Author: Blazingcatfur

A Russian missile attack near Lviv airport has raised fears of Vladimir Putin’s war spreading to western Ukraine, as Russia claimed to be “tightening the noose” around the south-eastern port city of Mariupol.

A facility for repairing military aircraft by Lviv’s international airport – only 43 miles from Poland’s border – was hit by two cruise missiles fired from the Black Sea on Friday morning.

Ukrainian officials said they had shot down a further four missiles launched in the attack, the second on facilities near the historic city in recent days.

#Ukraine: In #Kharkiv Oblast, the Russian Army lost a MT-LBVMK and a 2S3 Akatsiya 152mm SPG, apparently in good condition. pic.twitter.com/kzrZQEKRxz

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) March 17, 2022

Even the worst war comes to an end. Sometimes, as in 1945, the only outcome is a fight to the death. Mostly, though, wars end in a deal which doesn’t satisfy anyone entirely, but at least brings the bloodshed to an end.

And often, even after the worst and most bitter conflicts, the two sides gradually resume their old, less hostile relationship.

If we’re lucky, we’re beginning to see the start of this process happening now between Russia and Ukraine.

On Monday, United Nations secretary general António Guterres warned that, “Raising the alert level of Russian nuclear forces is a bone-chilling development. The prospect of nuclear conflict, once unthinkable, is now back within the realm of possibility.”

As hyperbolic as that claim may seem, the circumstances that would spur the Russians to use a tactical nuclear weapon are starting to fall into place. As laid out yesterday, the war is going badly for the Russians. Advances are moving slowly, when they’re moving at all, and casualties are mounting. The Russian economy is collapsing. Something’s going to break; it’s just a question of what breaks first.

Chilling drone footage appears to show Russian soldiers gunning down an unarmed Ukrainian motorist with his hands up — as a woman and child watched.

The footage, obtained by German broadcaster ZDF, shows a number of cars making sudden U-turns after seeing soldiers emerging from a tank parked on the edge of a highway heading to the heart of the capital, Kyiv.

Shocking footage from German TV showing Russian soldiers shooting and killing a Ukrainian civilian on March 7th near Kyiv.

These are war crimes that must be prosecuted. pic.twitter.com/I4gJCHuKY1

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) March 15, 2022

Vladimir Putin today sent a chilling warning to the West and oligarchs telling ‘scum’ traitors that Russians will ‘spit them out like a midge that flew into their mouths’ – as he claimed Western ‘attempts to have global dominance’ is coming to an end.

The Russian President, speaking in a bombastic televised address from the Kremlin nearly three weeks into Moscow’s invasion, warned the West would use ‘those who earn their money here, but live over there’ as a ‘fifth column’ to ‘divide our society’.

‘I do not judge those with villas in Miami or the French Riviera. Or who can’t get by without oysters or foie gras or so-called ‘gender freedoms.’ The problem is they mentally exist there, and not here, with our people, with Russia,’ he said. ‘The West will try to bet on the so-called fifth column, on traitors… to divide our society.. to provoke civil confrontation… to strive to achieve its aim. And there is one aim – the destruction of Russia.’

#Ukraine: Footage of urban combat in #Mariupol. A T-64BV tank belonging to the DNR forces was destroyed after being hit four times with RPG/ATGM. pic.twitter.com/kqMOrFHb2B

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) March 16, 2022

#Ukraine: Another Russian Attack Helicopter was destroyed by Ukrainian Air Defenses; this time a Ka-52 with tail number of RF-13411. pic.twitter.com/xeRhgB3mrv

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) March 16, 2022