The war in Ukraine...

MrNoo

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Cirencester
As I keep saying, I think President Biden has played a blinder. I do wish the USA arms manufacturers would step up though, one of them donated a million rounds of small arms ammo, they should all be encouraged to donate some western style rifles and ammo.
This just came into Fairford just now, Ukrainian transport plane
2E92C79F-E36F-4F2E-A147-B26822212779.png
 
Two rich Russians and their families connected to Putin found dead in 2 days. Former top manager at the 2nd-largest Russian gas company Novatek. S. Protosenya + family murdered in Spain (stab wounds). Vice-President of Gazprombank Vladislav Avaev + family murdered in Moscow (gun shots).. :scratchhead:

As Gary Kasparov said, I believe in coincidences, and also the KGB
 

renewablejohn

Member
Location
lancs
It will soon be change over day for the Russian conscripts. Around 130,000 individuals I think are in service at any one time. Their level of training will be poor and I doubt very many of them will even want to be conscripted, much less sent to the bear trap.

I did not realise but a LOT of Russian military equipment is or was manufactured in Ukraine, including the bulk of the technology that went into several generations of their nuclear weapons, engines for tanks and aircraft, all kinds of things. Without these facilities being operational, I can't for the life of me see that Russia will be able to maintain their level of operations. We've basically seen fudge all of their air force, which leads me to think that their levels of operational readiness are probably only enough to be able to defend their own airspace.
If you look at the area the bulk of the equipment was manufactured it is now the area there fighting over in the east of Ukraine.
 

Muck Spreader

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Limousin
In French but very interesting.

Wouldn't be surprising, as the very first reports said a US surveillance plane was in the vicinity. Just a quick message with the coordinates to the Ukraine missile crew to programme in and it's fire and forget. Additionally the Ukrainians reportedly had a number of drones in the air to occupy the Russian air defence crew.
 

German

Member
Mixed Farmer

Germany refuses request to send weapons to Ukraine​


George Grylls
,
James Jackson
Wednesday April 20 2022, 8.00pm, The Times
Europe
Germany
Ukraine
German newspapers have criticised the slow pace of military aid granted by Olaf Scholz, the chancellor

German newspapers have criticised the slow pace of military aid granted by Olaf Scholz, the chancellor
CLEMENS BILAN/GETTY IMAGES
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https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/germany-refuses-request-to-send-weapons-to-ukraine-snl3ql9n9
Germany cannot send more heavy weapons to Ukraine as it would be unable to defend itself from attack, one of the country’s top generals has said.

Markus Laubenthal said the country would be unable to meet its Nato commitments if it donated more weapons to Ukraine, as he stood behind the embattled chancellor, Olaf Scholz, who is resisting pressure from fellow members of the ruling coalition to send armoured vehicles, light tanks and howitzers to Kyiv.

On the day that Norway, Israel and Finland all agreed new packages of support for Ukraine, Laubenthal, the German deputy chief of staff, claimed that Berlin would be vulnerable to attack if it gave 100 Marder light tanks to Kyiv — a comment which was ridiculed by the Ukrainian ambassador as “incomprehensible”.


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“We would no longer be able to react to eventualities, and that would significantly weaken our defensive capability,” Laubenthal said.
Scholz’s party, the SPD, has a long history of close relations with Russia. Its previous chancellor, Gerhard Schroder, has been one of President Putin’s biggest cheerleaders for almost two decades, reportedly earning €850,000 a year as an adviser to Russian gas companies. He flew to Moscow last month to discuss the war with Putin.

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Scholz’s reputation as a pragmatist has drawn recent criticism from the German press, which has highlighted the slow pace at which he has supplied military aid. A poll commissioned by Der Spiegel found that 65 per cent of Germans do not see Scholz as a “strong leader”.
Annalena Baerbock, the German foreign minister and member of the Green party, attempted to pile pressure on her coalition partner yesterday when she raised the possibility that Berlin could send armoured vehicles to Ukraine.
The German Panzerhaubitze 2000 would give a significant boost to Ukraine’s anti-aircraft capabilities

The German Panzerhaubitze 2000 would give a significant boost to Ukraine’s anti-aircraft capabilities
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“I would like to make it clear that this is not taboo for us either, even if it sometimes sounds that way in the German debate,” she said.
On a visit to the Latvian capital Riga yesterday, Baerbock also claimed that Germany had not disclosed all the weapons it had sent to Kyiv.

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“We have delivered anti-tank missiles, Stingers and other things that we have never spoken about publicly so these deliveries could happen quickly,” she said.
Ukraine has already ordered 100 decommissioned Marders from Rheinmetall, a German defence company, but the refurbishment of the vehicles is expected to take months, by which point the battle for the Donbas could be over.
Kyiv has proposed a bridging arrangement, whereby the German military lends 100 Marders to Ukraine, before its stock is replenished by the Ukrainian order.
Andriy Melnyk, the Ukrainian ambassador in Berlin, said that Germany had 400 Marders in its arsenal and questioned Laubenthal’s assessment that it was unable to lend the vehicles to Kyiv.

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“The claim the Bundeswehr is no longer able to deliver anything to Ukraine is incomprehensible,” he said.
In addition to Marders, Germany is under pressure to supply Panzerhaubitze 2000, a 155mm self-propelled howitzer with a range of 260 miles. As Russia launches the second phase of its invasion in the Donbas, Kyiv will require significant artillery power to see off Russian T-72 tanks, according to defence experts, and the Panzserhaubitze 2000 would be a significant asset on the flat plains of eastern Ukraine.
Baerbock refused to answer questions about the delivery of such weapons and instead suggested that Kyiv could buy other countries’ more sophisticated artillery systems, saying that Germany would then “help with training and maintenance”.
She added that Germany would “completely” stop imports of Russian oil by the end of the year, and stated that “gas will follow”.
“I therefore say here clearly and unequivocally yes, Germany is . . . completely phasing out Russian energy imports,” said Baerbock.
Elsewhere, Norway has agreed to send 100 French-made Mistral anti-aircraft missiles to Ukraine. President Zelensky had previously requested the more modern NASAMS missiles in an address to the Norwegian parliament.
“It is still a modern and effective weapon that will be of great use to Ukraine,” Bjorn Arild, the Norwegian defence minister, said.

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The Israeli defence ministry also agreed to send helmets and vests to Ukrainian rescue services.
Israel has been unwilling to publicly declare its support for Ukraine throughout the conflict, with prime minister Naftali Bennett attempting to act as a peace broker between Kyiv and Moscow.
However, the Israeli defence ministry confirmed a shipment of new supplies yesterday following meetings with Kyiv. Finland has also agreed a new package of support, without releasing details of the weaponry involved.



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Germany
Ukraine
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As a former conscript that actually worked with these things in a limited capacity its probably better if they dont get those things.
I was stationed in a maintenance department near Munster as a mechanic.
We serviced all kinds of Equipment 4x4s, IFVs, Self propelled Artillery, but mostly Trucks.
To get them to effectively use those things it could probably be done in about two months if they are already trained with artillery.
Those things have an electronic fire control system that differs completly from the old soviet stuff Ukraine currently use.
There is no way it cant be integrated into the communications of aproper Artillery Unit that is part of a battlegroup without changes.
Apart from that to effectively operate them you have to get loads of spares, Documentation etc even in a emergency situation as they are pretty high maintenance for military standarts at least.
The Marder IFVs that are on a scrapyard at Rheinmetall have to be overhauled before being sent out or taken out of the active reserve, they would still need training and tbh that would probably help putin more then the Ukrainians as these things are absolute junk where the Fuel tank bursts every 3 months. rectangular fuel tank out of sheet metal to save weight for the airlift capacity great idea.
The Leo 1S were about to be scrapped, no spares, no ammunition, those wouldnt help too.
Leo 2 in itself might be a little bit to complicated to be usable for them in the short time (less then 6 Months)

However after the GDR came down we sold loads of their old weapons to Nato allys some even modernized in the 90s like the BMPs because the Marder was so shitty they wanted to replace it but stopped the process.
I have personally seen a large chunk that were modernized and sent to Greece they still operate them.
Artillery pieces in the baltic countries, EX luftwaffe Migs were sold to Poland for 1€ each those were the 29 that were rumored to be gifted to Ukraine.

Give those Weapons to Ukraine, they know how to use them have the training and structure.
they could use them tommorow. Fill in the gaps with NATO troops equipment for example the Marders or PZH 2000.
Thats far better then giving a weapon system to them where a contract soldier has to spent 6 Months to train on and conscripts are used as water carriers or to scrub it clean.
 

German

Member
Mixed Farmer
And btw I dont see how a PZH 2000 would boost the air defence capabilites of Ukraine...
Unless someone wants to snipe Planes out of the sky with Artillery
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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