Ukraine Crisis II: Electric Boogaloo

[Alien Space Bats]

Can you say "war crimes"?

I knew you could.

If you win, you don't get convicted .

It's nice to have the option of losing without hanging.

[Avenio]

Because airborne troops aren't a thing...

Are you really suggesting that the Russians are going to fly an invasion force over Ukraine and parachute them into Moldova?

Pfft, of course not. They'll be using hot air balloons.

No-one will see it coming.

[Estruia]

Because airborne troops aren't a thing...

Are you really suggesting that the Russians are going to fly an invasion force over Ukraine and parachute them into Moldova?

Are you even aware of the region's geography?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... ionMap.png

Do you see that small strip of land between the Black Sea and Moldova? It wouldn't take much to launch helicopters from a vessel in the Black Sea, and fly them into Moldova.

[Greed and Death]

Pentagon hack is worried about budget cuts, so he makes up a problem that geography has solved already.

Until Russia actually annexes the entire Ukraine, Moldova doesn't have much to worry about.

Because airborne troops aren't a thing...

even so airborne governance for such a small resource depleted territory would be boring.

[Estruia]

Because airborne troops aren't a thing...

even so airborne governance for such a small resource depleted territory would be boring.

Oh, I don't think it'll happen. I'm just pointing out that it's not geographically impossible as the other person (Sorry, I forget your name) suggested.

[OMGeverynameistaken]

Are you really suggesting that the Russians are going to fly an invasion force over Ukraine and parachute them into Moldova?

Pfft, of course not. They'll be using hot air balloons.

No-one will see it coming.

Brilliant!

Are you really suggesting that the Russians are going to fly an invasion force over Ukraine and parachute them into Moldova?

Are you even aware of the region's geography?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... ionMap.png

Do you see that small strip of land between the Black Sea and Moldova? It wouldn't take much to launch helicopters from a vessel in the Black Sea, and fly them into Moldova.

Are you even aware of basic strategy and logistics?

The Mi-17, which I believe is still the main Russian transport helicopter, has a range of about 500km. Assuming they took off from the westernmost city in Crimea (unlikely,) they would have a 250km trip to the very edge of Moldova. So it's either a one way trip or those helicopters are dropping the Russian troops right on the border with Ukraine. Assuming nobody in Ukraine or NATO starts WWIII at any point in this exchange, what do the Russian troops do? They've just been dumped in a landlocked, neutral country with whatever supplies they can carry (supplies would have to be light, after all, since the helicopters are operating at their maximum round-trip range.)

Of course, NATO and Ukraine are both on high alert and are probably watching the Black Sea like some kind of metaphorical predatory birdlike animal, meaning that Moldova will have at least a couple hours of warning when those Russian birds take off. So any Russian landing party will no doubt have a welcome prepared for them.

So no, it's not impossible. Just stupid.

[Estruia]

Pfft, of course not. They'll be using hot air balloons.

No-one will see it coming.

Brilliant!

Are you even aware of the region's geography?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... ionMap.png

Do you see that small strip of land between the Black Sea and Moldova? It wouldn't take much to launch helicopters from a vessel in the Black Sea, and fly them into Moldova.

Are you even aware of basic strategy and logistics?

The Mi-17, which I believe is still the main Russian transport helicopter, has a range of about 500km. Assuming they took off from the westernmost city in Crimea (unlikely,) they would have a 250km trip to the very edge of Moldova. So it's either a one way trip or those helicopters are dropping the Russian troops right on the border with Ukraine. Assuming nobody in Ukraine or NATO starts WWIII at any point in this exchange, what do the Russian troops do? They've just been dumped in a landlocked, neutral country with whatever supplies they can carry (supplies would have to be light, after all, since the helicopters are operating at their maximum round-trip range.)

Of course, NATO and Ukraine are both on high alert and are probably watching the Black Sea like some kind of metaphorical predatory birdlike animal, meaning that Moldova will have at least a couple hours of warning when those Russian birds take off. So any Russian landing party will no doubt have a welcome prepared for them.

So no, it's not impossible. Just stupid.

If Helicopters are a no-go, why could they just not do what they did in Crimea, and use military transport planes to fly troops into the region? I'm sure Transnistria has civilian airports with airstrips large enough for some Il-76's to land.

[Dictatorship Of Serdaristan]

Brilliant!



Are you even aware of basic strategy and logistics?

The Mi-17, which I believe is still the main Russian transport helicopter, has a range of about 500km. Assuming they took off from the westernmost city in Crimea (unlikely,) they would have a 250km trip to the very edge of Moldova. So it's either a one way trip or those helicopters are dropping the Russian troops right on the border with Ukraine. Assuming nobody in Ukraine or NATO starts WWIII at any point in this exchange, what do the Russian troops do? They've just been dumped in a landlocked, neutral country with whatever supplies they can carry (supplies would have to be light, after all, since the helicopters are operating at their maximum round-trip range.)

Of course, NATO and Ukraine are both on high alert and are probably watching the Black Sea like some kind of metaphorical predatory birdlike animal, meaning that Moldova will have at least a couple hours of warning when those Russian birds take off. So any Russian landing party will no doubt have a welcome prepared for them.

So no, it's not impossible. Just stupid.

If Helicopters are a no-go, why could they just not do what they did in Crimea, and use military transport planes to fly troops into the region? I'm sure Transnistria has civilian airports with airstrips large enough for some Il-76's to land.

Theyd likely use fixed wing aircraft, VDV soldiers and BMD Airdroppable IFV's.

[Occupied Deutschland]

If Helicopters are a no-go, why could they just not do what they did in Crimea, and use military transport planes to fly troops into the region? I'm sure Transnistria has civilian airports with airstrips large enough for some Il-76's to land.

Theyd likely use fixed wing aircraft, VDV soldiers and BMD Airdroppable IFV's.

All of which would, of course, be "local Transnistria self-defense forces with equipment from the corner store".

[Alien Space Bats]

All of which would, of course, be "local Transnistria self-defense forces with equipment from the corner store".

What an innovation! There will never be another invasion again — just uprisings involving "local self-defense forces...", etc.

[OMGeverynameistaken]

Brilliant!



Are you even aware of basic strategy and logistics?

The Mi-17, which I believe is still the main Russian transport helicopter, has a range of about 500km. Assuming they took off from the westernmost city in Crimea (unlikely,) they would have a 250km trip to the very edge of Moldova. So it's either a one way trip or those helicopters are dropping the Russian troops right on the border with Ukraine. Assuming nobody in Ukraine or NATO starts WWIII at any point in this exchange, what do the Russian troops do? They've just been dumped in a landlocked, neutral country with whatever supplies they can carry (supplies would have to be light, after all, since the helicopters are operating at their maximum round-trip range.)

Of course, NATO and Ukraine are both on high alert and are probably watching the Black Sea like some kind of metaphorical predatory birdlike animal, meaning that Moldova will have at least a couple hours of warning when those Russian birds take off. So any Russian landing party will no doubt have a welcome prepared for them.

So no, it's not impossible. Just stupid.

If Helicopters are a no-go, why could they just not do what they did in Crimea, and use military transport planes to fly troops into the region? I'm sure Transnistria has civilian airports with airstrips large enough for some Il-76's to land.

Once the first wave lands, the airspace is going to be swarming with NATO forces. Putin's not going to risk the embarrassment of a Russian force stranded in Moldova. Even if they don't get cut off, they're still left with the problem of supplying forces in the region.

A quick look at the Moldovan airport pages on Wikipedia (there are only 5 operational airports in the country, and two of those are listed as 'unclear' status...I'm not sure what that means,) indicates that there are 4 airports capable of landing an Il-76. Two of those have rather short runways and are probably unmaintained (hence their 'unclear' status,) a third is a military airbase (landing there would probably be a bad idea,) and the third is Moldova's international airport. Chisinau International has ONE runway. I hope the mighty Russian war machine is familiar with holding patterns, because all those VDV troops and airborne APCs people are envisioning are going to be waiting for a while.

Chisinau International isn't located in a particularly convenient area for access to the disputed region and, quite frankly, I don't think that Putin, however blatant his seizure of part of Ukraine might have been, is going to try outright annexing a landlocked, avowedly neutral, country of minimal strategic value which is surrounded by states that don't like Russia, one of which is a NATO member. And really, Moldova's top export is sunflower seeds. Most of which they already sell to Russia anyway.

So yeah, accepting that Putin is a megalomaniac with plans for world domination, I don't think he's going to lubricate the conquering Russian steambearroller with sunflower oil.

[Dictatorship Of Serdaristan]

If Helicopters are a no-go, why could they just not do what they did in Crimea, and use military transport planes to fly troops into the region? I'm sure Transnistria has civilian airports with airstrips large enough for some Il-76's to land.

Once the first wave lands, the airspace is going to be swarming with NATO forces. Putin's not going to risk the embarrassment of a Russian force stranded in Moldova. Even if they don't get cut off, they're still left with the problem of supplying forces in the region.

A quick look at the Moldovan airport pages on Wikipedia (there are only 5 operational airports in the country, and two of those are listed as 'unclear' status...I'm not sure what that means,) indicates that there are 4 airports capable of landing an Il-76. Two of those have rather short runways and are probably unmaintained (hence their 'unclear' status,) a third is a military airbase (landing there would probably be a bad idea,) and the third is Moldova's international airport. Chisinau International has ONE runway. I hope the mighty Russian war machine is familiar with holding patterns, because all those VDV troops and airborne APCs people are envisioning are going to be waiting for a while.

Chisinau International isn't located in a particularly convenient area for access to the disputed region and, quite frankly, I don't think that Putin, however blatant his seizure of part of Ukraine might have been, is going to try outright annexing a landlocked, avowedly neutral, country of minimal strategic value which is surrounded by states that don't like Russia, one of which is a NATO member. And really, Moldova's top export is sunflower seeds. Most of which they already sell to Russia anyway.

So yeah, accepting that Putin is a megalomaniac with plans for world domination, I don't think he's going to lubricate the conquering Russian steambearroller with sunflower oil.

I guess I want clear enough, VDV is Russia's paratroopers, and BMD's are air-droppable with crew inside, so basically the Il-76 simply has to fly over Moldova. but you have a point, Putin is a smart man, he wouldn't risk conflict over sunflower seeds.

[Beta Test]

I heard there power outages across Crimea and that there's been quiet talk of revolt among Moldova's Russian population.

[Baltenstein]

Russia would argue this self defense forces spontaneously took up arms.

Yeah, well, wait until some of them are captured and interrogated, and thus forced to divulge their names, ranks, and service ID numbers. Then it will be fucking obvious that they're not just locals who took up arms.

You don't need to wait that long, there have been multiple cases of them admitting to be Russian military towards journalists.

EDIT:

It's very doubtful that Putin will march on Transnistria, a region completely worthless in both strategic (unlike Crimea) and economic (unlike Eastern Ukraine) terms.

[Volnotova]

Russian state duma to the polish foreign ministry: Lets divide Ukraine.

What the actual fuck?

[Baltenstein]

Russian state duma to the polish foreign ministry: Lets divide Ukraine.

What the actual fuck?

Arch-troll Vladimir "Let's flood Great Britain with nukes" Zhirinovsky strikes again.

[Kvatchdom]

Russian state duma to the polish foreign ministry: Lets divide Ukraine.

What the actual fuck?

Arch-troll Vladimir "Let's flood Great Britain with nukes" Zhirinovsky strikes again.

This is the same dude who recently said that Finland should be a part of Russia.

[Tiesabre]

Russian state duma to the polish foreign ministry: Lets divide Ukraine.

What the actual fuck?

Every country's Congress/Parliment has that one dude or group of crazies. Like conservatives in the US Congress that say Mexico belongs to the US and Texas will secede.

[Respawn]

Russian state duma to the polish foreign ministry: Lets divide Ukraine.

What the actual fuck?

This is coming from the same person who claimed that Russian scientists are developing a secret weapon which will shift the gravity field of Earth and drown the USA. He is just a clown, there to keep the illusion of a democratic system in Russia.

[Scholmeria]

Russian state duma to the polish foreign ministry: Lets divide Ukraine.

What the actual fuck?

Arch-troll Vladimir "Let's flood Great Britain with nukes" Zhirinovsky strikes again.

You should respect him more. He is the opposition to Putin in the Duma.

[Baltenstein]

Arch-troll Vladimir "Let's flood Great Britain with nukes" Zhirinovsky strikes again.

You should respect him more. He is the opposition to Putin in the Duma.

He's a clown whose role is to rally nationalist crazies behind him and make Putin look like a reasonable, liberal guy. When it comes to parliamentary votes, he always backs Putin's decisions. I doubt he takes himself very seriously.

[Volnotova]

Arch-troll Vladimir "Let's flood Great Britain with nukes" Zhirinovsky strikes again.

You should respect him more. He is the opposition to Putin in the Duma.

[Scholmeria]

You should respect him more. He is the opposition to Putin in the Duma.

He's a clown whose role is to rally nationalist crazies behind him and make Putin look like a reasonable, liberal guy. When it comes to parliamentary votes, he always backs Putin's decisions. I doubt he takes himself very seriously.

It is more funny that he consider himself a liberal.

[Scholmeria]

You should respect him more. He is the opposition to Putin in the Duma.

It is really so. The "liberals", the communist and another one are the official opposition.

[Baltenstein]

This whole "unidentified local self-defense forces" spectacle makes me wonder if the PR China is taking any notes in regards to Taiwan. Or at least some disputed Japanese/Philippino islands.