Gasping for air from a trench in eastern Ukraine, an infantryman was ready for the worst when a suffocating white smoke spread into his position.
A Russian drone had just dropped a gas grenade into the trench, an internationally banned practice in warfare used to suffocate Ukrainian soldiers hiding inside. Forced out in the open, the Ukrainians immediately became vulnerable targets for Russian drones and artillery.
. . .
Russia has increasingly deployed chemical agents in its grand offensive to occupy the last cities in the Donbas region under Ukrainian control. The suffocation tactic is to take out entrenched personnel and dampen the morale of Ukrainian soldiers who – severely outmanned and outgunned – have been withdrawing village by village in the east for nearly a year.
War crimes are back on menu it seems. Or it always has been there?
With Russia? Always has been.
Is that title extremely confusing, or just me? I’m suffering from a concussion and was told to watch for signs of confusion.
I had to read it a few times. It’s confusing
Russia is boosting the grinding Donbas advance with chemical warfare
What does “grinding” mean in this context?
“Relentlessly taxing; burdensome; exacting to the point of exhaustion.”
Ohh the title makes sense now. Thanks for filling in the missing piece.
“boosts grinding” is a bit awkward, because it’s unclear which is a verb in this context. I hope you make a speedy and full recovery, TBI is no joke.
Nah it’s a strangely worded title you’re good
This is beyond the pale. It’s time to stop forcing Ukraine to fight with a hand tied.
This is beyond the pale.
But not surprising. Not for Russians.
Actually, Russia inadvertently originated the phrase.
The more you know 🌠
The Irish one predates it, but even this page notes that there’s uncertainty that the phrase arises from the Irish Pale.
The less I know 🌠
Also where the term “impale” comes from, the Pale was demarcated by poles hammered into the ground, and when you didn’t like someone you killed them by jamming them on one of those poles.
Yeah, there has to be a response to this. The Russians will continue to escalate their war crimes if there are not consequences. Weapons free Ukraine.
Kyiv Independent - News Source Context (Click to view Full Report)
Information for Kyiv Independent:
MBFC: Left-Center - Credibility: High - Factual Reporting: High - Ukraine
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MBFC: Least Biased - Credibility: High - Factual Reporting: Very High - United States of America
Wikipedia about this sourceFuck Putin and fuck Russia. Slava Ukraini
100 years after the First World War.
Everything old is new again.
Ah, so just tear gas. That’s paradoxically both more banned and less provocative than, like, Sarin.
If they did actual chemical weapons, it’s time for the next historical event. The US has apparently laid out what happens next in painstaking detail.
It is a chemical weapon. What historical event? The US does nothing but sit on its hands and talk a big game. They would probably confiscate the gas to be used on innocents in Gaza.
I feel like I answered that question already. “The US has apparently laid out what happens next in painstaking detail”. I was not in the room, so I don’t know what that meas exactly, but it’s a bunch of specifically allocated military facilities bombed out or something.
Please dump the polemic somewhere else. I’m upset about Gaza too.
Later when the same thing is done back on them they will express their outrage that underhanded tactics like they do are used against them.
It’ll be because someone shot their drone down or launched their armament back too. Or just the wind will carry it at their own
I’ll plug an interesting blog post on the topic of using chemical weapons. The post concerns itself mostly with lethal weapons, but I feel like some of the points apply here as well.
The essence is that for modern military systems, mobility and the relative cost of manufacturing, storing and employing (lethal) chemical weapons compared to protective equipment render them much less valuable than conventional explosive munitions. They see usage mostly between weaker static armies, which lack the equipment, training or command doctrines for modern warfare.
The banning of chemical weapons was done because they weren’t generally very useful for the modern systems of the superpowers at the time. Russia cracking them out again suggests they no longer have all the capabilities of a modern superpower. Which probably isn’t super new for most people, but might be worth spelling out anyway.
