Crisis in the Ukraine

solarz said:

If Russian soldiers suddenly start occupying Mariupol, then that would be a sharp escalation. However, barring overt NATO intervention in the conflict, I don't believe this will happen. If Russia wanted to intervene directly, they would've done so when the rebels were hard-pressed. If we didn't see it happen then, why would we be seeing it happen now?

In fact, I don't believe the rebels would want to push that far. Despite the counter-offensive, Donetsk is still under siege. Stretching themselves too thin would be a mistake at this point.

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but a moment ago I noticed the Separatists this afternoon had told Interfax Mariupol is "practically blocked"

the same article quotes Ukrainians saying they are land-mining there ( showed this activity already yesterday -- yeah I started to check that map -- now I looked at it and ... it shows Separatists as far west as in Osypenko, some 50 km west to Mariupol)

EDIT
Now I tried to find out how far is it from the places I mentioned above to Crimea:



hope this shows a three-and-half-hour, less than 300 km drive

It will be interesting to see whether NATO will aid the pro-Western faction in Ukraine by quickly admitting the country or taking other overt measures. I would be surprised if no covert measures are already being taken.

Haha I like how the West are directly criticizing Moscow for a military invasion/intervention and they must respect Ukraine's sovereignty. I don't think the West is in any position to criticize Putin who is really showing off his version of their game. This is quite the contrary when NATO directly intervened in Iraq, Yugoslavia, Libya and all Russia could do was bark from the sidelines. I don't see how this is any different from what NATO did/does. Russia is wrong to intervene in Ukraine's affair using its military but at the same time it is also not right to cry foul just because it is not beneficiary to you. Both sides need to refrain from reckless actions or we will find ourselves in a WWIII. They just had to provoke each other? Humanity has really fallen into another low point.

PanAsian said:

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It will be interesting to see whether NATO will aid the pro-Western faction in Ukraine by quickly admitting the country or taking other overt measures. I would be surprised if no covert measures are already being taken.

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of course they would like to join NATO. America would actually need to defend them if they get attacked. The incentive seems to be much less the other direction.

tphuang said:

of course they would like to join NATO. America would actually need to defend them if they get attacked. The incentive seems to be much less the other direction.

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if i remember correctly one of the prerequisites for NATO membership is that you must not have any unsettled territorial disputes. so...

According to this Ukrainian website, battalion Donbas (and some other units) that was surrounded near Ilovaysk attempted to break out, but they were ambushed near Chervenoselo and around 200 soldiers surrendered . They even have interview with one of the soldiers identified as Ivan (probably pseudonym) .



Also, Ukrainian side confirmed loss of one Su-25 (not four as rebels claimed )

Don't worry about this unimportant little point as US calls the shot over NATO and will bend the rules to accomodate Ukraine. Especially when it looks like the separatists migh actually start a real revolution and take over Kiev which US & EU will never allow to happen.

pla101prc said:

if i remember correctly one of the prerequisites for NATO membership is that you must not have any unsettled territorial disputes. so...

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In what ways are Col Cassad's info misleading compared to western news? I actually find his reports without embellishments. Many of us have greatly benefited from his reports on what is really happening in Ukraine.

I am from Singapore and my other fellow citizens who try to follow world news have expressed similar disappointment over how western media, and even our own state media, chose to portray the MH17 tragedy. They have discredited themselves with biased reporting.

Janiz said:

Knowing that for many users here only 'good' sources are RT and 'Colonel Cassad' webpage I wouldn't go blaming anyone when you do the same thing but from the opposite side...

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thunderchief said:

According to this Ukrainian website, battalion Donbas (and some other units) that was surrounded near Ilovaysk attempted to break out, but they were ambushed near Chervenoselo and around 200 soldiers surrendered . They even have interview with one of the soldiers identified as Ivan (probably pseudonym) .

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Also, Ukrainian side confirmed loss of one Su-25 (not four as rebels claimed )

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lattest update from twitter: donbass battalion surrendered, of course this is unconfirmed

Another earlier retraction of statement put out. Seems Russian and Chechen soldiers are highly invisible.

pla101prc said:

lattest update from twitter: donbass battalion surrendered, of course this is unconfirmed

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