Russian forces and their accompanying logistics units are moving to the Ukrainian border as part of a significant buildup of Russian forces.
The information comes primarily from social media accounts of people in the region.
The open source intelligence account ‘OSINTtechnical‘ is following developments, we recommend you follow them now if you’re not already.
Serious Russian armor moving into Crimea. Seems to be divisional level at least. https://t.co/KvXa9v7m0W
— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) March 31, 2021
While training were originally given as a possible explanation for the buildup, a U.S. defence official told CBS News here that the locations and types of units seen on the ground didn’t line up with what the Russian Ministry of Defense had announced last month.
Russia starting to establish supply lines into Crimea. Fuel trucks, and one truck that seems to have an explosive hazard indicator on it. https://t.co/obcXOsCcCO
— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) March 31, 2021
More on this as it develops.
Why Russia wants to invade Ukraine, a thread.
tl;dr it's because of water. (It's always water isn't it?). This is the North Crimean Canal, dammed up since the Russian invasion of Crimea. Crimea is rapidly running out of water, and Russia needs this canal flowing again. pic.twitter.com/LOUvrAAMdn
— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) April 1, 2021
Ukrainian forces have been building up too. The rasputitsa is soon over and the campaigning season will soon arrive.
Lots of mineral resources to exploit in the Ukraine that the Russians would like to get their hands on!
That, and fertile land. Something Russia has always struggled with just as China struggled with access to clean water and why it invaded Tebet
True, Ukraine could be the bread basket for Europe, in fact it is what the flag represents the blue sky over the wheat fields. At least thats what some of my Ukrainian friends told me. It is also true that in the East of the country there is a huge amount of natural resourses. If I remember correctly most of the Ukrainian heavy industry is in the East.
Russia has farmland that could feed a huge population, it’s not got a land need. This is all about securing what it considers it natural area of control.
Evening all, just my thoughts on the matter…
With a situation like this… IF anything were to happen, a 5th column would move first and cause maximum disruption this side of the border. The ‘hardware’ would roll in later under the pretence of protecting their fellow citizens. We saw this happen in Eastern Ukraine with little to no response from anyone else. So why not keep pushing? Only until the threats outweigh the benefits would they stop. While giving off all the signals of being a peace keeping force to protect their people, it’s difficult for anyone to intervene without coming across as the aggressor.
Another thing to bear in mind is misdirection… this could all be smoke and mirrors. With everyone looking at the border, let’s not ignore other movement elsewhere.
And another thing… this could be simply to see how everyone else reacts. Posturing. Who knows, let’s just hope it’s a show of force and nothing else… But recent history has me doubting that.
Cheers all
M@
Exactly my thoughts, waiting to see how everyone reacts and if nothing happens, roll in.
Purely from a Russian perspective, why wait for UK/Europe and the US to modernise their armed forces and make things more even more difficult?
I said this many times in the past on here as have others, if you appear weak the bullies come looking!
Let’s hope this is simply an exercise and nothing more sinister than that!
If only the average person in the street understood the logic of what you say. It’s a game the Russians have got away with time and again, yet any response has been little more than cursory disapproval while even that has generated accusations of being antagonistic.
Sorry mate but The West aren’t exactly ‘holier than though’ on this either, ‘we’ have been happy to throw military muscle about too. It might be more reactive but The West has selectively gone into bat on a number of conflicts while ignoring others to suit their/our own agenda. Its worth remembering.
True but Putin did carry on carpet bombing Chechnya near the time period of the UK/US invading Iraq.
I’m not sure we should be using the Putin yardstick to justify our actions.
Good point.
Nato also pushed its physical presence nearer traditional spheres of Russian influence. So Russians felt under pressure to reassert their perceived areas of interest. Ukraine is not the squeaky clean country western MSM and others would have us believe. Corrupt politicians and some fairly open abuse of former and current political opponents is happening all of the time.
I always attempt to look at both sides of any “argument”.
And you are right to highlight the squeaky clean west sticking its nose into other states affairs. I think the word is hypocrisy.
You mean compared to the peace loving, democratically elected Putin regime that sends people out on tours of British cathedrals.
So you don’t like Russians? Tell that to the Arabs whose countries were torn apart by “western” interventions. As I said, hypocrisy.
I have absolutely nothing against the Russian people. In fact they have to be admired for the hell that they have had to live through for 200 or more years.
I would just like you to stand up in Moscow and criticise Putin and Co. for their actions around the world. Assuming you believe in what you say they would surely have no objection, just look at the leader of their opposition..
Boet, my country was given up by “the west” to communists, see they refused to intervene because it did not suit them. Said country has turned into a dysfunctional shithole.
Me? I say let other countries run their own affairs, if they attack you then fine, defend yourself.
I use the word hypocrisy a lot in my observations of all countries, especially “the west”. WTF would l want to criticise Putin for? When a Spetsnaz trooper sticks his nose in my business then l will react.
The trouble with many who comment on here is a/ They have never seen firsthand what they are commenting on usually. b/ Some of us have operational experiences in many parts of the world.
Sadly the internet makes everyone an “expert”.
My final comment.
And which country are we talking about here?
Your country ,if I am guessing correctly, was hardly an example of free democracy either. As it happens I do have experience of Russia or should I say the Soviet Union as one side of my family is from Easter Europe but I do not intend to discuss their hardships with you.
Take my advice. Go to Moscow.
Like the UK does not have its fair share of corrupt politicians… Most of them are in the Cabinet! Although thankfully they have not started a full dictatorship takeover just yet…
So put your time where your mouth is and stand for election .
Funny that ex soviet nations decided by democratically elected governments to join NATO rather than the Sh#t show of putins Russia , NATO did not have to do anything ,,,,,Russian trolling with a western name much Ivan lol.
Incoming! Where are the information manouvre counter-battery guys??
So its cool to invade them? It’s like none of Russia’s effing business – Ukraine is a sovereign nation. Otherwise we would all be invading Russia to get East Prussia or Sakhalin back wouldn’t we? Its like saying Saddam Hussein was really a pussycat and he should have been given his bowl of Kuwaiti oil. Get back to the Kremlin and try again. Now where are those targeting coordinates?
The west’s Force’s today are already way more modern than anything Russia can deploy.
The British Army’s heavy fleet is far from modern!
I’d still rather get in a Challenger 2 then any heep Russia has.
Agree Challenger 2 vs T14 Aramata. Challenger will win every day of the week.
Doesn’t matter if you can’t deploy it to wear the fighting it. Also the West has zero interest in defending Ukraine. They didn’t last time and this time is no different. Especially with Sleepy Joe in charge.
This time it could be different, unlike last time with treacherous Don at the helm!
I think you need to accept your new president, because Trump ain’t coming back.
Russian perspective Nigel? Then why wait until 2021, if Russia had intentions why not in 2015 or any other year before Ukraine and the west have time to prepare? You are right about bullies, be weak and they move in on your border
After Crimea, I’m sure the west is watching the situation closely Ulya. Macron and Merkel have already spoken to Putin and the US has also made contact today.
Time to de-escalate rather than provoke or the situation could end up costing lives on both sides.
What’s happening with the Minsk-2 peace agreement? my understanding is there is still fighting in the Donbas region between Ukrainian forces and separatists.
It will also be interesting to see what happens with current sanctions if Russia continues to build up its forces rather than withdraw?
It could very well end up with a Minsk-3 which I assume is what Russia is hoping for?
“be weak and they move in on your border” Yes that’s exactly what happened to the Ukraine and Georgia ,but they were not being weak ,instead they were shunning kremlin influence for their peoples future, like most of the ex soviet states. 🙂
“maskirovka”
Yes indeed! Didn’t know that phrase though, thank you for sharing! The Chinese seem to be adept at this too. Would be embarrassing if we dropped expensive bombs on inflatable targets wouldn’t it. Accurate Intelligence gathering is so darn important.
Hopefully just sabre rattling, anything else is too scary.
How ironic would it be (without being remotely funny) if it kicks off on Biden’s watch instead of Trump’s.
What would be ironic about that?
Nobody has accused Biden of being Putin’s bitch.
It was just a British spy who intentionally interfered with our election who has accused Trump of that, Andy.
Don’t know that story mate, please, do tell.
Christopher Steele, MI6, produced a fabricated dossier that was the sole basis for a warrant attained through the US FISA court to spy on the 2016 Trump campaign. At the same time, the dossier was used by the media to accuse trump publicly of having ties with Russia, which still persist today. You are propagating false information Andy
“You are propagating false information Andy”
Or ‘fake news’ as it were, so to speak to coin a phriase.
The boy did a good job then eh ? Respect, one wee white lie and every man and his dog ‘wrongly’ assumes that Vlad and The Donald are in cahoots…. who knew ????
Well its was a bit strange Putin and Trump had a closed door meeting and Trump came come out afterwards declaring to the press that he thought Putin had nothing to do with US election meddling (meddling for trumps side may I add) whilst ignoring his own intelligence that Russia had done lol.
Well, when you consider that by “his intelligence” you are referring to the very FBI (James Comey, Peter Strozk, Lisa Page) that were caught actively plotting against him in private texts that became public during the course or the investigation of the 2016 election, he had good reason to disregard threat findings
*Their
Sorry we’ll have to agree to disagree ,you only had to switch over to RT news on the last election to see who Putin wanted to win lol ,Russias media is not very subtle.
That’s fine Dave, especially because that isn’t the subject of this article. However, just because Trump was the preferred candidate on RT, that doesn’t mean that there was an active collusion or that Trump took orders from the Kremlin. The only conclusions that came from an exhaustive, two year investigation were that 1) The Christopher Steele dossier used to obtain the FISA warrant was fabricated and that 2) the FBI acted inappropriately and did not conduct an honest investigation. Hence, nothing ever came of it
I think you need to accept Trumpski and his BS is gone for good ,thank god lol
True man however it’s been replaced with ole Slow dementia Joe 30330 which I’m afraid is a hundred times worse 🙈🇺🇸 💯 fcuked
Disagree, Regan showed dementia far worst then Biden in his terms of office and considering how Trumpski split his nation apart and any other important alliance Biden and co is the sensible choice for the US at this point.
Aye man we disagree alright 👍🏻 But it’s no sweat it’s called free speech and must be welcomed differing viewpoints 👍🏻
C’est la vie 👋🏻
🏴🇬🇧
Not so n his first term and only later in the second term, Even then he helped negotiate and end to the Cold War with Gorgachev. Biden has it right at the beginning of his 1st term. Biden needs to away from security situations.
More fake news. Americans are so gullible. They believed some has been British public servant that after a 100 Million dollar FBI investigation and 2+ years was PROVED WRONG!!! If you choose not to believe the facts that’s up too u.
yaaaaawn!
Trump was probably told to say that or he would be drinking Novichok.???
Biden is the Chicom’s bitch. Fact.
Its dangerous timing because Putin is becoming increasingly unpopular, they need a distraction and no country becomes as patriotic as Russia in a time of military action.
Can Ukraine withstand the mass of numbers Russia has even with the assistance they have had since Crimea?
I would love to know what his actual approval ratings are, especially with younger Russians. I think he still enjoys high enough ratings even if the public knows he has become very wealthy in power. In his interviews he always comes across as very measured and concise, the Russian press obviously treat him with a lot more reverence and respect than the British press would treat any PM but at least it means he doesn’t have to constantly talk political BS to dance around pointless gotcha questions because the press have their own narrative.
Realistically if Russia did invade all of Ukraine the US and Nato would do nothing but apply sanctions. The bigger issue to Putin is would it be worth it.
Well he has blocked any political opposition by imprisonment or death or just banning them for some reason.
The mainstream media is controlled by the state its just propaganda making Russia look amazing and everyone else is a threat and shouldn’t be trusted.
Furthermore if you watched the last prime minister’s questions, Boris couldn’t even admit he has cut the army and just repeats the same line about increasing the budget the most since the cold war and tried the bs of saying the army is 100,000 because of the reserves. That is why the press are not going to give a prime minister respect if all they do is spin.
Well considering Putin controls all of Russias media, very easy to answer vetted questions in a measured and concise manner and plus he has no political opposition so who knows what his actual true approval ratings is.
What Russian people are really afraid of is if Putin was to some how drop dead suddenly ,would Russia go back to the utter chaos of the 90’s which would be inevitable due to how power is so centralized around one leader in Russia .
I think you would treat Putin with respect and reverence if you lived in Russia otherwise you might be invited to partake in a nice cup of movichok tea in the Kremlin or just plastered all over your front door by some incompetent FSB kill squad officers.
Or maybe a radioactive Pollonium alcoholic beverage.
Also explains the timing of the vaccine talks. He is betting Eurofudge to Rubbles that Marcon & Merkle won’t do anything to upset his ‘vital’ vaccine.
Sputnik is actually pretty similar to AZ so it hard to understand why you would bother trying to scale an unapproved vaccine when a similar approved vaccine could be made in the same facilities.
I just don’t get the AZ issue, they want it badly yet undermine it at every level possible. I also dont get Germany’s relationship with Russia, dont get me wrong Britain is confused by China but the Germans are on another level, talk tough while knowing they can turn your lights off is bizarre.
And your satnav by all accounts!
It is an insight into EU operational politics.
A lot of silly things are done for narrow nationalistic political gain.
The French are in the ascendant with their inbuilt tilt to protectionist policies having cast off the counterweight of the UK.
There is a level of blatant immaturity about it as it is played as a game of oneupmanship. That is what historically frustrated the Nordics and the UK was the inability to think of the optimal global EU solutions and instead turn it all into Eurofudge.
The AZ issue is a very basic deflection technique to try hide the shambles of a vaccine rollout in the EU, they need someone to blame other than accepting it themselves.
They would import sinopharm vaccine or Sputnik V if they could. Anything apart from an effective vaccine made by those evil Brexit voting Brits.
Some maths:
Have AZ vaccine and you may have a 0.005% chance of a complication that is potentially serious. Eg blood clot, nerve injury, auto immune response. All of which occur naturally and after 8+ million AZ vaccines in uk are statistically not raised compared to general population size. OR
Dont get vaccinated, or delay vaccination as the EU are doing and run the 2.5% chance of dying of covid or 5% risk of being hospitalised.
Run the figures. Do the maths. Get the jab.
I wasn’t suggesting the AZ vaccine was not effective? I happen to believe it is very good looking at the published evidence.
I agree that the risks of getting the complications are lower than the % of the general population occurrence – which is interesting if you think about it!
Although, to be fair, a 2.5% death rate is heavily biased by the elderly and immuno compromised.
Sinopharm isnt proving massively effective, the UAE started offering it way back in December and have done a large % of the expat population with it, they are now issuing 3rd doses of it after doing trial runs of antibody tests and finding people hardly have any.
I wonder how long before someone on here makes a very tedious link to a Russian invasion of Ukraine being caused by our governments decision to reduce the number of Challenger Tanks in Uk service…..
Nope, its becasue we announced Warrior will go.
Don’t be daft it’s because the T1 Hawks are going.
No, it’s because Sentinel retired today. 😛
Rubbish, we have just taken delivery of 2x GPMG’s from one of our retiring submarines!
Well I guess You will be the first to make that link then !!!!
Looking at the Twitter feed and reading sources I could access
It’s a hell of a lot of Russian equipment heading to the border!
Tanks, APC, refuelling tanks and more
My feeling is that Russia and China act jointly and in concert, maybe just a coincidence they have 200+ so called fishing vessels and 4 warships parked up off Whitsun Reef within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone. Both countries causing mischief at the same time divides attention. A quick action followed by consolidation, whos going to do anything?
And the US has a carrier strike group in the region, could easily be seen as doing the same. Its politics, be seen to be doing something without actually doing anything, at least that is what I hope.
Lots of bridging units as well, not something you would expect if it was simply sabre rattling. I would say they are preparing to take the North Crimean Canal.
Very good point Crimean’s have suffered a lot with the Ukraine cutting off the water supply I’m surprised Putin did not calculate that into his invasion.
I always saw the Crimean annexation as a more opportunist decision by Putin not to say he hadn’t put significant planning in but I can see how he didn’t think that far down the line consequences wise.
True.
If they take the canal couldn’t the Ukrainians simply damn it further up? Or if I was Ukrainian I’d have rigged it to blow in multiple places so if Russia invades, the canal walls blow out and all the water floods away into the countryside. That spoiling action would be hillarious and really peeve putin off.
You need to look at a map of the Country, with the units moving into the Crimea (at least two Divisions including the 56th Airborne) on top of what is already there and into the rebel held Donetsky Oblast (the latter including bridging units) they would more than likely aim to take all of the Kherson Oblast up to the Dnieper river and Kakhovka Reservoir plus the Zaporizhzhia Oblast an area that the rebels have previously tried to move on. Geographically those regions form part of the Crimean peninsular as well as being major industrial and agricultural regions. There are lots of canals and rivers running through there hence the bridging units. It is simply not possible for the Ukraine to cut off the water flow into the Dnieper or Kakhovka reservoir. The loss of those regions would be an economic disaster for the Ukraine far beyond the loss of the Crimea so they would put up a fight. It would also cut the Ukraine completely off from the the Sea of Azov a significantly desirable strategic outcome for Russia.
My gut feeling is a Spring offensive by the Rebels in the East forcing a heavy response by the Ukrainian Armed forces leading to an “intervention” from the Crimea by the Russian Federation to “stabilise” the situation and “protect civilians…”
A possible training exercise is being talked about but analysts think it may be part of a planned spring offensive by the rebels to possibly attack and capture the southern area held by Ukraine around the Sea of Azov area, Henichesk up to Mariupol
It just seems a lot of equipment for an exercise along a fragile zone
So the Russians are up to no good either way!
Maybes the refuelling tanks are full of fresh water and hes going to use the tanks and APC’s to ‘protect’ the convoys of water deliveries into the region.
Be a fantastic excuse to roll in lots of equipment.
As a British man living in Russian for almost 20 years I have a unique perspective on Russia and its people(s). The people here are generally weak (numerous Russians have said themselves to me that the people here have a slave mentality) and downtrodden and easily led; they are very susceptible to falling for the same thing over and over again, the “We are the strongest nation on Earth” and charismatic leaders. They (BIG generalisation) seem to see the English in particular as weak, ie I know first hand lol. But not once have I given into their bullying bullshit tactics and laugh in their face and it completely perplexes them: “This Englishman isn’t scared of us! Why not? We were told the English are weak” True story. The moral of the story is that to beat the Russians you just play them at their own game, but do it better.
Many people here are unhappy with the internal situation in Russia, and I know now former Putin supporters who want to leave the country for a better life. But because he plays the game of looking strong in international relations and because he is charismatic many people put up with the internal situation and/or they have nothing to compare it to as they have never travelled outside of the country. They don’t know better and many are badly educated.
There are many great people in Russia though, don’t think for a minute that there aren’t, they are not all our enemy. Most just want a better life.
But of thread I know lol
Bit off thread even…!
Interesting read Rocket man thanks.
Thanks. I like to see myself as GB’s and NATO’s vanguard. If the Russians can’t get past me (a fat old Englishman), which they can’t, then there’s nothing to worry about LOL
lol.
So what you are saying is that the Russians like:
A) Strong charismatic leadership
B) A feeling of nationalist superiority.
C) To feel that they are powerful in the world.
I.E. a fascist state. Putin is the most serious threat to world peace.
Problem is that also describes many countries at the moment, especially as many appear to be turning to more nationalistic route recently.
Every time there’s a world wide recession ,the nationalistic route is the popular one it seems.
It sounded like Nicola Sturgeons Scotland to me. ??
Lol…was just thinking as I read your bullets:
A.BORIS
B.BREXIT
C.GLOBAL BRITAIN
Remoaners just can’t accept losing in a democracy ?♂️
Didn’t vote remain…just an observation. I actually find it fascinating how different concepts get twisted to suite different ideologies and perspectives . Point I was trying to poorly make is it takes more than those issues listed to make someone / something fascist. There is a big difference between strong nationalism and fascism .
A.Sturgeon
B. Rejoin EU
C. Independence??
Another list of examples of nationalism…elements of which I don’t advocate with….but going back to original point….not symptoms of fascism. However, suppression of free speech, systematic assassination of journalists, and using the judicial system to suppress political opposition are certainly totalitarian…Mr P is well entrenched in his Animal Farm
I’m not by any stretch an expert on anything, but I’ve followed these OSINT accounts for years and seen my fair share of Ukraine/Russia war scares come to nothing. Obviously a worrying and dangerous time but war is not inevitable or even necessarily likely, let’s hope this is another episode of sabre rattling!
Perhaps we are about to find out how drones and guided artillery do against top level armor, my money is on the drones.
On today’s battlefield a Russian division could very well be a sitting duck.
I disagree, if any Nation is prepared for drone warfare its Russia. Having been in an operational conflict with Ukraine for the last 10 years, drones are part of common operational doctrine. Both sides were forced to quickly research and adapt drones to modern warfare. In the early days both Ukraine and the “separatist” bought cheap toy quadcopter drones. These were adequate but not brilliant. These were then developed to drop grenades, then mortar shells when they overflow a target. Both sides developed countermeasures from upgraded Shilka SPAAGs to the introduction of specific ECM to jam the command signals.
Both Russia and Ukraine have since developed larger and more robust fixed wing and VTOL UAVs. These range from simple surveillance to full on loitering hunter killer drones. Indeed the Turkish TB2 was codeveloped by Ukraine and had seen combat service over Eastern Ukraine before it was fueled over Syria.
If anything I would say NATO are playing catch-up. In this field of operations due to their experience in Ukraine, Syria and Libya, Russia are more advanced in both fielding tactical UAVs and countering them.
Meanwhile Dementia Joe is taking his 5th nap of the day. I would bet that Joe still thinks the U.S.S.R. is still is business. LOL
Mr Biden is all over Putin right now. At least there is no compromat on him from the FSB like Trump.
And yet it was Trump who said ‘Crimea is Europe’s problem’
Come on Dan! Sleepy Joe has been in congress for 120 years, I’m sure he knows what he’s doing!
This is not good. Waiting to hear what western governments will do or say. Better hurry.
April the First?
If it is, it is extraordinarily poor taste.
Actually, you are right and I am sorry I said it.
It was more aimed at if the article was an April Fool.
So don’t sweat it.
Just from my personal point of view: when a lot of people died it deserves a certain level of respect however much you disagree with the ‘why’.
Absolutely SB
This is type of interesting. It could all be an exercide or a prelude to a possible attack. There is at least one other possible explanation – a distraction – while the West fixates on this – Russia and/or China could be planning/executing something else again…..
Bears in the North Sea, agents expelled from Bulgaria and Italy, and now this…. Russians making a lot of noise lately.
yep we are screwed!
Bad timing?
“After 14 years of near continuous operations, the Sentinel R1 ASTOR has now been officially retired from RAF service.
The formal withdrawal of the fleet on 31 March came just over a month after 5 (Army Cooperation) Squadron flew the type’s final operational mission out of RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire and near the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, as well as Belarus, on 25 February.”
https://www.janes.com/defence-news/news-detail/raf-retires-sentinel
Realistically NATO/US will back away and just express harsh words, which means ukraine hasn’t got a hope in hell (ukraine isn’t a member and they didn’t act last time, so no reason they would this time).
Right now NATO should be building up troops on the NATO side of the Ukraine border, to make it clear that Russia goes no further, but as they are not, it indicates that the alliance is not serious in defending each other and/or doesn’t take the threat seriously.
If they don’t take the threat seriously, this is probably complacency, since any attack would for sure be disguised under a the flag of an excerise, to avoid the other side taking defensive measures as you build up the forces.
Putin always trouble ,he wants USSR to be has it was in the cold war days he loves is war machine .Sad is people can’t get rid of him if anything this man has held is country back by is ways .World better off without him.
It’s hard to really understand what he is after. He was at one point talking about joining NATO, but for whatever reason he switched from that to being scared of the west and building up against it. Hard to know if it was a polictical move of giving the people what they want or if he really is trying to rebuild the USSR.
Mr Putin is no mug, I think he was just buying valuable time to implement a much needed Modernisation of their Armed Forces, not that Russia was under any direct threat, paranoia seems to be part of their make up.
It would seem so. You can also look at the US, they historically have always needed an enemy to focus on, even before WW1 and in my life its gone from russia, iraq, al qaeda, isis, china, whoever next. Wasn’t alive for it, but guessing in the empire days, we probably had the same thing to justify overseas ‘projects’.
Have a friend from the Ukraine been in UK for About 5yrs now,Ex Soviet Army in the cold war days .when wall came down like Thousands of other troops send back home with no job.However got a good job in Law.But had to get himself and family out for safety ,but that’s another story .But one thing he has always believe in is that one day Putin will invaded Ukraine as he wants it part of the Soviet union again and for Putin to be the next Zar.
It doesn’t make any sense though. They could have easily steam rolled Ukraine when they took crimea. Why not then, and instead why now.
Well it could be that now there’s no Trump to stay friendly with he can do as he pleases .But some times I think he likes to see how far he can push West to see how we respond .Came close in 2018 when he said if we bomb Syria over the chemical attack on there own people he would shoot down any NATO aircraft .Seen an inteview with Trump the night before The USA ,UK, France attacked Trump made a phone call to Putin to tell time of attack so no Soviet troops hurt hopeing this would stop him from hitting back.Which paid off thank God,however he did send around 17 fighter planes to buzz a Type 45 Destroyer in the Black sea just to be a pain.
Spot on!
As someone who knows the Russian mentality very well, your friend is dead right. Poots wants Kiev!! Why? Because Kiev is seen as the founding place of the Russians, ie from what was called Kyivan Rus. He can’t stand the thought of Kiev falling into NATO’s hands, he won’t allow it… one way or the other!!
Poots wants to become a king a supreme leader or a tsar. Take your pick, but there’s no doubt about it.
Not hard at all. He wants to unite the Eastern Slavic peoples, take back Kiev, rebuild as much as possible the former Soviet Union, mark his place in history, be the world’s richest man, become supreme leader of the new empire and eventually have his son (yes, he will have a son or sons out there) take over the Putin dynasty.
People here are very easily offended and like getting revenge, and boy does he want revenge. He won’t admit to the USSR having lost the Cold War as to him what’s happening now is just a continuation of the Cold War, ie it never really ended. At the same time, he is furious that the USSR was brought down and he needs to rebuild a new empire.
Plus, he wants Russia to become the number one power in the world, the strongest country (in his mind it already is) and to spread Russia, Russians and Russian inventions and products worldwide.
He can’t stand Russia being looked down upon. He is not interested in second place, only winning… and he will do anything to win!! And having brainwashed a lot of the population, they will follow his every command.
Of course, he might just drop dead any time soon, and then we are in the unknown.
The big mistake, and it was a mistake, was the West thinking they had won the Cold War and that Russia was no longer a threat. The West should have taken one of two approaches: It should have decimated Russia even further, or it should have helped it rebuild but in a Western way. Instead it let it flounder. And now we have Putin!
Yeah we took our eye off the ball,with a man of is back ground I always said to the lads in unit in time he will be trouble.IT is well knowing that Putin said is worst day was when the wall came down.
Russian troops “massing on the border with Ukraine”!
I read elsewhere that they were 150 miles away – unless they have since moved right up to the border. It seems a bit of a coincidence, when the chairman of NATO’s military committee has recently been in Kiev for talks and NATO vessels have exercised with the Ukrainian navy in the Black Sea.
Hopefully therefore, the Russians are merely testing NATO’s reactions
I don’t really bother reading newspaper much.
But the Daily Express says a small team of SAS and Royal signals, along with a small US special ops team were sent into Ukraine last week and have reported back saying there are multiple ceasefire violations at least 1200 reported as happening, including Russian network attacks on Ukrainian systems.