The opening speech will be given by this wonderful anti-fascist whom I posted earlier. Just as a reminder, let me present to you Dmitri Utkin, the founder of putler's private army, Wagner and he goes by the same nickname.

If some of you are wondering why the hell someone called Dmitri would be nicknamed Wagner and would name his company by the same name well, Wagner was Hitler's favorite composer.

Concept isn't new but I seriously doubt Ukrainian pilots will just pick them up in Poland. This would be seen as using NATO airbases and would risk a serious escalation. Then why would Poland leave themselves undefended? Defence contracts take years to negotiate, then Poland would have the same issue in training up their flight crews and pilots on any western manufactured planes.

This is why this isn't going to happen, certainly in the short term. Most likely never. Cutting through the fake news at the moment is a difficult task.

What I do find remarkable though is that we're 11 days into this conflict and the Ukrainian air force is still active. This has to be one of the biggest military cock ups from a Russian perspective in the last 100 years. Every commander since 1918 knows that if you control the air then you control the battlefield. By all reasoning Ukrainian air capabilities should have been reduced to rubble within the first few hours of the invasion.

Whilst the defence of Ukraine has been inspiring and clearly a major factor, I along with many others have overestimated Russian capabilities. I'm really surprised at how poor they've been.

Putler couldn't invent anything else other than calling UA nazis therefore mother Russia, the bastion of human rights and anti-nazism, should go there and put things in order by killing civilians.
Yes, it happens as we speak. Somewhere not that far away.

I think the deal will happen as it was confirmed yesterday. For me though, the "pick-up" point is less relevant than the question which airports can the Ukrainians still use? Moreover, the Russians have brought two of their AWACs in Belarus and have SU 35 around.

Without ground control, radars and anti-aircraft systems beyond the hand-held ones, the Mig 29 stand little chance vs. the russian SU29 and 35s.

Come on Tony, keep up. Migs are the jets that the Ukranian AF already know how to fly so they could be immediately operational. They could also be operated and maintained from Polish airfields. Who knows if it will happen, but it is certainly feasible.

I've read on a couple of articles that Ukraine could use Polish airbases to launch operations... lets see if they can take that step as otherwise it will soon result in the jets getting smashed by strikes or the airfields overrun and that benefits no-one.

Indeed, that's how they do it in Hollywood, why can't they do it in real life? Or you been playing too much MS Flight Simulator

Without an escalation that brings NATO into direct conflict with Russia, there is no way on earth any Ukrainian planes will be operated and maintained from Polish airfields.

ok, well it sounded quite reasonable to me. the standing against fascism part, I mean it's right there in the name.

This would imply that NATO bases are used to launch attacks on Russia. I doubt this would happen.

@TonyClifton not sure what you mean by Hollywood, but the Ukrainian pilots will have no problem flying Mig 29s, in fact this was their request

This sounds pretty ignorant not to mention racist.

Ukrainian pilots can fly Mig 29s. This is about all that is going for this proposal. I've listened to reports over the weekend with journalists asking why NATO don't just send Typhoons or F-16s. Such a detachment from how this works.

How many pilots are available, where could they fly from, where would weapons and armament for the planes come from, how would they get there, who would coordinate fighter control etc. all these questions that don't have answers. What it does do is create headlines though.

Oh, so you agree now.

But wait, not really.

It didn't occur to you for one moment that Russia might be being a little bit disingenuous here? You know - they invaded a country with a Jewish leader on the grounds that it was being run by Nazis?

this old excuse. new excuse: Ukraine with help of DC producing nuke, thus, must be eliminated
wait until vushka updates its masterplan from the host

Slammer, I am as scared as the next person, even more than others, I would say.

I would have loved for us to never ever have this war, or any other war as a matter of fact.

I do not think it is a failure of diplomacy between two countries, the pieces of the bigger puzzle come together now and it looks like Putin planned this for a very long time.

He has the power to do it because we all have enriched him and enabled him - some directly, most indirectly. He learned, in time, in all those over 20 years since he got in power, that he can do it again and again.

Of course, I pray (even though I am not very religious) that all this ends up sooner than later, with less casualties and less collateral victims on both sides.

I don't know how. Hope dies last.

Ukrainians children and their moms are the images that haunt me.

Putin's "anti fascist" pretext for invading Ukraine is clearly propaganda but fascism in Ukraine is clearly a topic for another more appropriate time.

I am not a particularly soft and sensitive person and yet, it feels like crying when I see photos like this. Doesn't putler understand that a whole generation will be raised which profoundly hates everything Russian? This is how radicalized societies are being created. I hope there's a hell somewhere there and he goes there ASAP

How true, one good way to cut through the fake news is to put you on ignore.

NATO is actively arming Ukraine already. I think the escalation is very high at the moment, and I am sorry but I feel very pessimistic: it is only a matter of time when NATO and Russia get into the direct conflict. It doesn’t look good to me at all, I don’t see any diplomatic efforts going on but only military escalation.

From CNN:
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2022/03/06/p...nce/index.html

Washington(CNN) Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley went last week to an undisclosed airfield near the Ukrainian border that has become a hub for shipping weapons, a senior Defense Department official said, seeing firsthand the multinational effort to get weapons into Ukraine amid Russia's unprovoked invasion.
While at the airfield, Milley met with troops and personnel and examined the shipment activity, the official said Friday. The site has become a beehive of activity in recent days, going from a handful of flights each day to as many as 17, the field's maximum capacity.

The fact that some Mig29s are still flying implies they have some secret airfields.

They are probably used against ground forces, convoys and such not in dog fights with Russian SUs.

Ukraine is a huge country, twice the area of Germany so it is difficult for the Russians to find and catch the Migs especially if their Russian airfields are still outside of the Ukraine.

ukraine obviously does have some problems given they are the only country which has or allows an openly far-right/neo-Nazi military unit in their ranks.

but this wasn't about that, I just saw they were hosting an "anti-fascist conference" and figured it was a good thing. i guess they've just used the label "anti-fascist" to justify their own actions.