrorist assassination? Or just vanilla assassination?

Bombs are a terror technique. Proper Russians use a poke from an umbrella. By using a car bomb, they missed their primary target and endangered bystanders.

Terror was the perfect response in this particular action, IMHO. After all, they also want to send a message to Putin and his cronies that It Could Happen To Them and that no one is safe.

[hepcat]

The problem being that we can’t condone terror attacks without destroying any credibility on the world stage. Then, when it comes time for us to condemn our enemies for it, we’ll find ourselves being called hypocrites. We might feel like this was justified, but we have to be better than that.

[Victoria Raverna]

Who is the target? From what I can find, he seem to be an author that wrote a bunch of books with nationalist ideas. I find it is hard to support killing someone for writing books in support of Putin and invasion of Ukraine. No matter if it is using bomb or not.

Or maybe he is someone in charge of Ukraine invasion or killing people? If so then it is more reasonable to target the guy.

[Kraken]

The problem being that we can’t condone terror attacks without destroying any credibility on the world stage. Then, when it comes time for us to condemn our enemies for it, we’ll find ourselves being called hypocrites. We might feel like this was justified, but we have to be better than that.

Yeah, I have no opinion on this if it's Russians killing Russians. I just don't want to see Ukraine or its allies (us) start bombing civilians.

[Montag]

Don't rule out the FSB itself. There is a history of Russia playing hard to get what they want.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_a ... t_bombings

[malchior]

A sober reminder that the Ukrainian government still has work to do to address corruption in their ranks.

Foreign legion leadership misconduct

The Kyiv Independent’s investigation reveals endemic problems in one of the International Legion’s wings that is overseen by Ukraine’s intelligence.

Some of the unit’s commanders are implicated in arms and goods theft, sexual harassment, assault, and sending unprepared soldiers on reckless missions, according to multiple sources.

The allegations in this story are based on interviews with legionnaires, written testimonies of over a dozen former and current members of the legion, and a 78-page report they’ve put together about problems within this particular unit of the International Legion.

For about four months, foreign fighters have been knocking on the doors of high offices asking for help. The report was filed to the parliament, and written testimonies were sent to Zelensky’s office. Alyona Verbytska, the president’s commissioner for soldiers’ rights, confirmed she had received legionnaires’ complaints and passed them on to law enforcement.

But authorities, soldiers say, are reluctant to solve the issue.

[Max Peck]

This one is a little less mysterious, motive-wise.

Russia-Appointed Official In Ukraine Killed In Car Bombing

The Moscow-appointed mayor of the Russia-occupied Ukrainian town of Mykhaylivka, Ivan Sushko, has been killed by a car bomb.

A representative of Russia-imposed authorities in parts of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhya region, Volodymyr Rogov, wrote on Telegram on August 24 that Sushko died in the hospital after a bomb "intentionally placed under the seat of his vehicle" exploded.

Since Russia began installing officials in areas it has taken control of since launching its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, several have come under attack.

On August 6, Vitaliy Hura, a Russia-appointed deputy mayor of the Ukrainian city of Nova Kakhovka in the Kherson region, parts of which are also under Russian occupying armed forces, was shot dead by an unidentified assailant while leaving his home.

A day earlier, Russian news agencies reported that the Russia-appointed governor of the Kherson Region, Volodymyr Saldo, had been hospitalized. Some reports at the time said he may have been poisoned.

On June 24, a car bomb in Kherson killed the Russia-appointed head of the directorate for youth policies at the Kherson region's administration, Dmytro Savluchenko.

[malchior]

Perhaps partisan activity is stepping up. Or the Russians are trying to link the car bombing in Moscow to Ukrainian action.

[Pyperkub]

The problem being that we can’t condone terror attacks without destroying any credibility on the world stage. Then, when it comes time for us to condemn our enemies for it, we’ll find ourselves being called hypocrites. We might feel like this was justified, but we have to be better than that.

Yeah, I have no opinion on this if it's Russians killing Russians. I just don't want to see Ukraine or its allies (us) start bombing civilians.

Which is what Russia has been doing for months... (bombing civilians. Also torture and mutilation and murder).

[dbt1949]

First of all I want to wish Ukraine Happy Birthday.
Next, I keep reading about unhappy Russian soldiers. Yet the general populace seems content with the war.
I understand that the general populace is being manipulated thru lies and deceit. But so much has been written about unhappy Russian soldiers and I wonder if the unhappy soldiers is that big of a deal. The media makes it sound like their forces are ready to collapse any day now.
In every war it is natural for soldiers to get tired of fighting and complain. And soldiers just naturally complain about being in the service. I find it hard to believe that the Russians complain any more than anyone else in the world.
In these days social media is so wide spread and soldiers like complaining and posting it online I have to question all these reports.

[hepcat]

The problem being that we can’t condone terror attacks without destroying any credibility on the world stage. Then, when it comes time for us to condemn our enemies for it, we’ll find ourselves being called hypocrites. We might feel like this was justified, but we have to be better than that.

Yeah, I have no opinion on this if it's Russians killing Russians. I just don't want to see Ukraine or its allies (us) start bombing civilians.

Which is what Russia has been doing for months... (bombing civilians. Also torture and mutilation and murder).

Yes, I agree that's also bad.

[raydude]

First of all I want to wish Ukraine Happy Birthday.
Next, I keep reading about unhappy Russian soldiers. Yet the general populace seems content with the war.
I understand that the general populace is being manipulated thru lies and deceit. But so much has been written about unhappy Russian soldiers and I wonder if the unhappy soldiers is that big of a deal. The media makes it sound like their forces are ready to collapse any day now.
In every war it is natural for soldiers to get tired of fighting and complain. And soldiers just naturally complain about being in the service. I find it hard to believe that the Russians complain any more than anyone else in the world.
In these days social media is so wide spread and soldiers like complaining and posting it online I have to question all these reports.

Here is an example of one Russian soldier's account of the war in Ukraine. It is the first of several threads but even looking at this thread his complaints read much more severe than what I think the typical US soldier would complain about.

For example - "No beds in his company's barracks, which were infested by a pack of stray dogs fed by the dining room staff". I could be wrong, but even in US Marine field barracks, I would expect there to be beds. Not enough food for everyone, raw potatoes in the soup, half of a paratrooper company not knowing how to pack a parachute BEFORE A JUMP! - that all sounds like something that wouldn't happen in the US. These sound like complaints on another level from "there's no dessert in my MRE".

I think the Russian soldiers currently in Ukraine can't do anything but complain until their contract runs out, but as I recall, their contract times are for 1-2 years. And the fallout from these complaints is that the Russian soldiers are not signing up to renew their contracts, to the point where Russian recruiters are offering more and more pay and opening the eligibility requirements to 40-50 yr old men and criminals. I think the Russians are in a downward spiral. They are hiring substandard recruits, giving them substandard training, and throwing them in the fire as human shields. The problem with that is the human shields will die faster than professional soldiers, forcing them into a feedback loop of getting poorer and poorer candidates with worse and worse training.

I don't think you'll see a collapse soon, but you definitely will see a time when Russia conducts no offensive ground operations. That's the indicator that Russians are nearing the bottom of the barrel.

[dbt1949]

I think you're probably right. I hope you're probably right, but in these times of Twitter I have to question the validity of things of the truthfulness and the numbers of this. How much of Twitter do you think is true?
And of course it's not just the Russian soldiers I'm thinking of.

[raydude]

I think you're probably right. I hope you're probably right, but in these times of Twitter I have to question the validity of things of the truthfulness and the numbers of this. How much of Twitter do you think is true?
And of course it's not just the Russian soldiers I'm thinking of.

One must assume that reasonable efforts of corroboration are done as part of normal accounting by journalists and governments. For example, one could easily corroborate this person's account by checking if such a unit existed in Russia's TO&E. If it did, was it deployed to Kherson and Mykolaiv on the dates he said it was? To corroborate that one would look at accounts by Ukrainians and what they heard regarding troop movements on cell phones and on the radio. Recall Russia had problems with their military radios so they had to communicate in the open. Then there are publically available satellite systems - NASA Fires, or Google Maps showing traffic congestion. Western government agencies also look at his accounts to try to glean intelligence and determine whether his account seems plausible or not. I have to say, even without official agency reports, there seems to be a lot of crowdsourcing of intelligence gathering on Twitter and there are definitely two sides. One side says "This seems plausible, look at the geolocation of evidence A, tie that with evidence B. This seems to suggest C". The other side says "Nuh Uh. These are all lies. How can you possibly know anything? Putin is still winning!"

On the issue of whether Russia is paying more for contract work in the military - one can look at what Russian governors in different Oblasts are saying. That can be corroborated by reporters looking at the actual sign-up sheets that show the pay bonuses. Lying to their people goes both ways. Russian officials can fake pay bonuses to throw us off without also letting their people know the bonuses are fake. Either they are fake, and the people know it, and don't sign up, or they are fake, the people don't know it, they sign up, then complain that the bonuses are fake and others don't sign up. There is a reasonable cause and effect.

[dbt1949]

I want to believe this and generally do but I dont trust Twitter and it's ilk.

[Isgrimnur]

Anyone know why the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant is still operating ? Is both Ukraine and Russia using the electricity? If Ukraine is not getting the electricity, then just blow up all the sub stations and power lines towers leading to it. Then what would be the reason to keep it in operation .

WaPo

Ukraine’s largest nuclear power plant was cut off from the country’s electricity grid, setting off a mass power outage in the adjacent area after fires damaged its last functioning transmission line, Ukraine’s nuclear power company said Thursday.
...
Russian and Ukrainian officials traded blame for shelling at the plant, which they said had resulted in the disconnection from the power grid — the first time it has ever been cut off.

In a dramatic speech on Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the backup systems had already narrowly prevented a radioactive calamity.

[malchior]

That means the units at the plant were either SCRAMed or the reaction was reduced to a minimum safe running level (arguably that is a tautology). Or the place is on fire. There is no in between if they got disconnected from the grid.

[Isgrimnur]

“Today, for the first time in history, the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant stopped,” Zelensky said. “The emergency protection of the power units worked, after the last working line of the plant’s power return to the Ukrainian power system was damaged by Russian shelling.”

“Diesel generators were immediately activated to provide energy to the plant itself, to support it after the shutdown,” Zelensky continued. “The world must understand what a threat this is: if the diesel generators hadn’t turned on, if the automation and our staff of the plant had not reacted after the blackout, then we would already be forced to overcome the consequences of the radiation accident. Russia has put Ukraine and all Europeans in a situation one step away from a radiation disaster.”

[El Guapo]

That means the units at the plant were either SCRAMed or the reaction was reduced to a minimum safe running level (arguably that is a tautology). Or the place is on fire. There is no in between if they got disconnected from the grid.

What does any of this mean?

[malchior]

That means the units at the plant were either SCRAMed or the reaction was reduced to a minimum safe running level (arguably that is a tautology). Or the place is on fire. There is no in between if they got disconnected from the grid.

What does any of this mean?

If any generation plant is cut off from a grid it must reduce power generation to a safe operating state. It doesn't matter if it's coal, LNG, burning garbage, or whatever. Most power plants essentially just boil water and spin a turbine. And that turbine better not be spinning and generating electricity without a grid connection because that power has to go somewhere. So the story is long (and goes back to Fermi) but SCRAM in layman's parlance is an emergency shutdown. They physically drop in bars of graphite (typically) called control rods which moderates how powerful the nuclear reaction is. If the operator drops all of them in they are aiming to kill the nuclear reaction.

If the plant has a way to disengage the turbine or redirect power to an internal load then they might do this as a safer alternative. Again in somewhat normal parlance they need may have a safe place to dump power when running in some 'safe' state. That'd usually be a huge resistor and they'd just generate tons of light/heat. They then can keep the reaction going at a minimum state.

Overall big picture, the man objective is to make sure they aren't boiling water anymore if at all, which means they aren't turning that turbine too quickly, and thus won't catch on fire.

You usually don't want to SCRAM because it can do damage to suddenly shut down the reactor entirely. The temperatures are quite high and the reactors are water cooled. Since there is a war going on so that'd be potentially bad because they might skip the usual inspections to make sure it wasn't damaged by a SCRAM. They could just go for a quick restart after repairs are completed to transmission lines. That'd be bad. In any case, this scenario is much worse than it was a few months ago when the big risk were mostly bullets and maybe a stray artillery shell. Constant fighting inevitably raises the risk envelope - hence this situation.

[Apollo]

Don't know if it's true, but when I was in the USN's nuclear program we were told that "scram" was a term from the early days of nuclear research when a man would stand by with an ax to cut a rope and drop the rods into the reactor to shut it down in case of emergency. He was the Sub-Critical Reactor Ax Man.

Edited for accuracy.

[Unagi]

Or Safety Control Rod Axe Man

But both are likely just backronyms for the simple meaning behind the word ‘scram’.

[malchior]

Don't know if it's true, but when I was in the USN's nuclear program we were told that "scram" was a term from the early days of nuclear research when a man would stand by with an ax to cut a rope and drop the rods into the reactor to shut it down in case of emergency. He was the Sub-Critical Reactor Ax Man.

Edited for accuracy.

Yeah I was taught it in modern physics. As I remember this tale, the first nuclear reactor was built on a squash court at the University of Chicago by Enrico Fermi. Funding for the project was running thin - some problems are evergreen after all - and ideally he wanted to build it outside the city limits. Since he didn't have the funds to do so, we were told Fermi worried about a meltdown and its impact on the University/City since at this point it was all just math on a paper. They of course didn't have a nice modern design with control rods and the such. (Spoiler alert! In reality - they sort of did). Instead it was a bucket of barium suspended by a rope that was calculated to be sufficient to snuff out the reaction.

So Fermi supposedly employed a man they called the 'Axe Man' who stood there with a fireman's axe on his shoulder and his job was to cut a rope. He said the code word to cut the rope would be 'SCRAM' which he later explained stood for 'Safely (or Safety) Cut Rope Axe Man'. That's the legend at least. One of the people who worked on the project said it actually came from a joke that if it melted down they'd SCRAM out of there.

[LawBeefaroni]

Fun with control rods...

On Tuesday, January 3, 1961, SL-1 was being prepared for restart after a shutdown of eleven days over the holidays. Maintenance procedures required that Rod 9 be manually withdrawn a few inches to reconnect it to its drive mechanism. At 9:01 pm MST, this rod was suddenly withdrawn too far, causing SL-1 to go prompt critical instantly. In four milliseconds, the heat generated by the resulting enormous power excursion caused fuel inside the core to melt and to explosively vaporize. The expanding fuel produced an extreme pressure wave that blasted water upward, striking the top of the reactor vessel with a peak pressure of 10,000 pounds per square inch (69,000 kPa). The slug of water was propelled at 160 feet per second (49 m/s) with average pressure of around 500 pounds per square inch (3,400 kPa).[15] This extreme water hammer propelled the entire reactor vessel upward at 27 feet per second (8.2 m/s), while the shield plugs were ejected at 85 feet per second (26 m/s).[15] With six holes on the top of the reactor vessel, high pressure water and steam sprayed the entire room with radioactive debris from the damaged core. A later investigation concluded that the 26,000-pound (12,000 kg) (or thirteen short tons) vessel had jumped 9 feet 1 inch (2.77 m), parts of it striking the ceiling of the reactor building before settling back into its original location,

...

The spray of water and steam knocked two operators onto the floor, killing one and severely injuring another. The No. 7 shield plug from the top of the reactor vessel impaled the third man through his groin and exited his shoulder, pinning him to the ceiling.[11] The victims were Army Specialists Richard Leroy McKinley (age 27) and John A. Byrnes (age 22), and Navy Seabee Construction Electrician First Class (CE1) Richard C. Legg (age 26).

[Apollo]

Fun with control rods...

On Tuesday, January 3, 1961, SL-1 was being prepared for restart after a shutdown of eleven days over the holidays. Maintenance procedures required that Rod 9 be manually withdrawn a few inches to reconnect it to its drive mechanism. At 9:01 pm MST, this rod was suddenly withdrawn too far, causing SL-1 to go prompt critical instantly. In four milliseconds, the heat generated by the resulting enormous power excursion caused fuel inside the core to melt and to explosively vaporize. The expanding fuel produced an extreme pressure wave that blasted water upward, striking the top of the reactor vessel with a peak pressure of 10,000 pounds per square inch (69,000 kPa). The slug of water was propelled at 160 feet per second (49 m/s) with average pressure of around 500 pounds per square inch (3,400 kPa).[15] This extreme water hammer propelled the entire reactor vessel upward at 27 feet per second (8.2 m/s), while the shield plugs were ejected at 85 feet per second (26 m/s).[15] With six holes on the top of the reactor vessel, high pressure water and steam sprayed the entire room with radioactive debris from the damaged core. A later investigation concluded that the 26,000-pound (12,000 kg) (or thirteen short tons) vessel had jumped 9 feet 1 inch (2.77 m), parts of it striking the ceiling of the reactor building before settling back into its original location,

...

The spray of water and steam knocked two operators onto the floor, killing one and severely injuring another. The No. 7 shield plug from the top of the reactor vessel impaled the third man through his groin and exited his shoulder, pinning him to the ceiling.[11] The victims were Army Specialists Richard Leroy McKinley (age 27) and John A. Byrnes (age 22), and Navy Seabee Construction Electrician First Class (CE1) Richard C. Legg (age 26).

We watched a documentary on this incident when I was in the Navy. As the film ended, our instructor said "And that's why the Army no longer has a nuclear program."