Navies are really, really expensive to maintain, and they're really only relevant if you're trying to project power. There's a reason the US has the largest navy, and very few weaponized defenses in-country (relatively speaking).
Switchblade 300 (which I'm confident is all that is currently in Ukraine), almost certainly not - often described as a flying shotgun, and lacks the legs to get there.
(Edit: though looking at map, even 90 km won't let Ukraine reach any of Crimea right now, but would certainly help in Donbas).
You can start by reading article 1 of the North Atlantic Treaty
If I'm not mistaken there's a couple of states that have been openly accepting these types of investments (upper mid-west at least one). And you know which party is in control.
The subs are there to counter NATO (and possibly to anonymously sink merchant shipping, but in this case, Russia hasn't even tried to be anonymous).
They might be roughed up a little, but I believe at least 3 prisoner exchanges has occurred already between Russia and Ukraine. My hope is that whatever remaining ammo they had left they gave to their comrades that managed to link up with the Asov's, and these surrendering marines will be put back into the fight when/if there is another prisoner swap.
I don't think Iraq was under Article 5. Bush used WMDs excuse to go after Iraq not links of Al-Qaeda. The legal aspect of it came through the UN SC.
Well, in the North, they just executed every male anyway, civilian or military. (And raped then executed most of the girls and women also). But the South has been a bit more civilized by Russian standards ~ they only kidnap mayors, deport tens of thousands of civilians and "orphans" to the far reaches of Russia, and level cities with no regard for civilian casualties if they don't surrender. But no reports (yet) of widespread murder, pillage, and rape from the South which was a totally separate chain of command.
www.theglobeandmail.com
No worries, updates with source are always of interest. Particularly when most of us are relying on twitter as a "reference", everyone should be fully aware that such news is quite uncertain... but more "official" news sources are often trailing twitter by 12-24 hours, and haven't been a whole lot more reliable than some of the reliable twitter feeds...Seems some posters pointed out my previous post was not accurate.
I posted what the news outlets are getting. Take it with a grain of salt. I am doing my best.
also, there is this:
Fight for Mariupol not over, commander of foreign legion says, despite Russian claims more than 1,000 Ukrainian marines surrendered
Mamuka Mamulashvili, the commander of the Georgian Legion, says his unit had troops ‘near Mariupol’ who were still fighting
Moskva severe fire/damage now confirmed by Moscow. Although their explanation may be soldiers smoking in the missile bay...
Bring fire and ruin. To Valhalla, brothers!
With ammunition stores exploding, I'm thinking the Russian ministry claims of "the crew were completely evacuated" almost certainly is including those evacuated to Davy Jones' Locker. 510 crew reportedly on board.
High, a Russian Admiral abandoning ship before his men (or even after) is likely dead anyway.
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