Ukraine

[klondike]

I love some of the gung ho replies I see to questions about the war in Ukraine. I do hope they are correct. An example...

Q. Is Russia losing the war? It no longer has full control of the southern port of Kherson, the first major city captured by Russia in the early days of the war.

A. Are the Russians losing?....No, they lost the moment they crossed the border. Militarily the big bear is getting it's arse handed to it, but more importantly NATO has never been closer, stronger or more motivated. This is EVERYTHING Putin did not want, because he had Trump in his pocket who told him it was weak and would not do much but maybe complain and therefore thought he could do what he liked. How wrong he was, Putin in finished and Russia's economy is in the toilet with interest rates at 20% and climbing, no investment and it's credit rating about to fall into default status. Putin runs a gangster state a kleptocracy who has systematically robbed the country for years but when the cash stops the greedy get nervous and Putin starts to sit at extra long tables. Pretty soon the Flintstones will look high tech compared to Russia and the Russian currency will soon have more zeros on it than a Japanese aircraft carrier.

That was from March 26 but two weeks later it still continues leaving me wondering.

[Raven]

I see Boris is out there just now giving their PM his advice.

[klondike]

We do seem to have been at the forefront of support for them. I do hope it doesn't all end in tears.

I forgot to mention I see the Q&As on Quora.

[Alex]

It's been announced today the UK is to ' donate ' long range missiles to Ukraine.  The defence secretary saying
 " the donation of these weapons systems gives Ukraine the best chance to defend themselves."

I know nothing about guns, tanks or missiles but I'm puzzled as to why you'd need 'long range' missiles for defence  ?

[JBR]

It's been announced today the UK is to ' donate ' long range missiles to Ukraine.  The defence secretary saying
 " the donation of these weapons systems gives Ukraine the best chance to defend themselves."

I know nothing about guns, tanks or missiles but I'm puzzled as to why you'd need 'long range' missiles for defence  ?

To strike at the Russian occupied areas of their country.
Of course, if pushed to do it, they could also send a few over the border into Russia.  I wonder whether that would make Putin think again, or better, one of his sidekicks who might just do 'the right thing'!

[Alex]

'To strike at the Russian occupied areas of their country'

 

it was a genuine question, I thought long range meant thousands of miles away   

[Cassandra]

'To strike at the Russian occupied areas of their country'

 

it was a genuine question, I thought long range meant thousands of miles away   

Yes I thought the same thing as you Alex, but with this Government anything means whatever we last said! So tomorrow they'll be short range!

I think its a very dangerous escalation!

[klondike]

From what I read they reach about 150 miles. Most of the stuff they have already is nearer to fancy artillery. Perhaps they want to be able to hit targets in Crimea with something less easy to take down than drones. Ukraine is a huge country.

[Alex]

Moscow has said the decision by the UK would require "an adequate response from our military" without specifying what that might be.  The US not being so generous I see, but then they always were late to the party 

[klondike]

Moscow has said the decision by the UK would require "an adequate response from our military" without specifying what that might be. 

Complete and utter bullshit. Any attack on a NATO member would certainly be curtains for Russia. He's been shouting about repercussions and issuing nuclear threats for the last year.

The Russian military has been exposed as a paper tiger. True they have nukes (half of them handed over to them by Ukraine in return for guarantees that Russia would respect Ukraine's borders) but they need regular servicing to actually work. We should ask to see their bang by dates,

[Alex]

I hope you're right, but it doesn't necessarily mean missiles to UK, the Russians have the ability to sabotage cables, wind turbines and gawd knows what else in the seas around us.   So we have to trust Zelensky he won't use the missiles on Russia  ?  If they have a limited range, could they be carried by jet fighters or are they too big ?

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/russia-threatens-military-response-after-uk-gives-long-range-missiles-to-ukraine/ar-AA1b4iL2

[klondike]

They are air launched. The Russians have adequate air defences so the range won't be increased by Ukrainian jets flying over Russian occupied territory. 

[Diasi]

It's been announced today the UK is to ' donate ' long range missiles to Ukraine.  The defence secretary saying
 " the donation of these weapons systems gives Ukraine the best chance to defend themselves."

I know nothing about guns, tanks or missiles but I'm puzzled as to why you'd need 'long range' missiles for defence  ?

Sensational reporting by the media as they have a fairly short mid-range of 350 miles but have a longer range than the current missiles & they're to be used to target Russian troops in the Ukraine.

The idea is that the missile can be fired far away from where any Russian fighter jets would be.

Long range missiles are those that can travel 1,000 miles plus such as the Tomahawk missile.

[JBR]

The other question which occurs to me is to ask whether Ukraine has any aircraft suitable for carrying and delivering Storm Shadow missiles.
Naturally, I assume they must have, but will they need additional hard points and associated electronics to launch and control such missiles?

Interestingly, though, Putin seems to be becoming increasingly angry about our supply of arms to Ukraine and, presumably, increasingly worried.
I do believe that he is beginning to realise that he has bitten off more than he can chew!

[klondike]

They have some older Soviet jets for sure. 

I assume it was worked out if they could launch them before they were sent but given how many things our government seems to screw up who knows?