Ukraine crisis: Russian troops crossed border, Nato says

[muriel_volestrangler]

Source: BBC

Nato has seen Russian military equipment and Russian combat troops entering Ukraine this week, its top commander Gen Philip Breedlove says.

Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg later urged Russia to pull back its forces.

Russia's defence ministry denied sending troops to eastern Ukraine to help pro-Russian separatists there.

...
But now with tensions renewed, Nato's Supreme Commander in Europe General Philip Breedlove has confirmed that over the past two days, Nato has seen columns of Russian armour, artillery and crucially - combat troops - entering Ukraine.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-30025138

[Duckhunter935]

1. Been going on for quite some time

“And so it is our first guess that these forces will go in to make this a more contiguous, more whole and capable pocket of land in order to then hold onto it long-term,” he said.

Moscow denied Breedlove’s claim, according to news reports. When it began its invasion of Crimea in March, Russia first denied sending in materiel and troops, but later acknowledged it.

Questions now center on Moscow’s next move in a crisis that could escalate if separatists aim to build the land route into Crimea.

”It is difficult to supply Crimea by sea during the winter months,” said John Lough, an expert on the crisis in Ukraine with the London-based Chatham House. “There are logistical challenges that could impact the situation on the ground.”

http://www.stripes.com/new-russian-incursion-raises-questions-about-designs-on-ukraine-1.313838

Next move, take the Donetsk airport, the port city of Mariupol and complete the land link to occupied Crimea.

[amandabeech]

2. You pirated my post!

Just kidding.

I would have liked to see the Minsk accord hold, but that was just a pipe dream.

[Duckhunter935]

4. Ageed nt

[amandabeech]

6. Would you propose that the US and any other willing parties do more for Ukraine at this time?

I've spun the possibility of sending defensive weapons to them around in my mind, but something tells me that would be like waving a red cape in front of the Russian bull (or bear).

[Duckhunter935]

8. defensive weapons, yes

The problem is the grad and artillery fire. Hard to defend against that. It does not help when fired from residential areas and you get blamed for casualties when you return fire. Intelligence, satellite and drone photo intelligence, vehicles, food and support equipment I would agree to. Anti-tank and possibly counter battery equipment should also be made available.

[amandabeech]

9. That sounds reasonable.

Any civilian deaths will be given immense publicity. However, it's not like the separatists/Russians have clean hands, although their media releases say otherwise. From all accounts, war is a nasty business.

[ozone_man]

3. Doh! They always say that!

Crying wolf too many times.

[Duckhunter935]

5. Said the same thing in Crimea

Then Putin finally admitted they did in fact send in troops to invade. Russia just doing the same thing again.

[ozone_man]

11. Versus the U.S. who just invades

Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya..

Care to compare a tally of war casualties caused by us vs. Russia in the past decade?

[Duckhunter935]

12. We leave

We do not annex and conquer other countries. We also normally get UN backing. I do not agree with our actions but it does not make Russia's actions any better does it.

Oh we do it so they must also do it na na na

[ozone_man]

16. We leave after reducing soverign nations to dust.

No, it's not a matter "if we do it they can do it." It's a matter of scale. How many died since 2003 in Iraq at our hands. A million or so, and 200,000 in Syria, Obama's war. Just saying that Russia doesn't do that, nothing close to that scale, maybe a hundredth of the human life we destroy. Perhaps middle eastern lives are not worth as much as white European ones?

[Duckhunter935]

17. I guess we just disagree

Syria and al-Assad with his nice barrel bombs, right that's Obama's fault. As far as I know the Russians are supplying him with weapons to kill his own people. Lets see Chechnya, the stan countries, how many were hundreds of thousands were killed over the years as Russia put down any uprising like in Ukraine's east now. Russia just annexes what it wants and then turns it into a police state that stifles any free press or opposition.

I never agreed with 2003 and Iraq, but at least we tried to help them come up with a functioning system and left. There just is so much sectarian violence only Saddam could keep it in check by his murdering hundreds of thousands and torture of anyone who did not agree with him.

No the lives are not any less worthy but they need to stop killing each other in the name of a certain sect of religion or what tribe you belong too. Until that stops, I do not think you will be able to stop the violence.

[ColesCountyDem]

7. Comrade Major Putin-- your slip is showing. n/t

[glinda]

10. Now I know why that Polish hat Company is no longer online...

they closed up shop and perhaps are moving to another Country. Seriously.....

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

13. Might be time to take our ball and go home.

Fuck PU-tin!

[jakeXT]

14. We need investment and connections

The Readiness Action Plan that we agreed at Wales is the biggest reinforcement of our collective defence since the end of the Cold War. We are making our forces more agile, and able to deploy quickly, whenever and wherever threats emerge. We are maintaining a continuous NATO presence in the Eastern part of our Alliance, on a rotational basis, to reassure our Allies and to deter anyone who might wish to challenge us.

...

In today’s unpredictable world, NATO must remain a source of stability. To keep our Alliance strong, we need the right capabilities. That means we need the right level of defence investment, distributed fairly across the Alliance. But we also need the right connections. And that means we need effective partnerships not only with other nations and organizations, but also with industry.

http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/opinions_114729.htm

[Blue_Tires]

15. I'm disappointed in how little discussion there has been about this...