Ground invasion seems like a very poor idea generally, but since when has reality guided decision-making at the White House lately?

Yeah, one factor to also take into account is the fact that Trump was a fan of sending boots on the ground in Yugoslavia. He thought that the air campaign was not enough. That statement was in the 90s thought, so take it as you will.

Good lord. I hope this ends peacefully.

Do Chinese billionaires, Jenine Añez, and Shinzo Abe count?

95:91

The Americans had enough juice and a team consisting of superstars that managed to just push them over the edge. A little bit more luck and a bit of brain in the refs heads would have sent us through, but alas. I'm still very proud of our boys though, hopefully we get the bronze.

In their defence, maybe they didn't think that they had much of a choice regarding this attack. Russian bloggers have been saying that their side was amassing forces in that area since the penetration into the Kharkov region. This might be a sort of situation where they attacked preemptively.

That's a bit of an overreaction, there's still a pretty big barrier in the shape of a canal between the central part of the city and the parts that Russia controls. They need to break through a good chunk of the line around the town to get in a position to threaten it. With the current tempo of the Russian army in the countryside, it's going to take at least a few weeks before everything is in position for an assault of Chasiv Yar itself.

Nah, the flag on the photo belongs to Hezbollah.

It seems to be legit actually, I found this article by gazeta.ru, which Wikipedia classifies as Russian state-controlled media claiming the same thing. In the article is this quote:

This was reported by the Grozny-Inform portal with reference to the Minister of Culture of Chechnya Musa Dadaev.

If someone here actually speaks Russian feel free to correct me though.

Another Kosovo update:

The firefight in North Kosovo ended a few hours ago. Three attackers were confirmed dead by the Serbian president. He also claims that one of the two (or three) arrested men in uniform is likely dead as well. Another four people were arrested for aiding the men with a radio. Kosovo's PM claims that the men came form Serbia proper, while Serbia's president claims that they were men form Serbian communities in Kosovo that had enough of the Albanian oppression. No new information is coming out now, so I have no idea about which side is telling the truth and don't want to speculate. We'll have to see what comes out tomorrow.

Kosovo update:

A firefight has broken out last night in North Kosovo. One police officer was killed, one wounded and another one was injured. The shootout is still ongoing and the information is currently quite sparse. Kosovo's PM says that around 30 heavily armed men were behind the attack and that they are currently surrounded.

Edit: Kosovo Police claim that one attacker has been killed.

Edit #2: Kosovo Police claim that another two attackers were killed and one was arrested. Serbia's president is expected to hold a press conference later today.

Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo

Those were literally peacekeeping missions, it would be a miracle if a Challenger got blown up there. The majority of their personnel died in various accidents when in ex-Yugoslavia and I doubt anyone ever fired on their tanks. Excellent propaganda by the MOD.