REMEMBERING the 2014 start of Ukraine Invasion [Putin empire planning began much earlier:
Ukraine soldiers engage in test of wills with Russian troops
By William Booth
March 4, 2014
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/ukraine-airmen-engage-in-test-of-wills-with-russian-troops/2014/03/04/41990a30-a3ad-11e3-8466-d34c451760b9_story.html
Col. Yuliy Mamchuk, commander of the Ukrainian military garrison at the Belbek airbase, and a colleague with led the regiment to confront troops under Russian command Tuesday.
BELBEK, Ukraine — A tense and dangerous test of wills took place Tuesday on a rainy hilltop at a dilapidated Cold War-era airfield here, as Ukrainian soldiers confronted Russian troops and demanded to be allowed to return to their base.
Just a few hours after the 5 a.m. deadline reportedly issued by Russia’s Black Sea Fleet for Ukrainian troops in Crimea to switch their allegiance from the new government in Kiev to the pro-Russian leadership in Crimea, the first shots of the conflict were fired into the air here by a pro-Russia militiaman.
Russia denied imposing any such ultimatum.
No one was injured in the continuing impasse, but there were tense moments as the two sides faced off, and Ukrainian troops were forced to choose between their oath to Ukraine and their feelings of affinity with Russia.
Video shows the dramatic moments of a tense standoff between Ukrainian soldiers and Russian forces who took control of an airbase in Crimea.
At the Belbek air base, the Ukrainians chose duty.
At the harbor in nearby Sevastopol, a trio of Ukrainian navy vessels spent the night before the ultimatum deadline trapped at a dock as Russian minesweepers and Russian navy tugboats passed back and forth across their bows, blocking their exit.
On Tuesday morning, the Russian rescue and salvage ship Epron cut close to the docks and blasted its klaxon.
Officers of the Ukraine command ship U510 Slavutych said that during the middle of the night, five Russian navy ships from the Black Sea Fleet harassed them, shining search lights at the vessels. The Ukrainian sailors mounted water hoses and mattresses, saying they would repel boarders. They vowed not to surrender their ship.
In addition to the blockade in Sevastopol harbor, Russian navy ships closed off the narrow Kerch Strait, which separates Ukraine’s Crimea Peninsula and Russia, Pavel Shishurin, deputy head of the Ukraine’s border guards.
At the Belbek air base, as Russian snipers assumed flanking positions and aimed their rifles, a column of Ukrainian soldiers marched forward and tried to return to their jobs at the airfield Monday.
The Ukrainians had arrived unarmed.
The Russians were bristling with weapons.
VIDEO:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRvdmmwoeQE
VICE NEWS did a photo-journalism on the ground coverage series in 2014 which provides great documentation:
Russian Roulette in Ukraine
VICE News
113 videos [on the ground coverage]
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLw613M86o5o5zqF6WJR8zuC7Uwyv76h7R
Russia’s Little Green Men Enter Ukraine: Russian Roulette in Ukraine
VICE News
8.59M subscribers
6,370,599 views Mar 3, 2014
Russian Roulette S1 E1
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Russia has invaded the Crimean peninsula of Ukraine and taken over its civilian and military infrastructure. Not a shot has been fired so far, but Russia is using its superior force to intimidate Ukrainian troops in an attempt to get them to surrender.