Russia-Ukraine War - News and Developments PART 2

[A.P. Richelieu]

NATO Likely To Approve New Military Spending Goals | Aviation Week Network

NATO members are expected to agree to increase defense spending as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has shown a greater need to invest in militaries.

aviationweek.com

NATO Likely To Approve New Military Spending Goals​

Credit: NATO

NATO members are expected to agree to a new plan to increase defense spending—at a summit in Lithuania in July—as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has shown a greater need to invest in militaries.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, speaking following a meeting of NATO defense ministers on Feb. 15 in Brussels, said new defense plans and increased readiness across the organization will require more spending.

“Our leaders will agree on a new defense investment pledge to ensure the alliance has the resources to carry out these new plans,” Austin says. “We had productive conversations about that pledge and we look forward to working with our valued allies to ensure we all do even more to invest in our shared security.”

The new investment plan will likely be budgeted at more than 2% of GDP by 2024 as outlined in a 2014 summit in Wales, and will be needed to support a strategic concept that focuses on deterrence and defense, crisis prevention and cooperative security as outlined during last summer’s meeting in Madrid.

“If it was right to commit to spend 2% in 2014, it is even more right now. Because we live in a more dangerous world ... So it is obvious that we need to spend more,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said during a separate appearance on Feb. 15 in Brussels.

Instead of 2% as a ceiling, Stoltenberg says it should be the minimum to cover spending for ammunition, air defense, training and other capabilities.

A major area requiring more investment is the industrial capacity to build key munitions and replace ammunition that has been provided to Ukraine, Austin says. Critical weapons include artillery rounds, air defenses and anti-armor missiles.

“Even as we rush to support Ukraine in the critical months ahead, we must all replenish our stockpiles to strengthen our deterrence and defense for the long term,” he says.

NATO is reviewing its capability targets for munition stockpiles as allies have agreed to new multinational production plans, Stoltenberg says.

He added there is a new project for allied ammunition warehousing, under which it will be prepositioned and stockpiled, along with a project dedicated to ground-based air defense.

“What we see is an enormous expenditure of ammunition, and we have seen that for several months,” Stoltenberg says. “And that’s also the reason why we actually started to address that last fall. We convened meetings with the defense industry. We addressed this issue in different NATO capitals, and now we see that things are actually moving in the right direction.”

The upcoming NATO summit could be the first to include Finland and Sweden as member states, if all NATO members approve their membership. Austin says the two nations are ready to join now and can bring a lot of value to the military alliance.

“We’ve trained with them in the past. They’ve invested a lot in modernization, and so they’ll bring a lot to the table,” he says.

Brian Everstine is the Pentagon Editor for Aviation Week, based in Washington, D.C. Before joining Aviation Week in August 2021, he covered the Pentagon for Air Force Magazine. Brian began covering defense aviation in 2011 as a reporter for Military Times.

 

[Elijah Manson]

It is correct that Russia has had a lot of casualties in Ukraine but why are many users in this thread exclusively focusing on that but not the equally large Ukrainian casualties? Ukraine has far less manpower than Russia, every Ukrainian casualty is far worse for Ukraine than it is for Russia.

Ukraine is kept alive by NATO and allies to the tune of 100's of billions of dollars, but as I wrote earlier, NATO and allies are never actually going to send their own troops to directly aid Ukraine against Russia.

I don't know in which world the Ukrainians are going to reconquer Crimea or even all of Donbas.

Answer simple questions:
1. What is Russia doing to change the situation at the front?
2. What is Ukraine (and the West behind it) doing to change the situation at the front?

At the moment, in addition to everything else, there is the possibility of an open confrontation between Wagner and high-ranking military personnel. There is only one result - the weakening of Russia's already weakened potential. Despite the fact that the Ukrainians are carrying out a frantic mobilization, they will soon receive hundreds of samples of NATO armored vehicles, with already trained crews (Ukrainians or Poles - it does not matter). On the agenda is the supply of long-range air and land launch missiles, 5th generation ATGMs and then aviation.

You need to be naive, so that, seeing all this in the aggregate, you do not understand where we are heading.

 

[The SC]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1626586940874305542

https://twitter.com/x/status/1626668100148944904

https://twitter.com/x/status/1626639984328417280

https://twitter.com/x/status/1626666201345626112

https://twitter.com/x/status/1626643490670256129

 

[Ahmadbhutta01]

I have no idea but you neither.

Obviously interceptors are in Europe to stop Russian missiles against USA.

There are in Europe because Russia is in Europe, not because it's to defend Europe, It's to defend USA.



NATO slaves are childish when they talk about their master USA.

They are like children talking about Santa Claus.

LoL yeh we saw how they couldn't intercept balloon for days it was a message that you are not invisible

 

[The SC]

The Russians are continuing their offensive and planning a bigger one according to Western sources..

 

[The SC]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1626527890794766336

https://twitter.com/x/status/1626463322357866500

 

[Corruptistan]

Answer simple questions:
1. What is Russia doing to change the situation at the front?
2. What is Ukraine (and the West behind it) doing to change the situation at the front?

At the moment, in addition to everything else, there is the possibility of an open confrontation between Wagner and high-ranking military personnel. There is only one result - the weakening of Russia's already weakened potential. Despite the fact that the Ukrainians are carrying out a frantic mobilization, they will soon receive hundreds of samples of NATO armored vehicles, with already trained crews (Ukrainians or Poles - it does not matter). On the agenda is the supply of long-range air and land launch missiles, 5th generation ATGMs and then aviation.

You need to be naive, so that, seeing all this in the aggregate, you do not understand where we are heading.

Russia is already controlling all of Crimea and most of Donbas and most of the majority ethnic Russian areas of Ukraine. They are supposedly launching another offensive if we are to believe Ukraine and NATO. This new offensive is cause for panic in NATO and Ukraine. We saw this during today's meeting in Munich.

That is all fine and any idiot realizes that NATO is economically and militarily light years ahead of Russia but how does that change the main problem that I raised, namely that Ukrainian casualties have been at least as high as the Russian casualties and the Russians have 3-4 times the population and are able to mobilize unlimited amounts of cannon fodder as already seen. Mostly composed of already "unwanted" minority groups and criminals (Wagner).

How will NATO deal with this simple yet extremely challenging problem when NATO troops are never going to engage directly with Russian troops on the ground in Ukraine? If they do this war will escalate into a potential and direct NATO-Russia war and then every bet is off the table, including the use of nuclear weapons. No party has interest in such a thing despite empty rhetoric from the Russian side.

Moreover and maybe even more importantly, what is Ukraine, if they ever reclaim Crimea, Donbas and other majority Russian territories in Ukraine, going to do with the millions upon millions of ethnic Russians in Ukraine of which the majority of those people don't want to be a part of Ukraine?

And not only that, Russia has been pretty "civilized" for their part compared to their historical modus operandi as seen in Chechnya or Afghanistan or WW2. Due to them initially trying to win over Ukrainians which as I wrote, was a complete failure and counterproductive.

Anyway my main points remain, how do you answer this?

Lastly how long will the elected governments in Europe and the US justify billions upon billions of tax payers money being spent on far-away Ukraine when 1) Russia is never going to directly attack any NATO member, 2) the people say enough is enough in times of already challenging economic times, other priorities, tiredness from the war/media coverage etc. We already see this occurring in numerous European states and in the US.

It is not as simple as you thing it is, the Russians were supposed to be dead and buried by September. It seems that nobody has learnt from WW1, WW2, Napoleon's wars etc. Russia is an incredibly hard nut to crack if history is our witness.

 

[F-22Raptor]

More than 30,000 Wagner fighters have been wounded or killed in Ukraine, US estimates​

The US government estimates the private military company Wagner Group has suffered more than 30,000 casualties, including roughly 9,000 fighters killed, since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

About half of those 9,000 have been killed since mid-December, US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said. And about 90% of those killed in December were recruited from Russian prisons.

The group has relied heavily on convicts to fill out its ranks. "That doesn't show any signs of abating," Kirby said Friday, though Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin claimed last week that he will no longer recruit from prisons.

"They're treating their recruits, largely convicts, as basically cannon fodder, throwing them into a literal meat grinder here, inhuman ways without a second thought," Kirby said. "Men that he just plucked out of prisons and threw on the battlefield with no training, no equipping, no organizational command, just throw them into the fight."

Recently, Wagner suffered heavy casualties in the intense fight for the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut.

Kirby said Russia made "incremental gains" in and around the city as the fighting intensified over the last several days. He said the US cannot predict whether Russia will break through.

Even if they do, Kirby said the city holds "no real strategic value," because the US believes Ukraine would maintain its strong defensive lines across the broader Donbas region.

Live updates: Russia's war in Ukraine

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US has "deep concern" about Russia's efforts to destabilize the government of Moldova. Follow here for live updates.

www.cnn.com

 

[MeFishToo]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1626669268409409543

Truth about the clown of Kiev.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1626665744145473545

Ah, the residents of Mariopul has returned.. Does this mean they get to take part in the referendum voting, or does the russians voting on their behalf still stand?

 

[F-22Raptor]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1626726470440701952

Russian losses are now at 9,300

 

[MeFishToo]

Russia is already controlling all of Crimea and most of Donbas and most of the majority ethnic Russian areas of Ukraine. They are supposedly launching another offensive if we are to believe Ukraine and NATO. This new offensive is cause for panic in NATO and Ukraine. We saw this during today's meeting in Munich.

That is all fine and any idiot realizes that NATO is economically and militarily light years ahead of Russia but how does that change the main problem that I raised, namely that Ukrainian casualties have been at least as high as the Russian casualties and the Russians have 3-4 times the population and are able to mobilize unlimited amounts of cannon fodder as already seen. Mostly composed of already "unwanted" minority groups and criminals (Wagner).

How will NATO deal with this simple yet extremely challenging problem when NATO troops are never going to engage directly with Russian troops on the ground in Ukraine? If they do this war will escalate into a potential and direct NATO-Russia war and then every bet is off the table, including the use of nuclear weapons. No party has interest in such a thing despite empty rhetoric from the Russian side.

Moreover and maybe even more importantly, what is Ukraine, if they ever reclaim Crimea, Donbas and other majority Russian territories in Ukraine, going to do with the millions upon millions of ethnic Russians in Ukraine of which the majority of those people don't want to be a part of Ukraine?

And not only that, Russia has been pretty "civilized" for their part compared to their historical modus operandi as seen in Chechnya or Afghanistan or WW2. Due to them initially trying to win over Ukrainians which as I wrote, was a complete failure and counterproductive.

Anyway my main points remain, how do you answer this?

Lastly how long will the elected governments in Europe and the US justify billions upon billions of tax payers money being spent on far-away Ukraine when 1) Russia is never going to directly attack any NATO member, 2) the people say enough is enough in times of already challenging economic times, other priorities, tiredness from the war/media coverage etc. We already see this occurring in numerous European states and in the US.

It is not as simple as you thing it is, the Russians were supposed to be dead and buried by September. It seems that nobody has learnt from WW1, WW2, Napoleon's wars etc. Russia is an incredibly hard nut to crack if history is our witness.

Moreover and maybe even more importantly, what is Ukraine, if they ever reclaim Crimea, Donbas and other majority Russian territories in Ukraine, going to do with the millions upon millions of ethnic Russians in Ukraine of which the majority of those people don't want to be a part of Ukraine?

You could ask Russia the exact same question. What is Russian going to do with the millions of ukrainians who doesnt want to be part of Russia? The ukrainians could just force the pro russians get the hell back to Russia. I dont think any pro russians collaborating with Russia wants to stay anyway, once ukrainian forces gain control.

 

[Corruptistan]

Moreover and maybe even more importantly, what is Ukraine, if they ever reclaim Crimea, Donbas and other majority Russian territories in Ukraine, going to do with the millions upon millions of ethnic Russians in Ukraine of which the majority of those people don't want to be a part of Ukraine?

You could ask Russia the exact same question. What is Russian going to do with the millions of ukrainians who doesnt want to be part of Russia? The ukrainians could just force the pro russians get the hell back to Russia. I dont think any pro russians collaborating with Russia wants to stay anyway, once ukrainian forces gain control.

But from what I can see, most of the territory that Russia has conquered from Ukraine is mainly inhabited by either ethnic Russians or Ukrainian Russian speakers that have a degree of affinity with Russia and which prior to 2014 used to vote almost exclusively for pro-Russian parties. How are they ever going to integrate into an extremely Russophobic Kiev regime that even goes so far as banning pro-Russian political parties, the Russian language and is actively rewriting history?

I don't think that people understand the historical divisions within Ukraine. People east of the Dnipro river are very different from the Western Ukrainians. West Ukrainian is often Catholic, was ruled/dominated by Poland/Polish people for almost 600 years, the architecture and culture is different, the political identity (Western Ukraine being a hotbed of Ukrainian nationalism, where most of the Nazi Ukrainian collaborators were from, Bandera and other extremist hotbed) vs Eastern Ukraine.

You do realize that half of Ukraine, in particular Eastern and Southern Ukraine, was founded and settled by Russians right? Most of the cities were founded and built by the Russian empire. 100.000's if not millions of ethnic Russians settled those regions that used to be barren steppe or inhabited by Crimean Tatars.

Do you think that Russians fell down from the sky in Eastern and Southern Ukraine and Crimea? They are not going anywhere. Most of the inhabitants, whether Russian or Ukrainian (ethnicity) don't even speak Ukrainian, lol.

Zelenskiy himself barely speaks Ukrainian and his mother tongue is Russian.

 

[F-22Raptor]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1626753732590419971

 

[jhungary]

But from what I can see, most of the territory that Russia has conquered from Ukraine is mainly inhabited by either ethnic Russians or Ukrainian Russian speakers that have a degree of affinity with Russia and which prior to 2014 used to vote almost exclusively for pro-Russian parties. How are they ever going to integrate into an extremely Russophobic Kiev regime that even goes so far as banning pro-Russian political parties, the Russian language and is actively rewriting history?

I don't think that people understand the historical divisions within Ukraine. People east of the Dnipro river are very different from the Western Ukrainians. West Ukrainian is often Catholic, was ruled/dominated by Poland/Polish people for almost 600 years, the architecture and culture is different, the political identity (Western Ukraine being a hotbed of Ukrainian nationalism, where most of the Nazi Ukrainian collaborators were from, Bandera and other extremist hotbed) vs Eastern Ukraine.

You do realize that half of Ukraine, in particular Eastern and Southern Ukraine, was founded and settled by Russians right? Most of the cities were founded and built by the Russian empire. 100.000's if not millions of ethnic Russians settled those regions that used to be barren steppe or inhabited by Crimean Tatars.

Do you think that Russians fell down from the sky in Eastern and Southern Ukraine and Crimea? They are not going anywhere. Most of the inhabitants, whether Russian or Ukrainian (ethnicity) don't even speak Ukrainian, lol.

Zelenskiy himself barely speaks Ukrainian and his mother tongue is Russian.

You either see wrong, or you simply just buy into Russian perspective.

From what I have seen when i was living over there early 2010s, and the people I know, there were never large enough of population in the occupation region (Crimea, Donbas) are ethnic Russian, bear in mind the term "Ethnic" Russia is people who of Russian root, themselves born or have generation of family member living in Russia. Those are about 20-25% in the East, less than 10% in the West.

Russia counted Russian Speaking Ukrainian as "Ethnic" Russian, if that is the case, then even Zelenskyy himself could be and should be considered as Ethic Russian. Because he was brough up in Kryvyi Riv, which is a Russian Speaking part of Ukraine.

It's different between Russian Speaking Ukrainian and Ethnic Russian Ukrainian. The first one identify themselves as Ukrainian, they may or may not sympathizes with Russian position (I personally know a dozen of them in Kharkiv who condemn Maidan) and I even show a post from my Facebook feed from one of the most Pro-Russian Ukrainian I know who was actually born in Transnistria

Russia-Ukraine War - News and Developments

Why would China support the west when they west is constantly sabatoging, demonizing and vilifying China on a daily basis? Do you think China exists in a vacuum, totally unaware of which countries are trying to hurt it and which countries bankroll billions to create a regime of fake news to...

defence.pk

She supports annexation of Crimea, she denounced Maidan, and she ran back to Transnistria when the war started (her own word) which is another enclave for Pro-Russian movement in Moldova and she sign off that Facebook post with #FuckyouRussianWarship (the message those snake island defender send to Moskva) and you know she is typing Russian because she uses 24 февраля instead of 24 лютого

it's one thing you think you are pro-Russia, it's another when Russian bomb just destroyed your home and killed your dog.

I mean, i have no trouble for you or anyone to be pro-Russia, but don't buy into stuff that you never understand, it's a lot more complicated than your think, it's not just "These people are Pro-Russia" and Russia is legit to use force to recapture those places.

 

[Hack-Hook]

There is no civilian use of Tabun and Mustard gas. There is plenty of civilian use of the components of Mustard gas. You are still to prove that European companies delivered more than components.
anies
One such component is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethylene.

Selling ethylene is not selling chemical weapons.

Selling equipment which can be used for a variety of chemical processes is not ”selling chemical weapons”.

That Saddam built a factory to produce Mustard gas does not mean that anyone delivering machinery for that factory do so with the knowledge that it will be used for chemical weapons.

As usual, you just produce claims without proof.

the factory built by European companies