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Comment by lalaland1125 | Hacker News Reader

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lalaland1125

> With no troops coming to the aid of Ukraine, the Russians have the luxury of time.

There are no troops coming to Ukraine, but arms are streaming across the Polish border from NATO countries.

Not to mention lots of Ukraine citizens rapidly training as militias as we speak.

The longer Putin waits, the more weapons Ukraine will have.

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> There are no troops coming to Ukraine, but arms are streaming across the Polish border from NATO countries.

I don't understand why the Western governments are openly anouncing their supply of weapons to Ukraine. Why not just do it stealthily?

If they do it stealthily, when videos show up on tiktok of javelins taking out tanks, the Russians can say "see! It's all more western imperialism!".

If they do it publicly, they avoid that and send a strong message that they're supporting Ukraine. Win-win.

Why not? It's a show of support for their own citizens if nothing else, who probably for the most part support Ukraine.

I don't think it's really possible to hide the fact that US and UK military hardware is arriving by the bucket-load into Ukraine.

Javelins in particular are quite distinctive when used in the field.

I am not sure that somebody going to go CSI Miami style on blown up machinery :) Surprisingly there is very little footage of it (javelines/nlaw/stingers) in the field .

That's not something you can hide from Russia, so why not announce it and give Ukrainians hope and will to fight off the invaders? Joe Biden and other leaders have been making the right decisions by being transparent.

also invasion troops are getting out of supply quickly too.

Makes you wonder if that was the point? Get everyone all stirred up about a half hearted invasion so they dump a bunch of currency and weapons into the country to prop up the Ukrainians, then send your real a-list players in to seize the goods. Free resupply and upgrades from all your friends! Now you can move on to the next target.

I'm not an expert but I can't imagine it's worth it for that, factoring in sanctions, increased militarisation of surrounding countries + potential spread of NATO, casualties, Russian equipment being destroyed, equipment that doesn't fit their ammo/can't be supported/etc., and the probability that many of these weapons don't get seized and instead are used against them for years by rebels (the west has even implied they will support this with more - and the weapons we have sent are suited to this and not hugely valuable).

Pretty far fetched

As the ruble crashes and protests go off daily...

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