Russian invasion of Ukraine

[Corvus]

The big advantage of the f16 is it allows Ukraine to use western weapon systems that they couldn’t with their aging soviet stock.

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Gazprom's earnings fell 75% last year, resulting in its first losses in 22 years, of 5.5 billion pounds.

https://www.theguardian.com/business...russia-ukraine

[Vampiregenesis]

It's annoying that they pressure my country (Greece) to give its air defense systems to Ukraine, patriot and s-300 saying that we don't face any threat so we don't need them, even though we have our own eastern rival with imperialistic ambitions. I don't think there is enough mutual understanding and unity within Europe, the baltics and northern countries preach us about the Russian threat and at the same time, they don't spend enough for their armies and they sell weapons to Turkey, funnily enough Russia didn't do that until recently and I still think they don't do it. They don't even ask the stronger members of Nato like Turkey to give its systems but they go after the small fish looking for yes men. If Europe continues like this, it has no future, this egomania mentality with unrealistic expectations won't get them anywhere.

I don't believe that Russia will ever be a threat for my country, it's geographically very hard for them to become a threat for my country but I understand that the north people are having a hard time now, are they capable to show the same understanding for my country's threats? or they don't care because these threats never bothered them and they will never do? if everyone looks his own interests there is no future.

[Shadowferal]

I don't believe that Russia will ever be a threat for my country, it's geographically very hard for them to become a threat for my country but I understand that the north people are having a hard time now, are they capable to show the same understanding for my country's threats? or they don't care because these threats never bothered them and they will never do? if everyone looks his own interests there is no future.

Considering that alone of NATO nations, Russia still has close relations/trade with Turkey.

[Kallisto]

It's annoying that they pressure my country (Greece) to give its air defense systems to Ukraine, patriot and s-300 saying that we don't face any threat so we don't need them, even though we have our own eastern rival with imperialistic ambitions. I don't think there is enough mutual understanding and unity within Europe, the baltics and northern countries preach us about the Russian threat and at the same time, they don't spend enough for their armies and they sell weapons to Turkey, funnily enough Russia didn't do that until recently and I still think they don't do it. They don't even ask the stronger members of Nato like Turkey to give its systems but they go after the small fish looking for yes men. If Europe continues like this, it has no future, this egomania mentality with unrealistic expectations won't get them anywhere.

I don't believe that Russia will ever be a threat for my country, it's geographically very hard for them to become a threat for my country but I understand that the north people are having a hard time now, are they capable to show the same understanding for my country's threats? or they don't care because these threats never bothered them and they will never do? if everyone looks his own interests there is no future.

Every country will always look out for number 1, even those who are all in on helping Ukraine are not doing it for moral reasons, for many it's as simple as giving Russia a black eye without worrying about being hit in return. It is a tale as old as time, going so far back that even during ancient Greece, not even after the bodies were buried from the Persian wars the city-states would take money from Persia if it meant getting a one-up over their city-state rival (looking at you Sparta in particular).

Back to today while sure it would be nice for Greece to give their air defence to Ukraine, they can't in good faith not think "What if Erdo tomorrow tries to go all in on his illegal claim on half the Aegean." leaving themselves wide open. This could also be an actual attack on Greece per international laws, but just enough not to reach an Article 5 NATO or Article 42.7 EU threshold for many states. (BTW if a NATO member attacks another Article 5 still comes into play)

[Elder Millennial]

Honestly, I'm not entirely sure why people kept touting F-16s for Ukraine. Yeah, they are better than the aging Soviet crap they have but Ukraine would need hundreds of them to achieve parity with the Russian Air Force. Russian planes might be shit but the Russians have a lot more of them and, much as I hate quoting him, as Stalin said “Quantity has a quality all its own”

The thing about the F-16 isn't that it's somehow magically so much better than the Russian stuff (tho it is), but that it can launch all sorts ordinance that the old Soviet jets the Ukrainians had either couldn't or only a couple of models could shoot a couple of things through some creative retrofitting.

Basically the issue was that you couldn't make Western built munitions talk to the Soviet electronics/targeting systems.

So stuff like the Storm Shadow had to programmed on the ground, strapped to a Ukrainian plane that would "take it closer" to the target and fire it off from a predetermined spot.

The F-16, can shoot off all sorts of stuff ranging from cruise missiles, intermediate range missiles, air to air missiles etc. They can also "talk" to Western built radar systems, so the Ukrainians can use them to fly CAP (combat air patrol) armed with air to air missiles to shoot down incoming cruise missiles and drones picked up by ground based radar.

The main difference the F-16 is going to make the second it arrives is in the area of air defense.

[Zaydin]

The thing about the F-16 isn't that it's somehow magically so much better than the Russian stuff (tho it is), but that it can launch all sorts ordinance that the old Soviet jets the Ukrainians had either couldn't or only a couple of models could shoot a couple of things through some creative retrofitting.

Basically the issue was that you couldn't make Western built munitions talk to the Soviet electronics/targeting systems.

So stuff like the Storm Shadow had to programmed on the ground, strapped to a Ukrainian plane that would "take it closer" to the target and fire it off from a predetermined spot.

The F-16, can shoot off all sorts of stuff ranging from cruise missiles, intermediate range missiles, air to air missiles etc. They can also "talk" to Western built radar systems, so the Ukrainians can use them to fly CAP (combat air patrol) armed with air to air missiles to shoot down incoming cruise missiles and drones picked up by ground based radar.

The main difference the F-16 is going to make the second it arrives is in the area of air defense.

Fair enough, that wasn't something I had considered. Ukraine is going to have to be careful with where they deploy them though.

[alach]

Heres a welcome change in policy;

Kyiv may use British weapons to strike targets inside Russia, Cameron says
Britain pledged three billion pounds ($3.74 billion) in annual military assistance to Ukraine, U.K. Foreign Secretary David Cameron announced on May 3, adding that it would continue "as long as it takes."

He assured that London had no qualms about the possibility of the provided weaponry being utilized within Russian territory.

The visit follows U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s announcement that the U.K. will spend 2.5% of GDP on defense, and commit to at least three billion pounds a year on military support to Ukraine.

"We will give three billion pounds every year for as long as is necessary. We've just really emptied all we can in terms of giving equipment," he said in an interview with Reuters on a visit to Kyiv.

"Some of that (equipment) is actually arriving in Ukraine today, while I'm here," Cameron said outside St. Michael's Cathedral in downtown Kyiv.

[Corvus]

The Brits have been among the most active of western nations in opposing russia. Comes from russian attacks on its soil that have led to the deaths of civilians.

Speaking of - European Intelligence agencies are warning that russia is planning sabotage missions across Europe, through bombings and arson attacks, both directly and through proxies, with little consideration of civilian casualties.

Full article:

European intelligence agencies have warned their governments that Russia is plotting violent acts of sabotage across the continent as it commits to a course of permanent conflict with the west.

Russia has already begun to more actively prepare covert bombings, arson attacks and damage to infrastructure on European soil, directly and via proxies, with little apparent concern about causing civilian fatalities, intelligence officials believe.

While the Kremlin’s agents have a long history of such operations — and launched attacks sporadically in Europe in recent years — evidence is mounting of a more aggressive and concerted effort, according to assessments from three different European countries shared with the Financial Times.

Intelligence officials are becoming increasingly vocal about the threat in an effort to promote vigilance.

“We assess the risk of state-controlled acts of sabotage to be significantly increased,” said Thomas Haldenwang, head of German domestic intelligence. Russia now seems comfortable carrying out operations on European soil “[with] a high potential for damage,” he told a security conference last month hosted by his agency, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution.

Haldenwang spoke just days after two German-Russian nationals were arrested in Bayreuth, Bavaria, for allegedly plotting to attack military and logistics sites in Germany on behalf of Russia.

Two men were charged in the UK in late April with having started a fire at a warehouse containing aid shipments for Ukraine. English prosecutors accuse them of working for the Russian government.

In Sweden, security services are meanwhile investigating a series of recent railway derailments, which they suspect may be acts of state-backed sabotage.

Russia has attempted to destroy the signalling systems on Czech railways, the country’s transport minister told the FT last month.

In Estonia, an attack on the interior minister’s car in February and those of journalists were perpetrated by Russian intelligence operatives, the country’s Internal Security Service has said. France’s ministry of defence also warned this year of possible sabotage attacks by Russia on military sites.

“The obvious conclusion is that there has been a real stepping up of Russian activity,” said Keir Giles, senior consulting fellow at Chatham House, the thinktank.

“One cannot tell if that’s a reflection of the fact that the Russians are throwing more resources at it; whether they are being more sloppy and getting caught; or whether western counter-intelligence has simply become better at detecting and stopping it,” he added. “Whatever it is though — there is a lot going on.

One senior European government official said information was being shared through Nato security services of “clear and convincing Russian mischief”, which was co-ordinated and at scale.

The time had come to “raise awareness and focus” about the threat of Russian violence on European soil, he added.

Nato issued a statement on Thursday declaring its deep concern about growing “malign activities on allied territory” by Russia, citing what it said was an “intensifying campaign . . . across the Euro-Atlantic area”.

The growing fears over Russia’s appetite for physical damage against its adversaries follow a spate of accusations against Russia over disinformation and hacking campaigns.

On Friday, Germany vowed consequences for Moscow — in a statement backed by the EU and Nato — over a 2023 hacking attack on the social democratic party of chancellor Olaf Scholz.

A scandal exposing Russian attempts to co-opt far right European politicians ahead of upcoming European elections is meanwhile still unfolding.

One intelligence official said Moscow’s sabotage efforts should not be seen as a distinct from other operations, saying the ramp-up in activity reflected Russia’s aim to exert maximum pressure “across the piece”.

Putin is currently feeling “emboldened” and will seek to push lines as hard as he can in Europe, on multiple fronts, he said, whether through disinformation, sabotage or hacking.

Increased aggression from Russian intelligence also reflects the desire for the country’s spymasters to reassert themselves after their most serious setback since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

In the weeks following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, more than 600 Russian intelligence officers operating in Europe with diplomatic cover were ejected, dealing serious damage to the Kremlin’s spy network across the continent.

In a recent report, analysts at the UK’s Royal United Services Institute highlighted the efforts to which Russia had gone to reconstitute its presence in Europe, often using proxies. Those include members of the Russian diaspora as well as organised crime groups with which the Kremlin has long-standing ties.

A key strategic shift has also occurred, with so-called “Committees of Special Influence” coordinating intelligence operations country-by-country for the Kremlin, drawing together what were previously piecemeal efforts by the country’s fractious security services and other Kremlin players.

With Russia’s stepping up operations, security services have been on high alert over threats and are looking to identify targets they may have missed.

Questions have been raised, for instance, over a so-far unexplained explosion at a BAE Systems munitions factory in Wales that supplies shells used by Ukraine. In October 2014 a Czech arms depot where weapons for Kyiv were being stored was destroyed; Russian military intelligence agents were later revealed to have planted explosives at the site.

A huge fire broke out on Friday at a factory in Berlin owned by the arms company Diehl, which also supplies Ukraine. More than 160 specialist firefighters were called to tackle the blaze, with residents in a huge swath of the west of the capital told to keep windows closed due to possible toxic fumes.

“As ever with Russia, it’s wise not to look for a single explanation of why they are doing anything. There’s always a combination of things going on,” said Giles.

“These pinprick attacks we’ve seen so far are of course to create disruption, but they can also be used for disinformation. And then there is what Russia learns from these attacks if they want to immobilise Europe for real . . . They’re practice runs.”

[Fantomen]

If both teams have minimally trained pilots, my money is on the one with the shinier toy.

But it look like the Ukraine pilot go through the entire (or most of the) standard nato pilot training, hence it take years to train them.

[Elder Millennial]

But it look like the Ukraine pilot go through the entire (or most of the) standard nato pilot training, hence it take years to train them.

The first batch of Ukrainian pilots getting F-16 training are 100% not rookies. I expect every single one of them is probably hand picked from a younger generation of fully trained fighter pilots with combat experience who are now being re-trained to fly F16s.

It does not take years to "minimally" retrain a trained fighter pilot from one platform to another, no matter how different the platforms are. Physics are physics and combat is combat.

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In other news. US soldier stationed in South Korea traveled to Vladivostok for some woman and now got arrested by the Russians who claim he stole something.

Whether true or not. DO NOT FUCKING GO TO RUSSIA. FOR ANYTHING, ESPECIALLY NOT FOR A CHICK. WTF IS WRONG WITH YOU?

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/pol...say-rcna150928

[Lahis]

The Brits have been among the most active of western nations in opposing russia. Comes from russian attacks on its soil that have led to the deaths of civilians.

Speaking of - European Intelligence agencies are warning that russia is planning sabotage missions across Europe, through bombings and arson attacks, both directly and through proxies, with little consideration of civilian casualties.

Full article:

Terrorist state doing terrorism.

Surprised people can report at the info desk.

[Poopymonster]

The first batch of Ukrainian pilots getting F-16 training are 100% not rookies. I expect every single one of them is probably hand picked from a younger generation of fully trained fighter pilots with combat experience who are now being re-trained to fly F16s.

It does not take years to "minimally" retrain a trained fighter pilot from one platform to another, no matter how different the platforms are. Physics are physics and combat is combat.

- - - Updated - - -

In other news. US soldier stationed in South Korea traveled to Vladivostok for some woman and now got arrested by the Russians who claim he stole something.

Whether true or not. DO NOT FUCKING GO TO RUSSIA. FOR ANYTHING, ESPECIALLY NOT FOR A CHICK. WTF IS WRONG WITH YOU?

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/pol...say-rcna150928

American. He could not help himself, nyet?
Amputee Russian bride. 50% off.
No shipping. Must pick up. Chair not included.
America loves a good deal.

[Iphie]

American. He could not help himself, nyet?
Amputee Russian bride. 50% off.
No shipping. Must pick up. Chair not included.
America loves a good deal.

Eh, you might even get a misguided individual thinking they'll save someone.

[Elder Millennial]

https://www.thedailybeast.com/jailed...ian-girlfriend

Some more interesting tidbits.

1. The Russian "girlfriend" was deported from South Korea back to Russia.

2. He was a Russia simp, blaming Ukraine on NATO.

3. He is a Trump simp.

4. Him and her seem to have a history of domestic violence as South Korean police were called after they had a fight before her deportation.

5. Not in the article, but on Twitter people dug up Tik Tok videos uploaded by the "girlfriend" where she mocks him relentlessly in Russian and he seems to just smile along, clearly not understanding a single word she's saying.

The guy is an absolute fucking idiot.

[Edge-]

https://www.thedailybeast.com/jailed...ian-girlfriend

For more interesting tidbits.

1. The Russian "girlfriend" was deported from South Korea back to Russia.

2. He was a Russia simp, blaming Ukraine on NATO.

3. He is a Trump simp.

4. Him and her seem to have a history of domestic violence as South Korean police were called after they had a fight before her deportation.

5. Not in the article, but on Twitter people dug up Tik Tok videos uploaded by the "girlfriend" where she mocks him relentlessly in Russian and he seems to just smile along, clearly not understanding a single word she's saying.

The guy is an absolute fucking idiot.

holy shit how many current or former military dudes are gonna fall for "hot ukranian/russian singles in your area!"? because at this point there have been at least two and that's two too damned many.

[Nilinor]

I just hope we don't do a trade deal with Russia to send a very dangerous individual back for him.

It was dumb the first time, and it is dumb now.

[PgStckr]

Turns out, people from nato-memebrship countries can visit Poklonnaya Gora armour exhibition in Moscow without needing to wait in queue.
You guys should totally check in. I am sure going to visit it at the end of May.

[Wilian]

Turns out, people from nato-memebrship countries can visit Poklonnaya Gora armour exhibition in Moscow without needing to wait in queue.
You guys should totally check in. I am sure going to visit it at the end of May.

Vatniks thinking loss of 6 tanks and some 40 IFVs in about a year of operations is somehow a win is hilarious. Especially in light its the typical daily loss of Russian vehicles on one front alone.

[PgStckr]

Vatniks thinking loss of 6 tanks and some 40 IFVs in about a year of operations is somehow a win is hilarious. Especially in light its the typical daily loss of Russian vehicles on one front alone.

What's indeed hilarious is that just yesterday someone hacked the Brandenburg gates in Berlin to remind germans of the Soviet flag.

https://dzen.ru/video/watch/663b2f8d...rrer=yandex.ru
Beautiful.

[Wilian]

What's indeed hilarious is that just yesterday someone hacked the Brandenburg gates in Berlin to remind germans of the Soviet flag.

https://dzen.ru/video/watch/663b2f8d...rrer=yandex.ru
Beautiful.

Ok mr. Pork Plower.