"All of Vlad's forces and all of Vlad's men, are out to put Humpty together again." (5 Viewers)

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Well, the USCG did recently send some cutters to the Ukraine Navy...
 
Have there been any declarations of war? What would be the ramifications of Ukraine declaring war against Russia? Short of nuclear exchange, I don't think there's much more Russia can do other than quit smoking.
 
It looks to me, that that Ukraine has so far taken the political and military high road, leaving the Russians to make the political and military moves that Ukraine is in a position to defend.
This keeps them in a favorable position in the eyes of the international community.
They are clearly within their rights to declare war on Russia, but then that could go sideways, giving Russia a justification to go into full scale, no holds-barred assault.
 
So an agressor makes war on the doorstep of the EU. How else can Ukraine be not "favorable" ?
Where was the EU when Georgia and Moldova were invaded?

Where was the EU when Crimea and eastern Ukraine was invaded in 2014?

So far, Ukraine has not done anything to justify Russia's actions starting last February and they have refrained from doing anything provocative since that time.
 

Well, firstly the comments about providing Barzan craft to Ukraine seem to date from 2020. Secondly, there are only 4 Barzan class vessels in existence, all with the Qatari Navy.

Personally, I think the entire story is made up by the website as click bait.
 
I found the article disturbing. I was thinking that the "Kherson offensive" was to trap as many Russian forces as possible on the wrong side of the Dnipro River and actually strike somewhere else. As Sun Tzu said "hit 'em where they ain't".
I hope it turns out to be all a clerical error.
 
I bring it up because I was thinking that POWs are due better treatment than POSMOs. Which got me thinking (not an easy thing) about other legal issues.
Using frozen Russian accounts to pay reparations. As justifiable as it is, we (NATO? EU?, UN?) can't just take take it. It would have to be legally settled somehow. If it's not a war, could damages be brought sooner in some civil court? I don't know how the frozen funds of the various Axis nations were handled.

Putler came up with a cockamamie name for the invasion of Ukraine. He did this to avoid a general mobilization which would have been unpopular and he is still trying to avoid it so he doesn't want to declare war. If Ukraine forced his hand, how might it affect the way Russians think about the war especially after the tourists ran out of Crimea.
Would there be any benefit Ukraine? Would/ should it affect arms shipments to Ukraine?
 

I'm not sure Ukraine wants to declare war on Russia. If they do, then it's possible support from Europe and the US may cease. There's a reason that the US hasn't declared war since 1945. Other western countries have done the same. For example, neither the UK nor Argentina declared war over the Falklands/Malvinas. Declaring war has specific legal meanings which likely extend to those who are supporting either side in that war.
 
I like the start.
A Russian military expert has said the United States has started to restrict its military assistance to Ukraine and linked what he believed to be a cooling of Washington's support for Kyiv to the actions of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky
If that's what their experts believe it easy to see why Putin is in the mess he is in.

Then again, maybe he also believes in the tooth fairy, that would make two of us
 
I missed that part. Thanks Glider!
 
In a military conflict, regardless of a declared state of war or not, military prisoners are bound by international law to be treated humanely.
Torture, execution, starvation or forced labor falls under war crimes.

Well, yes, that's the case in a normal country. Russia, however, is anything but normal.

This reporting gives an indication of how bad things are in regular Russian prisons. I can't imagine what might be meted out against POWs or, worse, those identified as mercenaries:

 

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