"Russia's Slow-Motion Invasion of Ukraine" Topic

"Is Russia invading Ukraine? Ask Ukraine, and the answer is yes. Ask Russia, and the answer is no … ish. Ask the United States, and you'll learn that Russia, since annexing Crimea from Ukraine in March, has been demonstrating a "pattern" of "escalation of aggression." U.S. officials have avoided labeling Russia's "incursions" an invasion, perhaps to dodge the diplomatic and military implications of doing so.

What we know is that there are currently more than 1,000 heavily armed Russian troops in southeastern Ukraine and 20,000 Russian soldiers massed on the border, according to NATO. We know that armored vehicles and military equipment have been rolling into Ukraine from the direction of Russia in the dark of night; that Russian paratroopers were recently apprehended by Ukrainian authorities; that a massive convoy of Russian trucks entered Ukrainian territory without Kiev's consent earlier this month. If you believe the Kremlin and pro-Moscow Ukrainian separatists, the Russian troops in Ukraine are on vacation, the captured Russian paratroopers entered Ukraine "by accident," the Russian government is not directing and arming the rebels battling the Ukrainian military, and the truck convoy was delivering humanitarian aid. Then again, Vladimir Putin once declared that the "little green men" occupying Crimea were local self-defense forces who had gone shopping for Russian military uniforms, only to later admit that they were—surprise!—Russian soldiers…"
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Amicalement
Armand

5,000 troops over the border in Ukraine now, if the latest reports are accurate.

Are they using Garmin GPS nav systems that need an update, while vacationing in late Summer?

On the plus side, supposedly, the "…..sanctions are working….".

Figures vary between "over 1000" and "up to 10000".

They don't use GPS. They will be using Glonass-K

Sanctions are a slow drain and a long term effect. They will bite, eventually. Question is whether Ukraine has the patience, or the finances/manpower, for eventually.

Seems to me a total ban on trade with Russia a while back would have been wise, to break them before the onset of Winter.

Now, even that probably won't work, since Putin will probably have the upper hand with natural gas to use as a weapon against everyone in Europe.

My guess is Putin wins this round (and probably the next few as well), keeping Ukraine from growing closer with the EU, since Western companies won't invest substantially there while the conflict is ongoing, and Ukraine/others need his energy resources.

"Sleepkrieg", the opposite of blitzkrieg.

NATO released new satellite images that show Russian combat forces inside territory of Ukraine

"NATO released new satellite images on Thursday, 28 August 2014, that show Russian combat forces engaged in military operations inside the sovereign territory of Ukraine. The images, captured in late August, depict Russian self-propelled artillery units moving in a convoy through the Ukrainian countryside and then preparing for action by establishing firing positions in the area of Krasnodon, Ukraine.

Dutch Brigadier General Nico Tak, director of the Comprehensive Crisis and Operations Management Centre (CCOMC), Allied Command Operations said the images confirmed what NATO and its Allies had been seeing for weeks from other sources.

"Over the past two weeks we have noted a significant escalation in both the level and sophistication of Russia's military interference in Ukraine," said Brigadier General Tak. "The satellite images released today provide additional evidence that Russian combat soldiers, equipped with sophisticated heavy weaponry, are operating inside Ukraine's sovereign territory," he said…"
Full article here
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Amicalement
Armand

Russia clams these are photoshopped by US 'advisers' working with the SBU in Kyiv…