Russian invasion of Ukraine

[beefybake]

5 hours ago, Dev said:

Supporting Russia and interfering with rail users in the UK. Russia supporters would be quite happy with that. It's nothing at all to do with standing up for rail workers.

Take your anti-union rant sh*te somewhere else.

[Dev]

2 hours ago, beefybake said:

Take your anti-union rant sh*te somewhere else.

 

7 hours ago, Cosmic Joe said:

What do you think Trade Union leader's remit is? 

Calm down.

We're not talking anti-Union here. We're talking about a person who, rightly or wrongly, has been flagged up as being close to people who don't have the interests of the UK anywhere on their list of priorities. 

My family is littered with people working and worked for railways, going back more than 100 years. I used to be a Trade Union man.

What I am saying is this. The country needs people to help each other at this time because of the effects of the pandemic etc etc. it is not the time to play political games as it will back-fire.

If you want facts and figures on any average pay the stats are out there. I suggest that you check them. Here's a few from the neutral Office of National Statistics. Anyone can access this stuff:

Some politically neutral figures from the ONS (Office of National Statistics):

Average annual pay for all full-time employees in the UK was £33,000 for the tax year ending on 5 April 2022.

Rail Employees: Median average annual pay:

rail travel assistants, such as ticket collectors, guards, and information staff, is £33,310

rail construction and maintenance operatives–the people who lay and repair tracks is £34,998

Rail workers–not including train drivers–earn a median salary of £36,800

Rail transport operatives, such as signallers and drivers’ assistants, earn a median salary of £48,750

train and tram drivers was £59,189 in 2021

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Dev said:

train and tram drivers was £59,189 in 2021

They're not RMT. They have their own separate union called ASLEF.

Edit: Incidentally, here's the rail workers union in Ukraine backing the ASLEF strikes in England.

https://ukrainesolidaritycampaign.org/2023/05/11/ukrainian-rail-union-backs-aslef-strike/

Edited June 5, 2023 by FreedomFarter

[Thane of Cawdor]

On 04/06/2023 at 18:59, Newbornbairn said:

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/rail-union-boss-slams-uk-support-for-ukraine-as-an-obscenity-and-accuses-britain-of-aiding-war-crimes/ar-AA1c374a

 

c**t 

Angry political insult, Freudian slip or lamentable proofreading?  Regardless, it was actually the Arise Festival.  The exhortation to "arse ye starvelings from your slumber" would utterly baffle "the criminals of want".

Gordon told the Arse Festival that the spending came "at a time when workers are struggling to pay the bills, when we can’t afford the food price rises and energy price rises, and when we hear the government supports an increase in interest rates to possible 5.5 per cent next month."

[ICTChris]

Russian channels (Rybar and others) reporting that Ukraine have taken the town of Novodonetsk in Donetsk region. It was initially reported that there had been Leopard 2 tanks used in the assault but that has been confirmed as incorrect, it was another vehicle an AMX-10. This vehicle is a wheeled unit used in armoured reconnaissance and is currently used by Ukrainian Marines, indicating who is advancing there and potentially why. Could be that a probing attack was more successful than planned and captured territory or could have been the plan from the start. One to keep an eye on.

Ukrainian troops have also captured the town of Berkhivka, near Bakhmut during the ongoing counter attacks around the city.

Edited June 5, 2023 by ICTChris

[moses1924]

1 hour ago, ICTChris said:

This vehicle is a wheeled unit used in armoured reconnaissance and is currently used by Ukrainian Marines

Until @Sergeant Wilsonhas confirmed whether this a tank or not i'm not believing anything

[The DA]

BBC are reporting that Russia has blown up a dam upstream from the river which provides cooling to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant.

 

[LongTimeLurker]

There goes Crimea's water supply so a bit like Nord Stream it is difficult to see how they benefit from doing that.

[Newbornbairn]

42 minutes ago, LongTimeLurker said:

There goes Crimea's water supply so a bit like Nord Stream it is difficult to see how they benefit from doing that.

Because it stops an assault across the river. Loads of vids of bridging units being prepared by the Ukrainians.

[sparky88]

44 minutes ago, LongTimeLurker said:

There goes Crimea's water supply so a bit like Nord Stream it is difficult to see how they benefit from doing that.

It looks like they are completely losing their heads.

[ICTChris]

Authorities in Kherson saying tens of thousands are in immediate danger. Potentially a massive humanitarian disaster due to this.

As to the motivation behind doing it, militarily it makes it much harder for Ukraine to assault anywhere in Kherson but also has a massive impact on Crimea and the sustainability of Russian occupation. There is also the very real prospect that no-one blew it up and that the dam had underlying issues from earlier damage and poor maintenance, lack of repairs during the conflict.

Seems like the dam breached at 02:45 - there’s some videos going about but most of them are either old or shoe things that aren’t an explosion that potentially caused the breach.

 

Edited June 6, 2023 by ICTChris

[LongTimeLurker]

1 hour ago, Newbornbairn said:

Because it stops an assault across the river. Loads of vids of bridging units being prepared by the Ukrainians.

Invading in the first place and expecting to win in three days was monumentally stupid so it's not safe to assume anything based on who appears to benefit most on the surface but think you'll find that this flood has wiped out a lot of the previously prepared Russian defences on the left bank, so even from that angle it may not have been the smartest move.

[Newbornbairn]

https://twitter.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/1665973612413583363

Quote

Statement by UkrHydroEnergo:

Russia blew up Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant in the early hours of 6th June.

Its engine room has been destroyed completely. The station cannot be restored.

By preliminary forecast, the reservoir is expected to run out within the next 4 days.

As of 9 am on 6th June the water level in Kakhovka reservoir is decreasing rapidly, the evacuation of population from potentially flooded regions has begun.

Uncontrolled decrease of water level is an additional threat for temporarily occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. The water from Kakhovka reservoir is necessary so the plant receives power for turbine capacitors and safety systems of the ZNPP.  Currently the station cooling pond is full. Ukrainian personnel at the plant is monitoring all indicators closely.

 

[Melanius Mullarkey]

This is pretty fucking mental to be honest. 

[ICTChris]

 

 

 

 

[ICTChris]

Video from Zelensky

https://twitter.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1665952784665964545?s=20

 

[Newbornbairn]

Scorched earth?

[ICTChris]

There's some evidence that Russia wasn't managing the dam properly.  Water levels reduced to their lowest ever in February before rising to their highest in seven years in May.

There are reports that locals heard a huge explosion in the early hours when the breach appears to have occurred.  The scale of the destruction is such that it could only really have been done by planted explosives, a missile couldn't destroy hundreds of metres of concerete.

[Newbornbairn]

Reports that Russia is shelling Kherson as civilians are being evacuated.

[ICTChris]

The magnitude of this can't be understated.  This will kill many people, people are likely dying now.  It will destroy the environment in the area.  It will destroy wildlife in this area.  It will destroy agricultural land, impacting world food supply.  The deliberate destruction of dams is named specifically as a war crime in the Geneva Convention. 

We are also seeing some Russian soldiers making videos boasting blowing up the dam - this is similar to after they shot down MH17, loads of Russian boasting that was then shut down when they realised that they'd made a major f**k up.  The men behind the MH17 haven't been brought to justice yet, this is orders of magnitude worse.

Edited June 6, 2023 by ICTChris