comment: >
  
  Pray for those folks 🙏
context: This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 70%. (I'm a bot)
  
  
  In one of the most intense periods of shelling since Ukraine regained control of Kherson last month, Russian forces hit Kherson over the Christmas weekend, killing at least 10 people, and struck a maternity ward this week.
  On Wednesday, Kherson City Council member Dmytro Poddubniy said that Kherson is "One of the most dangerous cities right now," according to The Guardian.
  As part of a fast-tracked program, the Ukrainian government is also offering residents cash and free train rides headed west to leave the embattled region, the Ministry of Reintegration said in a Facebook post.
  
  
  Extended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Kherson^#1 Ukrainian^#2 leave^#3 Russian^#4 week^#5 >
  
  Russian news:  Train carrying Ukrainian Satan-Nazis destroyed in precision strikes. We're especially satisfied with the number of children de-nazified. They are a particularly dangerous threat. Because due to their size. They can Nazify much smaller spaces than the average adult. >
  
  If we hit the maternity wards we can stop nazis in their teacks! >
  
  Congratulations. You're now chief strategist for the great Russian Army. Here is your uniform (ignore the blood...I mean wine stains and pieces of broken window) And your case of bottom shelf vodka. Don't drink to close to windows. Very dangerous. Hail Hitle...Uh...erm...I mean our glorious, democratically elected leader Vladimir Putin. >
  
  pieces of broken widow*
  FTFY >
  
  meanwhile Russia lacks shells in other parts of the frontline.
  Yet they will shell Kherson that they have zero chance of recapturing militarily. This is why they will lose. They are not even strategic evil, just chaotic evil. >
  
  I completely lack any kind of military knowledge, so I’m likely super over-simplifying this. But how difficult is it to take out whatever equipment Russia is using for this shelling?
  I’d imagine it’s some kind of stationary equipment. Can’t it just be bombed from a jet? >
  
  Jets are not able to be used effectively by either side due to the absolute massive amount of anti air weapons deployed on the field.
  They’re using artillery which is basically a technologically advanced trebuchet/mangonel. It does move but not while firing. It is possible to hit it back with your own artillery but they have different ranges and obviously yours would become a target the closer to the front lines it is as well.
  In short, it’s complicated. >
  
  Modern systems can be moved to and from firing positions in less than 5min after firing but both sides are lacking in Anti-artillery radars making the threat of counter-battery fire much less likely than what it should be when two "modern western armies" clash. >
  
  No problem shelling all the people that supposedly voted for them then? >
  
  A month ago there were billboards in Kherson saying “this is Russia.” Now the Russians are bombing them. >
  
  russia: “WAAAH! IM A BIG GENOCIDAL BABY AND IF I CANT HAVE KHERSON, NO ONE CAN!!!” >
  
  Imagine being the foot soldier sent to die for that cause, too. Honorably stepping into harm's way and dying in order to defend the...  *checks notes* ego of a geriatric with dementia. >
  
  Russians: 
  All I hear is criticize, criticize, criticize! >
  
  They gonna flatten Kherson like bakhmut and Mariopol >
  
  So if Russia can't have Kherson then they'll just destroy it so no one can occupy it ever. What a terrible military strategy, this war makes no sense. >
  
  More terror bombings right out of the third reichs playbook >
  
  Is it so difficult military wise to find out where the shelling comes from and strike back at those positions? >
  
  Why do you assume they are not? >
  
  Probably because the shellings don't seem to end after months of potential counter strikes, using much more precise weapons than whatever crap the russians are using. It's a valid question, not an attack. >
  
  On social media it looks like Russia is losing a lot of equipment (well, they are) but they have thousands of artillery pieces when you count self-propelled, field, and mortars. That's why it's dangerous to say things like "Russia has nothing left". Unfortunately, they very much do have a lot of equipment left.
  I've seen soldiers compare Russian Ground Forces to cockroaches. They keep killing and destroying them, but they just keep coming back and attacking. >
  
  My wife’s grandmother is there. She refused to leave last month when the Ukrainians were reaching the city again. I’m afraid she’ll die there. >
  
  I remember being chastised for thinking this would happen because “Kherson and Ukraine now have the high ground”. 
  I don’t think Russia cares about putting people and equipment in vulnerable positions so long as they commit atrocities. >
  
  Terrorist state. That’s all Russia is. >
  
  
  cash and free train rides
  
  I hope not to sound stupid, but how do I have to imagine the situation? Is there still train- traffic? Like every other day? I somehow can't imagine a situation where they are checking for tickets: "That's a ticket for seniors, please get out."
  I think I have no clue how living under these circumstances works... >
  
  There is a train traffic. Kherson is connected to railway network just fine. You can buy ticket online easily.
  There are also special "evacuation trains" that allow you to move out free of charge. >
  
  There's a Gov that gives a F for its people >
  
  Kind of crazy ppl want to stay. >
  
  I mean, it’s their home; their houses that they own, grew up in, maybe have lived in for generations. It’s difficult to just pack up and leave your entire life and heritage behind. Plus, that raises other problems: Where do they go? How are they going to put their lives back together with only the few possessions they could carry with them? Trying to pack your entire life into a suitcase or two is pretty rough.
  Rationally, should they leave to save their lives? Yes, they should. But if you’re in their shoes, it’s not that east of a decision to make. >
  
  Very true. If I was old and had no kids. I would stay. But to me, I think at the end of the day their going level the whole city >
  
  They certainly will if everybody leaves. If they stay, rhey can keep their economy going and maybe even put up a fight. >
  
  This is exactly what Putin wants. A depopulated Ukraine so Russia can walk in and steal the natural resources. >
  
  The people living in that city are not military, so would not be in the fighting anyway. >
  
  Good god, they go from claiming they were there occupying the city to “protect it” to now trying to destroy it. They have the mindset of a petulant child: “If I can’t have it, nobody can!” >
  
  Awful >
  
  I still don't understand the point they just want everyone dead and even if they win Ukraine put up one hell of a fight!! >
  
  Putin is playing IRL CIV and is just Razing all the cities. >
  
  Putin sounds like Josef Stalin wannabe. >
  
  DEFINATELY the signs of the Ukrainian dictatorship
  /s >
  
  Lots of (the times, NYT, others) are soft paywalled where I am req'd to register and have a Ltd amount of articles for life before a subscription is req'd. 
  Either ALL articles are ALWAYS free bc reddit or stick it. >
  
  It restricts me ...
  Probably a geo-located difference. >
  
  As BlackRock watches in delightful bliss… >
  
  American money and train tickets >
  
  Is the draft over? >
  
  Well since they can't recruit much Russians to the Kherson front, the least they can do is shell it.
  Russian mastermind at its best
  /s >
  
  Slavic people killing one another. Europeans killing one another. Mad. >
  
  20th century had a lot of that too. And the 19th… >
  
  Sounds like nazis to me.
  /s >
  
  We need to just glass Russia already >
  
  Are Ukrainian men allowed to flee the country yet? >
  
  Only to speak at the Emmy Awards or GQ cover shoot. >
  
  I thought the Offensive was a success and the Russian retreat was a mess? >
  
  It is, but Russia can’t accept the fact that they lost Kherson. With the mindset of a petulant child, they have decided “if we can’t have Kherson, no one can!” and are now attempting to destroy the city by bombarding it from across the Dnipro River. >
  
  They should have plenty of money with the Billions we've given them! >
  
  That's American tax dollars at work! >
  
  ^^another idiot at work! >
  
  American tax dollars no doubt. >
  
  America in the long run will make so much money from this war, while crippling Russia without sacrificing any American troops. On top of that, they get to look like they’re actually helping people to a European perspective. America really couldn’t be getting a better deal here, we’re just still in the investment stage. >
  
  Ukraine will be a vassal state to the US by the end of this.  With Lend-Lease in effect they will have to pay back the US one way or another.  Mostly likely with lucrative deals for Ukraine's natural resources.  I'm not condemning or condoning the move, but if Ukraine wants to keep its sovereignty it will have to make some huge concessions to the West.  That is much better than the alternative of becoming a Russia state. >
  
  Lend-Lease hasn’t been used yet as it was passed as a last resort in case Congress stopped passing bills to cover the packages. Nearly everything given so far is a one-way transaction that won’t saddle Ukraine’s already fragile economy with debt that would shatter it. >
  
  It's not free it's paid by US and European citizens. >
  
  Glad I could help! >
  
  Yeah I'm ok with that >
  
  they are still charging for train rides to leave the city? >
  
  No, they are paying people to jump on the train and leave. >
  
  These comments, I swear I haven’t belly-laughed like this in a while >
  
  Do you usually need to pay to evacuate by train?