UKH

Apparently Russia has bombed Kyiv whilst the head of the UN was visiting the city. What message is Putin sending to the world other than that he is a contemptible little shit who cares nothing for the consequences of his actions?

"I'm the most powerful man in the world, and you're too scared to do anything about it"

I suspect Putin had little control over the individual launching of cruise missiles. You also have to consider that Russia would have every reason to believe the information regarding the visit would be a cover for a Ukrainian ruse. Ultimately Putin is doomed, he’s closed more doors than opened with this war and his paranoia will keep him choosing to act rather than wait and see.

He's still probably only got a tiny willy

Putin met Guterres earlier this week, it's hard to believe the onward leg to Kyiv wasn't discussed at least in general terms. It seems quite possible this was a premeditated 'warning shot' especially after it was spelled out to Liz Truss this week that any further assistance to Ukraine could result in foreign emissaries being hit by Russia while in Kyiv.

Not sure what you mean by a Ukranian ruse?

jk

I think that ship long since sailed!

Given that the UN fella was personally visiting Putin the day before, and putin knew where he was going next, I'd say this has everything to do with him. 

Missiles aren't randomly launched, nor are they cheap, it's clearly Putin trying to intimidate. 

Perhaps as I see it is there’s no diagnostic test or evidence that we can access that separates out poor command and control of the Russia army and a threat to the UN.

What I can’t understand is what specifically was to be gained? How does frightening the UN frighten Truss when she’s not in Kyiv?

How does frightening or potentially killing the UN representative play out  with all the other member states of the UN. Would this win more support from Russian allies?

What is very likely is that due to security reasons the timings and locations of the UN visit would not have been shared with Russia.

What has also been shown is that the Russian forces have incredibly poor planning, command and control in place.

Even having personally worked in some of the most tightly regulated environments in the world you would be amazed at how broken the communication from the top to the bottom is.

All that highlights is that having dignitaries visit war zones is just utterly stupid.  The telephone has existed for many years now.

What's to be gained for Putin now in Ukraine more generally? It's at best a ruinously expensive festering sore.

If after an attack on Kyiv killing say a French envoy Lavrov holds a press conference and states the strike was in response to say German tanks being moved and those kiled were collateral damage, do you not think there would be quite unpredictable but potentially negative consequences for German politicians both domestically and internationally*? As well as for Russia of course which is already way down the shitlist!

*especially if it kept happening

Unpredictably. It seems in isolation counterproductive but is possibly just a warning shot calculated to get serious attention but not provoke a specific response from any particular opposed power. 

Or it's just the normal run of things, you could well be right.

It's possible the detail would be withheld but also possible it would be shared in order to minimise the risk of an accidental shoot down where a deliberate shoot down of a neutral (ish) diplomatic flight was considered very unlikely. Assuming of course our various leaders are all flying into somewhere in Ukraine which seems fairly likely given it's vast size.

In general yes but I suspect specific messages from the top through narrow, trusted, high level until the last stage channels flow better than most.

jk

What Putin has shown that as an individual if you are a threat to him, disloyal, bad mouth him, betray him etc... then you are never ever safe again. Be it on a flight from Europe diverted to Belarus, in Salisbury, or in Kiev and he doesn't care about collateral damage in targeting those he dislikes. 

Putin wants to delegitimise the concept of Ukraine as an independent sovereign country. Every time a foreign envoy or politician visits Kyiv in an official capacity it reinforces international solidarity and Ukrainian statehood in a way a telephone call never could.

So Putin is now threatening a declaration of all out war with Ukraine. Anyone digging an air raid shelter yet? Not that it would be much help if it goes nuclear😢

Daily Mail(sorry) are saying that Putin is shortly to undergo surgery for cancer.

Putin 'will have cancer operation and transfer power', insider claims https://mol.im/a/10770541 via https://dailym.ai/android

Lets hope for a successful outcome to the operation.

Sadly, a finite number of surgeries do have fatal outcomes...

I wonder if it will be a "special operation"

The Mail - and the Express - simply publish stories that their readers want to read. If they can't be checked, so much the better.

Much as I would like this to be true - I really would like Putin to die, preferably slowly, painfully and in prison- I don't trust the Mail one iota.

It's a rumour that keeps cropping up. After all, Hitler had only a singular testicle, am I right?

Fair comment and I have to say that no other news channels seem to be carrying the story.

I think the Mail is just taking the general "Putin is ill" story and running with it. I can see how it is kind of helpful though, when all this is done and we have to deal with a post-Putin Russia, it is going to be a lot easier if the war is put down to one man's illness rather than a collective evil. We don't blame the German people for the second world war (well, sane people tend not to anyway) and it helps the future peace to crystallize the source of evil into Putin and his cronies.

Mind you he might not be ill at all, if I had done the things he has done I'd be shaking like a shitting dog...