Russia - threadbanned users in OP

Yes I agree it will mean they will unleash their next set of almighty sanctions that may irratate the Russians a tiny bit more...

All this talk of threat of nuclear weapons is utter nonsense.

Of course it's possible they are doing things without announcing them; but the language out of NATO as a whole and Germany in particular suggests they're just not willing to transfer what they keep calling "offensive" weapons.

Individual nations seem to have leeway to make transfers unilaterally but it also seems that NATO is making it very clear that those transfers should only be of equipment Ukraine currently operates. Or at the very least must be equivalent to capabilities Ukraine already has.

I also believe a large part of supplying these weapons will be as political pressure on Russia and as political support for Ukraine; both things which are best served by being fairly open about equipment that might be sent.

And the other thing is that NATO absolutely does not want some piece of NATO equipment being spotted in Ukraine out of the blue and for Russia to assess it as a direct NATO involvement or to use it for propaganda purposes; so I would expect any NATO equipment transfers to be announced widely before they make their way into Ukraine.

Well spoken sir. From the country whose economy is based on being a safe haven for war loot and other ill-gotten gains.

Morality play? You're never going to understand?

What a pathetic statement. I simply said they need to be given weapons that will make a difference.

Who voted you as the analytical genius of Boards? Obviously just yourself.

Your kind represent all that's worst about Boards... you cant post a decent response without including sarcastic, barbed comments and implying others are not at your mastermind level of understanding. Pretty sad really.

I think we've gone past that stage as I'm sure that Putin and his Kremlin cronies already view this as a proxy war, and it's already being portrayed as such to the Russian populace.

I can see nothing but serious escalation from hereon in.

Unfortunately these things happen in war. Russian soldiers are quite brutal, and sadly this wasn't unexpected.

I’m not defending Switzerland. I’m saying people on this forum keep going on about the impotent west. Meanwhile Ireland offers nothing. Would the Irish population accept a 10% Ukraine tax to help fund western military intervention? Because war is not cheap unlike posting on a forum. It’s easy to give out about France, Germany, NATO etc when Ireland had nothing to lose but more expensive petrol prices etc.

you’re poorly educated if you think that is how the Swiss economy is funded by the way.

Yes but nobody is prescient; nobody knows what the end result of any decision is likely to be.

And even worse the so-called intelligence apparatuses badly misread Putin and Russia on this conflict and at multiple points in the past: why would the politicians let alone Johnny Public trust their assessments now?

I can only see escalation happening after clear verification of some concrete change on the ground rather than the other way around; and those escalations from the West are likely to be the same as they have been until this point: economic sanctions, political rebukes, and additional military aid which keeps Ukraine fighting but doesn’t give them the ability to reach into Russia or threaten their air or sea assets in a meaningful way.

How about the rest of the world has earth and putin and his fellow country men can head off to Venus

Outside of Europe and North America virtually nobody in the rest of the world cares one iota about the war in Ukraine,it is to them just a small conflict amongst whites thousands of miles away and no concern of theirs.

Similar to what the conflict in say for example Yemen or Sudan is to us.

Anyone driving around Irish, British or European roads with a Russian flag should have a brick fcuked through their window by anyone that can lay their hands on one. No better than the raping pedophiles they call an army.

Ahh FFS

I am not fine with Russians killing women, kids, the old or raping women and girls.

My point, which you completely failed to notice, is if it was possible for Russia to be bombed or even invaded, I would have no problem with the Ukrainians leveling their towns and cities.

And if civilians died then tough shyte.

Tough luck, they are part of a country that has brought war and destruction to others and you can't not be attacking them because some of them might not be in favour of the war or the regime in charge.

I went looking a little bit anyway and found this. Not related to Ukraine but concerning a Russian ally.

Media and military experts said Sunday that six Chinese Air Force Y-20 transport planes landed at Belgrade's civilian airport early Saturday, reportedly carrying HQ-22 surface-to-air missile systems for the Serbian military.

The Chinese cargo planes with military markings were pictured at Belgrade's Nikola Tesla airport. Serbia's defense ministry did not immediately respond to AP’s request for comment.

The arms delivery over the territory of at least two NATO member states, Turkey and Bulgaria, was seen by experts as a demonstration of China’s growing global reach.

“The Y-20s’ appearance raised eyebrows because they flew en masse as opposed to a series of single-aircraft flights,” wrote The Warzone online magazine. “The Y-20′s presence in Europe in any numbers is also still a fairly new development.”

Of course we all know how worried you are for the Russians 🙄

You can't defeat a country without killing people.

FFS I didn't know there were so many devout followers of Christ around here with the love of turning the other cheek.

As I keep saying you can't defeat an enemy if you aren't willing to kill the enemy.

And don't give me this shyte that the enemy is Putin.

Ukrainians have to consider every Russian to be their enemy, just like British, French, indeed Russians themselves had to consider every German to be their enemy in WW2.

There is a fooking reason Putin has done this and it is precisely because he sees the West as weak because the way a huge chunk of people are not willing to countenance hard actions.