This might be a little tougher than Putin thought...

[h-hawk]

 

[Joes Place]

Doubtful, when several are quietly, maybe not quietly, rooting for a Russian victory.

That's where their campaign $$ come from...

 

[h-hawk]

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[lucas80]

Hell on earth.​

​

Rats and mice swarm trenches in Ukraine in grisly echo of World War I​

CNN —
The frontlines of Russia’s war in Ukraine have become infested with rats and mice, reportedly spreading disease that causes soldiers to vomit and bleed from their eyes, crippling combat capability and recreating the gruesome conditions that plagued troops in the trench warfare of World War I.

A Ukrainian servicewoman, who goes by the call-sign “Kira,” recalled how her battalion was beset last fall by a “mouse epidemic” while fighting in as the southern Zaporizhzhia region.

“Imagine going to bed, and the night begins with a mouse crawling into your pants or sweater, or chewing your fingertips, or biting your hand. You get two or three hours’ sleep, depending on how lucky you are,” Kira told CNN. She estimated there were around 1,000 mice in her dugout of four soldiers. “It was not the mice who were visiting us; we were their guests.”


The infestations are due partly to the change in seasons and mice’s mating cycle, but are also a measure of how the war has become static, after Ukraine’s counteroffensive was largely rebuffed by heavily fortified Russian defenses. Amid another harsh winter, mice are foraging along the nearly 1,000-kilometer (621-mile) frontline, spreading disease and dissatisfaction as they search for food and warmth.

Kira said she tried everything to rid their bunkers of mice: sprinkling poison, spraying ammonia, even praying. Nearby shops stocked up on anti-mouse products and made a killing, she said. But, as the mice kept coming, they tried other methods.

“We had a cat named Busia, and at first she also helped and ate mice. But later there were so many of them that she refused. A cat can catch one or two mice, but if there are 70 of them, it’s unrealistic.”

Videos shared on social media by Ukrainian and Russian soldiers showed the extent of the infestations on the frontlines. Mice and rats are seen scurrying around under beds, in backpacks, power generators, coat pockets and pillowcases. One shows mice pouring forth from a Russian mortar turret like bullets from a Browning.

In another, a cat tries to swipe a mouse on an armchair, before a soldier taps the top of the seat and dozens more cascade down. The cat, hopelessly outnumbered, admits defeat and falls back.

Ukraine’s military intelligence in December reported an outbreak of “mouse fever” in many Russian units around Kupiansk in Kharkiv region, which Moscow has been trying to claim for months. The report said the disease is transmitted from mice to humans “by inhaling mouse feces dust or by ingestion of mouse feces in food.”

CNN has not been able to independently verify the report, but according to the Ukrainian military the ghastly symptoms of the disease include fevers, rashes, low blood pressure, hemorrhages in the eyes, vomiting and, because it affects the kidneys, severe back pain and problems urinating.

The result, Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence said, is that “‘mouse fever’ has significantly reduced the combat capability of the Russian soldiers.” It did not say whether Ukrainian troops had been similarly affected.

The Ukrainian authorities did not name a specific condition as striking Russian troops, but there are a range of diseases associated with living near rodents that have similar symptoms, including tularemia, leptospirosis and hantavirus.

The report was reminiscent of those from World War I, where the putrid pileup of waste and corpses allowed “trench rats” to breed rapidly. Rats are nocturnal and are often busiest while soldiers are trying to rest, causing huge stress.

Robert Graves, an English poet who fought in the trenches, recalled in his memoirs how rats “came up from the canal, fed on the plentiful corpses, and multiplied exceedingly.” When a new officer arrived, on his first night he “heard a scuffling, shone his torch on the bed, and found two rats on his blanket tussling for the possession of a severed hand.”

In World War I, the rat population swelled when the conflict stagnated. And there are fears that Russia’s war in Ukraine has done the same. The head of Ukraine’s armed forces, General Valery Zaluzhny, told The Economist late last year: “Just like in the first world war we have reached the level of technology that puts us into a stalemate.”
Ihor Zahorodniuk, a researcher at Ukraine’s National Museum of National History, told CNN the mice infestations were partly because rodent reproduction peaks in the fall, but also because of the effects of the war itself.

“The winter crops sown in the fall of 2021 were not harvested in many places in 2022 and gave generous self-seeding. The mice that bred on it survived the very warm winter and went on to harvest a new crop,” he said. The war has also dispersed natural predators, allowing mice to propagate more freely.

As well as causing anxiety and disease among soldiers, mice also ravage military and electrical equipment. When working as a signalman and living separately from other fighting troops in Zaporizhzhia, Kira said mice “managed to climb into metal boxes and chew through wires,” disrupting communications.

“The mice chewed everything: Radios, repeaters, wires. Mice got into cars and chewed on the electrical wiring, so the cars wouldn’t run, and they also chewed on tanks and wheels,” Kira said. “The losses from the mice in our dugout alone amount to one million hryvnia [$26,500].”

Zahorodniuk stressed the damage can be critical, “as lost communication may cost lives.”

As Ukraine weathers another winter, the problem will likely get worse before it gets better. “It will get colder and colder, and they will go into the trenches more and more. The situation will not change until they all go through this,” said Zahorodniuk.

In World War I, soldiers could not solve the trench rat problem. Instead, they killed rats for their sport. Trying to spike one on a bayonet became a form of entertainment. The population did not decrease until the war ended. But Zahorodniuk warned Ukraine should not let the same happen again.

“The fight against them should be organized and not rely on soldiers and volunteers who are not imagining ways to fight. This is wrong. After all, this is a matter of the combat capability of the army. We have to take care of our soldiers.”

https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/21/europe/rats-and-mice-swarm-trenches-in-ukraine-in-grisly-echo-of-world-war-i/index.html

If the Russians did a better job of picking up their corpses this wouldn't be happening.

 

[win4jj]

If the Russians did a better job of picking up their corpses this wouldn't be happening.

Or they could just leave Ukraine.

 

[h-hawk]

 

[h-hawk]

Hope so.

 

[IIowaFarmBoy]

This is going to get crazy.

Side note, Ukraine isn't shipping grain because of defending the Black Sea. Russia pulled back due to China being a major importer of grain which caused higher prices. Russia and China are trying to expand their influence in Africa where much of the grain from Odesa is destined.

Russia very much can disrupt Ukrainian grain if they want, unfortunately.

Only a matter of time before Russian and/or Ukrainian weaponry hits outside those countries in a big way. Russia knows where Ukraine's ability to strike Russia is coming from.

 

[seminole97]

This is going to get crazy.

Side note, Ukraine isn't shipping grain because of defending the Black Sea. Russia pulled back due

losing their flagship, and best SAM boat to a country without a blue sea navy.
Then the Ukrainians peeled back the Russian land based air defenses from Snake Island to Sevastopol and started blowing up their ships (and sub!) in dock - so the Russians fled to preserve what remained.

It’s NOT SAFE for the Russians to operate in the Western side of the Black Sea. This isn’t exposition, it’s indisputable, historic fact.

Their best hope would be to send their Kilo subs to sink grain shipments to the third world, but that’s really hard to spin as a positive, so they haven't done that yet.

 

[IIowaFarmBoy]

But unfortunately they don't need a ship to halt grain shipments.

 

[Tenacious E]

Only a matter of time before Russian and/or Ukrainian weaponry hits outside those countries in a big way. Russia knows where Ukraine's ability to strike Russia is coming from

Like when Russian projectiles hit Poland (apparently, accidentally), or when Ukraine sunk Russian ships in the Black Sea? Or are you saying Russia is going to attack NATO countries assisting with Ukraine's grain trade? Or, are you saying Ukraine is firing weapons on Russia from another country? Please elaborate.

 

[IIowaFarmBoy]

Like when Russian projectiles hit Poland (apparently, accidentally), or when Ukraine sunk Russian ships in the Black Sea? Or are you saying Russia is going to attack NATO countries assisting with Ukraine's grain trade? Or, are you saying Ukraine is firing weapons on Russia from another country? Please elaborate.

Only saying that it won't take much to ignite a bigger stick. What I think people are forgetting is that Russia truly think the west is trying to destroy them (or at least Putin's narrative). It is still a very paranoid culture. Then again, I would take notice if I were them about the Muslim uprising where nations were overturned. Just my thoughts. Putin is a narcissistic sociopath.

I don't know how Ukraine is firing weapons, but if you'd been on Ukrainian military bases like I have been, you'd doubt they are doing it in a vacuum.

 

[Joes Place]

Like when Russian projectiles hit Poland (apparently, accidentally), or when Ukraine sunk Russian ships in the Black Sea? Or are you saying Russia is going to attack NATO countries assisting with Ukraine's grain trade? Or, are you saying Ukraine is firing weapons on Russia from another country? Please elaborate.

Next up, he's gonna blame Europeans and glyphosate....

 

[Joes Place]

but if you'd been on Ukrainian military bases like I have been, you'd doubt they are doing it in a vacuum.

Whoa!!!

Dude's "been on Ukrainian military bases" AND has "published journals".....
A Real DaVinci here....

 

[IIowaFarmBoy]

Whoa!!!

Dude's "been on Ukrainian military bases" AND has "published journals".....
A Real DaVinci here....

Sorry but true. Myrgorad, Poltava. And yes have had articles published in journals.

 

[Joes Place]

And yes have had articles published in journals.

You said you "published journals".

Doubtful you've had anything of scientific merit published, anywhere, Cletus.

 

[IIowaFarmBoy]

You said you "published journals".

Doubtful you've had anything of scientific merit published, anywhere, Cletus.

Wrong again and working on one now.

 

[Joes Place]

Wrong again and working on one now.

Is it the first peer-reviewed publication claiming DNA is damaged by "vaccines"?

 

[GES4]

Wrong again and working on one now.

Working on that guest essay in "American Thinker?"

"How Obama Caused the Russian Special Military Operation."

 

[h-hawk]

 

[h-hawk]

 

[h-hawk]

 

[IIowaFarmBoy]

Working on that guest essay in "American Thinker?"

"How Obama Caused the Russian Special Military Operation."

Well, Biden had no business with Hunter on Burisma which is a huge problem whether or not you believe in American Exceptionalism. Stupid.

 

[Joes Place]

Well, Biden had no business with Hunter on Burisma

Correct. President Biden was completely out of that loop.

 

[IIowaFarmBoy]

Correct. President Biden was completely out of that loop.

Thank you. But do I have evidence?

 

[GES4]

Thank you. But do I have evidence?

That's not how evidence works. You don't hypothesize bullshit and make the accused party prove it isn't true.

 

[IIowaFarmBoy]

That's not how evidence works. You don't hypothesize bullshit and make the accused party prove it isn't true.

circular argument. Keep eating junk and injecting junk

 

[lucas80]

Sweden's bid to enter NATO cleared one hurdle in Turkey's parliament. This looks to be destined to gain full approval from Turkey.
Hungary remains as the final hurdle.
https://apnews.com/article/turkey-s...itants-quran-ff81aa2d36160428d766579963f97fce

 

[h-hawk]

The armament fitted upon a Sea King could vary considerably. For anti-submarine missions, the aircraft could carry up to four torpedoes or four depth charges. For anti-ship duties, some models were outfitted to carry one or two missiles, typically Sea Eagles or Exocets.

Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King - Wikipedia​

Wikipedia

 

[h-hawk]

 

[lucas80]

View embedded media

View embedded media

The armament fitted upon a Sea King could vary considerably. For anti-submarine missions, the aircraft could carry up to four torpedoes or four depth charges. For anti-ship duties, some models were outfitted to carry one or two missiles, typically Sea Eagles or Exocets.

Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King - Wikipedia​

Wikipedia

More choppers. They need more choppers.

 

[lucas80]

It's amazing how chance seems to play an oversized role in some of the videos being posted. A lot of them feature a drone with "low battery", flashing on the screen. So, the operator scans for some slob walking along with a rifle slung over his shoulder, and that's all she wrote. #1.

 

[h-hawk]

 

[h-hawk]

 

[lucas80]

More on the crashed transport plane. It might have been shot down, or your standard Russian maintenance issues. It might have been carrying POWs, or not. If it was part of a prisoner swap, and it was shot down, the question will be did the Russians provide proper communication to the Ukrainians?

Russia says a plane with Ukrainian POWs crashes, killing all aboard, and accuses Kyiv of downing it

The authorities were investigating the cause of the crash, and a special military commission was on the way to the crash site, the Defense Ministry said.

apnews.com

 

[Tenacious E]

9k artillery. 12k vehicles and fuel tanks.

 

[h-hawk]

Slovakia gives me whiplash-their PM said just days ago there was no war in Kiev! And has been saying they would no longer supply arms. Than this after he just visited.

 

[TC Nole OX]

 

[h-hawk]

More on the crashed transport plane. It might have been shot down, or your standard Russian maintenance issues. It might have been carrying POWs, or not. If it was part of a prisoner swap, and it was shot down, the question will be did the Russians provide proper communication to the Ukrainians?

Russia says a plane with Ukrainian POWs crashes, killing all aboard, and accuses Kyiv of downing it

The authorities were investigating the cause of the crash, and a special military commission was on the way to the crash site, the Defense Ministry said.

apnews.com

All FWIW - friendly fire accidents do happen in war.

 

[seminole97]

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Dolchstoßlegende!