Ukraine will be able to use Danish and Dutch F-16s to strike into Russia, while Belgium is saying only for use in 1991-border Ukraine.
Archived version: https://archive.ph/Iv4Fu
Ukraine: “I consent.”
Denmark: “I consent.”
Russia: “Was there somebody you forgot to ask?”
The myth of consentual flights of F-16s into Russian territory.
Same way Russia forgot to ask Ukraine, Ukraine forgot to ask Russia. Seems fair.
forgot to ask Ukraine
After how many Minsk Agreements mediated by the OSCE would you consider Ukraine properly “asked”?
The same ones that Russia and Ukraine hates? They can’t even agree on the meaning of them, since they are such an ambiguous mess that doesn’t specify anything.
On the other hand, who gives a shit if Russia burns for their ongoing aggression.
Not many people complain when an entire country reaches the “find out” part of “fuck around and find out” when they’ve had many years to course correct.
The problem with the Danes is that they have been so sheltered for so long that the concept of their actions having consequences simply don’t register any more. Everything is going to be welfare, roast pork and padding ourselves on the back for all eternity, war and disaster and calamity is something they have in “the warm countries”, it will never affect us.
So what happens if some Danish military bases get bombed or a frigate gets sunk with dozens of dead? Does Denmark pull back or call for WWIII?
Lots of commotion internally in Denmark while the reaction would be decided upon in Washington.
I don’t think Russia wants to retaliate so directly though. As I see it they have very little to gain from taking that bait. More likely acts of retaliation would be plausibly deniable cyber attacks or supporting some proxy in attacking Danish interests abroad. If I was a Danish troop in Iraq, I would be watching my back after this.
I doubt Russia would escalate in that way. If it happens, I’d imagine a “tit for tat” thing happening, where the Nordic countries sink the Russian Baltic Fleet and say that they consider the matter resolved.
When you say nordic countries, you mean sweden, norway, and finland would do a massive escalation, and open themselves up to retaliation? Surely they’d do the calculus and see there’s nothing to gain and a lot to lose? I’ve heard the political situation in the EU was not great, but I expect that kind of hawkishness here on the other side of the planet, not from the countries that actually stand to lose anything.
The Kremlin’s jets are flying over Ukraine and part of their barbaric land grab, why shouldn’t Ukrainians fly over Russia to stop attacks on their home?
Go bomb the shit out of them. Shoot down the terrorist bombers launching missiles at markets and playgrounds.
Nice gesture but why would Ukraine risk losing their new toys on adventurism where is work closer to to home to be done.
Now if they were supplying rockets with ranges over 200km and then they gave consent to such use… That would be a more meaningful move and would let Russia know that using NK rockets has consequences.
Nice gesture but why would Ukraine risk losing their new toys on adventurism where is work closer to to home to be done.
Where the frontline is close to the official border, Russia is able to keep its artillery and logistics on the Russian side of the border where Ukraine is not allowed to use half of its equipment. Russia’s ongoing Kharkiv offensive is an example of this
Now if they were supplying rockets with ranges over 200km
France and Britain have been supplying the storm shadow missile, which has almost three times that range. Ukraine has been launching it from its own Su-24 aircraft, but those are very old and there aren’t a lot of them left. The F-16 could be a good new platform to launch them from. As I understand it, storm shadow and F-16 are not compatible out of the box and would need some modification, but the same was true for the Su-24 and that appears to have worked out
Would Ukraine be able to fly planes close enough to strike within Russia given Russian strong anti air set up?
Can Ukraine use stormshadows within Russia?
Well they’ve been flying Su-24s, and the F-16s certainly shouldn’t be any less capable than those for this sort of thing
Can Ukraine use stormshadows within Russia?
The UK okayed it a couple of weeks ago, France this week
This means it is the US who has authorized them flying over Russian territory, Usually it is the country of origin that holds the right to specify how those arms should not be used.
Good thing Russia allowed Ukraine to use all those Migs and SUs against them.