Putin and Maskirovka* - whilst everyone is ooohing and aaahing over Blackjacks bombing Syria, keep an eye on Ukraine. This could be a Spetnaz lead casus bellum to justify the seizure of a land corridor from Russia to Crimea

*https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russ...tary_deception

State of emergency declared in Crimea after activists 'blow up' electricity pylons - Telegraph

A state of emergency has been declared in Crimea after pylons carrying electricity from Ukraine were blown up cutting off power to almost two million people, media and the Russian government said on Sunday.

The Russian Energy Ministry didn't say what had caused the outages, but Russian media reported that two pylons in the Kherson region of Ukraine north of Crimea had been blown up by Ukrainian nationalists. The attack, if by Ukrainian nationalists opposed to Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine last year, is likely to further increase tensions between Russia and Ukraine.

Russia's Energy Ministry said in a statement that two power lines bringing power from Ukraine to Crimea had been affected, as a result of which 1,896,000 people had been left without power. The ministry said that a state of emergency had been declared in Crimea. It also said that emergency supplies had been turned on for critical needs and 13 mobile gas turbine generators were being prepared.

Ilya Kiva, a senior officer in the Ukrainian police who was at the scene, also said on his Facebook page that the pylons had been blown up, without giving further details.

On Saturday, the pylons were the scene of violent clashes between activists from the Right Sector nationalist movement and paramilitary police, Ukrainian media reported. The pylons had already been damaged by the activists on Friday before they were blown up on Saturday night, according to these reports.

"Crimea is completely cut off," Viktor Plakida, the director of Crimea Energy, told Russia's Tass news agency.........

Airspace closed.
 

Ukraine closes its airspace to Russia as gas supply dispute erupts | World news | The Guardian


Can they enforce this flight ban? Back to an energy crisis again then?
A workmate who happens to live in the Ukraine described the difficulty he faced last winter, securing heat and energy for his 4 child family plus wife.
The local govt. effectively turned off his electric and concentrated the power supplies to urban areas. Because they could. Basically he was on his own, as he lives in a rural area.No electric was available, for days at a time. " I nearly could have seen them killed by the cold">
Using the little tots, one of them a little boy of 3, he and the family dug themselves out of the 4 deep extensive snow drifts and he forced his way by car through to the in-laws and relative sanctuary.
This year he put in a wind turbine, a oil powered generator+tank and some solar panels... he's a clever lad, an electrical engineer and well capable of rapid improvisation.
Life in the Ukraine for millions of ordinary folk.
Good job we've got loads of power supply surplus in England for countering Generals January and February hmmmm?

Putin restarting his second front.....

Truce Unravels as Fighting Picks Up in Ukraine

ORAC,

NYT correspondent talking to a Ukraine batallion commander is as truly as a Russian media correspondent talking to an Assad army officer in Suria. Totally biased.

Better look at official reports of the OSCE, they issue them on a regular basis. Teethless OSCE is also pro current Ukrainian regime and biased accordingly, but at least their monitoring mission is permanently deployed in the area and is visiting every now and then both conflicting Ukrainian sides.

Here is their latest report as of Feb. 20:
Latest from OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine, based on information received as of 19:30hrs, 19 February 2016 | OSCE

In fact, uncontrolled (or poorly controlled) armed gangs on both sides shooting at each other.....

Did you read it Van, and what the OSCE deputy chief of mission said?.....

"Alexander Hug, the deputy chief of the monitoring mission in eastern Ukraine for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, told journalists on Friday that observers last week saw 88 tanks on the pro-Russian side of the line. He did not specify their origin, and Russia has denied sending weapons to help the rebels.

“They just sit there, armed and battle-ready, within easy reach of the contact line,” Mr. Hug said of the tanks."

Yes, the key words are "They just sit there...". Similarly, another 88, or 188, or 288 tanks are in the same status (waiting mode, ready to quickly advance to the front line and open fire) on the governmental side. The same OSCE mission often reports that heavy weapons of the governmental forces disappeared from the locations they were supposed to be. No surprise, both sides do not trust each other and do not strictly follow fragile agreements like so-called "Minsk-2".
Thanks God, they all (tanks) are not shooting now. Only machine guns and light artillery sporadically "talk".

I find it stupid to say/write twice a sentence "pro-Russian", "Russian support" , etc. with regard to separatists. To be consistent, the other side should always be "marked" as "NATO backed" or "US controlled", but what's the use of escalating the tension? They all are (poor) Ukrainian citizens, involved in a civil war.

All possible means should be looked for and used to calm down the situation in that region.

The poor Ukrainian citizens as you put it did not invite Russia in to occupy their country and kill their populace, the only way it will ever get resolved is for Putin to pack up his little tanks, return the assets he looted and return back home from whence they came.

On the territory inhabited by Ukrainians, there is no war. War is only in the Donbass.

I get the uneasy feeling that between the Ukraine, Syria and the latest activity in the South China Seas, that Russia and China are going to test the resolve of the USA in the sunup to the November election.

We live in very dangerous times......

Russian Troop Buildup Along Ukraine Border Raises War Fears

Russia Accuses Ukraine Of 'Terrorist' Attack In Crimea

Fears Mount of Full-scale Ukraine-Russia Clash

Poroshenko Puts Troops In Eastern Ukraine On Highest Alert

Ah by chance....is Britain the "Token" military in this affair?

ORAC,


Your feeling is wrong, you may relax and feel more easy.


Especially the link between events in Ukraine and S. Chinese sea is obviously beyond any reasonable conspirology.


Who cares about the US elections here? Both candidates are bad in general and very bad for Russia.


China cares even less. No matter who is (will be) in the White House, they are concentrating so much mil. power in the S. Chinese sea, so that, IMHO, none of a US fleet could compete with them (to say nothing that US has nothing to do in their backyard). I was traveling not so long ago along/around the Hainan island (on vacation) and was surprised, though obviously a tourist can only see "a small top of an iceberg".

Really Van? I'd go chat with your boss, someone has crossed wires - Sputnik is a mouthpiece for the Russian government. See my post on the South China Seas thread.....

http://www.pprune.org/military-aviat...ml#post9473988

ORAC, actually, this thread about the Ukrainian crisis.
And switching from a subject to personality is a bad practice.
Returning the ball, I suggest you go chat to your boss, I do not have one, sorry. But I have my own brains to filter the data no matter where they come from.


It always amazes me how often people talk about subjects they never touched in reality or closely dealt with. Have you ever been to Russia, Ukraine, Crimea, Donbass? I did, and I do have friends and relatives on both Russian and Ukrainian sides. The whole problem in Ukraine cannot be painted in black and white (by any side). It's a civil war in the Eastern Ukraine, and all sides are responsible for that (including Russia supporting separatists and the West supporting ultra-nationalists that took power after the coup).

Here it comes.

Ukraine reports nearly 100 attacks on Ukrainian army positions in Donbas in past 24 hours

And so what? This is an official Ukrainian press, controlled by the government...


The other (separatist) side publishes similar posts about hundreds high-caliber shots on Donbass living quarters, women and children wounded, houses destroyed, etc.....


Somebody should give an unbiased picture, e.g. those so-called EU "peacekeepers" or "monitoring mission", but i) they are biased, ii) they are toothless, iii) when they report that Kiev breaks some agreements, nobody publishes that.


Sorry for repeating on MHO: both sides are to be blamed and condamned. This is a civil war that should be stopped ASAP. Since German and French "mediators" proved to be unable to do anything, perhaps the US should openly come into scene if they really like to end this idiotism?

Don't hold your breath. Current administration doesn't seem to have Ukraine very high on the priority list.

Washington Post: The Price of Powerlessness

Russian Military Forces Staging Near Ukraine

The Pentagon has identified eight staging areas in Russia where large numbers of military forces appear to be preparing for incursions into Ukraine, according to U.S. defense officials.

As many as 40,000 Russian troops, including tanks, armored vehicles, and air force units, are now arrayed along Ukraine’s eastern border with Russia. Additionally, large numbers of Russian military forces will conduct exercises in the coming days that Pentagon officials say could be used as cover for an attack on Ukraine.

“Russian units will likely practice reinforcing the [Crimean] peninsula through such activities as amphibious landings and air defense exercises, and this may involve the change out of equipment and long convoys of military vehicles,” one defense official said.

The military exercises are an ominous sign. Similar large-scale Russian exercises were conducted near Ukraine a month before Moscow carried out the covert military operation to take over the strategic Black Sea peninsula in March 2014..........

Military action in Europe in August/September has a longggg history - the ground has dried out over summer, the crops are in, you have 3-4 months before it gets seriously cold

Plus a lot of the politicians are on holiday and so slow to react