🇺🇦 How It’s Really Going

U.S believes Russia has committed more than 80 pct of its pre-staged combat power in Ukraine, U.S. official says.

— Idrees Ali (@idreesali114) March 1, 2022

U.S. assesses that Russia has launcher systems that could be used for vacuum bomb but cannot confirm use, U.S. official says.

— Idrees Ali (@idreesali114) March 1, 2022

Use of such weapons is being widely reported as a violation of Geneva Conventions.

U.S. official says some Russian troops in Ukraine are running out of food now.

— Idrees Ali (@idreesali114) March 1, 2022

NEW: Russia's 40-mile long military convoy of tanks, armored vehicles, and artillery is "not moving at great speed," per senior US defense official.

Satellite photos showed the convoy 17mi outside of Kyiv. US is seeing Russian columns "literally out of gas," the official said.

— Jack Detsch (@JackDetsch) March 1, 2022

NEW: Russia did not tell some troops sent into Ukraine that they would be going into combat, per senior U.S. defense official.

Some of the troops are conscripts, the official said, and the U.S. has seen large Russian surrenders in certain instances.

— Jack Detsch (@JackDetsch) March 1, 2022

The Ukrainian Army just captured a Russian TOS-1A thermobaric MRL. 🇺🇦🇷🇺 pic.twitter.com/fvF70ypuut

— Oryx (@oryxspioenkop) March 1, 2022

The Russian advance on Kyiv and other cities has stalled amid food and fuel shortages, Ukrainian resistance and slower-than-expected troop movements toward the capital. There’s evidence some Russian troops have surrendered and that morale is weak. https://t.co/IzTE6vD5Us

— Rebecca Ballhaus (@rebeccaballhaus) March 1, 2022

In some cases, troops have deliberately punched holes in vehicles’ gas tanks, presumably to avoid combat.
A significant number of Russian troops are young conscripts who are poorly trained and ill-prepared for the all-out assault.https://t.co/UKPQeizr1Y

— Cliff Levy (@cliffordlevy) March 1, 2022

For the 1st time in a modern conflict, the regular forces of Russia are communicating without digital mode, making them fully audible by everyone.

A story documented by Nicholas Laidlaw (https://t.co/zPyhfSbEQW) might explain that the cause would be bad logisitic preparation. pic.twitter.com/eitSovjuN7

— ShadowBreak Intl. (@sbreakintl) March 1, 2022

And just sayin'...

The sudden silence of usual “reply guys” has been deafening

Especially the ones who are careful to spell out their location as “Kansas, USA,” their background as “proud veteran” or "USA Mom,” and sometimes the fillip of “former Democrat” or “Democrat until AOC [HRC / CRT / etc]”

— James Fallows (@JamesFallows) March 1, 2022

And just because Austin is also the home of Alex Jones:

How embarrassing for himself and Texas… but he is from Austin.

— Woof (@Christophe_Wolf) March 1, 2022

Maybe I should have led with this:

if Putin had rolled straight into Kyiv with no resistance, every single Republican would still be praising him as a great strong leader. don't you fucking dare try to pretend this isn't true

— Jeff Tiedrich (@itsJeffTiedrich) March 1, 2022

One of the maddening things about this war is how senseless, pointless, stupid it is. Senseless destruction. Behavior of a maniac. https://t.co/BSjdH321mY

— olexander scherba🇺🇦 (@olex_scherba) March 1, 2022