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Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Russia Loses Ninth Senior Military Commander, Bespalov, In Ukraine
2022-04-10
[SAHARAREPORTERS] Top Russian military officer, Colonel Alexander Bespalov, a tank commander has been killed in Ukraine, the ninth senior officer to be lost in the battle.
I thought we were only counting generals?
They're counting flag officers.
All those who are, or were going to become, generals? I’m not sure exactly what a flag officer is.
A flag officer is someone who commands a brigade sized unit or larger, or an officer who commands an independant combat unit. Usually colonel or higher.
He was given a funeral back in Russia but many soldiers corpses had been left to rot on the battlefield, to the despair of their mourning relatives.
There's lots more dead privates than there are dead colonels.
Each colonel has only one set of privates, surely. And only two ears, no matter how many extras show up on the field of battle.
Ukraine claimed 19,000 Russian invaders have died, but Russia only admitted “significant losses of troops”, without disclosing a tally.
19,000 is significant.
Bespalov's death comes after Ukraine announced it had “eliminated” Colonel Denis Kurilo, commander of the 200th motorised rifle brigade, in fierce fighting outside the country’s second city Kharkiv.
"Duck, colonel!... Whoops! Too late!"
"Don't worry. He'll have a nice funeral."
"Let's get started scraping him up."
Bespalov was commander of the 59th Guards Tank Regiment, Russia’s 74.RU news website reports.
Related:
Alexander Bespalov: 2005-03-12 Tbilisi Denies Visa to Transcaucasia Troops Commander
Related:
Denis Kurilo: 2022-03-30 Ukrainian Perspective: Invasion of Ukraine: March 30th, 2022
Posted by:Fred

#11  It's all smoke and mirrors now that Biden's son's connections to Chinese intelligence and Russian politicians are finally being reported on by the New York Times and the Washington Post. They're trying to redirect from the fact that Biden has been compromised by both China and Russia. His son's business partner was a Chinese intelligence operative and he received $3.5 million in a bribe from the wife of Putin's political rival.
Posted by: Spereth Ebbavitle2593   2022-04-10 13:38  

#10  ^ #1 - The New York Times verified

Was that like they verified the Hunter Laptop was disinformation, or verified it was mostly accurate?
Posted by: Bobby   2022-04-10 13:17  

#9  

The fact is and still remains, what is the real truth?

Since all sides (USSR, USSA, USSU, and their media are telling us what they want us to hear.
Posted by: NN2N1   2022-04-10 11:45  

#8  Thank you for educating me, guys. Y’all are kindness itself!
Posted by: trailing wife   2022-04-10 09:39  

#7  😁
Posted by: Dron66046   2022-04-10 09:07  

#6  I think in the modern era it's a symbol of the US military's flagging ability to get the job done.
Posted by: M. Murcek   2022-04-10 08:07  

#5  When you make your first star in the American Army, you are literally given a flag. It's a tradition. Normally its in his/her office but is to present when the individual is at an official event (speaking, review, et al), in which case the highest take precedent if several are present.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2022-04-10 07:59  

#4  
All those who are, or were going to become, generals? I’m not sure exactly what a flag officer is.

Miss TW,

In the US, it works like this:

*Company grade officers are 01 through 03 - 2nd Lieutenant, 1st Lieutenant, and Captain. These are the officers 'down in the trenches', as it were. In the Russian tradition, these poor bastards are going to be out front providing a good example before they get the dead.

*Field grade officers are 04 through 06 - Major, Lieutenant Colonel, and full Colonel. These folks command the sub-units such as Squadrons, Battalions, Regiments, and Wings. In the Russian system, they tend to be a lot closer to the fight than we get.

*Flag Officers are Generals and Admirals, 07 through 010 - Brigadier General, Major General, Lieutenant General, and full General. In Western practice they tend to stay some distance behind the lines to the point where they will likely never hear any of the shooting. In Russian practice, these guys are expected if necessary to go forward and die to correct any errors.

Mike

Posted by: Mike Kozlowski   2022-04-10 07:42  

#3  I call bullshit.

Who Really Committed War Crimes in Bucha?

Lurid and false atrocity stories have been used before to encourage Western involvement in unnecessary wars.
By Christopher Roach

... Four, the timeline of reports creates real doubts about whether Russia perpetrated the Bucha Massacre. It is widely acknowledged that Russian forces left Bucha on March 30. Then, Bucha’s mayor happily announced their withdrawal on March 31 without any mention of massacres, bodies in the streets, or other war crimes.

Finally, the Ukrainian SBU said it was moving into Bucha on April 2 to conduct a “cleansing” operation against saboteurs and traitors.

The photos of the dead only appeared on April 2, and Zelenskyy soon appeared in order to give international journalists a tour. Reuters and the New York Times have also posted Maxar satellite images apparently showing bodies in the streets earlier on March 19. This is not as compelling as it might otherwise be; bodies left outside for two weeks would not be in the condition seen in the April 2 photos, but instead would be significantly decomposed. If there were bodies on the street earlier in March—whether combatants or civilians—they had to be different people than the dead civilians on display from April 2.

Fifth, in at least some of the photos of Bucha , the victims appear to have white armbands—a sign of friendliness towards Russian forces and an indicator used by Russian forces themselves—and Russian-supplied emergency rations. Perhaps unsure of who was truly controlling the town as Russian forces were withdrawing and desperate for food to feed their families, these actions were deemed sufficient proof for collaboration and led the Ukrainian forces to shoot them. There is also some evidence that at least some of the victims may have been caught in an artillery barrage by Ukraine forces entering the city (or possibly Russian forces who had retreated).

Finally, the Ukrainians surely know that allegations of Russian atrocities—like earlier stories about Russia attacking nuclear plants and suggestions of Russia’s imminent use of chemical weapons—are the easiest way to manipulate the West into becoming a combatant. Similar “just so” stories had much to do with American involvement in the Syrian civil war. They were timed to appear just as the United States made noises about withdrawing. Stories about either genocide or the use of weapons of mass destruction in Ukraine are likely to amplify NATO’s already significant assistance to the Ukrainians.
Posted by: Whiter Dribble6596   2022-04-10 01:21  

#2  
Posted by: Crirong Sninetle9751   2022-04-10 01:05  

#1  Ukrainian Troops Seen Killing Russian POWs in Video

A video posted online Monday appears to show a group of Ukrainian troops shooting captured Russia soldiers dead outside a village west of Kyiv.

The New York Times verified the video, which was shared on the social messaging app Telegram, on Thursday. The apparent killing of prisoners of war, which would be forbidden under the Geneva convention, comes as Ukraine has accused Russia of multiple war crimes since it invaded in February.

"He's still alive. Film these marauders. Look, he's still alive. He's gasping," a man in the video says while an apparent Russian soldier with a jacket covering his head, is seen breathing heavily, surrounded by a pool of blood.

A soldier then shoots the man in the head twice. The man keeps moving, so the soldier shoots him again, and he stops.

At least three other Russian soldiers, including one with a head wound and his hands tied behind his back, can be seen dead next to the victim. The dead men are all wearing camouflage and three of them have white armbands often worn by Russian soldiers.

The soldiers who are alive in the video, including the apparent shooter, are wearing Ukrainian colors of blue and yellow on their arms. They can be heard saying "glory to Ukraine" several times.

Posted by: Crirong Sninetle9751   2022-04-10 00:59  

00:01