Russia-Ukraine war and related tensions Megathread

[Aurelius]

We desperately need to get involved NOW.

My guy. Your country is providing equipment and military intelligence to Ukraine, and helped organise one of the most coordinated sanctions packages in history. That’s how the West intervenes.

Sending our planes, ships or troops would be the opening salvo in an East-West war and take us within inches of nuclear war. That’s why we’re running non-direct action, and that’s why I find this cheerleading so disturbing.

Last I heard, Poland is providing MiGs to Ukraine along with pilots to fly the planes. That's as damn close as we can get to actual boots on the ground without provoking a massive broader war.

I actually don't know how it doesn't count as direct intervention. I'll leave that to the strategerists.

[Person Man]

We desperately need to get involved NOW.

My guy. Your country is providing equipment and military intelligence to Ukraine, and helped organise one of the most coordinated sanctions packages in history. That’s how the West intervenes.

Sending our planes, ships or troops would be the opening salvo in an East-West war and take us within inches of nuclear war. That’s why we’re running non-direct action, and that’s why I find this cheerleading so disturbing.

Last I heard, Poland is providing MiGs to Ukraine along with pilots to fly the planes. That's as damn close as we can get to actual boots on the ground without provoking a massive broader war.

The EU is already in a proxy war with Russia.

[ηєω ƒяσηтιєя]

https://twitter.com/AFP/status/1498293415884345348

[It’s so Joever]

All I will say is, expect nearly every country that can to try and produce their own nuclear weapons after this. Plenty of countries had the capability but didn’t push it or fully invest into it because there was not enough of an incentive. This (and Iraq to a smaller extent) is the breaking point. I’m glad y’all wanted to avoid nuclear war, but in doing such we have made nuclear war even more likely in our limited future.

[Person Man]

All I will say is, expect nearly every country that can to try and produce their own nuclear weapons after this. Plenty of countries had the capability but didn’t push it or fully invest into it because there was not enough of an incentive. This (and Iraq to a smaller extent) is the breaking point. I’m glad y’all wanted to avoid nuclear war, but in doing such we have made nuclear war even more likely in our limited future.

This become inevitable when Wisconsin was called for Trump.

[Omega21]

https://twitter.com/nexta_tv/status/1498295422036680715

[afleitch]

Quite masterful of the EU to simply sidestep NATO militarily. And NATO letting them.

[It’s so Joever]

https://twitter.com/nexta_tv/status/1498295422036680715

Oh f**k this will be interesting.

[Aurelius]

All I will say is, expect nearly every country that can to try and produce their own nuclear weapons after this. Plenty of countries had the capability but didn’t push it or fully invest into it because there was not enough of an incentive. This (and Iraq to a smaller extent) is the breaking point. I’m glad y’all wanted to avoid nuclear war, but in doing such we have made nuclear war even more likely in our limited future.

Yeah. Nuclear nonproliferation is dead as a dog now, and this was the final nail in the coffin.

Libya had a nuclear weapons program. Gaddafi dismantled it to placate the West. A decade later he was sodomized to death in a drainage ditch, on video.

Iraq had a nuclear weapons program. After the first Gulf War, the coalition destroyed their materials and the UN banned them from restarting it. A decade later, Saddam was dead.

Ukraine inherited nuclear weapons from the Soviet collapse. They agreed to give them up in exchange for the US and Russia both guaranteeing its territorial integrity. This is now the second time Russia has went to war on Ukraine, contravening that guarantee.

Meanwhile, North Korea has spent decades developing nukes, in the midst of massive sanctions meant to try and stop them, and now they have a small but usable arsenal. Kim is still standing (more likely sitting, since he's morbidly obese) and no one dares mess with them.

After seeing all this play out over the last few decades, why the Hell would any national leader be dissuaded from pursuing nukes?

[Middle-aged Europe]

https://twitter.com/nexta_tv/status/1498295422036680715

Oh f**k this will be interesting.

Plot twist: Putin surrenders.

[Omega21]

Kharkiv Kupyansk has surrendered per Washington Post:

"Northeastern Ukrainian city surrenders under threat of bombardment, mayor says

By Isabelle Khurshudyan3:02 p.m.

KHARKIV, Ukraine — At 7:30 a.m. Sunday, the commander of the Russian battalion offered the mayor of the northeastern Ukrainian town an ultimatum: Surrender or face a bombardment.

In a video message posted on the Kupyansk City Council’s Facebook page, Mayor Gennady Matsegora said he chose to surrender and that the town is now under Russian control.

Kupyansk, which has a population of about 28,000, is about 70 miles southeast of Kharkiv, where a Russian advance on the city was rebuffed Sunday afternoon, according to the governor.

Matsegora said the Russians assured him that schools, hospitals and grocery stores would be open Monday. He claimed that Ukrainian military agencies had left the town to fend for itself.

“We must come together and get back to normal life,” Matsegora said in the video. “You can come out of the basements and the bunkers.” "

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/02/27/russia-ukraine-war-kyiv-news/#link-IWSSPIKQJRE4VIXYS7ZOATEJNY

Poor man just doing what he has to do in order to protect his citizens. Gun to the head scenario.

Hope those like him do not get labeled "traitors" or "collaborators".

Aaaaandddd... Called it...

https://twitter.com/nexta_tv/status/1498288630145720325

[Ferguson97]

https://twitter.com/TheInsiderPaper/status/1498063410189250563

This is especially stupid because nobody hates Putin more than Russian immigrants.

[It’s so Joever]

Kharkiv Kupyansk has surrendered per Washington Post:

"Northeastern Ukrainian city surrenders under threat of bombardment, mayor says

By Isabelle Khurshudyan3:02 p.m.

KHARKIV, Ukraine — At 7:30 a.m. Sunday, the commander of the Russian battalion offered the mayor of the northeastern Ukrainian town an ultimatum: Surrender or face a bombardment.

In a video message posted on the Kupyansk City Council’s Facebook page, Mayor Gennady Matsegora said he chose to surrender and that the town is now under Russian control.

Kupyansk, which has a population of about 28,000, is about 70 miles southeast of Kharkiv, where a Russian advance on the city was rebuffed Sunday afternoon, according to the governor.

Matsegora said the Russians assured him that schools, hospitals and grocery stores would be open Monday. He claimed that Ukrainian military agencies had left the town to fend for itself.

“We must come together and get back to normal life,” Matsegora said in the video. “You can come out of the basements and the bunkers.” "

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/02/27/russia-ukraine-war-kyiv-news/#link-IWSSPIKQJRE4VIXYS7ZOATEJNY

Poor man just doing what he has to do in order to protect his citizens. Gun to the head scenario.

Hope those like him do not get labeled "traitors" or "collaborators".

Aaaaandddd... Called it...

https://twitter.com/nexta_tv/status/1498288630145720325

[It’s so Joever]

https://twitter.com/nexta_tv/status/1498295422036680715

Oh f**k this will be interesting.

Plot twist: Putin surrenders.

If Putin surrenders I will unironically create a cringey Zelensky fan page on Instagram.

[Omega21]

New reports just in:

Russian students began to be expelled from universities in France, the Czech Republic, Belgium and other countries because of the war, authorities say.

 The Ministry of Education and Science knows how to console (actually not): expelled students will continue their studies at leading Russian universities for free

Very retarded decision IMO.

 

[Middle-aged Europe]

The oligarchs are starting to get uneasy. Billionaire Oleg Tinkov, founder of the Tinkoff Bank, writes on Instagram: "... Now, in Ukraine, innocent people are dying every day, this is unthinkable and unacceptable! States should spend money on treating people, on research to defeat cancer, and not on war. We are against this war!"

https://www.instagram.com/p/CahQTQgsNtO/

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

We desperately need to get involved NOW.

My guy. Your country is providing equipment and military intelligence to Ukraine, and helped organise one of the most coordinated sanctions packages in history. That’s how the West intervenes.

Sending our planes, ships or troops would be the opening salvo in an East-West war and take us within inches of nuclear war. That’s why we’re running non-direct action, and that’s why I find this cheerleading so disturbing.

Last I heard, Poland is providing MiGs to Ukraine along with pilots to fly the planes. That's as damn close as we can get to actual boots on the ground without provoking a massive broader war.

I actually don't know how it doesn't count as direct intervention. I'll leave that to the strategerists.

I’m afraid the news about the MiGs may be incorrect.

Yesterday, EU foreign policy high representative Josep Borrell incorrectly implied the EU itself was delivering/funding fighter jet deliveries when that was not the case. Another diplomat who said they’d be “flying within the hour” was wildly speculating. At the present moment, an EU spokesperson has clarified, member states are able to deliver jets of their own accord, but not collectively or with guaranteed EU funding. There is ongoing discussion of further measures, and I’ve found no statement from Polish representatives confirming a delivering of any jets.

There has been movement of large transports between Poland and Ukraine, but there’s no confirmation that jets have actually been , or will be, sent (although Ukraine has requested them). If the EU is still discussing this and member states are not acting of their own accord, they may find their deliveries have no Ukranian Air Force to work with by the time they are delivered. It is also possible there simply isn’t the desire to send any, and the Russians did claim that they have air supremacy as of this morning.

All that said, if I were head of an ex-Soviet state delivering warplanes to Ukraine, I would only confirm it once those planes had been up in the air and noticed by Russia for some time. EU states gave Ukraine air-to-air missiles yesterday, so I would guess they still have functional jets.

[GoTfan]

Nexta has backtracked almost immediately. Talks are not over, the delegations were taking a break.

https://twitter.com/nexta_tv/status/1498306376916996097?cxt=HHwWgsC4jcTthsspAAAA

[Aurelius]

Nexta has backtracked almost immediately. Talks are not over, the delegations were taking a break.

https://twitter.com/nexta_tv/status/1498306376916996097?cxt=HHwWgsC4jcTthsspAAAA

Nexta has proven to be an incredibly unreliable news source. I would have been shocked if the talks finished that quickly, so I disregarded that report.

[GoTfan]

Nexta has backtracked almost immediately. Talks are not over, the delegations were taking a break.

https://twitter.com/nexta_tv/status/1498306376916996097?cxt=HHwWgsC4jcTthsspAAAA

Nexta has proven to be an incredibly unreliable news source. I would have been shocked if the talks finished that quickly, so I disregarded that report.

Even putting everything else aside, this is incredibly shoddy and irresponsible reporting.

[certified hummus supporter 🇵🇸🤝🇺🇸🤝🇺🇦]

Wtf

https://mobile.twitter.com/SuperRADLemon/status/1498309235314151430

[Logical]

Much as I'd like to see peace these talks are a sham. Kremlin sent some third tier Putin stooge no one has ever heard of and the Ukrainians immediately opened the talks by demanding Russians withdraw from every bit of Ukraine including Crimea and the LDPR.

[pppolitics]

https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/1498308256489345027

[Buffalo Mayor Young Kim]

Much as I'd like to see peace these talks are a sham. Kremlin sent some third tier Putin stooge no one has ever heard of and the Ukrainians immediately opened the talks by demanding Russians withdraw from every bit of Ukraine including Crimea and the LDPR.

We’ll what did you expect?

What possible conditions could Ukraine ask from Russia that would be kept?

[Sir Mohamed]

Do we have any specific and confirmed information about Ukraine's demands for troop withdrawl? I think I read somewhere that they not only demand a cease fire, but return of Crimea and an end to Russian occupation in the Donbass. I don't see a chance the Russians would agree to any of that, though I hope there's a way the annexion of Crimea is undone.