The Invasion Has Stalled

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So here we go. Four days in and the third consecutive thread on the conflict in Ukraine. The last two threads are a credit to the members of mumsnet. Who knows where thread four may find our world?

Thank you all.

Thread two : www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/4491025-The-Invasion-Continues

@Roussette

What's the source for this please?

twitter.com/AVindman/status/1498007949104533508

Vindman is Former Director for European Affairs for the United States National Security Council

Thanks.

@StormzyinaTCup

This appears NOT to be true now

Which is good because we don't want Putin to start firing the people who can stop him from ordering a nuclear launch

That's a relief because, if he was one of the two heavily uniformed men seen with Putin in his TV address today, when the camera panned round one of the men in particular had a rather worried/concerned look on his face at what was being said, so I had him down as a possible contender for a take out.

Yes it is not 100% clear how the nuclear launch process works in Russia but in theory Putin would need Gerasimov and Shoigu (the defence minister) to also approve the launch. So it would be quite worrying if he sacked them at this point.

The other theory is that Putin might sack one of them and place all the blame for military failures on them, which would be a bit more helpful as an 'off-ramp' to de-escalate things.

@Ripepear

Thanks. It is very alarming to think it necessary at all. Even before all this they felt it necessary to implement?

Tsunami, earthquake, volcano, alien invasion?

Obviously not as likely as some places, but seems to be worth having a system set up just in case

A-Vindman is THE whistleblower whose whistle blowing led to Trump's first impeachment. Vindman is Ukrainian born, has impeccable integrity.

@Thereisnolight

Could he have handled things better in the lead up to this?

Can you think of anything he could have done that would have meant that Ukraine would have remained a completely democratic state not under any Russian influence ?
As for the comments about military experience, how many times have we seen UK politicians wearing military outfits, getting photographed in tanks/planes/ships Liz Truss Boris Johnson ?

FYI it had been reported that Kyiv is not surrounded or under siege. Sorry for the long link, I'm on my phone
www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-europe-60542877?ns_mchannel=social&ns_source=twitter&ns_campaign=bbc_live&ns_linkname=621bdcb8ec502b53cd4800c6%26Do%20not%20believe%20lies%2C%20Kyiv%20mayor%20says%262022-02-27T20%3A41%3A29.829Z&ns_fee=0&pinned_post_locator=urn:asset:37401d3b-fa19-4e62-a308-d6d2d03ce3ca&pinned_post_asset_id=621bdcb8ec502b53cd4800c6&pinned_post_type=share

@Sexnotgender

Perhaps a stupid question.

How do Russia get out of this? Is there a way back or do they just keep escalating?

It's a great question. The question !

Thank you @Roussette

I'm finding the thread informative but could I make a request please that when posting updates people can include a link to the source?

There's so many rumours and I don't know about anyone else but I'm spending lots of time trying corroborate some of the posts (for the example the Swiss freezing banked asserts).

It would be incredibly helpful if sources were linked to enable us all to keep track of the information and assess its legitimacy.

Thank you

Thanks WigglesWaggles, those comments weren't there when I posted.

I am relieved it was false info.

Does Putin have a wife? Children?

@Ripepear could be very useful in much more boring but equally deadly situations such as localised flash flooding, or an industrial incident.

On a lighter note, I just read that Zelensky is the Ukrainian voice of Paddington.

How do Russia get out of this? Is there a way back or do they just keep escalating?

Pretend they are a cat ?

Yes true. Just looked up the system on the government website and it does make sense

@Alexandra2001

How? Ukraine doesn't use Western planes, they use Russian made SU and MiG 'craft. they would need training to use, say a EuroFighter.

I think Poland may have or have had MiG-29s, not sure if they are still existent and could be “shipped”, but you are absolutely right about the training on anything that’s not been in the inventory before.

TBH Whether the idea is to send helicopters or fighters or some of both I’m not sure announcing it was the smartest thing in the world in current circumstances.

@spleencoffin

Does Putin have a wife? Children?

Yes apparently he has an ex wife and 2grown up daughters and a wife much younger than him whom he has 3 children with, twins in 2018. You would think that would be enough for him to calm down

Checking in

I posted that the Swiss one came from Reuters.

The link www.reuters.com/world/europe/very-probable-that-swiss-will-freeze-russian-assets-president-2022-02-27/

A-Vindman is THE whistleblower whose whistle blowing led to Trump's first impeachment. Vindman is Ukrainian born, has impeccable integrity.

I watched the Trump impeachment hearing over Ukraine when he was a key witness. A very principled man. Trump sacked him

Im back from a long 7 hr round trip.

I'll try and catch up. Thanks for continuing these threads and to all the really useful and insightful links which explain the facts clearly.

@fucketyfuckwit read the same in my local rag at 6am this morning. My lot are known for scaremongering and were called out on it in the comments section by the locals.

What are opinions of Zelensky?

I agree Vindman has integrity but he may be wrong about this.

If you go to his original tweet you will see a lot of comments from people saying why they think he's mistaken:

twitter.com/AVindman/status/1498007949104533508?s=20&t=jQx0hsstPmCOsP9CiAegKQ

There's so many rumours and I don't know about anyone else but I'm spending lots of time trying corroborate some of the posts

Point taken, and I agree

[quote Roundeartheratchriatmas]I posted that the Swiss one came from Reuters.

The link www.reuters.com/world/europe/very-probable-that-swiss-will-freeze-russian-assets-president-2022-02-27/[/quote]
Thank you