Ukraine invasion

[Morrus]

I'll also add to Umbran's note above that 90% of this thread is just commentary on its existence. If that's what you want to talk about, you can start a thread in Meta, but there is no need to make this thread a meta thread about its own existence. In the meantime, as Umbran says, we're discussing how best to handle this.

 

[trappedslider]

Thank you @Morrus and @Umbran for not auto-locking this thread.

One way folks have been keeping tabs is Flightradar24 ( Live Flight Tracker - Real-Time Flight Tracker Map | Flightradar24 ) where users have found drones with callsigns FORTEXX flying circles over the black sea. At some points, they have become the most tracked flights.

Over 32,000 watching US spyplane on Flightradar24 - Airline Ratings


Here's a sat photo of the convoy that's on its way Kyiv

 

[Horwath]

Thank you @Morrus and @Umbran for not auto-locking this thread.

One way folks have been keeping tabs is Flightradar24 ( Live Flight Tracker - Real-Time Flight Tracker Map | Flightradar24 ) where users have found drones with callsigns FORTEXX flying circles over the black sea. At some points, they have become the most tracked flights.

Over 32,000 watching US spyplane on Flightradar24 - Airline Ratings


Here's a sat photo of the convoy that's on its way Kyiv

not really a "spy" plane if everyone can track it on line...

 

[trappedslider]

not really a "spy" plane if everyone can track it on line...

It's called a spy plane because well it spys not because it can't be tracked.

Looks like you don't need a Visa if you wish to join Ukraine's fight but you'll still need the right documents to get there Ukraine: No visa required for foreigners who join Kyiv's fight against Moscow

 

[Horwath]

Looks like you don't need a Visa if you wish to join Ukraine's fight but you'll still need the right documents to get there Ukraine: No visa required for foreigners who join Kyiv's fight against Moscow

I really hope that this will not invite the "lowest of the low" into Ukraine.

There are people that just want a legal justification to kill other people.

Also hoping that this will not escalate to "big red button" phase.

 

[Sacrosanct]

This invasion has been weighing on me. I keep having flashbacks to my time in Bosnia when we went in early to stop that genocide. I see all the faces of those who were brutalized, the mass graves; I heard the land mines going off all the time as some poor farmer or his animals stepped on them when trying to plow fields (I was part of an aircrew that crashed landed a UH-60 in a minefield; that puckers the sphincter) . I talked with a woman who pointed at the bus driver, saying he raped her as a guard when she was a prisoner only months earlier, but there was no justice to be found. I saw a woman trying to cook a meal over a small fire in her home. A home that was missing half of its walls and most of its roof. This was in winter by the way.

So while I know people are enthused about the Russian missteps and lack of progress, and it gives hope, I also know what's coming when Russia launches all of its troops, and not just a light invasion with inexperienced conscripts.

My heart breaks. I am so sorry for not only the people of Ukraine, but the Russian soldier and their family who is caught up in this and don't want to be there as well.

My experience with war, is that no one wins. And the brutality and suffering doesn't end when the bullets stop, but lasts for years later. I really hope, with all my heart, that the pressure not just from the rest of the world, but from his own oligarchs and military leaders push back hard enough to knock some sort of sense into Putin.

 

[Umbran]

It's called a spy plane because well it spys not because it can't be tracked.

If everyone knows it is there, it isn't a "spy". It is an observer.

 

[Umbran]

And while there are certainly adjacent political topics that should be avoided, supporting free people in their time of greatest need shouldn't be controversial. IMO.

If the thread becomes about actually supporting people - like, say, charity donations - then we are unlikely to need to close this discussion.

If the thread becomes an argument over whether Putin is a mustache twirling villain, or whether sufficient "visions" of reality are represented, it will get closed.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

If the thread becomes about actually supporting people - like, say, charity donations - then we are unlikely to need to close this discussion.

If the thread becomes an argument over whether Putin is a mustache twirling villain, or whether sufficient "visions" of reality are represented, it will get closed.

Do Public Good

action.publicgood.com

A more UK-centric roundup-

Ukraine help: What can people in the UK do?

Aid charities are working in Ukraine while grassroots groups are ready to support refugees.

www.bbc.com

A compendium of recent links (US)-

How to help Ukraine amid Russian attacks

A guide on how to help Ukraine and Ukrainians during the Russian invasion.

abcnews.go.com

 

[Rabulias]

One way folks have been keeping tabs is Flightradar24 ( Live Flight Tracker - Real-Time Flight Tracker Map | Flightradar24 ) where users have found drones with callsigns FORTEXX flying circles over the black sea. At some points, they have become the most tracked flights.

This, plus things like the satellite photos from private companies like Maxar, western reporters positioned on the Russian side of the border observing, filming, and reporting on the troops and vehicles moving toward Ukraine, and the large social media presence of a lot of people in Ukraine sharing footage. The technology is different now, and I wonder what effects it will have? And I know there have been mobile phones, cameras, and social media utilized in other conflicts in the last 20 years, but this is the first nation-vs-bordering nation in that time, I believe. I hope for the situation to resolve peacefully as soon as possible of course, but if it continues it will be an interesting element to watch.