NATO enforced no fly zone...
 

...has not been mentioned in a while but NATO, or as I prefer the free world, has already crossed a couple of Mr Putin's red lines. Namely by imposing putative sanctions and supplying massive arms supplies. Putin said at the outset that he would consider such acts to be a declaration of war. His bluff was called.

Is it now time for NATO to enforce a no fly zone over the Ukraine?

Still no and best to keep the NATO bit out of it, unless Putin attacks part of the defensive alliance.

Nation states, as a coalition, should come together and take direct action at the request of Ukraine, inside the boarders of the Ukraine, to defend and defeat the aggressor's actions.

Being part of NATO does not preclude a nation state from taking such action. We have been unwise to suggest otherwise.

I do agree with this but it also starts to generate gray areas that Putin is a master at taking advantage of. If he wanted to call any involvement NATO directed (even if it wasn't) then he would. I would be inclined to go full on with the sanctions, cut the pipe line and provide financial assistance to Germany and other countries who would be hurt most. It would probably be cheaper in the long run and save many lives too.

There are rumours that this may be either a Walt or rogue account spreading false information.

That is not what we need. There is enough confusion generated by the well intended without someone deliberately muddying the waters.

No it didn't.

Ukrainian armed forces on twitter regarding Russian losses. The amount of anything flying is of interest, if this is even in the range of actual situation the Russians are losing AC by the rate of 9 per day.

I was referring to the Twitter account in the link not Ninthace, to avoid any confusion.

Possible links to the attack on the column here. Reddit posts tend to get deleted due to repeated posting so if you are late reading this they may be gone.

https://www.reddit.com/r/CombatFoota...eb2x&context=3

https://www.reddit.com/r/CombatFoota...eb2x&context=3

Plenty of fake footage around but this is convincing enough for me. One could almost feel sorry for the Russian conscripts -- if the world except Russia hadn't seen the horrific scenes from so many Ukrainian cities. Superb ambush.

Rumours now of some kind of Russian "provocation" in Moldova. Lots of NATO assets airborne on the border. What should NATO do if they do something nasty there?

Yes, potential for us to be at cross purposes there. My comment was not directed at you or Ninthace but at the potential Walt twitter site.

There's been rumblings about Russia's presence in Moldova for a week or two now. Given its only a relatively small contingent of troops coupled with the fact they're now effectively cut-off from Russia, I'm not placing too much stall in this.

If anything I suspect the Russians would like to draw upon some their forces their to use in the east of Ukraine.

On a separate note, whatever happened to those four rust-bucket ships which set sail from eastern Russia during the first week of the conflict? No further news on these AFAIK

They look like two different attacks, possibly neither of which were the one claimed in the Tweet.

In the second clip it was interesting to note that the gunners appear to have stay focused on whatever kit was hidden in the trees, not the troops fleeing the scene.

They can publish all they want in Russia that the war is going well, but how can they hide the fact that it isn't when they start actively recruiting ex servicemen from way back in 2012, that has go to be a sign to the public that all is probably not well and the losses must be significant..

There is a film showing Russian troops heading for Ukraine and as the vehicles pass the locals are applauding them, one truck is actually being towed by another...I did think who posts these videos without looking at what is being shown, it's not exacty showing the Russian military at its finest having to tow their trucks into a warzone.
It is rather like the one with the temporary bridge crossing one where you can see sunken Russian tanks and vehicles either side, again not exactly the best thing to publish in a propaganda war.

Those were most probably taking part in the Kuril islands drills. Makes much more sense than trying to sneak them to Black Sea via closed Bosphorus. The troops and equipment would've made it much faster via railways if they would've been on their way to Ukraine.
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe...ia-2022-03-26/

Since we are talking about Moldova, can anyone say if there has been any explanation why Ukraine has not attacked ( with one exception ) outside its borders ? My only thought was propaganda i;e. to not give Putin any opportunity to say that Ukraine is attacking them, but that was only valid for the first days of the conflict.

Agree nothing I have read has mentioned it, I think the Krab will probably be the way they go,

Probably not capable of it, there was the 2 strikes on the ammo and fuel dum probably husbanding its resources.

I suspect the switch blades might be a catalyst. Throw the SOF get them near an airfield and use switchblades to destroy planes and helicpters. Theres an airfield about 180 from the border that have about 20-30 combat aircraft flying for it

The Moldovian Russian annex of 2000 troops isn't doing anything at the moment, so why stir up a hornets nest on your border that is combat inneffective when there are more pressing needs and bigger fish to fry.
Those troops also will be seeing Western media reports and I bet they do not relish getting involved as they are not as subject to the brainwashing going on with Russian state media.

Rheinmetall ready to supply up to 50 tanks to Ukraine (Leopard 1 and Marder).

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe...er-2022-04-11/

I thought the Chancellor has blocked it?

Not Yet approved by Government:

Four hours ago:

It has been the defence minister - Christine Lambrecht - who has blocked this, plus other armoured vehicles, plus artillery. Her argument is that these units are pledged to NATO and cannot therefore be "removed" . This sounds plausible, but ignores the fact that Germany has been failing to meet many NATO obligations for years now.

Lambrecht is on the left of the SPD and very evidently doesn't want to supply weapons. She has , for example, said that the Ukranians had specifically asked for details of weapons transfer to be kept secret. The Ukranian ambassador has flat out denied that, saying that they are happy for news, quantities of weapons supply to be made public, but not timings and routings. The widely-believed implication is that she fears details of Germany's weak performance would humiliate her. She made a statement the other day that Germany was the biggest supplier of arms to Ukraine: it then turned out that her criterion was weight ! This was based on a few old BMP's from old stock somewhere. She was also the one responsible for Germany's initial effort which was a shipment of 5 000 helmets as her intention was only to deliver "defensive " goods.

Scholz has already stripped her of some major responsibilities and she is not expected to last long.

Before the election she had announced she was going to resign and go back to her "dream-job" of being a lawyer, but changed her mind when offered the defence Ministry.

With "friends" like her ...

:mad:

The problem I can forsee is ammunition as the NATO standard round is a different calibre to the ammunition the Ukrainians are using in their ex Soviet tanks, that said all of NATO should be able to supply ammunition for them.

There are various version of the Leo 1, does it say which version we are talking about the -4 an -5 are the newer models

It seems to be the Leopard 1A5 that's being talked talked about.

I think the problem is more likely to be that Leo 1s use the old RO 105mm gun. It'll be interesting to see just how much 105mm APFSDS (or similar) ammo has been retained in NATO warstocks.

I have great respect for Rheinmetall, having been hit by one of their 20mm. ☹️

Mog

Seeing as they will be used to degrade NATO's principle adversary, surely there should be no reason to hold back?

How are the German public reacting to all this prevarication?

These aren't ex-Bundeswehr tanks, but ones taken in part-exchange by Rheinmetall when selling their new stuff to foreign states, so likely to be fairly old ( although, obviously, "just one careful owner" ) :O. A couple of articles have said that ammunition will be a problem and Brazil was mentioned as a possible supplier as their tanks use the same type.

Strangely all the comment is by reporters and politicians and the only explicit public expression of emotion seems to have been the pro-Russia car convoys.( just displaying Russian flags, no propaganda/speeches allowed ) There were many more anti-war demonstrations at the end of February, and there continue to be much smaller ones still, but nothing happening on a national scale i.e. city-centres inundated. Also bizarrely the Green foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, is probably the most fiercely outspoken in favour of Ukraine weapon-shipments and cancelling all Russian energy supplies. The welcoming of refugees, of whom 310 000 have registered ( 84% female ) has just happened without any great fanfare Since registration is voluntary and passport checks are not being enforced, the numbers will certainly be higher:

Given Germany's generally greater sensibility to political events and readiness to get out on the streets, I find this "stillness" very strange. There has been next-to-no dissent about the proposed purchase of F 35's, an extra 100 Mrd for the Bundeswehr to make it a capable force again and the raise to 2% for future military expenditure.

Useful analysis of the techniques the Russians use for shooting themselves in the foot.
https://on.ft.com/3vaGhT3

Whilst reading around, I came across an interesting article in the Austrian paper, Der Standard.

As a neutral country , Austria currently spends 0.7% on defence, the military want this raised to 1%.

In the 90's Austria bought used Leopard 2 A4 and has currently 56: some of these are used as spare-parts stores and the running ones have the technical level of 1980 i.e. no night-vision, weak hydraulics

15 Eurofighters with no night-fighting capability ( unsure if technical or training ) thinking about buying Tranche 1 Eurofighters from GB for spares/other material, or in the medium-term buying another plane;

It really does look like the next 10 years are going to be good for Rheinmetall, BAe, Boeing, Bayraktar et al.

That depends on whether the politicians have the balls to properly spank Putin and seriously degrade the threat.

Neutral or non-aligned, I could suggest that everyone in Greater Europe (geographically) should belatedly reconsider their position in the face of Putin’s lunacy. The cork is out if the bottle for the current “Peace in our time.”

Not a problem for the whole of eastern Europe, with a couple of notable and obvious exceptions, also the UK and some Scandi countries. In contrast I've seen no reports of direct military aid from the likes of France, Spain, the low countries, Italy etc. Maybe they're letting the EU do their talking?

France - mid March E 300 million gift plus unspecified tonnage of fuel, 60 tonnes humanitarian aid to Moldova and Poland
NL - E 20 million, sniper-rifles, helmets, Manpads
Be - 3 800 tonnes fuel, 2 000 smg, 3 000 assault rifles
Italy - E 110 million gift plus unspecified military equipment
Ireland E 20 million ( noticed while searching that Ireland spends about 0.28% on defence.)+

There may be other donations, but too difficult to search everything

Skua,

Excellent article you posted from FT....proves innovation and social media can be exploited to enhance Intelligence Collection.

Ukraine military and intelligence forces seem to be thinking outside the box and benefitting from that.

Agreed … the benefits of not being over-controlled from Moscow Centre, and permitting flexibility and initiative below Colonel level in a dynamoc scenario.

Standard Russian tactics from WW2, thanks to Zhukov. Hammer with Artillery (ground and air) and then advance, regardless of casualties. It worked in the Soviet era, but it’s a bit outdated now. Especially (in contrast to 1945) against a highly motivated, intelligent and well-led/equipped opponent. Artillery may be the King of the Battlefield, but only if the ammunition supply and personnel can get there … which seems to be a bit of a problem for RU forces.