[Official Thread] Russian invasion of Ukraine

Exactly. You'd have to be really dumb to let that happen.

Except that's exactly what they've done since 2014. I doubt you'll find anyone in Ukraine east of Kharkiv who sees Russia as anything other than a hostile state.
Russia's invasion force can't control 35 million Ukrainian citizens.

Credit where is due though, sleepy joe said that a russian invasion was imminent within days, he was right for once

True, but Russia can also not tolerate an enemy on its border.

Russia does not need to control 35 million citizens. You need to destroy the infrastructure and take control of the Government.

Ironically many of the the hard right who are Putin apologists were the very same people complaining about the number of refugees flooding into Europe.

You don't need the sharpest second order thinking skills to understand that Putin is now creating a massive humanitarian crisis that will result in a mass movement of refugees westward.

Oh so THAT'S what the West did wrong in Iraq and Afghanistan...
Do you really think occupying a hostile nation is that easy?

Was thinking about this as well. If the invasion becomes more violent, which it might well do, then we will see lots of refugees from Ukraine. To use Syria as an example, millions of Syrians fled the country when war broke out, hundreds of thousands of which made it to Europe.

Now take Ukraine, which has double the population of Syria and is right on Europe's doorstop.

It’s happening already
‘The border states of Ukraine – EU members Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Romania as well as EU aspirant Moldova – have all announced preparations for the expected wave of refugees from Ukraine as Russia launches a full-scale invasion of the country.

At midday on Thursday there were already reports from Poland about trains arriving in Warsaw this morning full of Ukrainians, with some saying these tickets were purchased days ago in expectation of a Russian invasion.

Polish Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Pawel Szefernaker announced on Thursday morning that Poland is opening eight reception centres for Ukrainian refugees in the two regions closest to the border. At these locations, refugees would receive food, medical help and information.

In the past few weeks, Polish municipalities across the country have been analysing their temporary accommodation capacities that could be made available to Ukrainians in the event of an influx.’


https://balkaninsight.com/2022/02/24/ukraine-border-states-prepare-for-wave-of-refugees/

PM is up in the Commons: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Auq9mYxFEE

Not surprising. I hope the rest of Europe takes in these refugees.

True, but Russia can also not tolerate an enemy on its border.

Russia does not need to control 35 million citizens. You need to destroy the infrastructure and take control of the Government.

To be honest it's not that Russia is a superpower (it lacks the industrial output or innovative advantage to compete in a conventional war against a European coalition that involves Britain and France or the US) but simply that it has nukes.

If we ever develop a sure fire way to detect and disable nukes then I'm sure many of us would have no issue with dismantling Russia and reducing Moscow to ruin for the security of the west.

I am watching Germany with baited breath in regards to energy.

I note the timing of this invasion means Merkel is out of the equation. Potentially a factor?

Potentially, yes. Merkel had for various reasons (growing up in the GDR and speaking fluent Russian) a special relationship with Putin and Russia. Scholz is a non-Russian-speaker from Hamburg – though his party is historically friendlier with Russia and less attached to the Western alliance than the CDU. I do wonder if Scholz was seen as weak and inexperienced – I'm not sure he's been any weaker than Merkel would likely have been, mind.