The Ukraine Situation

[Blackcat1]

The man is clearly insane.

[seven]

Spot on. Not only that..

All leaders 'Putin has committed a crime by invading Ukraine'

The Hague....

[Blackcat1]

Jumped up little power crazy b*****d! Another Hitler I fear!

[Fizz]

Spot on. Not only that..

All leaders 'Putin has committed a crime by invading Ukraine'

The Hague....

Not only him though... His air force firing missiles at civilian houses too

[AyrForce1]

Aeroflot B777 now 2 hours out from Heathrow.Surely now it should be denied access to UK airspace!

Reportedly, we now have our wish

Although Boris announced the Aeroflot specific ban in his statement, as of about an hour ago there's a general UK airspace restriction notam in place (B0473/22) for any Russian connected aircraft, with exceptions granted where necessary - so maybe I haven't seen my last Volga-Dnepr just yet...

[DGSP69]

Sorry if this has already been covered elsewhere, I have not been all over this much today but I wondered if either of the Capital's civilian airports had been hit with potential airframes destroyed?

[Red-Eye-Knight]

Jumped up little power crazy b*****d! Another Hitler I fear!

I thought you were talking about Nicola Sturgeon there for a minute

[Blackcat1]

Jumped up little power crazy b*****d! Another Hitler I fear!

I thought you were talking about Nicola Sturgeon there for a minute

[seven]

Although Boris announced the Aeroflot specific ban in his statement, as of about an hour ago there's a general UK airspace restriction notam in place (B0473/22) for any Russian connected aircraft, with exceptions granted where necessary - so maybe I haven't seen my last Volga-Dnepr just yet...

I noticed a Volga An-124 at EMA yesterday, and wondered why on earth it wasn't impounded then..
All russian owned aircraft should be impounded for repatriation to Ukraine once this is over. Assuming of course there's a Ukraine left by then..

[slogen51]

The question to be asked surly is
will Mr Putin really want to sacrifice hundreds of Russian lives on a war he cant win ,
The coalition forces in Desert Storm used in excess of 250000 troops to take a country that is very much smaller than Ukraine is , and against a poor (to say the least) conscript invading army

I dont think for all UK/USA/EU bluster etc that Russia will invade Ukraine, they are achieving what they want without shots being fired in that the west is spending millions of pound/dollars/euros moving troops ......

A week is a long time

Today's world has become so unpredictable with all the discord and disharmony between countries and within nation states. Megalomaniacs like Putin can feed off this to expand empires under the flag of unification. Where will he stop - next try to destabilise Romania - not today but in years to come?

PS I am gobsmaked that Biden was right!

[XWP29]

I hope you are not the Rob C at Mildenhall whom I get on well with and quite admire - that would be a shame to fall out over this. I would quite happily live in a world where military aviation was not required and we could all live in peace and spot at Heathrow every Saturday

Heathrow? Saturdays? You’ve gone too far this time Mike.

[Red-Eye-Knight]

Did anyone see the BBC news at 10? Was the newsreader crying at the start? As sure looked like it when I rewound it.

[slogen51]

From the BBC

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland- ... s-60508620

Former First Minister Alex Salmond has suspended his talk show on Russian state broadcasting channel RT.
He had been under increased pressure to stop appearing on the channel because of the crisis in Ukraine.

An episode was posted on the RT website on Thursday morning, but Mr Salmond has now said the show will end "until peace is re-established".

His successor Nicola Sturgeon had said she was "appalled" that the show had continued and urged him to "reflect".

The Alex Salmond Show launched on RT in 2017 as a weekly talk show produced by Slainte Media, a company set up by Mr Salmond and fellow ex-SNP MP Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh.

[Pune]

Did anyone see the BBC news at 10? Was the newsreader crying at the start? As sure looked like it when I rewound it.

I think Clive just looks absolutely knackered

[raptor9]

Sadly. I think that the only thing that the Ukraine can do is surrender to Putin's thugs, in order to save loss of life. They are not going to be rescued by anyone, and in my opinion it would be pointless to put up a resistance against such overwhelming odds. The only thing that the rest of the Free World can do is to punish Russia very, very severely economically with sanctions, because it is the only way to get back at this Stalinesque idiot. Despite their optimism Ukraine cannot possibly beat the Russian Army. Such a shame. Ukraine is a beautiful country with lovely people. Had some good times there in 1991. [Been wearing blue and yellow clothes today.]

[Rob666]

Surely some things are more important than spotters seeing some aircraft and more concerning what is happening to the free people of Ukraine.

Oh for feck sake I know that - you are sooooo patronising

I suppose if I mentioned increase oil prices you will say there are more important things than driving your car !

This a military aviation site for enthusiasts

People come out with these platitudes while comfortably sitting in their safe European homes - I find it pretty insulting.

Good reply Mike, There's been too many of these types of posts today.

What an opinion to a post. I love my hobby, hence on FC. I think most of us sit in our safe homes and can’t comprehend what the people of Ukraine must be feeling not trying to be insulting just responding to how the post was worded.

[Rhubarb]

Evening all, I'm sorry that I was right on Putin's intentions for Ukraine and perhaps his plan for the new iron curtain! Basically Putin is a bully and no amount of talk or taking his sweets of him will work. I have learnd at great cost, that bullies can only be sorted by giving them a red nose again and again till they stop getting up ! Sanctions may take as long as ten years it was said on question time tonight. We cannot afford to wait that long. As far as I know ? We waited till late 1944 before trying to assassinate Hitler with a carpet bombing raid on his Bearsden retreat by Lancasters. I can only hope that MI6 are planning something with Mr Bond or perhaps today's version of Harry Palmer, as they realy need to show their worth now and pay back the investments in such security organisations ! Having to stop this Putin madness with a European all out war will be horrible especially with our reductions in defence by politically correct and pacifist politicians.
Please God, that right will prevail over might !

[Supra]

I've been considering this imminent betrayal for days now... Twenty-five years ago, Ukraine possessed the world’s third-largest nuclear arsenal. It had inherited 175 long-range missiles and more than 1,800 warheads after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Following two years of talks been the United States, Russia, and Ukraine, U.S. President Bill Clinton announced a breakthrough on January 10, 1994. Ukraine had agreed to remove all nuclear weapons from its soil in exchange for assurances that Russia would respect its sovereignty. Clearly Pres' Pukin is a short memory, deceitful, lying, small-man syndrome, pencil-dick sufferer who has concocted the most ridiculous excuses to invade Ukraine citing among others, Threats to Russia, Nazified Ideals, Genocide & the need for a Peace-keeping intervention. This deluded poisonous midget needs replacing soon, be it democratically or due to his rapid demise! Now, where did I put that Novichok enema?

[paddyboy]

[slogen51]

Evening all, I'm sorry that I was right on Putin's intentions for Ukraine and perhaps his plan for the new iron curtain! Basically Putin is a bully and no amount of talk or taking his sweets of him will work. I have learnd at great cost, that bullies can only be sorted by giving them a red nose again and again till they stop getting up ! Sanctions may take as long as ten years it was said on question time tonight. We cannot afford to wait that long. As far as I know ? We waited till late 1944 before trying to assassinate Hitler with a carpet bombing raid on his Bearsden retreat by Lancasters. I can only hope that MI6 are planning something with Mr Bond or perhaps today's version of Harry Palmer, as they realy need to show their worth now and pay back the investments in such security organisations ! Having to stop this Putin madness with a European all out war will be horrible especially with our reductions in defence by politically correct and pacifist politicians.
Please God, that right will prevail over might !

You were correct as it turned out - I think a lot of people on here had opinions on this and as you say the BBC were commenting on the build up of Russian forces. But this thread started life in the FC message section so unless replies were centered around military aviation it was difficult to contribute anything interesting without repeating the decline in size of the military resulting from the cooling of the cold war! That doesn't really make sense , is that an oxymoron

In hindsight courting former Eastern bloc countries to join NATO was always going to antagonize Moscow hardliners. To me it seemed that Poland became a friendly forward base for the US almost overnight. I am obviously not a military strategist but I have heard you need to be careful not to corner your opponent unless you intend to finish it. Russia was becoming surrounded by newly recruited NATO counties , Poland , Estonia , Latvia , Lithuania I think the decommunisation of the Ukraine was a red flag to a bull.

As sovereign states these former Soviet satellite countries have the right to do as they wish but you do need to respect your neighbours feelings - it's exactly like living in a street - if you erect a whacking great raised deck for parties or a wood burner with a tall chimney then your neighbours will respond in kind.