Ukraine Invasion - Please do not post videos showing attacks/similar

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19-y-old Ukrainian soldier records a video after his unit is surrounded. He says they won’t make it out alive. He was right. Can somebody explain why the West is holding back crucial weapon systems from Ukraine? Why they aren’t allowed to strike Russia?
Because if we give them stuff that can strike Russia, and don't make them promise not to strike Russia, then given all the stuff that's happened to them they would probably use it to you know: Start striking Russia. Which would make the situation much worse.

Firstly, in the minds of those in the west who are opposed or indifferent to supporting Ukraine it would transform the conflict from a war of aggression by obvious bad guys, into just a bunch of Slavs throwing rocks at each other. Which would be very bad for western support of Ukraine.

Secondly, it would begin to erode the stern looks Putin has been getting from the BRICS nations whenever he looks worriedly over at the box marked "Nuclear, Biological and Chemical: Open in case of emergency", and rest assured he is much more interested in the opinions of his allies than his defacto enemies.
 
Because if we give them stuff that can strike Russia, and don't make them promise not to strike Russia, then given all the stuff that's happened to them they would probably use it to you know: Start striking Russia. Which would make the situation much worse.

Firstly, in the minds of those in the west who are opposed or indifferent to supporting Ukraine it would transform the conflict from a war of aggression by obvious bad guys, into just a bunch of Slavs throwing rocks at each other. Which would be very bad for western support of Ukraine.

Secondly, it would begin to erode the stern looks Putin has been getting from the BRICS nations whenever he looks worriedly over at the box marked "Nuclear, Biological and Chemical: Open in case of emergency", and rest assured he is much more interested in the opinions of his allies than his defacto enemies.

I think air bases military bases and arms factorys etc inside Russia should be fair game in this war, I think Russia done enough to harm civilian population so Ukraine should be able to hit from source.
 
I think air bases military bases and arms factorys etc inside Russia should be fair game in this war, I think Russia done enough to harm civilian population so Ukraine should be able to hit from source.

They are, but only with Ukrainian sourced/built weapons. Attacking Russia risks losing support and galvanising the Russian population in support for Vladolf. The Ukrainians have enough Nazi’s to deal with as things stand.
 
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People wondering why we don’t give all the wonder weapons need to understand that they work as a system.

F16s, atacms and Taurus all require air superiority and destruction of air defence capabilities, fly any of the above in the current air space and they’ll be shot out of the sky.

As the war rages on and Ukraine destroys more air defence assets the more useful the longer range equipment will be
 
Russia complains that Finland did not ask their permission before closing the border

Russia says by closing the border, Finland is infringing on rights of Russians

Finland says the border is closed because illegal migrants are invading Finland from Russia

 
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People should just ignore Swiss rules because they need other countries more than they need Swiss products.

That's a slippery slope .... We impose controls on where kit we sell can be re-sold to, as do all the major western arms exporters.

I'm wondering if the Swiss are running an investigation or an "investigation" *cough*. Ammunition is going to be at the bottom of the "things we care about" pile.
 
People should just ignore Swiss rules because they need other countries more than they need Swiss products.
^ This ^

It's one thing to say that anyone who buys your stuff can't re-export it to Iran or North Korea. But telling people that they can't re-export it to a European country being invaded by a dictatorship, in an action that has been condemned by the UN, EU, etc is just stupid.

Sadly over the years Switzerland has taken neutrality to such an extreme that they've defacto backed sides via inaction, this appears to be no different. Actively blocking support to Ukraine is defacto support of Russia and should be treated as such, the EU/UN/etc should apply resolutions voiding any agreements made by Switzerland and European countries on the limitation of Swiss arms transfers (with regards to Ukraine), and if they cry about it they should be sanctioned.
 
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Putin invaded because he wants to restore the former USSR/Russian empire. NATO expansion is his excuse, an excuse you are happy to parrot.
This is one time I would have to respectfully disagree. You only have to see what Russia did to Georgia in 2008 to realise that NATO is not an excuse.

In Apr 2008 NATO promised to consider Georgia's bid for NATO membership. By August 2008 Russia had invaded Georgia under the guise of protecting native Russians in South Ossetia from "aggression" and "genocide". Putin had many times over the years said it was a mistake to let the Baltic countries of Latvia etc join NATO - a mistake that he would not allow/make again.

Once Putin realised that Ukrainian President Yanukovych (who was Pro-Russian) was going to lose power in 2014, Putin annexed Crimea and so started us on the road where we are today. It is obvious Putin does not want to restore the former USSR; Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania etc have been part of the E.U. and NATO for a couple decades so that is a near impossibility. Though he does want to keep the number of former Soviet or Soviet aligned countries that have joined NATO at 14 and no more.

Putin does want to make Russia a leading global power again with geo-political influence around the world, especially those countries that it shares a border with.

My take is that any sovereign country can do what it wants within its borders and if it wants to join NATO/E.U. it's their choice and Russia shouldn't have a say. In my nearly 20 year history of dealing closely with Russians (including a dislocated elbow from a Russian policeman) I've learnt a thing a two and it was clear to me at the time that Putin was never willingly going to let a country with as such close ties to Russia as Ukraine does and where he spent his honeymoon, get into bed with the E.U./NATO.
 
It is obvious Putin does not want to restore the former USSR; Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania etc have been part of the E.U. and NATO for a couple decades so that is a near impossibility. Though he does want to keep the number of former Soviet or Soviet aligned countries that have joined NATO at 14 and no more.

I'm not sure there isn't a disconnect there between the prohibitive reality of it and what Putin might desire.

Russia has put a lot of effort in recent years especially from around 2015/16 or so onwards in the Baltics and eastern Europe, making social and political inroads beyond the normal extending their influence large countries/entities do, actions which have lead to a worsening security situation in the Baltics including acquisitions of strategic locations in places like Finland and Gotland, some dubious events around Gotland such as large numbers of people linked to GRU visiting as "tourists", etc. and "leaked" plans for an invasion and setting up of S-400 installations on Gotland ( https://twitter.com/anders_aslund/status/1484907973013086211 I suspect in this case an overt threat through state media to try and make NATO step back*) so as to make it difficult for NATO to respond should Russia move on the Baltics, etc. etc. (granted most countries will develop a range of military plans as a contingency, even against allies, most of which will never be used).

If Ukraine had simply fallen with little more than a whimper from the West I suspect Russia would have pushed on with those plans using a variety of hybrid methods and more direct where they can until there was a push back - it is simply Putin's nature even if he didn't set out with a conquest of Europe (which I doubt he has any serious intentions as to) or a full on restoration of the empire. I think people vastly underestimate the security nightmare we'd have had to content with if Ukraine had rolled over and even now if Russia prevails even in this waker state there is still significant risk there.

I think it quite likely Russia would have progressed from Ukraine to using it to nibble away at eastern Europe using sort of carrot and stick methods, building up a large force on the borders of countries on the one hand, while using their political and social inroads on the other to try and flip countries to become somewhat like Belarus is to Russia, then hope to capitalise on the chaos that would produce in eastern Europe as a distraction from moves they might make in the Baltics although that becomes a sticking point where more direct methods would be required and the risks of escalation.


* Some comments in there about it being about the West fabricating fake news about Russian intentions, but I've seen more than one source of supposed Russian plans to that end.
 
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People should just ignore Swiss rules because they need other countries more than they need Swiss products.

Hey hey hey! Don't get ahead of ourselves. I can't live without my Swiss chocolates, they are so bold, velvety and smooth, I cannot give up... nah I'm just ******* with you, Swiss chocolates suck and they can take it where the sun don't shine
 
Planes that emergency land in Russia are just left where they are. No spare parts to fix them anyway so why try to move it

I mentioned about that a few weeks back - actually it seems they are trying to prep it and the field so as to try and fly it out once the ground hardens when it freezes.
 
I mentioned about that a few weeks back - actually it seems they are trying to prep it and the field so as to try and fly it out once the ground hardens when it freezes.

That will be funny to see but I don't think it will happen
 
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That will be funny to see but I don't think it will happen

Annoyingly I didn't link to the original source when I posted about it before


But the original post I saw about it had more technical details about the operation to recover it because obviously they can't just tow it out of there.

EDIT: Bit more info here though it doesn't mention flying it out: https://www.flightglobal.com/airlin...f-stranded-a320-to-take-months/155136.article but apparently that is the intention to strip it of weight, etc. and build a temporary runway once the ground is right - trying to take off when the ground is soft and dry from an improvised runway could result in the engines ingesting foreign material, etc.
 
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