Russia-Ukraine war and related tensions Megathread

[Middle-aged Europe]

https://mobile.twitter.com/Judo/status/1497875171008516105

[Middle-aged Europe]

https://mobile.twitter.com/JosepBorrellF/status/1497894578032197635

[Middle-aged Europe]

Does Ukraine have drones? Wondering if us Americans could give them some.

Iirc they have been using Turkish donated drones.

And if I'm not mistaken just a week or two back the Ukrainian Defense Minister signed a deal with Turkey to get more.

Now key question would be, assuming they haven't already shipped, would be how to get them to Ukraine quickly where they might well be needed (assuming that Ukraine can still maintain the command and control needed to get them up and running).

According to the Wikipedia article on the "Ukrainian Air Force", their inventory includes:

- Bayraktar TB2 UCAVs of Turkish origin: 6 in service, 48 on order
- RQ-11 Raven surveillance drones of American origin: 72 in service

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_Air_Force#Current_inventory

[Middle-aged Europe]

https://twitter.com/samueloakford/status/1498020453088043010?t=w6S_KqNFB1aoC7wCx...

Wow, this is almost exactly in line with numbers the Ukrainians are putting out.

If Russian sources are confirming, it looks like it wasn’t as optimistic or inflated as we thought.

Ukraine doesn't need to inflate numbers if campaign is actually going bad for Russia.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Also, a sidenote: It took us from November 7 last year to February 24 to get to 100 pages. Anyone want to wager how long it'll take us until we've reached 200?

Sunday morning, 8:00 AM.

Also, a sidenote: It took us from November 7 last year to February 24 to get to 100 pages. Anyone want to wager how long it'll take us until we've reached 200?

We've had like 60 pages in the last day, so I'd say Saturday or Sunday

These are both looking unlikely now. Posting in this thread slowed down a lot, not sure why.

BigSerg is muted and Vaccinated Russian Bear has vanished off the face of the forum. Plus some of the usual International General Discussion posters have been very quiet about this.

Hope the Vaxx Bear didn't get arrested at a peace rally or something.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Historic speech by Olaf Scholz. Germany completely changes its defense policy. It sounded like he would invest 100 billion EURO right here and now in military equipment and from now on spend at least 2% of GDP yearly on defense. This will furthermore have a ripple effect in that other NATO countries - like my own - have been hiding behind Germany in not spending the 2%. That will almost certainly change now.

This could actually be a real turning point. It could also signal a new world order where democratic Europe rises from the pathetic depence on the United States.

lol okay so even Die Linke applauded Scholz's announcement. DIE LINKE. They also admitted openly in their parliamentary speech that they never expected Russia to do this, and how they were wrong on Russia. Putin has so catastrophically f**ked up.

Also, just to add some more details to this announcement:

- the annual defense budget will be increased to 2% of GDP, or approximately an additional 22 billion EUR per year, by 2024
- 100 billion EUR to be invested in R&D, equipment, ammunition, upgrades etc. mostly to ensure that the effect of the budget does no longer translate to obsolete gear.
- to put this into perspective, the Bundeswehr in 2021 budgeted 10 billion on equipment procurement and R&D, with a total budget of 47 billion
- NordStream 2 is dead
- Germany will directly arm Ukraine
- European military production will be invested in, in order to become more independent. Heavy cooperation with France is expected
- investing in LNG shipping terminals to diversify away from Russian gas

God bless twitter:
https://twitter.com/mi_stad/status/1498045611454742543?s=20&t=gGUubFljn1uowS...

Curious thing, Olaf Scholz has been Chancellor for less than three months and up until now he was considered a bit of a political leightweight compared to Angela Merkel. And suddenly he has entered German history books this weekend. But like in Zelenskyy's case it was kind of thrust upon him.

[Middle-aged Europe]

https://twitter.com/KyivIndependent/status/1498178611916034054

Kyiv Independent, so take it with a grain of salt. If true, reinforces that the Belarus talks were a sham all along.

I just read that Belarusian military is expected to join the fight (on Russia's side) if "peace talks" go badly today. Now I consider that a threat.

[Middle-aged Europe]

https://twitter.com/maxseddon/status/1498242274756550665

Putin to call cabinet meeting to discuss economic impact of sanctions.

Well, at least he's distracted from the war planning sessions now.

[Middle-aged Europe]

^^ Hearts and minds!

[Middle-aged Europe]

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

Oh f**k this will be interesting.

Plot twist: Putin surrenders.

[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/

[Middle-aged Europe]

International Olympic Committee now supports no Russian or Belarusian athletes or officials at the Olympics under any capacity.

Lol when has an IOC punishment on Russia ever stuck?

Seems like the real intend is to raise awarness among Russian athlets and convince them of speaking out in public. Like many of the sanctions, they're designed to undermine and discredit Putin's standing in Russia.

That said, it's kind of ironic the IOC doing this as they lost any credibility imho, after completely selling out to the PRC.

The weakest response I've seen from the world of sports so far was somewhat unsurprisingly FIFA who stayed true to its corrupt, amoral self. Russia wasn't expelled from this year's soccer world cup. Instead individual nations' football associations have started to announce their refusal to play against Russia, like England and I think France too.

[Middle-aged Europe]

From "unreliable" NEXTA again:


https://twitter.com/nexta_tv/status/1498316842888273928

[Middle-aged Europe]

Speak of the devil... after an increasing number of individual nations had announced their refusal to play against Russia, FIFA has now reversed yesterday's decision and suspended Russia.


https://twitter.com/BBCSport/status/1498317932228665348

[Middle-aged Europe]

Wtf

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

Funny. Who are the fans casting as Putin, just for my curiosity?

On House of Cards he was (kind of) played by Lars Mikkelsen:

[Middle-aged Europe]

Less gooooo

https://mobile.twitter.com/MaximEristavi/status/1498328900035878919

I doubt that Ukraine is meeting many of the EU's membership criteria which are usually stricter than those for the NATO - and I mean that with regards to pre-invasion Ukraine. For one thing, it probably would be the poorest EU member by far - and again, that's pre-invasion.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Boom!

https://twitter.com/AFP/status/1498377373422657542

Russia doesn't need Crimea anymore if it can't cross the Bosporus.

[Middle-aged Europe]

We, the Presidents of the EU member states: the Republic of Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, the Republic of Estonia, the Republic of Latvia, the Republic of Lithuania, the Republic of Poland, the Slovak Republic, and the Republic of Slovenia strongly believe that Ukraine deserves receiving an immediate EU accession perspective.

Therefore, we call on the EU Member States to consolidate highest political support to Ukraine and enable the EU institutions to conduct steps to immediately grant Ukraine a EU candidate country status and open the process of negotiations.

In this critical moment, we reiterate our full solidarity with Ukraine and its People.

Link: https://www.hrad.cz/en/for-media/press-releases/open-letter-by-presidents-in-support-of-ukraines-swift-candidacy-to-the-european-union-16316

Interesting, even if it is extremely unlikely to happen.

Of course you can grant EU candidate status to Ukraine as these countries are calling for, although it would be a largely symbolic status for the time being. Turkey has had EU candidate status since 1999.

[Middle-aged Europe]

International Criminal Court (ICC) is on the case:

https://twitter.com/IntlCrimCourt/status/1498393339804233736

#LockPutinUp

[Middle-aged Europe]

Don't know if this has already been reported on here, but the UK closes its ports for any ships under Russian flag.

https://mobile.twitter.com/grantshapps/status/1498324731635843074

[Middle-aged Europe]

The genuine question I have for everyone is how far can Russia go before you will support intervention on the ground? Can they level Kyiv and Kharkiv? Can they use chemical weapons? Can they start intentionally killing Ukrainians to replace them with Russians like the Germans wanted with Poland? Can they use a nuke? Where is the red line, because what I am getting from a lot of people here and Biden is that there really isn’t a red line.

There has been a lot of chatter on German television tonight about Putin's recent nuclear threats and the general consensus - which also included an interview with Germany's version of the JCS chairman, the Inspector-General of the Bundeswehr - seemed to be that while the use of strategic nukes against Western countries should be considered a bluff, there is also reason for genuine concern that Putin might be willing to use tactical nukes on the Ukrainian battlefield.

[Middle-aged Europe]

That exchange here has certainly become too tl/dr for me.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Just breaking on BBC News' liveblog:

Russian convoy 'stretches up to 40 miles'

Satellite imagery company Maxar Technology says that earlier reports indicating the column of Russian armour advancing on Kyiv is 17 miles (27km) long are inaccurate.

The convoy actually stretches about 40 miles, according to Maxar.

The company added that new images also show ground troops and attack helicopters in southern Belarus, less than 20 miles from the Ukraine border.

[Middle-aged Europe]

https://mobile.twitter.com/BBCWorld/status/1498432598313422853

[Middle-aged Europe]

https://twitter.com/NewsfeedUkraine/status/1498595154868981762