Russia has invaded Ukraine

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by TheDaddy

The letter was signed before hostilities started and they've already withdrawn their signatures, other than that though, completely up to date article

That will teach me! Thanks.

Russia reportedly threatens Sweden & Finalnd with "military and political consequences" if they join NATO.

Surely that will make them want to join it more….

[jonbxx]

Originally Posted by TheDaddy

The letter was signed before hostilities started and they've already withdrawn their signatures, other than that though, completely up to date article

It will be interesting if any other people who went out to bat for Putin, blaming NATO for the hostilities will withdraw their positions....

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by Mick

Russia reportedly threatens Sweden & Finalnd with "military and political consequences" if they join NATO.

Surely that will make them want to join it more….

If they're clever, they'll do it now whilst Russia is tied up with Ukraine. Although as Sweden has no border with Russia, I'm sure it feels a bit safer than Finland.

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Originally Posted by jonbxx

It will be interesting if any other people who went out to bat for Putin, blaming NATO for the hostilities will withdraw their positions....

Indeed.

Ukraine Defence Minister claims Russia has now lost 2,800 military personnel.

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No biggy….But Russia has been expelled from this years Eurovision Song Contest.

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Russia partly blocks access to Facebook after the platform censors Russian media.

Originally Posted by Mick

Ukraine Defence Minister claims Russia has now lost 2,800 military personnel.

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No biggy….But Russia has been expelled from this years Eurovision Song Contest.

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Russia partly blocks access to Facebook after the platform censors Russian media.

The symbolism of things like Eurovision is important. It’s all very well organisations like the EBU claiming to be apolitical (as they tried to yesterday) but the reality is there would have been absolute scenes in the auditorium had a Russian competitor appeared in Turin this year.

Ukraine Deputy Defence Minister claims they have destroyed 80 Russian Tanks, 10 Fighter planes, 7 Helicopters and 516 armoured vehicles since start of yesterday’s early hours invasion.

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BREAKING: Latvia’s Foreign Minister says EU has approved asset freeze of President Vladimir Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

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Calls are growing on FIFA to kick Russia out of this years World Cup.

[Julian]

NATO has Officially Activated it’s High Readiness Task Force which includes 45,000+ NATO Troops from all Alliance Countries, the Force was currently on one week alert status and will reportedly be deployed into the Baltic States, Romania and Poland over the coming days.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson had this evening told NATO leaders he is adding further sanctions directly on President Putin and Foreign Minister Lavrov.

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LATEST from NATO* countries to provide air defence systems to Ukraine and more weapons — Stoltenberg

*Except Germany.

Germany has been a big disappointment in all of this.

Germany could probably do more but given its history you can understand their reluctance to get too involved in a European war.

[Sephiroth]

Originally Posted by Chris

Germany could probably do more but given its history you can understand their reluctance to get too involved in a European war.

Then they shouldn't be NATO members if they can't pull their weight.

Originally Posted by Julian

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/worl...ost_type=share

Thousands of troops deployed to eastern Europe - Stoltenberg

Jens Stoltenberg is addressing how many Nato troops have been deployed to eastern Europe.

"We are deploying the Nato response force for the first time in a collective defence context. We speak about thousands of troops. We speak about air and maritime capabilities," he tells reporters.

"Several allies have already assigned troops and forces to the Nato response force," he adds.

"We have the high readiness force, the Nato response force, and that is why we are deploying it. To prevent any misunderstanding that we are not prepared to protect all allies," Stoltenberg says.

He adds that Europe is focussing on strengthening its cyber defence.

Nato response force deployed - Stoltenberg

Nato's Stoltenberg tells reporters that Nato has deployed elements of its rapid response force on land, sea and in the air to eastern Europe.

He says that the security bloc has "already strengthened our defence" and that the US, Canada and European countries have already deployed thousands of troops to the region.

More than 100 fighter jets are now operating in 30 defence locations in Europe, accompanied by more than 120 ships and three strike carrier groups, Stoltenberg says.

He emphasises that the forces will defend "every inch of Nato territory" and adds that it will continue to offer support to Ukraine, as well as other nations in the region threatened by Russia - including Georgia, Moldova and Bosnia.

It's important to note that Nato has already been very clear it won't send troops to Ukraine, which is not a member of the alliance.

As colossal as Russia military might is, as we know, they are 3rds biggest super power. They have suffered a bit of a bruising in Ukraine. Some expert analysis and commentators have said Putin could lose patience, become enraged and unleash a smaller sized Nuke on Ukraine.

Hopefully, this just costs him dearly. If Ukraine refuse to surrender and their occupation is constantly seeing insurgent attacks it'll have a big impact on them.

Originally Posted by Damien

Hopefully, this just costs him dearly. If Ukraine refuse to surrender and their occupation is constantly seeing insurgent attacks it'll have a big impact on them.

He’s lost all grip on reality - Ukraine isn’t South Ossetia or Chechnya. It’s a large European country with a massive border to the West and unlimited resources will flow across it in support of any insurgency. Every secret security service in NATO will have its oar in. Already, the Ukrainian government has just flooded Kiev with tens of 1,000s of AKs, ostensibly to prevent the Russian advance on the city but I suspect with one eye on making life difficult for them should they take it.

Putin may intend to set up two breakaway states in the east and install a friendly government in Kiev, but if he was hoping to turn the army so they support that government I think he’s miscalculated badly, especially if the absolute legends of Snake Island are in any way typical of the general sentiment amongst Ukrainian soldiers.

If he wants to keep Kiev facing east he is going to have to commit to an Afghanistan-style occupation that will rumble on for years, cost a fortune, kill a lot of people and yet will ultimately achieve nothing.