The United Kingdom has issued a stern warning to Russia during an OSCE meeting, stating that Moscow will never be able to achieve victory in Ukraine.
The UK military adviser, Ian Stubbs, said that Russia’s reprehensible actions in Ukraine corrupt the memory of past sacrifices and Russia’s once-proud global reputation.
“Russia must realise that it can never win in Ukraine. If it keeps fighting, it will keep losing,” Stubbs said during the meeting. “The Russian leadership’s unprovoked, illegal, and senseless invasion of Ukraine; their attacks against innocent civilians and their homes; and their widespread atrocities corrupt the memory of past sacrifices and Russia’s once-proud global reputation. These actions are reprehensible and cowardly.”
Stubbs went on to criticise Russia’s recent missile and UAV strikes against inhabited areas across Ukraine, with minimal regard to discrimination or proportionality. “Such attacks by Russia seek to punish the Ukrainian people and to spread terror. They are cruel acts of vengeance and a disgraceful manifestation of the failure of the Russian military leadership,” he said.
The UK adviser also highlighted the irony of Russia’s false narratives on confrontation, considering its past actions. “I would like to again highlight the irony of this coming from a country which invaded Georgia in 2008, illegally annexed Crimea in 2014 and then launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February last year,” he said.
Stubbs paid tribute to the sacrifice of those who fought for the Soviet Union in the Second World War, but criticised Russia’s celebration of Victory Day this year. “The cancellation of many military parades and Immortal Regiment processions across Russia hints at the grim reality of its enormous losses,” he said. “Beyond the many innocent Ukrainian victims, young Russian men are being killed in their thousands in the name of Putin’s war – leaving mothers without sons, wives without husbands, and children without fathers.”
The UK adviser also criticised Russia’s recruitment of prisoners and Central Asian migrant workers to serve in Ukraine. “Both the convicts and migrant workers recruited by the Russian Ministry of Defence appear to have been sent to the Ukrainian frontlines in attritional combat where the casualty rate is extremely high,” he said.
In conclusion, Stubbs reiterated the UK’s support for Ukraine. “Ukraine will continue to demonstrate their resolute courage, determination, and enduring moral strength as they fight to liberate more of their homeland. Ukraine’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, and independence will be fully restored. The UK and the international community will remain steadfast in our support – we will stand by Ukraine for however long it takes,” he said.
Boy i hope they’re right, if not putin will comb the place for any slight resistance, and when he finds it he’ll crack down hard.
hopefull thats not gonna happen.
It’s up to us & other allies to make certain Russian victory never happens & we defeat Russian forces in Ukraine.
Agree Frank old bean. We either support Ukraine or we fight a renewed and reinvigorated Russia in 3-5 years time as he attacks through either the Baltic States or the Balkans via a friendly Serbia.
Seems now is the best time to stop Mad Vlad.
if they do overwhelm ukraine though, they won’t be able to keep it long (we hope) as there will be (hopefully) massive resistance movments over the whole of the country, which (hopefully) would be armed by NATO
Spot on if Ukraine overwhelm Russian troops would be getting knock off on street coroners instead of the Battlefield. 🤕
Will be? I suggest you look up some of the stuff that’s been happening in places like Melitopol. E.g. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-65414836
Hopefully you are right…
we hope and trust a lot in western civilisation,
one flick of the switch and theres a panic,
shows you how fickle and unstable this civilisation is.
someone please corect me if all thats wrong.
I think anyone would struggle to correct whatever it is that you are trying to say.
Well I think you are right it is very fragile and I don’t think people do realise how fragile it is. Putin has undoubtedly been encouraged and emboldened to behave the way he has because he sees Europe as weak and divided and the US fighting within itself which will only get worse as the people suffer the results of their delusion that it can become ‘great again’ as they see it through pink tinted lenses (ie a 50s to 80s. world domination due to post war advantages over competitors and others freely obtained technology), instead of taking the rational… Read more »
Supporting Ukraine and dragging many of the larger players in NATO along with us (kicking and screaming in some instances) has been one of the major UK success story’s of the past half century. The Russians have gone from berating us as a small island that no one listens to anymore, to claiming we are the master mind behind almost everything going wrong in Ukraine. If not for the calamity of Brexit and if we had a half decent PM the UK would be absolutely dominant in Europe at the moment as France and Germany have lost any vestige of… Read more »
They do like there contradictions, like they have the best air defence in the world and yet 2 supposedly Ukrainian drones managed to get to the heart of Russia without any resistance. Its almost like they are lying but they would never.
Poland now has moral leadership in Europe. And within 10 years it will have economic leadership too.
In the EU, from a European perspective it is very likely the UK will have the largest economy in Europe..always project to overtake Germany after 2050 from a GDP point of view and still projected to do so according to PWC..infact the UK ans Germany are predicted to be the only European economies still in the 10 largest economies by 2050…( six of those will be Emerging economies, 1 the U.S. and 2 the Uk and Germany and the other Japan)…..with the US only being the third largest behind china and India and Japan, Uk and Germany being 7-10th…France will… Read more »
It’s crazy to think that the UK will have a bigger population and economy than Germany Russia or Japan in our life times. If the Tory’s keep bringing in immigrants at the current level it may all happen in the 2040’s.
Not bad for a small island that no one listens to anymore 😀
A bigger economy? It’s Germany that’s getting the gigafactories and the new TSMC microprocessor mega-factory (despite the ARM chips being our one flag waver) meanwhile our move into the future couldn’t even get off of the ground (despite all the Boris hype) in the form of British Volt, which itself was about a quarter of what we need to actually retain any hope of an electric car industry here. Geez even BMW moved its electric mini production to China leaving us trying to bribe them to return it here before probable close down of the ICE version in the thirties.
Yeah I remember a news story in the Timex in the 90s projecting how we would overtake Germany within twenty years, geez British Steel was thriving for a few years back then. That worked out well. We have great innovative companies, especially start ups but the City and the Govt mostly neglect them, preferring the riches inherent in Home Counties property sadly. So if they thrive at all they end up inevitably being picked off by foreign competitors.
More important that all countries grow together. Poor countries and opportunities is a big driver for immigration
German steel survived because of cheap energy. We all know that now!
The rest of European steel was killed by cheap Eastern Europe and then Chinese imports.
UK decided that expensive energy was the priority!
Nice to think that particular long term prediction can happen but I can’t see France and Germany disappearing in our rear mirror. That’s a 25 year guess based on population growth and given Germany has brought in millions of newcomers to their nation, and they remain the central power of the EU, and the fact they are bloody good engineers at the end of the day, I can’t see us ever overtaking them.
Glad to live long enough to be proved wrong.
Maybe Japan won’t be up there as they still have not broken free of stagflation?
Agree, I was surprised to see Japan still predicted to be in the top 10 economies…they have been in free fall for 30 years with a 30 year decline in nominal GDP and quit frankly staggering nation dept ( I think it’s now 2.3 times GDP). Their biggest problem is they will not change their thinking and are stuck in an essentially ridged social hierarchy in which the same families and class that ran feudal Japan still run Japan today. They also insist on spending money the don’t have ( the most expensive manhole covers in the world…each one a… Read more »
There population will half and their productivity is very Low, that’s why they will drop so much
Unless we rejoin, however Poland would be a good country to be our new best friends. UK and Poland could really reform the EU in to what it was meant to be, an expansive trading block rather than a failed French imperial project or a dumping ground for German goods.
With Poland leading the army and the UK the navy and Airforce, European NATO could become a real component able to work along side the US at scale without being subject to the US.
It’s impossible to reform the EU, too many committed to the grand imperial project and too many profiteering from the ingrained corruption. Better to wait for the inevitable collapse of the EU as an organisation.
Do seem to be going in right direction defence wise anyway ,wish our PM would take the same route.🙄
As others have posted the UK and Poland would be a good leadership partnership for European defence, and reliable partner for the US.
We are so much better off out of the EU. I shudder at the thought of the EU finally establishing its own defence force! Roll on NATO!
Yeah the US is a real friend and Allie these days, assuming they make it through the next 5 years without a coup.
Definitely the country we want to be pinning all our security a foreign policy to especially after all the consultation they gave us over the Afghanistan pull out.
I for one am well prepared to follow them blindly into a Cold War on the other side of the planet no questions asked.
I just hope we can get the same deal their real Allie’s in Ireland and Israel get.
😂
It pains me to say it but you’re right, the ‘relationship’ is more a marriage of convenience than an arrangement of mutual trust, respect and loyalty. We’re wedded in an intelligence sharing sense and forever may that continue but even there I’m sure there’s a double standards overlay at times. I guess it all comes back to ‘interests’ and it shouldn’t come as a surprise that they may often be self serving.
A coup in the US… probably the most ridiculous comment today 😂🤣😂
Except for the attempted coup in 2021.
You don’t need the military to be involved for a coup just ask Turkey.
You call that a coup?!? 😂🤣😂
That was a bunch of violent, ignorant, loonies breaking-in and taking-over a building. Big difference between taking control of a building, and taking control of a country. It had even less chance that the Patriotische Union coup in Germany last year.
Currently there are about 30 people serving life sentences for sidicious conspiracy so yes, that’s the very definition of an attempted coup.
Clearly you’re as clueless about the meaning of seditious conspiracy as you are about the spelling
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seditious_conspiracy
Hi Sean don’t be an a**hole, fine to disagree with me but what’s the point in getting nasty, I know your better than that. I was writing in a hurry on my phone, picking up spelling mistakes on a comment section on a web page is the lowest form of argument.
Everything you shared on seditious conspiracy screams attempted coup, treason would be the only higher crime they could be tried for.
The committee formed by congress and headed by a Republican also specifically stated trump engaged in an attempted coup.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/what-to-watch-for-as-the-jan-6-committee-cites-trumps-attempted-coup
Calling that an attempted coup is giving it more credibility than it deserves. It was a shambolic riot in which people died. But it was no coup as once they gained access to the Capitol they simply wandered around inside wrecking the place. Did they attempt to seize control of the military, did they take over the media and announce a coup? No, because they were a bunch of retards who couldn’t organise a p!ss-up in a brewery.
Well, you’ve spotted the reason I don’t respond the Sean these days, nasty little individual, very quick on the ad hominem button.
Just don’t think too hard about how much support they gave the IRA, or how much they helped during Suez, or how they wanted us to give up the Falklands, but were all to happy to get us to follow them into 3 wars in the middle east.
👍
Come on Jim
How long are you going to be crying for?
The vote was in 2016 and it was a legitimate vote (please dont say discretionary)
It was not a legitimate vote, that is why people talk of the Brexit coup. Re crying: 10 days before the ref. Farage said if they lost 52 v 48 he would demand another ref. and if they did not get it there would be trouble. 3 days later a leaver murdered Jo Cox. Leave ‘win’ by 51.7 to 48.3. Farage says if there is another ref. there will be trouble? He likes to talk about ‘trouble’ but refuses to clarify what he means. Both main parties betray the British people and cave to the Leavers violence. If the rules… Read more »
Utter Bullshit. One special needs bloke with mental problems commits a violent act used as an excuse does not mean the votes of tens of millions are invalid.
How many remainers abused UKIP campaigners, I know, I was one if them, also is meaningless in a national vote.
Jesus, talk about clutching at straws…utterly deluded drivel.
Total fact and do not knock the ‘special needs’ people. They are a key part of your core vote.
The whole Leave fiasco was a bunch of murderous fascist traitors financed by dodgy money from Eastern Europe lying to our gullible and senile to weaken the west, particularly Britain.
It has destroyed key aspects of what limited democracy we had through its total reliance on violence and lies and continues to rot away at the heart of government.
Starting to rebuild our links with Europe and bringing Putin’s stodges within Britain to justice is our real defence priority.
God you are totally deranged aren’t you?! You sound like just the kind of person who would resort to political violence.
As for the fiction of the financing of the Leave campaign by Eastern Europe, aka Putin, you’re obviously ignoring recent court judgments against Carole Cadwalladr that found her claims untrue and libellous.
I agree, vote was legitimate but the argument for brexit is being lost primarily due to the lack of benefits. If a majority want to go back in we can’t stop that long term by simply saying we had a referendum. Nothings ever final in a democracy.
Or lack of action from HMG. One benefit everyone forgets, and the whole point of the thing from mine and many of my fellow campaigners views, was not economics, but independence from the EU superstate it is morphing into. The benefits economy wise are not immediate and depend on HMG, EUs willingness to be reasonable ( not a chance ) and a whole host of factors and the likes Covid and now Ukraine is no excuse for the remainers to scream it has failed. As for Chris in London, not even read his reply to me. I don’t tend to… Read more »
That’s not how it was sold to people, it was very much on a basis of being better off with all our new trade agreements, that’s clearly not happened and the government is no implementing all the same EU rules.
Sounds like every political party’s manifesto, nothing new. And that would have made little or no difference to those who were always going to vote the way they did, having FINALLY had a chance to do so for the first time since the “Common Market” was voted for.
And the EU is no longer what people voted to join.
Any way. Let’s talk defence.
The Brexit hit to our economy was anticipated. It was underplayed by Brexit camp of course and coming with Ukraine and Covid was something we could have done without. But the combination of these events is having unexpected consequences; people are thinking more rationally and seeing things more clearly. For example Prince Charles the eccentric crank environmentalist has become far sighted, ahead of his time King Charles III. The deficiencies of our democracy which were sold as being caused by the EU are now seen to be the result of UK over centralisation and an amoral government which conflates a… Read more »
That is the biggest load of revisionist horseshit I’ve ever heard. All Farage said was if the result was close he would continue campaigning. Never once did he use threats in that regard and you can be as sure as shit that had he done so the authorities would have taken him in and shut him up for a very very long time. Had it not been for Boris and magic grampa I truly believe our Lords and masters would have buried the whole thing in the weeds.they were planning it ffs. Mandie et al were at it.
The problem with Brexit was no one in government stopped to ask and think what they wanted Brexit to be and no one stopped to ask the tough questions and think it through fully
It is the same problem with the Scottish National Party, they have failed to think through fully what Scottish Independence would actually mean for Scotland
Actually the British government told everyone brexit would be a cluster f**k and campaigned against it.
Correct. The British public should have remembered Russel Crowe in Gladiator…
Whatever comes out of these gates, we’ve got a better chance of survival if we work together. Do you understand? If we stay together, we survive. 🙂
Another sore-loser and totalitarian who wants to ignore democracy. NOBODY outside of your minuscule Remoaner social media echo chamber calls the Brexit vote a “coup”, that’s hysterical nonsense.
We all lost post brexit, it’s not a football game about points. We can see the massive underperformance of our economy since 2016.
(a) There’s been underperformance due to Corvid, the cost of living crisis due to Putin’s war etc.
(b) So all you care about is money, you don’t care about national sovereignty. The only thing of value to you is £££. Maybe you should move to the gilded cage of the EU.
An, Bravo Sean. The whole point.
We have performed worse on a relative bases compared to G7 countries since 2016, everyone experienced the same external shocks except brexit. That’s the stark data that’s almost impossible to overcome. I was all for giving brexit a go but the reality is it’s shit, we still have to follow all the same EU rules and we don’t get to set them. The UK was responsible for setting 97% of EU rules previously, even the USA has to follow these rules as they are defacto global standard. We gave up massive power and got nothing in return but 5% loss… Read more »
whinge, whine, moan…
We gave up being told what to do under QMV and got the freedom to decide our own laws.
Having a bad day Sean 😀
No, everyday is a good day now that we’re off that political Titanic, the EU. 😂
I don’t want to move to the EU, I want the UK back at the leading edge, how does that happen with brexit, please explain
If you want the U.K. to be back at the leading edge, then try having a small modicum of actual belief in the U.K. instead of being dependent on others to tell us what to do.
Just like the SNP that all the brexiteers claim to hate, both cut from the same nationalist cloth.
So what is wrong in being a nationalist and believing in the strength of England, NI, Scotland or Wales. Are you ashamed or something and want to be a part of an overreaching, undemocratic mega state? In my mind it was downhill all the way from when it ceased to just be just the Common Market trading area.
Not ashamed of anything just an internationalist in my out look, I’m in favour of unions including the union of the United Kingdom and the the European Union,
Surely you yourself are in favour of the “great Union of the Soviet socialist Republics” that you are trying to reestablish as we speak in Bakhmut or do you prefer the older stance when such peoples were merely lower humans designed to serve the needs of Moscow and its elites?
I’ll stop crying when we get our 5% of GDP back, any idea when that will be?
The tide in the public is very much in favour of rejoining as is the majority of MP’s. Brexiteers messed up everything, it won’t be long until we rejoin unless someone can actually show a brexit benefit.
No it’s not. The tide in the public is very much “shut the f@ck up about Brexit, we’re sick of your squabbling, move on”. Even Starmer’s Labour have finally gotten that message.
We won’t be rejoining, ever.
Posted in error
Ironically the one post of yours that was factually correct too 😂
Can you share some data that backs that up? Every bit of polling I’ve seen suggest the opposite currently.
Every bit of polling backs my statement – and as a YouGov member I see A LOT of polls.
So you want to rejoin the wonderful EU do you? Perhaps you believe that we should emulate their powerhouse economy,Germany? But what’s this announcement I saw in the FT 3 days ago? Oh dear, “German industrial production fell 3.4 per cent in March compared with the previous month, the biggest drop for 12 months, according to the Federal statistical office”
No I want to go back to being the service centre for the biggest trading block on earth, little Germany make the cars while we package the financial derivatives.
That’s what we are good at and that’s what pays the best money.
Those are all fine words, but it doesn’t disguise the fact that we should have faced these people down in 2008, after Georgia. They have played a long game, and watched the West spend more time examining its own navel and acting only for the short term. Our 2010 defence review would have cemented the idea in Moscow that we are withdrawing from the World Stage and will merely wring our hands when they start to annex another country. We now have an enormous mountain to climb to be back to any kind of meaningful provision for our own defence,… Read more »
With you on that one 👍
They have played a long game, and watched the West spend more time examining its own navel and acting only for the short term. Another way of looking at it is: I’m happy that after waiting this long, they then short-sightedly jumped the gun last year. Instead, the situation would have been far more dire if Putin had instead bided his time, invested more effort and money into getting a Republican back into the White House in 2025, and then made his move. If that had happened, we’d have been seeing the Russification of Ukraine, Moldova and the Baltic states… Read more »
in reality all Russia really needed to do was wait for the mud season to end…it bizarre launched its invasion at the start of the second ( and worst) mud season…you cannot campaign in Eastern Europe during its two mud seasons every knows that…if they had timetabled it for spring that that decapitation move would not have been bogged down and stuck on narrow roads…it was profoundly bizarre that Russia invaded when it did..it was either foolish hubris..or some other internal dialogue forced the move ( I suspect Putin forced himself into a very stupid corner and did not believe… Read more »
It is amazing, considering their own experiences with the Rasputitsia “General Mud” in WW2. Over confidence? Arrogance?
If you recall the Russians believed they would be welcomed with open arms and flower showers, this could be the reason for their idiotic attack in the wet season.
That was frankly a delusion by the Russian Government
Agree, one of the big political intelligence failures of the past decades. Mind you, had the agreed settlement of April 2022 held up both sides would have achieved something.
They did not play the long game very well, Ukraine was a defacto Russia client until they grabbed Crimea and pulled 2 million Russians out of the Ukraine electorate. They then spent 10 years building a war machine that was able to cross 40km over the boarder of one of the poorest and least well armed counties in Europe., before having to retreat loosing 200,000 men in the process and reducing their population by 2 million.
They are not exactly grand masters at geopolitics.
Or anything else really
Agreed. We’ve had terrible leadership over the last 20 years, often chasing Russian & Chinese money. Makes me wonder if there was a connection between Rus/PRC money & the dismantling of our forces. A bit of backbone sensibly displayed sooner would’ve nipped most Russian aggresion in the bud.
👍
Only the break-up of Russia, would be a sure way of ending, Russian Imperialism for good!
Russian is finished soon one way or another, just hope we can chip some decent bits out of the west of it to stabilise the European boarder, long term giving China full control over Siberia and Central Asia resources won’t end well for us though.
Let’s be careful what we wish for, an unstable nuclear power descending into civil war is an absolutely terrifying prospect! The West is playing serious Proxy poker in providing ‘just enough’ equipment to keep Ukraine in the fight with a checkmate. It’s designed to turn Ukraine into an endless meat grinder for the Russians and progressively consume their military and governmental capabilities like a cancer. One hopes the end game has been worked out and there is a grand plan in play here. Perhaps back channels are open with a view to assisting a Russian coup, led by a moderate… Read more »
Is there a video where I can see this?
So the OSCE looks like a European talking shop, sort of an emasculated EU. I can’t see Putin quaking in his boots on account of this warning.
Putin looks pretty scared at the moment, he travels around on an armoured train these days as he is too scared to fly.
Not sure you what him being any more scared or paranoid.
“Russia’s once proud global reputation”? FFS what is this guy on? The Red Army raped its way across eastern Germany and sentenced thousands of German PoW’s to certain death. It subjected eastern Europe to the joys of communism for decades. It slaughtered millions under Stalin. I give up on these people and their delusions. And Stubbs fails to mention UK involvement in some very dodgy overseas activities over the decades. Kettle, pot, black.
Don’t forget they lost wars to every single country they invaded as well from Finland and Poland to Afghanistan.
Managed to collapse against the Germans in 1917, got their arses handed to them by the Japanese in 1905, the French captured their capital in 1812 and we took Crimea off then in 1856.
I’m having a hard time thinking why anyone gives them credit for anything really. The red army was exceptionally good at slaughtering unarmed protesters, maybe that it.
Well, I give the Red Army credit where it’s due for defeating Nazi Germany. Especially after the 1st catastrophic defeats in June, July 41. They lost millions and their heroism and sacrifice should not be overlooked so readily Jim, in my view.
I’d have liked to visit Volgograd to see the Mameyav Kurgan and pay respects to the defenders of Stalingrad, but as a westerner that’s unlikely now!
Of course, had the Red Army not invaded Poland from the east in 1939, the Second World War could have been prevented.
Poland fought fiercely against the Nazis and were holding their own until the USSR invaded, sealing their fate.
Had Stalin not done that, us and the French would have had time to mobilise properly and invade Germany from the west while their army is fighting Poland in the east. This could have defeated Nazi Germany early on and nipped the war in the bud.
What ifs, history is littered with them. I’m not disputing Stalin and his NKVD were not scum and as bad as the Nazis in the body count, just the sacrifice of the simple Ivan.
Not sure the Poles really are appreciative of how simple Ivan behaved in their country…
I’m sure they’re not, or the East Germans. That war was savage on both sides, the Russians were advancing through Beleorussia finding mass graves from the activities of the SS and then death camps in Poland, that no doubt made their behaviour worse, especially once they set foot in Germany. I understand the thirst for revenge. As for the poor Poles… I just don’t think the countless examples of bravery from Russian soldiers fighting the Nazis should be ignored or even mocked, like some comments I read on this forum, because of the behaviour of their descendents today. We are… Read more »
I think my issue is that we (rightly) don’t have people saying we need to remember the bravery of the simple Einsatztruppe, or SS Sturmman. I see very little difference between them and “the simple Ivan” who raped his way through every household in Eastern Prussia, so when I give about as much respect to the Soviet soldier as I do to the Wehrmacht Soldier.
Were they brave? Sure. Do I think they’re admirable and deserving of respect? Hell no.
Sure. I can see your point. And I was not suggesting respect, just acknowledgement of their bravery responding to an earlier poster who was suggesting they did nothing remarkable after 41 when they were on their knees out side Moscow. The waters get even murkier when, factually, much of the Einzatzgruppen were composed of Waffen SS, Police, other Auxiliaries, and, dare I say it, Ukrainians, not just German SS killers, and the Werhmacht was also involved. On Poles, and your 1st point about them not appreciating Russian behaviour, my 1st thought was no doubt they didn’t appreciate the Germans and… Read more »
Examples from earlier which influenced my comments “Russians didn’t do anything worthy of credit” ….really??? Have a read of the battles of the Russo German War, And earlier “they killed thousands of German POWs” …well yes, many, and the Germans starved 4 million plus Soviet prisoners to death and gassed untold others at Sachenhausen and Birkenaeu and Sobibor….so….
When it comes to history, so many comments are so one sided it’s a bit much for me.
USSR had to sign that deal with Germany. Appeasement showed the USSR that we couldn’t be trusted to go to war with Germany. Remilitarisation of Rhineland, Anschluss and Sudetenland. If we didn’t respond to actions on the border with France why would we respond if Hitler invaded the USSR. It was already made very clear by Hitler he wanted Lebensraum in the East.
Yeah we could not be trusted, our options were save Czechoslovakia by giving Russian Finland and the baltics, the mass murderer who had just finished starving to death 7 million Ukrainians could not trust us so he did a deal with Hitler.
None of that stacks up, it’s all Cold War propaganda permitted by the soviets to justify their actions and now your spurting it out 70 years later.
Well done.
It’s irrelevant what the Soviets had done beforehand. It is widely known 4 million were killed in the Holodomor and another 3 million in the purges. The Soviets were threatened so they were buying for time. There are plenty of other points where had we cracked down there would’ve been no war so any blame on the USSR is unnecessary. Remilitarisation of the Rhineland and the Munich agreement are notable examples.
No need to be aggressive.
I agree with you Louis.
Stalin knew war was coming and was buying time. I’d read he expected war by 43, not June 41. I’ve also read he might have struck first given that so many if his mechanized Corps were in Ukraine, opposite the Ploesti oil fields. Or that may have simply been a matter of geography, with the Pripet to the north and the forests beyond that.
There is no doubt that the Soviets sustained enormous casualties on the Eastern Front, but we should be wary of the myth that the Soviet Union defeated Nazi Germany. As well as fighting the Germans in North Africa, Italy and then North-West Europe, the Allies ensured vast resources were tied up in Germany itself by the bomber offensive. Russia also received vast quantities of aircraft, vehicles and fuel from the Allies in the Artic convoys at enormous cost to merchant and naval personnel. And not to be forgotten is that the Soviet Union signed a secret non-aggression pact with Nazi… Read more »
Because of they wasteful ways they fought and fight. For the generals like the butcher Zukhov all soldiers were meat for the grinder.
You just compare their proportional levels of losses vs Nazis compared to Allies vs Nazis.
I’m a student of the Russo/German War Alex, well aware of that. 👍
Apart from Soviet ineptitude must be added surprise, German superior tactics, and also that the majority of the German fighting power was facing them.
But still, 80% of German losses were on the Eastern front.
Second:
Soviet Union allied with Germany and started WW2, Communist linked Unions sabotaged military industries in UK and France. They offered Basis Nord to support German submarines cut off American support to England, the Communist Party -USA was one of main drivers of Isolationist effort.
And for example the invasion of Norway by Nazis was done with 3 German tanker ships based in Murmansk.
The ‘proud global reputation’ line got me as well! I’m really not sure what Russia has contributed to the world, especially in living memory!
The sacrifice of millions of ordinary Russian’s to defeat Nazism in WW2 should be remembered and respected……but even then their victory was due to overwhelming numbers treated like cannon fodder and the often forgotten vast amount of munitions, kit and raw materials provided by the Western Allies.
And Hitler’s stubbornness. And winter, and mud, and the Nazis racial policies. And GB holding out.
Russia could have been defeated, but by the Germans being kind to the population and getting them onside.
Stubbs appears to be a jerk of the first order. And the way these idiots are always given media coverage and quoted as “Britain says”? Says a lot for media. He in no way represents Britain. Then thats the problem with these “jaw, jaw” forums.
Tetris, the gave us Tetris and I think we should all be grateful. 😀
It’s only be 3 for quite some time due to Vanguards very long overhaul, they also have to do training and transit to station and one needs to be ready to go as well in case the one on station accidentally bumps into something.
1 at sea on CASD.
1 working up to replace the at sea bomber.
1 leave, training, alongside.
1 at Devonport in maintenance.
It’s why we have 4.
And there are Port and Starboard crews, assume for each boat?
@Deep?
Do we even have the warheads to have 2 out at a time?
That, I have little doubt is classified.
It is acknowledged how many the UK hold, but their operational status I believe is kept secret.
There are warheads stored at Coulport with the missiles, where they are loaded aboard the boats using the covered EHJ.
Those on the deployed at sea Boat.
Then there are the warheads in bits at Burghfield where they are assembled.
And then there are others in bits at Aldermaston where they’re built.
All part of deterrence to keep an enemy guessing.
I’d guess yes, we do, if necessary.
In more peaceful times we haven’t even filled all the missile slots on the boat. In 1982 it was announced the boats would carry up to 126 warheads on 16 missiles. This was reduced during various administrations, with Cameron finally reducing it to 40 warheads on 8 missiles on the active boat. Johnson increased the maximum number of warheads allowed overall, but I haven’t heard any announcements of how many ride on each boat right now. Who knows if they currently max the missile slots again? I doubt it, but there’s ample opportunity to escalate our capability without more boats… Read more »
The missiles can carry a variable number of warheads, so in short yes we do have enough.
Yes. It’s not a case of 1 sub returns and the missiles are swapped to the outgoing sub, that would leave a period where there is no sub at sea, uk policy states there must be one at sea at all times. There are enough missiles and warheads.
Highly unlikely a 3rd could be brought to readiness to sail though to maintain 2 being at sea for anything other than a short time.
Yes but only because each boat carry’s about 60 at a time. The fleet is capable of carrying 896 warheads if you really packed it and our current stockpile is between 160 and 240.
Sorry mate, didn’t see this when I posted a reply to @AR.
👍 Not at all, you’re here as the SME to clarify.
“The United Kingdom has issued a stern warning to Russia during an OSCE meeting” …
I hope it accompanied that with a vigorous wagging of a finger a slow shake of the head and a derisory “tut tut tut”…
absolutely not. A “tut tut” may risk dangerous escalation!
Bit off on a tangent but as Poland is mentioned in this thread, I love that they’ve given another two fingers to Putin re Kaliningrad and will be putting forward it being referred to as Królewiec, it’s traditional Polish name. Yes, this should have been done years ago, given that Kalinin was a signatory to the Katyn Forest massacre but better late than never to further p*ss Putin off.
How CASD works is something like this. One boat out on patrol, one just coming back and going into a short maintenance period. One finishing a maintenance period, getting ready for harbour trg, followed by a work up and trials before going out to relieve the at sea boat. The last boat is either going into or coming out of a long term refit. Even with 4 boats in the loop it is a demanding schedule. Vanguard has just sailed from Devon port after a 7 year refit and re-fuelling (it went wrong), so the other three boats have had… Read more »
Always there patrolling the sea. I’ve wondered about the 8 missiles on a boat for a while. Why not just spread the 40 warheads over 12-16 adding in more decoys etc.
It really depends on the role for the missiles. Could be to destroy cities, infrastructure, first strike to destroy ability to launch a strike etc.
Not saying any more I don’t want to wake up in a dark room with a desk lamp shining in my face
The missiles don’t necessarily all have the same number of warheads per missile, so the maximum number carried will also vary.
The missiles aren’t targeted to strike any given location. Targeting information comes as part of the firing message and is uploaded prior to launching the missiles. An awful lot of things happen on board when a firing message is received its a drill that is practised frequently by the CASD boat.
Europe will never allow the Ukrainian military to collapse. With or without the US, defeating autocracy in the battlefields of Ukraine is imperative. Stakes are too high.
What a lot of pro-Russian bloggers fail to consider, you can have a big army but that means frigate all if you cannot get the troops where they are needed cause your logistics is non-existent
Investing in the logistics train is basically how the British Empire was as successful as it was because they invested in their logistics train so they can get stuff and troops to where they were needed
Reporting appears to confirm we have supplied Storm Shadow to Ukraine.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/05/11/ukraine-russia-war-latest-news-putin-troops-flee-bakhmut/
I fear that given Putin doesn’t care how many die on either side, he is in no real rush. And I am sure he is happy to wait for Trump to win the next election and then watch Europe panic as it sits alone and probably itself then further divided. Not sure how Ukraine ‘win’ this without a very unexpected and unlikely regime change in Russia.
CNN are reporting that the U.K. has supplied Ukraine with Storm Shadow cruise missiles.
Could this bump the US and other nations to start supplying longer-range weapons too? That tactic worked with modern battle tanks.