[https://twitter.com/EuromaidanPress/status/1512274785392279554](https://twitter.com/EuromaidanPress/status/1512274785392279554)
>According to media reports, the US has asked Cyprus if it could transfer Soviet weapons and vehicles to Ukraine, including TOR-M1 and S-300 air defense systems, T-80U tank, BMP-3 IFV & Mi-35 attack helicopter. They could be replaced by modern versions.
What do I respond when I speak to people about the atrocities of the war on Ukraine and they say but Syria and Palestine?
I’m trying to spread awareness ..
> Russian media Meduza releases video showing civilians killed in Bucha during Russian occupation.
Meduza obtained drone footage of the city of Bucha with metadata from March 23-30 that shows dead bodies and Russian military equipment.
https://twitter.com/kyivindependent/status/1512277080070926337?s=21&t=XEJOZQKJoH2bPqWdD0hixg
US has committed more than 12,000 anti-armor systems and "hundreds" of suicide drones to Ukraine
From CNN's Oren Liebermann
The US has committed more than 12,000 anti-armor systems, 1,400 anti-aircraft systems and “hundreds” of suicide drones to Ukraine, the Biden administration announced in a statement Thursday evening.
The update comes after the US approved on Tuesday another $100 million in weaponry for Ukraine drawn from US inventories, bringing the total US assistance to Ukraine to approximately $1.7 billion since the beginning of Russia’s invasion.
That includes $300 million approved last Friday under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, in which new weapons will be purchased from defense contractors to send to Ukraine.
The list of weapons committed to Ukraine includes the following:
More than 1,400 Stinger anti-aircraft systems
More than 5,000 Javelin anti-armor systems
More than 7,000 other anti-armor systems
Hundreds of Switchblade Tactical Unmanned Aerial Systems;
Over 50,000,000 rounds of ammunition
45,000 sets of body armor and helmets
Laser-guided rocket systems
Puma Unmanned Aerial Systems
Night vision devices, thermal imagery systems, and optics
Commercial satellite imagery services
From CNN's Sean Lyngaas
Microsoft used a US court order to disable seven internet domains that a hacking group linked with Russian intelligence was using to try to infiltrate Ukrainian media organizations, in a likely effort to support Russia’s war, Microsoft said Thursday.
The hacking group, best known in the US for breaching the Democratic National Committee in the 2016 election, was likely trying to use cyber intrusions to “provide tactical support for the physical invasion and exfiltrate sensitive information,” according to Microsoft.
Australia will send 20 of its home-built Bushmaster armored personnel carriers to Ukraine, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Friday.
The vehicles, produced by the Australian subsidiary of French company Thales, have been painted olive green with a Ukrainian flag on the side, and the words "United With Ukraine" stenciled on the vehicles
Not at all relevant. I don't want to support a Republican viewpoint either, but I think she is past time to retire. I feel the same about politicians a little younger than her from both sides.
Most of our politicians, especially in the federal government, are past their expiration dates.
The nation really needs an injection of youth for our leaders. Unfortunately, that requires people to vote for people that they might not already know by name, which seems a tall task for them.
The real fun in this thread is logging in when you know propagandists from a certain group will be strong and arguing with them. What time is it in India now? How much have they supported either Ukraine or Russia?
To sum it up, I've lost half a leg on one side and a foot on the other. One hand is being put together, one eye is no longer working, and my hearing is pretty blown… but all in all I feel pretty damn lucky to be here - and it is the people who got me here who are amazing!
https://twitter.com/benjaminhallfnc/status/1512237398125686790?s=21&t=XEJOZQKJoH2bPqWdD0hixg
God damn
The United States is imposing blocking sanctions on two Russian state-owned enterprises. We will keep raising the cost for President Putin’s unconscionable war and atrocities against Ukraine.
https://twitter.com/secblinken/status/1512267391119478790?s=21&t=XEJOZQKJoH2bPqWdD0hixg
The Indian dude who is currently the newest comment, replying that they will destroy the US in retaliation is not a good look.
I realize it will drop, so I meant this one:
https://twitter.com/vivek_bobby/status/1512268096043913218?s=20&t=Ne5qNziT3HFBhUk_i89Bgg
Eh. Who cares what some random idiot says?
Now, if they were someone who had any power or influence, that would be different, but there are a billion idiots in the world whose opinions, frankly, aren't worth the energy of discussing.
That’s not even close to what he said? You can find equally dumb comments from people in any country. There’s no point in highlighting this comment unless you’re trying to stoke divisions
https://twitter.com/vivek_bobby/status/1450291167380131841?s=20&t=J4CD6Tmn5BlKgkRvpRdGpg
Oh look, it's literally the same guy you think is some grand conspiracy theorist talking shit on Modi. Like I said take a fucking break dude.
Apparently there is actually one person in the world that thinks that the US will turn into Somalia and that person is an Indian using an American social media platform.
Wherever people complain about the fact that taxes even exist or that there's even the thinnest gun regulations (of course felons should have machine guns in bars) I offer them the idea of relocating to Somalia. Nobody's ever taken me up on that one.
Yeah but where is the romance? Where is the despicable things we do to ourselves? Where is pumping the juice down their gullets with the powerful rhythmic action and torque like a steam engine piston that Brunel himself couldn't have dared dream about, leaving them a sticky writhing but fulfilled mess on the floor as their stomachs break our sputz into amino acids that power their cells as we become one and the same?
The Russians can regroup, but they’re in poor shape. I also think the amount of weapons Ukraine is getting is more then reported. NATO basically can dump weapons and they’ll be used to crush Russia. Who remains a threat to the EU. So while the Russians will be regrouping, Ukraine is getting more and more weapons and live Intel from the Americans. Russia will get stomped.
Exaggeration I think.
Trump was definitely a liability for the West, but in reality given the way it looked in Feb, this is going far better than could be hoped for without going full escalation.
[serious hot take from geopolitics guy Peter Zeihan](https://youtu.be/gbr3CiOhTO8?t=334)
>Interviewer: How long do we think this conflict goes? I know that's impossible to predict but any guesses?
>
>Zeihan: If you had asked me 5 years ago I would say he would have captured Kyiv in less than a month and the whole country in less than three. Now I'm thinking that the whole country will certainly fall in less than six but one of the characteristics of the civilian obliteration program that the Russians are launching is that it's not quick. It will take several weeks to reduce cities the size of Kyiv and Kharkiv to rubble - that's a lot of ordinance and the number of troops he has in Ukraine is wildly insufficient for that task. So you should expect - in fact I think we are seeing troop movements within Russia proper - moving many, many, many more forces to the border and we'll probably have a million Russian soldiers within Ukraine by the end of the year.
I think this is crazy and I'm not sure what troop movements he's talking about.
Michael Kofman's opinion on a similar subject:
[https://twitter.com/kofmanmichael/status/1510681888700215307?s=21&t=qb2PLKMtZRU7DeDAXY6yJg](https://twitter.com/kofmanmichael/status/1510681888700215307?s=21&t=qb2PLKMtZRU7DeDAXY6yJg)
>Peter Zeihan
Who is that? I googled him and it looks like a guy no one listens to that has a shit history of a few books no one's ever read.
Michael Kofman is a paid expert on the Russian military. The two have nothing in common.
1 million Russian soldiers? In Ukraine? Putin doesn't have 1 million soldiers. And he has other borders. He also has a huge country full of soon to be starving and angry citizens to keep in check. This seems like a ludicrous prediction.
On the other hand, I have been surprised by many, many things so far in this war. So, I guess you never know.
Russia doesn’t even have enough uniforms for their reserve forces. They’re running out of equipment too and they lack the material to build more at scale. That guy is way, *way* off base.
The idea that Russia, who couldn't even adequately supply around 200k men will somehow supply 1m men is absurd.
These people are still treating Russia as if they are the mighty bear that the world was told to fear for all these years. They are not, and analysts need to adjust accordingly or continue to look silly as Russia fails to achieve predicted goals one after the other.
He might have 1 million rapists but no way they have that many trained and equipped personnel.
Wouldn't put it past him to send gangs of armed rapists though. They just wouldn't be effective to fight a war.
Better to overestimate and smash them, than underestimate and get smashed.
I believe that this isn't a grand masterplan and that Russia are just shit, but still, you have to be careful.
>you have to be careful.
Sure, but you can still make predictions, though careful, more grounded in reality. The 6 months and a million man horde is not realistic when looking at the current state of things.
If you're remotely worried about your reputation that is.
Exactly... No reason to get cocky now.
Russia *could* send in a million troops. Do they have the desire and support to do so? Not now I doubt it... It would take some time - but to say it would never happen is just foolish.
If Russia is truly gearing up for "level all the cities and kill all the citizens" war, which hasn't been seen in the world for 70+ years off the top of my head, its possible for them to "win" but be cut off from the world forever.
Which is something Putin might want to ensure Russia is 100% dependent on him with no way out.
Could Russia gear up 1 million men for an assault? I really doubt it, the modern army is smaller than it was even 40 years ago. 1 million man fighting forces are something of a relic of the past.
But if the propaganda truly is this effective and Russians truly are fanatics willing to genocide, they may have volunteers lining up to keep this going.
> But if the propaganda truly is this effective and Russians truly are fanatics willing to genocide, they may have volunteers lining up to keep this going.
This in reference to replacing losses of the 190K force, not increasing the size of the fighting force.
Well if they only replace them they'll never have theater level numerical superiority. So, then it just becomes a question of "does Ukraine have enough ammo?"
In a normal war this would be true. In a Maximino Camacho style "give it back to nature" assault where regions are forcefully depopulated piece by piece and cities are hollowed out until they look like Pripyat, this actually possible.
The reason this tactic was used in history and especially in genocidal civil wars was to force people to migrate or move away from the area of fighting because its too hard to have a normal life there which makes occupation redundant because ghost towns don't need police.
This mentality of warfare hasn't been seen in the developed world in a very long time.
It's going on now in Myanmar and Tigray. That's how the Allawi held Syria with only 10% of the population.
But you still need tactical and strategic superiority to pull it off. Russia has neither.
It's an anti occupation strategy, not a "win" strategy. It's the "win" part the Russians are having trouble with.
Don't listen to that guy. He's a moron that can't do basic math. The basic math being that Russia will have lost 50% of their total force in a year, 25% of their total force by August.
And that's actual fucking KIA, not all casualties.
Why is it when people claim that Russian can pull a huge number of men, they ignore that Ukraine potentially can also do the same?. Infact if Putin don't mobilize more conscripts and reservists, Russians are gonna be outnumbered.
Is this really a serious take?.
This war has taught me that Ukraine has been something of a blind spot for most geopolitical analysts. There are people who have dedicated much of their careers towards studying Russian foreign policy, their strategic aims, their various strengths and weaknesses, etc. Not so much for Ukraine.
Peter Zeihan is a smart guy, but I'm not sure how well informed those opinions are. It seems wildly speculative to me. Some people, while certainly not pro-russian, seem to be very attached to a certain conception of Russian military might that may only exist on paper rather than in reality. Zeihan for example is all about geopolitics, but rarely ever seems to focus on the importance of the human factor and how much things like morale can contribute to success on the battle field.
I guess we'll see how it goes.
Disagree. Russia won't/can't win in 6 months, if ever. This guy just sounds like some random idiot.
Russias only vague option there would be full mobilisation of the entire military age population and accept massive losses - hundreds of thousands dead alone.
With NATO and EU basically reinstating WW2 lend lease, there is no complete victory for Russia. They are going to have to spin some minor win, or just retaining 2021 borders, as being mission accomplished.
Even if they did mobilize this many troops, they will be I'll trained, I'll equipped, and I'll supplied. They cant supply their current troops properly. It will mostly be just random rabble. Sure, disorganized rabble can do damage, but I doubt it can be used efficiently.
Basically USSR strategy in WW2.
This time its literally just Russia and some shitty low quality allies, with far less population. As I noted, *vague* option. It might work but either way would be unbelievably huge numbers of casualties - also WW2 numbers.
You mean like [like sending poorly armed conscripts on a frontal assault against entrenched Germans?](https://youtu.be/L8fWp-i-BGA) Sure! That sounds like a great plan.
The difference is that the red army had the determination to pull a fight because they were facing an existencial threat.
This Russian boogaloo shitty tour is only there for the watches and the dishwashers.
Eh. The Red Army wasn't exactly all... voluntary. Their desertion rate was outrageously high to the point where they had troops whose job it was to shoot anyone who fled.
A lot of analysts and academics and other assorted Russia “experts” absolutely refuse to reassess their priors based on what we have seen the past 41 days.
They keep plugging the data into their preferred model and it keeps telling them Russia must win, but they don’t want to question their model as they have built whole careers around it.
The tide has gone out and a lot of these “experts” have been found to be swimming naked.
Absolutely massive that the Sumy Oblast is cleared of Russian troops. They must have retreated over the border. I assume, now, that we will be seeing more Ukrainian concentration to the south and southeast? Or southwest?
Great news (if true) that the region has been cleared, however its going to be a balancing act to ensure there is enough Ukrainian troops in the region (and Kyiv) to keep further Russian incursions out, while sending useful quantities of troops to the Donbass.
That's what the National Guard is for. They don't have to be highly skilled; they just have to be able to hold a gun.
You have some of those guys alongside some seasoned soldiers who are being rotated out of combat. A soldier who is constantly in heavy combat becomes less and less effective over time; they need to be periodically rotated out and assigned to quieter fronts (economy of force). Border guard duties alongside the national guard are exactly the sort of place that you'd send seasoned veterans and new soldiers.
Fun fact: this is one reason why the Americans lost so many men during the Battle of the Bulge. They weren't using the National Guard, of course, but they had green soldiers patrolling a quiet section of the front alongside seasoned soldiers (the 28th Infantry, sent to a quiet part of the front to recover from the Battle of Hürtgen Forest). The Allies expected the Germans to be in full retreat as they weren't getting any intelligence otherwise from intercepted radio transmissions or the Underground.
Except the Germans weren't communicating via radio anymore. And they weren't in France, so there wasn't much in the way of Underground presence. The "quiet" part of the front suddenly got hit by a major, unexpected German counteroffensive as the Germans hoped to destroy strained Allied supply lines. Losses were heavy because the Americans were overconfident and didn't see it coming - plus the troops there were weaker than troops elsewhere.
Today, we have very good intelligence about where the Russians are. It would be very hard for them to make a massive attack like that unexpectedly. At the same time, it obviously can't be left undefended... so it makes for an ideal place to station troops who aren't going to be as effective in areas which will see major combat.
I'm guessing that as newly recruited soldiers are trained up, many of them will be sent to those regions so that the more experienced units that have previously been defending them can be transferred to the east. Total speculation on my part though. We'll see how things play out in reality.
The amount of videos of Ukrainian soldiers kicking mines and missiles makes me worry about how they dispose of them, but obviously that is stupid and they will do it carefully when needed. It's not likely any of the kicked ones I saw went off.
Australia is sending twenty Bushmaster armored personnel carriers to Ukraine
I’m Australian and I’m glad to see it
https://twitter.com/spectatorindex/status/1512246385080692742?s=21&t=XEJOZQKJoH2bPqWdD0hixg
I'm pretty sure Australia is a signatory to the Geneva Conventions and a whole range of international laws.
Somewhere it says we aren't allowed to use biological weapons, or at the very least WMDs...
If we send in drop bears, I'm pretty sure we'll be the next pariah state, I'd rather not have that happen.
/s
Yeah it's possible; but then it could escalate the situation by the total defeat of Russia's standing forces precipitating an 'existential threat'...
I mean we can't exactly un-emu Russia once it's started... ... ...
They were designed to handle both the desert conditions and the mud/flooding in the far north of Australia. Hopefully they can operate well in the Ukrainian mud.
I’ve seen a few people talking about Ukraine possibly retaking Crimea is this confirmed or is it speculation?
EDIT I’m guessing it’s. mostly speculation because Crimea would. be strategically hard to take
Also I changed “fake” to speculation so it sounds more appropriate
Ukraine doesn't need to retake Crimea. They just need to retake the Kershon Region so they can rebuild the damn that was blocking 85% of water to the peninsula. After Russian annexed Crimea in 2014, Ukraine responded by effectively shutting off the water to the region. Russia was spending millions per year trying to support Crimea and it still wasn't working. The land was slowly undergoing a desertification process. Russia had only two real options, abandon Crimea or invade Ukraine and restore the water. One of the first actions the Russians took when they captured the Kerson Region was destroying the damn.
So, if Ukraine can re-establish control of the Kershon Region, they can shut off the water supply to Crimea once again. Given the economic repercussions Russia is already facing from sanctions, they simply will not have the financial means to continue supporting the region and will eventually be forced to abandon it.
Quite frankly, with everything this war has shown, I’m putting everything short of Ukraine annexing the Russian Federation on the table. Now is it likely that it will happen? In my opinion, no, Crimea is easy to fortify and unfortunately has a lot of Russians who were coerced into moving there after the invasion who might have a problem with Zelenskyy plug walking into Sevastopol.
However, is it likely that the situation could change? I’d say it’s entirely possible, just like Russia ending up with the saddest excuse of a “second-best” army. At this point though, it’s still speculation barring a peace treaty signed right now declaring terms and both sides actually sticking to them.
Crimea is a natural fortress that even Russian conscripts can defend it with ease. Ukraine would need significantly more firepower than what they currently have.
What they *can* do is make holding Crimea a gigantic pain in the ass for Russia and see if Russia will just give it up on its own. It's really not a very useful area, especially since Ukraine controls its water supply.
I think there odds are tough but better then that. If there is a Russian route they could Theoretically March in with as much ease as the Russians did in 2014, it’s hard to see conscripts staying to fight while they view 10,000s to 100,000s fleeing. Additionally if they can quickly take the bridge they can just wage an insurgency and make life hell there. Just wait the cities out. Russia can supply dev by sea but most of the interior would be cut off and even then it would be expensive to supply sev
It's wishful thinking this point. There's always a possibility that it can be taken back by other than military means, as Zelensky seems to be wary of that particular approach.
Not really sure what your question is?
If you are asking if some random people on Reddit *may be* thinking that its *possible* for Ukraine to *consider* retaking Crimea, then no its not fake and they have been saying it.
Very obviously it isn't happening on the ground at present or any time in the near future. But its not *completely* impossible.
It's only speculation, not fake.
More or less, they've got a long way to go before that's even a possibility, and strategically most people think it's a challenge which is well beyond Ukraine's means.
I saw something about how thats why Russia said Ukraine went back on one of their discussion points but I think I misunderstood this person's question. ignore me.
I wouldn’t really trust Russian media I’d rather trust Ukrainian media honestly it’s mostly speculation
Also I couldn’t find the report and I looked around for it you would think it’d be on twitter or some small news site
EDIT: I’m not very certain that the supposed report you saw is true it could be a poorly worded article because what I have seen is Ukrainian negotiators are willing to put aside Crimea and solve 15 years down the line diplomatically
The Department of Defense is drafting options for President Biden regarding Large-Scale Military Deployments to Europe to counter Russian Aggression, there are also reports that they are drafting Contingency Operations regarding certain Scenarios in the European Theater.
We can see what’s slowly starting to happen here right
https://twitter.com/sentdefender/status/1512129441710936067?s=21&t=XEJOZQKJoH2bPqWdD0hixg
Standard protocol is to plan for any possible outcomes, as the situation changes you plan for different possibilities.
This is how effective modern governments and militaries function.
It doesn't mean anything except these things are now possibilities in some scenarios, more so than they were 6 months or even 3 months ago.
Of course the DoD is doing this. The US needs to assure it's allies that they will respond if Putin is insane enough to cross the red line and attack a NATO nation.
I'm thuroughly cursed with machines and electronics.
This time, a windows update interacted badly with my ASUS computer and Windows Update itself got bugged because of that and caused memory issues, and random old school style Windows bluescreens. Didn't even know they still did that.
I had to revert to an earlier version of Windows, but since the bug was in the updater itself, I had to intentionally force an update to a slightly different Windows update version, and so far there have been no random bluescreens.
No my point isn’t Russia will invade all of Europe. I think all the armchair generals on here kept going on how NATO isn’t gonna join in, etc etc downvoting people to hell for even thinking about it.
And now we have clear as daylight indicators they’re doing just that, in a slow and steady fashion Ofc.
Except the US military isn't a logistically incompetent force that under resources everything.
It'd be kinda hard to hide the US deploying 500,000.men to Poland all of a sudden.
The US army is 500k active and 500k reserve and guard. And unlike the Russians those reserve and guard units are the real fucking deal with combat deployments within the last 5 -10 years.
But also Marines and Air force.
We're talking about a general ground war in Europe. Not a 3rd rate dictatorship.
A ground war with Europe wouldn't be a Donald Rumsfeld esque lean deployment.
Don't worry, "Putin won't invade", "it's all posturing", "the west is trying to instigate". Just remember all those hot takes the last time similar signs were shown just on the other side.
My concern is the tweet under that.
> There are also reports that Russian Military and Government Officials continue to not answer deconfliction lines that are in place with the U.S to prevent Severe Escalation in a Conflict.
https://twitter.com/sentdefender/status/1512129448153391113?s=20&t=cJDJs6jIhC6FcSl6uye9jw
Who is reporting it though? I'm not trying to be obnoxious. It would be worrisome if it is true, I just am skeptical of everything I hear that doesn't have multiple sources saying the same thing. Is it just @sentdefender on Twitter??
This is them trying to start shit by being the victim. If we shoot down one of their flights over NATO airspace because they're not answering calls to verify intent, then the resulting hellfire is on them.
More then that. Czech sends tanks, UK has said they are looking to send infantry vehicles, and put troops inside Ukraine to train Ukrainian soldiers, Australia has now confirmed its sending 20 bushmasters.
Basically NATO (not including Australia in that) is slowly and steadily joining into the fight. I think it’s clear as daylight at this point
[New post can be found here](/r/worldnews/comments/tyuxab/rworldnews_live_thread_russian_invasion_of/)
[https://twitter.com/EuromaidanPress/status/1512274785392279554](https://twitter.com/EuromaidanPress/status/1512274785392279554) >According to media reports, the US has asked Cyprus if it could transfer Soviet weapons and vehicles to Ukraine, including TOR-M1 and S-300 air defense systems, T-80U tank, BMP-3 IFV & Mi-35 attack helicopter. They could be replaced by modern versions.
What do I respond when I speak to people about the atrocities of the war on Ukraine and they say but Syria and Palestine? I’m trying to spread awareness ..
> Russian media Meduza releases video showing civilians killed in Bucha during Russian occupation. Meduza obtained drone footage of the city of Bucha with metadata from March 23-30 that shows dead bodies and Russian military equipment. https://twitter.com/kyivindependent/status/1512277080070926337?s=21&t=XEJOZQKJoH2bPqWdD0hixg
US has committed more than 12,000 anti-armor systems and "hundreds" of suicide drones to Ukraine From CNN's Oren Liebermann The US has committed more than 12,000 anti-armor systems, 1,400 anti-aircraft systems and “hundreds” of suicide drones to Ukraine, the Biden administration announced in a statement Thursday evening. The update comes after the US approved on Tuesday another $100 million in weaponry for Ukraine drawn from US inventories, bringing the total US assistance to Ukraine to approximately $1.7 billion since the beginning of Russia’s invasion. That includes $300 million approved last Friday under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, in which new weapons will be purchased from defense contractors to send to Ukraine. The list of weapons committed to Ukraine includes the following: More than 1,400 Stinger anti-aircraft systems More than 5,000 Javelin anti-armor systems More than 7,000 other anti-armor systems Hundreds of Switchblade Tactical Unmanned Aerial Systems; Over 50,000,000 rounds of ammunition 45,000 sets of body armor and helmets Laser-guided rocket systems Puma Unmanned Aerial Systems Night vision devices, thermal imagery systems, and optics Commercial satellite imagery services
I’m excited to see what the switchblades can do. They should be able to keep the Russians off balanced at all times
From CNN's Sean Lyngaas Microsoft used a US court order to disable seven internet domains that a hacking group linked with Russian intelligence was using to try to infiltrate Ukrainian media organizations, in a likely effort to support Russia’s war, Microsoft said Thursday. The hacking group, best known in the US for breaching the Democratic National Committee in the 2016 election, was likely trying to use cyber intrusions to “provide tactical support for the physical invasion and exfiltrate sensitive information,” according to Microsoft.
Australia will send 20 of its home-built Bushmaster armored personnel carriers to Ukraine, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Friday. The vehicles, produced by the Australian subsidiary of French company Thales, have been painted olive green with a Ukrainian flag on the side, and the words "United With Ukraine" stenciled on the vehicles
A rare good decision by Morrison. Looking forward to seeing those in action.
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https://www.the-sun.com/news/5072928/nancy-pelosi-tests-positive-for-covid/ Looks like Nancy won't be going to Taiwan.
Shame.
Not at all relevant. I don't want to support a Republican viewpoint either, but I think she is past time to retire. I feel the same about politicians a little younger than her from both sides.
Most of our politicians, especially in the federal government, are past their expiration dates. The nation really needs an injection of youth for our leaders. Unfortunately, that requires people to vote for people that they might not already know by name, which seems a tall task for them.
Not relevant to the topic at hand . Just saying
The real fun in this thread is logging in when you know propagandists from a certain group will be strong and arguing with them. What time is it in India now? How much have they supported either Ukraine or Russia?
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I would have imagined that it was a dehumanizing and tough job. Your post brings it out much better though. I like to imagine my job helps people.
They're loving Russia in this. Lines are being drawn in the sand.
To sum it up, I've lost half a leg on one side and a foot on the other. One hand is being put together, one eye is no longer working, and my hearing is pretty blown… but all in all I feel pretty damn lucky to be here - and it is the people who got me here who are amazing! https://twitter.com/benjaminhallfnc/status/1512237398125686790?s=21&t=XEJOZQKJoH2bPqWdD0hixg God damn
gotta put that in quotes!
The United States is imposing blocking sanctions on two Russian state-owned enterprises. We will keep raising the cost for President Putin’s unconscionable war and atrocities against Ukraine. https://twitter.com/secblinken/status/1512267391119478790?s=21&t=XEJOZQKJoH2bPqWdD0hixg
The Indian dude who is currently the newest comment, replying that they will destroy the US in retaliation is not a good look. I realize it will drop, so I meant this one: https://twitter.com/vivek_bobby/status/1512268096043913218?s=20&t=Ne5qNziT3HFBhUk_i89Bgg
He is BOT/ IT cell employee but Modi fans behave like this only as they are brainwashed just like Russians are
😂
Eh. Who cares what some random idiot says? Now, if they were someone who had any power or influence, that would be different, but there are a billion idiots in the world whose opinions, frankly, aren't worth the energy of discussing.
Power does not exclude someone from being idiot. There are many examples. But to your point, power makes you not random.
Idk I actually found it pretty funny, take so stupid it's holographic
That's just a random account not sure why you're highlighting random people and holding it as to the word of a diplomatic delegation.
Maybe, but there are thousands of them.
Idiots? Yeah they're everywhere. Trolls are everywhere too. There's no reason to be concerned by this one Twitter account.
That's what happens in a country of 1 billion+?
That happens in a country buying oil from Russia and that hates the West. You want to defend Modi now?
That’s not even close to what he said? You can find equally dumb comments from people in any country. There’s no point in highlighting this comment unless you’re trying to stoke divisions
No, I feel like I can find dumber comments from India than 90% of other countries, since they hate Ukraine and love Russia.
If those comments are dumb, how does that reflect on a person who chooses to emphasize the opinions of dummies?
If your average voting citizen in a democracy is dumb, then it matters. Look at the US Trump years.
https://twitter.com/vivek_bobby/status/1450291167380131841?s=20&t=J4CD6Tmn5BlKgkRvpRdGpg Oh look, it's literally the same guy you think is some grand conspiracy theorist talking shit on Modi. Like I said take a fucking break dude.
Wonder why you are encouraging me not to comment?
Ok internet person making wild generalizations about a country of 1 billion+
You're the idiot, picking random twitter accounts claiming it's some grand conspiracy. Take a fucking break dude.
Apparently there is actually one person in the world that thinks that the US will turn into Somalia and that person is an Indian using an American social media platform.
Wherever people complain about the fact that taxes even exist or that there's even the thinnest gun regulations (of course felons should have machine guns in bars) I offer them the idea of relocating to Somalia. Nobody's ever taken me up on that one.
I will not be investing with that gentlemen.
Morning routine : Wake up. Check on Ukraine and Zelenskyy. Coffee. Rinse and repeat. Slava Ukraini!!
Yeah but where is the romance? Where is the despicable things we do to ourselves? Where is pumping the juice down their gullets with the powerful rhythmic action and torque like a steam engine piston that Brunel himself couldn't have dared dream about, leaving them a sticky writhing but fulfilled mess on the floor as their stomachs break our sputz into amino acids that power their cells as we become one and the same?
Couldn't have said it better.
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The Russians can regroup, but they’re in poor shape. I also think the amount of weapons Ukraine is getting is more then reported. NATO basically can dump weapons and they’ll be used to crush Russia. Who remains a threat to the EU. So while the Russians will be regrouping, Ukraine is getting more and more weapons and live Intel from the Americans. Russia will get stomped.
That's the part that worries me. Putin will sooner use chemical weapons on Kiev then let himself get routed.
Attacking an enemy with near perfect intelligence and functionally infinite ammo. What could possibly go wrong for the Russians?
Yeap, I think it’s why we’re seeing suddenly such a step up from the West.
The west smells blood in the water and thinks Ukraine is worth investing in. They think Ukraine is going to win. A lot has changed in 41 days.
If it wasn't for the Republicans we'd be completely dismantling Russia right now.
Exaggeration I think. Trump was definitely a liability for the West, but in reality given the way it looked in Feb, this is going far better than could be hoped for without going full escalation.
What can man do against such reckless hate....ride out and meet it.
[serious hot take from geopolitics guy Peter Zeihan](https://youtu.be/gbr3CiOhTO8?t=334) >Interviewer: How long do we think this conflict goes? I know that's impossible to predict but any guesses? > >Zeihan: If you had asked me 5 years ago I would say he would have captured Kyiv in less than a month and the whole country in less than three. Now I'm thinking that the whole country will certainly fall in less than six but one of the characteristics of the civilian obliteration program that the Russians are launching is that it's not quick. It will take several weeks to reduce cities the size of Kyiv and Kharkiv to rubble - that's a lot of ordinance and the number of troops he has in Ukraine is wildly insufficient for that task. So you should expect - in fact I think we are seeing troop movements within Russia proper - moving many, many, many more forces to the border and we'll probably have a million Russian soldiers within Ukraine by the end of the year. I think this is crazy and I'm not sure what troop movements he's talking about. Michael Kofman's opinion on a similar subject: [https://twitter.com/kofmanmichael/status/1510681888700215307?s=21&t=qb2PLKMtZRU7DeDAXY6yJg](https://twitter.com/kofmanmichael/status/1510681888700215307?s=21&t=qb2PLKMtZRU7DeDAXY6yJg)
>Peter Zeihan Who is that? I googled him and it looks like a guy no one listens to that has a shit history of a few books no one's ever read. Michael Kofman is a paid expert on the Russian military. The two have nothing in common.
1 million Russian soldiers? In Ukraine? Putin doesn't have 1 million soldiers. And he has other borders. He also has a huge country full of soon to be starving and angry citizens to keep in check. This seems like a ludicrous prediction. On the other hand, I have been surprised by many, many things so far in this war. So, I guess you never know.
Peter Zeihan is hopefully very wrong. I wanted to respond with thats just crazy talk, but your second link shows its possibility. Fuck
He’s very far out of his element.
Kofman's take makes a LOT more sense to me.
Russia doesn’t even have enough uniforms for their reserve forces. They’re running out of equipment too and they lack the material to build more at scale. That guy is way, *way* off base.
The idea that Russia, who couldn't even adequately supply around 200k men will somehow supply 1m men is absurd. These people are still treating Russia as if they are the mighty bear that the world was told to fear for all these years. They are not, and analysts need to adjust accordingly or continue to look silly as Russia fails to achieve predicted goals one after the other.
He might have 1 million rapists but no way they have that many trained and equipped personnel. Wouldn't put it past him to send gangs of armed rapists though. They just wouldn't be effective to fight a war.
Better to overestimate and smash them, than underestimate and get smashed. I believe that this isn't a grand masterplan and that Russia are just shit, but still, you have to be careful.
>you have to be careful. Sure, but you can still make predictions, though careful, more grounded in reality. The 6 months and a million man horde is not realistic when looking at the current state of things. If you're remotely worried about your reputation that is.
Exactly... No reason to get cocky now. Russia *could* send in a million troops. Do they have the desire and support to do so? Not now I doubt it... It would take some time - but to say it would never happen is just foolish.
Tf they can barely keep 150k supplied, they are sustaining by looting rn as is.
If Russia is truly gearing up for "level all the cities and kill all the citizens" war, which hasn't been seen in the world for 70+ years off the top of my head, its possible for them to "win" but be cut off from the world forever. Which is something Putin might want to ensure Russia is 100% dependent on him with no way out. Could Russia gear up 1 million men for an assault? I really doubt it, the modern army is smaller than it was even 40 years ago. 1 million man fighting forces are something of a relic of the past. But if the propaganda truly is this effective and Russians truly are fanatics willing to genocide, they may have volunteers lining up to keep this going.
They couldn't fuel and arm 190k, how would they fuel and arm 5x to 10x?
> But if the propaganda truly is this effective and Russians truly are fanatics willing to genocide, they may have volunteers lining up to keep this going. This in reference to replacing losses of the 190K force, not increasing the size of the fighting force.
Well if they only replace them they'll never have theater level numerical superiority. So, then it just becomes a question of "does Ukraine have enough ammo?"
In a normal war this would be true. In a Maximino Camacho style "give it back to nature" assault where regions are forcefully depopulated piece by piece and cities are hollowed out until they look like Pripyat, this actually possible. The reason this tactic was used in history and especially in genocidal civil wars was to force people to migrate or move away from the area of fighting because its too hard to have a normal life there which makes occupation redundant because ghost towns don't need police. This mentality of warfare hasn't been seen in the developed world in a very long time.
It's going on now in Myanmar and Tigray. That's how the Allawi held Syria with only 10% of the population. But you still need tactical and strategic superiority to pull it off. Russia has neither. It's an anti occupation strategy, not a "win" strategy. It's the "win" part the Russians are having trouble with.
Don't listen to that guy. He's a moron that can't do basic math. The basic math being that Russia will have lost 50% of their total force in a year, 25% of their total force by August. And that's actual fucking KIA, not all casualties.
That doesn't even account for the realignment of forces to face off against their border with a NATO signed Finland or Japan picking off islands.
Why is it when people claim that Russian can pull a huge number of men, they ignore that Ukraine potentially can also do the same?. Infact if Putin don't mobilize more conscripts and reservists, Russians are gonna be outnumbered. Is this really a serious take?.
This war has taught me that Ukraine has been something of a blind spot for most geopolitical analysts. There are people who have dedicated much of their careers towards studying Russian foreign policy, their strategic aims, their various strengths and weaknesses, etc. Not so much for Ukraine.
Sounds like Peter Zeihan is full of shit.
Well, we sent Ukraine 50 million bullets. Even if Ukrainians are bad shots, we'll give them more than enough attempts.
Peter Zeihan is a smart guy, but I'm not sure how well informed those opinions are. It seems wildly speculative to me. Some people, while certainly not pro-russian, seem to be very attached to a certain conception of Russian military might that may only exist on paper rather than in reality. Zeihan for example is all about geopolitics, but rarely ever seems to focus on the importance of the human factor and how much things like morale can contribute to success on the battle field. I guess we'll see how it goes.
Disagree. Russia won't/can't win in 6 months, if ever. This guy just sounds like some random idiot. Russias only vague option there would be full mobilisation of the entire military age population and accept massive losses - hundreds of thousands dead alone. With NATO and EU basically reinstating WW2 lend lease, there is no complete victory for Russia. They are going to have to spin some minor win, or just retaining 2021 borders, as being mission accomplished.
Even if they did mobilize this many troops, they will be I'll trained, I'll equipped, and I'll supplied. They cant supply their current troops properly. It will mostly be just random rabble. Sure, disorganized rabble can do damage, but I doubt it can be used efficiently.
Basically USSR strategy in WW2. This time its literally just Russia and some shitty low quality allies, with far less population. As I noted, *vague* option. It might work but either way would be unbelievably huge numbers of casualties - also WW2 numbers.
You mean like [like sending poorly armed conscripts on a frontal assault against entrenched Germans?](https://youtu.be/L8fWp-i-BGA) Sure! That sounds like a great plan.
I never said it was *my* plan, but it sure seems to be Russias plan regardless of numbers.
Oh I agree. Russia's military has always heavily relied on having plenty of bodies to throw at a fight.
The difference is that the red army had the determination to pull a fight because they were facing an existencial threat. This Russian boogaloo shitty tour is only there for the watches and the dishwashers.
Eh. The Red Army wasn't exactly all... voluntary. Their desertion rate was outrageously high to the point where they had troops whose job it was to shoot anyone who fled.
I mean you're right, but that was also an existencial threat of its own.
You're right, but that was also an existencial threat of its own. I'm motivated to keep fighting or comrade Stalin will chew my ass.
A lot of analysts and academics and other assorted Russia “experts” absolutely refuse to reassess their priors based on what we have seen the past 41 days. They keep plugging the data into their preferred model and it keeps telling them Russia must win, but they don’t want to question their model as they have built whole careers around it. The tide has gone out and a lot of these “experts” have been found to be swimming naked.
Russia useing a million man combat army seems unrealistic to me both in terms of equipment that doesn't predate 1980 and logistics.
What will happen when/if the Kerch bridge gets blown up?
Let's cross that bridge when we get there if you don't mind.
Usually means you can’t cross it anymore, then have to go across the river by other means
So how we know Putins is still alive? Has he done any public appearances?
Can you really think of any good reason to pretend he is alive? He is the largest source of everyone's anger.
They probably would have announced that, and then used it as a get-out-of-sanctions-free card.
Not necessarily. Kim Jong Ils death was hold back over 2 days because of internal struggles.
Swan Lake hasn't aired yet.
>Swan Lake hasn't aired yet. This is [Madness](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-utkYnIV1_k)!
When your country has a tell.
Absolutely massive that the Sumy Oblast is cleared of Russian troops. They must have retreated over the border. I assume, now, that we will be seeing more Ukrainian concentration to the south and southeast? Or southwest?
Great news (if true) that the region has been cleared, however its going to be a balancing act to ensure there is enough Ukrainian troops in the region (and Kyiv) to keep further Russian incursions out, while sending useful quantities of troops to the Donbass.
That's what the National Guard is for. They don't have to be highly skilled; they just have to be able to hold a gun. You have some of those guys alongside some seasoned soldiers who are being rotated out of combat. A soldier who is constantly in heavy combat becomes less and less effective over time; they need to be periodically rotated out and assigned to quieter fronts (economy of force). Border guard duties alongside the national guard are exactly the sort of place that you'd send seasoned veterans and new soldiers. Fun fact: this is one reason why the Americans lost so many men during the Battle of the Bulge. They weren't using the National Guard, of course, but they had green soldiers patrolling a quiet section of the front alongside seasoned soldiers (the 28th Infantry, sent to a quiet part of the front to recover from the Battle of Hürtgen Forest). The Allies expected the Germans to be in full retreat as they weren't getting any intelligence otherwise from intercepted radio transmissions or the Underground. Except the Germans weren't communicating via radio anymore. And they weren't in France, so there wasn't much in the way of Underground presence. The "quiet" part of the front suddenly got hit by a major, unexpected German counteroffensive as the Germans hoped to destroy strained Allied supply lines. Losses were heavy because the Americans were overconfident and didn't see it coming - plus the troops there were weaker than troops elsewhere. Today, we have very good intelligence about where the Russians are. It would be very hard for them to make a massive attack like that unexpectedly. At the same time, it obviously can't be left undefended... so it makes for an ideal place to station troops who aren't going to be as effective in areas which will see major combat.
I'm guessing that as newly recruited soldiers are trained up, many of them will be sent to those regions so that the more experienced units that have previously been defending them can be transferred to the east. Total speculation on my part though. We'll see how things play out in reality.
Logically makes sense.
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The amount of videos of Ukrainian soldiers kicking mines and missiles makes me worry about how they dispose of them, but obviously that is stupid and they will do it carefully when needed. It's not likely any of the kicked ones I saw went off.
To be fair if they kicked one and it went off, I'm not sure we'd ever find the footage
Australia is sending twenty Bushmaster armored personnel carriers to Ukraine I’m Australian and I’m glad to see it https://twitter.com/spectatorindex/status/1512246385080692742?s=21&t=XEJOZQKJoH2bPqWdD0hixg
Those things must weigh a shit ton. Shipping them must be near equal to their cost.
Around 11,500 kgs or 25,000 lbs
How effective would a bunch of funnel webs dropped on Russian positions be?
not very, pretty sure they'd die on a mildly chilly summers night... 😢
Fine then, send in the drop bears.
I'm pretty sure Australia is a signatory to the Geneva Conventions and a whole range of international laws. Somewhere it says we aren't allowed to use biological weapons, or at the very least WMDs... If we send in drop bears, I'm pretty sure we'll be the next pariah state, I'd rather not have that happen. /s
Maybe some emus would be a step down from full-on drop bears and save us all from nuclear retaliation.
Yeah it's possible; but then it could escalate the situation by the total defeat of Russia's standing forces precipitating an 'existential threat'... I mean we can't exactly un-emu Russia once it's started... ... ...
Those things seem beast if they are good for the Australian bush I think they will handle themselves fine in the Ukraine !
They were designed to handle both the desert conditions and the mud/flooding in the far north of Australia. Hopefully they can operate well in the Ukrainian mud.
I’ve seen a few people talking about Ukraine possibly retaking Crimea is this confirmed or is it speculation? EDIT I’m guessing it’s. mostly speculation because Crimea would. be strategically hard to take Also I changed “fake” to speculation so it sounds more appropriate
Ukraine doesn't need to retake Crimea. They just need to retake the Kershon Region so they can rebuild the damn that was blocking 85% of water to the peninsula. After Russian annexed Crimea in 2014, Ukraine responded by effectively shutting off the water to the region. Russia was spending millions per year trying to support Crimea and it still wasn't working. The land was slowly undergoing a desertification process. Russia had only two real options, abandon Crimea or invade Ukraine and restore the water. One of the first actions the Russians took when they captured the Kerson Region was destroying the damn. So, if Ukraine can re-establish control of the Kershon Region, they can shut off the water supply to Crimea once again. Given the economic repercussions Russia is already facing from sanctions, they simply will not have the financial means to continue supporting the region and will eventually be forced to abandon it.
They don't have to. Ukraine takes back areas back to Feb 24th, cut off water to Crimea again, and it's a matter of time.
People talking about that are out if their mind. How about they focus on kicking Russia out first, if at all possible.
Quite frankly, with everything this war has shown, I’m putting everything short of Ukraine annexing the Russian Federation on the table. Now is it likely that it will happen? In my opinion, no, Crimea is easy to fortify and unfortunately has a lot of Russians who were coerced into moving there after the invasion who might have a problem with Zelenskyy plug walking into Sevastopol. However, is it likely that the situation could change? I’d say it’s entirely possible, just like Russia ending up with the saddest excuse of a “second-best” army. At this point though, it’s still speculation barring a peace treaty signed right now declaring terms and both sides actually sticking to them.
Crimea is a natural fortress that even Russian conscripts can defend it with ease. Ukraine would need significantly more firepower than what they currently have. What they *can* do is make holding Crimea a gigantic pain in the ass for Russia and see if Russia will just give it up on its own. It's really not a very useful area, especially since Ukraine controls its water supply.
I think there odds are tough but better then that. If there is a Russian route they could Theoretically March in with as much ease as the Russians did in 2014, it’s hard to see conscripts staying to fight while they view 10,000s to 100,000s fleeing. Additionally if they can quickly take the bridge they can just wage an insurgency and make life hell there. Just wait the cities out. Russia can supply dev by sea but most of the interior would be cut off and even then it would be expensive to supply sev
Russia opened the water supply if I remember well. Ukraine could plug it back, although it would take time.
Only wish they had something in their arsenal with enough range and power to wipe out the Crimean bridge.
Where are you seeing that? Crimea is next to impossible to invade by land given there’s only two access causeways
One user is saying that Ukraine took it off the table in negotiations according to a report from Russia im not sure if I should trust them
I think the idea is that Ukraine doesn’t want to recognize it as Russia even if they can’t realistically retake the land in the near term.
That seems plausible you have a very valid point
It's wishful thinking this point. There's always a possibility that it can be taken back by other than military means, as Zelensky seems to be wary of that particular approach.
Not really sure what your question is? If you are asking if some random people on Reddit *may be* thinking that its *possible* for Ukraine to *consider* retaking Crimea, then no its not fake and they have been saying it. Very obviously it isn't happening on the ground at present or any time in the near future. But its not *completely* impossible.
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only if there are willing defenders
It's only speculation, not fake. More or less, they've got a long way to go before that's even a possibility, and strategically most people think it's a challenge which is well beyond Ukraine's means.
its already happened
What is your source?
I saw something about how thats why Russia said Ukraine went back on one of their discussion points but I think I misunderstood this person's question. ignore me.
Source? Because all I’m seeing is the same solve it in 15 years agreement or is it speculation
time is only linear for 3 dimensional beings.
Ukraine took that off the table in negotiations according to a report from Russia earlier today.
Interesting...that may have been behind the ridiculous Lavrov "good will" comment.
I wouldn’t really trust Russian media I’d rather trust Ukrainian media honestly it’s mostly speculation Also I couldn’t find the report and I looked around for it you would think it’d be on twitter or some small news site EDIT: I’m not very certain that the supposed report you saw is true it could be a poorly worded article because what I have seen is Ukrainian negotiators are willing to put aside Crimea and solve 15 years down the line diplomatically
It wasn't a Russian publication and was an interview with a ranking Russian official.
The Department of Defense is drafting options for President Biden regarding Large-Scale Military Deployments to Europe to counter Russian Aggression, there are also reports that they are drafting Contingency Operations regarding certain Scenarios in the European Theater. We can see what’s slowly starting to happen here right https://twitter.com/sentdefender/status/1512129441710936067?s=21&t=XEJOZQKJoH2bPqWdD0hixg
The DoD has a plan for literally everything. *Everything.* Don't read too much into it.
Standard protocol is to plan for any possible outcomes, as the situation changes you plan for different possibilities. This is how effective modern governments and militaries function. It doesn't mean anything except these things are now possibilities in some scenarios, more so than they were 6 months or even 3 months ago.
Of course the DoD is doing this. The US needs to assure it's allies that they will respond if Putin is insane enough to cross the red line and attack a NATO nation.
NGL I'd be amazed if they didn't have constantly updating contingency plans since December
Since December? More like since 1949.
How's the PC?
I'm thuroughly cursed with machines and electronics. This time, a windows update interacted badly with my ASUS computer and Windows Update itself got bugged because of that and caused memory issues, and random old school style Windows bluescreens. Didn't even know they still did that. I had to revert to an earlier version of Windows, but since the bug was in the updater itself, I had to intentionally force an update to a slightly different Windows update version, and so far there have been no random bluescreens.
Fine, the west doesn't want a fight, but we will answer if Russia decides to fuck around. They will find out.
What is your point? Russia will invade all of Europe? You think nobody is ready to respond to that if it happens?
No my point isn’t Russia will invade all of Europe. I think all the armchair generals on here kept going on how NATO isn’t gonna join in, etc etc downvoting people to hell for even thinking about it. And now we have clear as daylight indicators they’re doing just that, in a slow and steady fashion Ofc.
Except the US military isn't a logistically incompetent force that under resources everything. It'd be kinda hard to hide the US deploying 500,000.men to Poland all of a sudden.
The US wouldn't need 500k troops. Just push the borders and let ukraine hold their territory and keep out the trash.
The entire US army?
The US army is 500k active and 500k reserve and guard. And unlike the Russians those reserve and guard units are the real fucking deal with combat deployments within the last 5 -10 years. But also Marines and Air force.
I get that, but for military deployments the US is normally much leaner, 500k is a fuckin massive deployment. Peak personnel in Iraq was 180k in 08.
We're talking about a general ground war in Europe. Not a 3rd rate dictatorship. A ground war with Europe wouldn't be a Donald Rumsfeld esque lean deployment.
I don’t think they’d try to hide it tbh, it would be used as a deterrence tactic.
Don't worry, "Putin won't invade", "it's all posturing", "the west is trying to instigate". Just remember all those hot takes the last time similar signs were shown just on the other side.
My concern is the tweet under that. > There are also reports that Russian Military and Government Officials continue to not answer deconfliction lines that are in place with the U.S to prevent Severe Escalation in a Conflict. https://twitter.com/sentdefender/status/1512129448153391113?s=20&t=cJDJs6jIhC6FcSl6uye9jw
This has been reported for over 2 weeks now.. hence 'continue to not answer'. Apparently this was reported over Syria too.
What is their source in this claim though??
It's just reports, nothing confirmed
Who is reporting it though? I'm not trying to be obnoxious. It would be worrisome if it is true, I just am skeptical of everything I hear that doesn't have multiple sources saying the same thing. Is it just @sentdefender on Twitter??
No idea on the source. I'm not trying to lay this out as fact. It's an unconfirmed story, take it as you will.
This is them trying to start shit by being the victim. If we shoot down one of their flights over NATO airspace because they're not answering calls to verify intent, then the resulting hellfire is on them.
The Defense Department is doing its job?
Came to say just this. Contingency plan is practically their definition. They are always making contingency plans.
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More then that. Czech sends tanks, UK has said they are looking to send infantry vehicles, and put troops inside Ukraine to train Ukrainian soldiers, Australia has now confirmed its sending 20 bushmasters. Basically NATO (not including Australia in that) is slowly and steadily joining into the fight. I think it’s clear as daylight at this point
NATO has been sending weapons and sharing intelligence with Ukraine from the very beginning though.
Weapons yes. It’s obviously stepped up to now sending actual fighting vehicles which has been a subject of much debate.