Ukraine War Watch Thread

[wjfox]

Foreign Office now advising UK nationals to leave Ukraine:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-60355311

[andmar74]

Looks like an attack is coming. Ukraine, give them hell.

[wjfox]

[weatheriscool]

Putin to invade Ukraine next week, according to U.S. officials
Source: PBS

The United States believes Russian President Vladimir Putin has decided to invade Ukraine and has communicated those plans to the Russian military, Western and defense officials have told the PBS NewsHour...

... “We are not saying that a decision has been taken by President Putin,” Sullivan said. “What we are saying is that we have a sufficient level of concern based on what we are seeing on the ground, and what our intelligence analysts have picked up, that we are sending this clear message.”

Defense officials anticipate a bloody campaign that begins with two days of aerial bombardment and electronic warfare, followed by an invasion, with the possible goal of regime change.

NATO Ambassador Julie Smith briefed the North Atlantic Council on this new intelligence this morning.

Read more: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/puti ... -officials

So is so stupid. The stupidity of our species is mind blowing. Why start a dumb war?

[weatheriscool]

US moves F-16 squadron from Germany to Romania as tension spikes over Ukraine
Source: AFP

The US military said Friday it was repositioning a squadron of F-16 war planes from Germany to Romania, "to reinforce regional security" in the midst of flaring tensions with Russia over Ukraine.

Without specifying how many F-16s were being moved, the command of the US Air Forces in Europe said the planes would arrive Friday at the Romanian air base of Fetesti, less than 60 miles (100 kilometers) from the Black Sea, where they will join Italian combat aircraft that are already deployed there.

The aircraft and crews will "work closely with allies in the Black Sea region to reinforce regional security during the current tensions caused by Russia's military build-up near Ukraine," the US command, which is based in Germany, said in a statement.

They will be responsible in particular for protecting NATO airspace in the region close to Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/us ... ar-AATK85I

[Lurking]

Why start a dumb war?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowball_effect

[erowind]

And then nothing happened.

[Lurking]

And then nothing happened.

Well, something happened:

Ukraine wasn't accepted in NATO.

[Xyls]

I think the whole Ukraine thing has been very obvious for quite some time now. I have been amused by the attempts of Western leaders top stop it. It was probably always Putin's plan to attack during the Olympics. In fact, this seems to be Russian military strategy as both the 2008 Russia-Georgia war and the 2014 initial invasion occurred during Olympic Games when large parts of the public are distracted.

[Yuli Ban]

The United States is evacuating almost all of the staff from its embassy in Kyiv as Western intelligence officials warn that a Russian invasion of Ukraine is increasingly imminent.

A senior State Department official said Saturday that a very limited number of staff will stay to keep communications open with the government but all consular operations will be suspended.

The official, citing security concerns, would not say how many personnel would remain, but as of December, there were about 180 Americans working at the embassy. Some of those had already left and the majority will be returning to Washington, the official said.

The official said the step was taken due to the potential for major Russian attacks on Kyiv in the event of an invasion and repeated the warning that private American citizens should immediately leave.