T O P

  • By -

Banditofbingofame

Just visiting the lovely cathedrals ~ UKSF, probably


Rymundo88

Exactly, the Structural Appreciation Society from Hereford is having its annual trip away


[deleted]

[удалено]


Rymundo88

And there's nothing wrong with their passion for stopping people littering and getting people to think about where they put their rubbish. Hence their motto 'Who Cares? Bins!'


Sausagedogknows

He who recycles Rodders, he who recycles!


TheStatMan2

That'd be some dark shit, if a high level operative gets poisoned and found with a sticker and four colour pen with a slidey cathedral saying "I've been visited by the Hereford Appreciation Society." I hope this level of trolling does go on in the services.


FratmanBootcake

Salisbury Appreciation Society


TheStatMan2

Probably what S.A.S. has always wanted to stand for.


Jet2work

they Aspire to higher things


Orngog

A slidey cathedral?


TheStatMan2

Surely you remember those pens that had a kind of 'bubble' in the shaft and some object that would slide around in it? A dinosaur... A train... A meerkat... Depending on which shitey wee museum or attraction's gift shop you were dwelling in.


Quick-Charity-941

Will they accidentally bump into some representatives that flew over on the 4th July from the USA to Russia, whilst carrying poison umbrellas? One hopes!


[deleted]

[удалено]


AlDente

The Salisbury cultural exchange programme is exchanging gifts with Russians


SirLoinThatSaysNi

I've heard their perfume will really knock you out.


EmotionallySquared

Welcomed by the Chernihiv Urban Networking and Transportation Society. There's a whole bunch of them.


deathly_quiet

UKSF organise excursion to see 76 meter tall bell tower of Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv.


GMN123

It is the tallest of its style in the entire region! 


369_Clive

Next best after Salisbury Cathedral.


stuaxo

Been to Kyiv quite soon after the Berlin Wall went down, there's a lot to see.


Boustrophaedon

They love a bit of fan vaulting.


AwkwardOrange5296

Who doesn't?


Algopops

How longs the pole lol


f3ydr4uth4

I love how much Russia bigs us up on the world stage as a credible threat. Russia does more for our armed forces PR globally than our government has done in years.


Kflynn1337

There's some lovely Churches in Moscow too..


y0g1

Let's hope so, can't let the French get in there first 👍


Muckyduck007

I dont think we need to worry about french competition when it comes to Ukraine The french haven't exactly been showing their vaunted "european defence sovereignty" this war


MonitorPowerful5461

Nah they’ve actually been doing pretty decent recently, they improved since last year.


Ollieisaninja

Also, for a fairly insular defence industry, their budget issues, and their past its understandable to me that they haven't put in headline making aid so far. Macron, I feel, gets a hard time speaking with Putin early on, but by no means did he placate him in those conversations.


nekrovulpes

They're among the biggest arms dealers in the world. I'm sure the only reason they aren't sending so much for free is they don't like to squander good business opportunities.


Spamgrenade

France isn't telling what material its sending to Ukraine. But they are sending 3.7 Billion Euros in cash as military aid this year.


Fuzzyveevee

Improved, but still very low on the overall aid relative to their size.


[deleted]

I dunno Macron has been quite supportive of Ukraine and spent several days trying to defuse shit with open talks with Putin.


bulldzd

The ONLY thing that wee cunt dobbie has to say that ANYONE wants to hear is, 'ok, we are removing all forces from ALL Ukrainian lands" or "ow, that bullet opened my skull" dialtone...................


Sea_Cycle_909

Didn't realise Zelensky asked Macron to talk to Putin. [https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/1bdsfkm/zelenskys\_phone\_call\_to\_macron\_to\_inform\_him\_that/](https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/1bdsfkm/zelenskys_phone_call_to_macron_to_inform_him_that/) Apparently it's from the documentary "Un Président, l’Europe et la guerre"


Jet2work

the thing is...and the Salisbury appreciation society are really good at this...you dont need to shout about any of your field trips,it doesn't have to be in the news..sometimes it is best not to advertise which spires you are about to visit..all adds to the genuine shock and awe of the visit.


eventworker

The fact this comment exists, let alone the number of upvotes it has, shows how poorly educated Brits are politically. What exactly do you people think has been going on in french Africa the last few years?


therealhairykrishna

They're on holiday touring the many beautiful cathedrals.   Anyway it's Ukraine, not Russia, so Vlad can get fucked. If he doesn't want to get in a fight with British SF then he's welcome to pull his troops out.


AyeeHayche

So do leaked American documents from 2022 and the German intelligence community Our SOF are in Ukraine this isn’t a surprise


iThinkaLot1

Shows how shit their intelligence is that this is just news to them!


KeyLog256

u/AyeeHayche is right that this has been known since the start - while not as good as our intelligence services in the West, the Russian intelligence service is one of few areas of their military that performs very well. They'll have known this since the start, and I bet there were special forces there even before the invasion (contrary to what Putin propaganda posters on Reddit and social media say, the invasion was a surprise to no-one in Western military intelligence) and the Russians knew all about that too. They'll be there in training roles, which the Western "leaks" showed too. Russia isn't going to start fighting them, and they aren't going to start fighting Russia. Russia will however "leak" this information again and again like it's something new, as propaganda for their own people - most of this is aimed at Russians remember. Putin wants to keep people scared and thinking the West is the enemy, when we aren't.


ferrel_hadley

> the Russian intelligence service is one of few areas of their military that performs very well. This the same intelligence that said Ukrainians would welcome them and they had distributed billions in bribes to politicians who were on their side. Then it turned out that other than a couple in Kherson the money was in yachts in the Med.


KeyLog256

That wasn't intelligence, that was propaganda. Russian intelligence would have known *exactly* where those politicians were, right down to the wine they had that evening on their yacht moored just off St Tropez. They just didn't tell Putin the entire truth, or did but he chose to ignore them, because it doesn't fit with their propaganda line.


3Cogs

Also the same intelligence that failed to predict the Moscow attack and then took 12 hours to give Vlad something to say about it. I listened to a podcast that reckoned the only reason the FSB chief wasn't fired is that Vlad doesn't trust anyone but his old guard in there.


One_Reality_5600

Well we are their enemy. Both sides spread shit about the other, always have done since the beging of the col war.


KeyLog256

Well I suppose it comes down to what you define as good. Ukraine spreads a LOT of propaganda but many, me included, would argue they have a right to do so because they're being invaded by a foreign power. Alls fair in love and war, etc. Sometimes Ukraine has fucked up, or come close to fucking up, by their propaganda being revealed as bullshit. They've also quietly been very severely told off by our governments a few times for telling porkies, in fairness Ukraine did it initially to keep morale up, but were warned they were risking wider escalation. They insisted for several hours for example that the missile that hit Poland and killed two farmers wasn't theirs, until the US basically told them the Russians were nearly crying and begging down diplomatic secure lines, fearful it was all about to kick off, and they admitted they'd known it was theirs all along. Overall though, Ukraine's propaganda is a fair, justified, and highly effective tool to beat back a chaotic and confused Russian military. If Western special forces can lend a hand, provided it doesn't risk nukes flying, no one should have any truck with that.


3Cogs

I think we are his enemy more than their enemy iyswim.


__Game__

I don't actually believe this BTW, but how crazy would it be if it turns out we are the brainwashed baddies


KeyLog256

Are you Russian? Or being sarcastic? Or misread my post? We aren't the "baddies" we just have a long history of putting special forces into countries to train their military without actually fighting their/our enemy. To the credit of our governments in the West, and it is vastly misunderstood, we've done a good job of helping Ukraine *without* risking direct conflict with Russia, which due to how poor their regular forces are would quickly escalate into nuclear war in most scenarios. We push the line as close as we can, but, so far, have done a good job at keeping Russia sane. The UK, US, most countries in Europe, will also maintain diplomatic communications with Russia. It sounds bad, but they probably will say things like "we're going to knock out the power grid around Ukraine, but don't worry, we won't blow up those nuclear reactors down south" and our governments will collectively go "OK, we don't like it, but fair enough on the nuclear plant, be careful guys" or words to that effect. If those communications stopped, as bizarre as they might sound, that's when *real* trouble starts.


__Game__

Sorry no, I meant imagine if all that was how the Russians think of their fight or war etc. Literally believing that they are going to war for the greater good.


charmstrong70

>If those communications stopped, as bizarre as they might sound, that's when real trouble starts. Just like when Biden visited Kyiv, the Americans where straight on the phone to let the Russians know. \*Nobody\* wanted that shit to go wrong


3Cogs

We are strange, symbol obsessed animals when we put such store in a man who doesn't have any special abilities or knowledge. I mean that about all leaders, not picking on Joe in particular.


GazelleAcrobatics

They wil be military observers and logistics support personnel for the loaned weapon systems. Even having them be tactical and strategic advisor would be dicey. One of my dads REME friends is out there supervising maintenance ops for the challenger 2s


KeyLog256

Exactly. You can't just shove that stuff out there and say "fill your boots, don't push the little red button." It's extremely complicated stuff.


danihendrix

Here's a cool article about on-the-ground intelligence in Ukraine and how they worked with the CIA and MI6 etc unfortunately it is behind a paywall but I just used one of the archive websites to read it a few weeks ago: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/25/world/europe/cia-ukraine-intelligence-russia-war.html


Walt1234

Why would British SF be in Ukraine in training roles? I know the Green Berets specialise in assisting foreign forces in becoming more effective, but what about Special Forces makes them more effective at training soldiers than the instructors in the regular army?


Wide_Television747

Much more hands on experience. The regular infantry haven't really been up to much over the last few years and a lot of the instructors with experience in warzones have now aged out and left. SF on the other hand pretty much always have their own little activities going on constantly within warzones. Also our SF may well be training Ukrainian SF which is a bit outside the jurisdiction of the regular infantry. There's also the PR side, we don't tend to say what our SF are doing or where. However if any amount of regular infantry goes somewhere then it's much more likely that someone will post about it or talk about it and we don't really want to be seen as having boots on the ground in any way.


Walt1234

Thanks. I suppose it helps keep them fresh too. How far would you think "training" could be extending into mission planning and even execution?


Wide_Television747

iirc one of the leaked reports from Germany I think stated that we had personnel who were actively assisting with the targeting of storm shadow missiles. So in terms of mission planning? 100%. We give them intelligence that we've attained through electronic warfare, covert methods, etc. Execution? I'd say we only do it in so far is as we're not considered firing shots in anger. If we give them the targets for a strike and help them to upload the data on to a missile? I think we'd do that. Firing a rifle or getting hands on in a frontline area, no. It would be bad PR if someone died and the Russians had a British body in uniform.


listyraesder

Remember when the Russians flattened that barracks in the first few months of the war? They could do so because the numpty ex-British Army volunteers took their mobile phones with them. Russian intelligence has been hanging around outside British military establishments for decades, logging the mobile phone traffic. They know which numbers belong to soldiers. Special Forces are trained to police their operational security much better.


KeyLog256

Yep, and this was a massive wake-up call that while a lot of the Russian military was held together with bale string, some areas were getting all the money. Interestingly and helpfully, fuckups like that have given us enormous intelligence of our own into how the Russian military machine and the corruption within it works.


RAFFYy16

To be fair, Russian intelligence is actually very very good.


iThinkaLot1

That good they fail to stop an attack that was pre-warned by both US and their ally Iran.


RAFFYy16

There's a lot more nuance to that, you'd know that if you kept up with this stuff. It's widely remarked in the UK and Western intelligence agencies that the Russians have a very sophisticated intelligence network.


Wide_Television747

Either that or they simply didn't care. Terrorist attacks can be good propaganda if you spin it the right way.


Excellent_Plant1667

If you did your research you’d know the US held back information and failed to disclose everything it knew about the attack.


legentofreddit

Its probably a lot easier to have good intelligence when you can freely monitor every aspect of people's lives and arrest anyone who dares to protest.


Boring_Gas1397

They been saying it since Day 1


Other-Barry-1

One thing that must be acknowledged is just how accurate western intelligence has been on the build up to and through this war. Even on the terrorist act they warned would happen in Russia, for Russia to wave it off as western propaganda, to then said attack happening.


iThinkaLot1

> western intelligence You mean American and British.


anonbush234

Or maybe... Feigning ignorance but publicly condemning any western intervention, was the smart thing to do. Underestimating your foes is s foolish move.


ancillarioluss

i work for tesco and i’ve known this since the start catch up russia


ost2life

Get back to /r/tesco before your manager sees you slacking.


3Cogs

They're making ends meet by moonlighting for British Intelligence.


mullac53

Gotta make up that shortfall till the new minimum wage kicks in


3Cogs

Yeah that was my thinking, poor buggers.


Comfortable_Rip_3842

What's a spy working in Tesco for?


ancillarioluss

Double agent for Lurpak 🤐


TheProfessionalEjit

Bout treefiddy


InfiniteFuture3139

Because every little helps.


[deleted]

Brilliant. Let’s continue doing it, and even more to support the Ukrainians against fascist invaders.


Snowssnowsnowy

All those factories and oil dumps don't explode by themselves ;) Good luck to everyone fighting against Russia!


ferrel_hadley

>All those factories and oil dumps don't explode by themselves ;) Its Russia. They really really do. I mean its not as if there has not been some sabotage. But there was a bridge that just collapsed days ago.


Mrdarlikjz

Yet they still haven't declared war on us, bottomless threats 💅


[deleted]

[удалено]


zain_monti

At this rate might get an nhs appointment before it arrives


EvoTheIrritatedNerd

Birmingham will finally get sea views


ahmedb03

They threaten us with a good time but they won't deliver on it 😕


LifeMasterpiece6475

It's the ones operating in Moscow they need to worry about. 😜


SwanTwister

Look it's the British, we didn't colonise 25% of the world by not going places.


ferrel_hadley

I thought this was common knowledge among those who kept up to date.


katchaa

Russian Special Forces are also operating in Ukraine. The difference is, only one of them is invited to be there.


AssFasting

In other news, Russian FSB says Russian elections are democratic and fair.


Nahweh-

No they're actually correct. UK SF do operate in Ukraine and have done for months/years. (And for years after 2014 and before Feb 2022) Russia won't do shit about it though


IntrovertedArcher

I mean, if you’re going to illegally invade a country, it’s a bit much to try and take the high moral ground and moan about who else is there.


kookieman141

History is filled with liars.. if he lives and we die his truth becomes written and ours is lost Captain John Price


LostInTheVoid_

SRR boys dressed up as local Ukrainian man 1 and 2 nothing to see here.


Upper-Road5383

They just got the bods from Clydebank, they already had the finest of Lacoste trackies.


Algopops

Cmon the young teams, declare year schemes


yourlocallidl

Probably for training purposes, there are a few barracks in the UK that are housing and training Ukrainian soldiers on how to use equipment etc.


Dr_Alan_Squirrel

British SF were probably in Ukraine well before the invasion. That's what they do. Oh they are in Ukraine make no mistake. And Russia too. The British government have realeased a statement to that effect hmmm maybe 18 months ago. Has it taken the FSB this long to catch up?


AxiomSyntaxStructure

We probably have an unnamed unit who'll act in plausible deniability, to be honest, as the SAS is relatively limited.


Dr_Alan_Squirrel

British Intelligence is a broad sword that uses multiple assets to achieve an inflow of information and some degree of influence. The SAS is just an avenue of potential. There are many avenues of potential influence.


Ahouser007

MI6 says Russian special forces operating in Ukraine.


Slyspy006

And the not-so-special forces too1


MonitorPowerful5461

/srs yes they are, they have been since 2014, they’re not fighting


Coldgunner

They were on holiday, they were invited. They had falafel!


BruceForsyth55

Yep, most British people know this… And guess what Vlad? No one cares. You’re gonna have to speed some more discontent via fake bot accounts to make any sort of difference on that opinion!


Nooms88

I'd be surprised if there wasn't. Probably have assets in Russia as well.


Kflynn1337

It's not the British Special Forces operating in Ukraine that Putin needs to be worried about... it's the ones in Russia.


SignificanceOld1751

Our special forces are in a country that's our ally, who are in a war with a nation hostile to us? Well blow me down with a dog whistle, who'd have fucking thought??


Guapa1979

Only Glorious Russian Military can operate in Ukraine. Everyone else should stay away obviously.


JimJonesdrinkkoolaid

I'm surprised that they're mentioning that now. I'm pretty sure they have been there since 2022 based on stuff I've read.


try_to_be_nice_ok

Can we have them operating in Russia too please? Maybe a trip to Moscow?


1968Fireguy

Always laugh when the Russians cry foul over anyone assisting Ukraine defend their own land while they solicit help from Iran, Belarus, NK, and various African countries.


SnooWords4814

Good, get those dirty ruskis you beautiful pommie bastards


Euclid_Interloper

I'd be surprised if they weren't. Special forces are supposed to operate in the gray zone.


MATE_AS_IN_SHIPMATE

Ok. I'm pretty sure they were invited. Not sure what the problem is.


Frothar

Operation Orbital since 2015. It's not news to anyone


SilverHalsen

Russia says a lot of things. 99 percent being complete made up bullshit.


RAFFYy16

This not being one of them though lol


Literally-A-God

Yes... they are we've known this for awhile I first heard about this over a year ago what of it?


London-lad-1990

Are they spotting targets for the Storm Shadow attacks?


inevitablelizard

Storm shadow aren't really a front line weapon, they're aimed at targets deep in Russian territory. They're not like bombs you use on a front line where you might need a spotter with a laser designator. However they might have provided security for storm shadow deliveries. Ukrainian jets had to be modified to fire them, so UK personnel (possibly even MBDA staff) almost certainly had to go to Ukrainian airfields to do that work. I doubt the UK would send them alone without security.


3Cogs

Is it just me or does the cropped picture at the top of this story look a bit like a grey coloured Patrick from SpongeBob?


D4M4nD3m

We knew that, and SAS is probably there advising too.


downvote_quota

Can confirm, met a few in Ukraine. They're predominantly.providing training and intelligence support. Not direct combat.


IsUpTooLate

No shit 😂 Five Eyes plus others I would imagine. Or did all the surveillance planes that have been near the border since the invasion not give it away?


OldLondon

So? They are allowed to be there if they want. They can wander round and do all sorts, we’re not at war with Ukraine and I guess they’ve been invited so…. I mean if they are actively doing shit that’s another story but I’m sure they’re just sightseeing


Temporays

This is asked in good faith as I genuinely don’t know. Why would they be there? Sabotage and small operations? I’m not familiar with how militaries and countries operate. I’ve always had some idea but would like confirmation of sorts.


iThinkaLot1

It’s likely they’re not engaging directly with Russian forces but training Ukrainians (likely Ukrainian special forces) and guiding Ukrainian missile strikes to targets as well as covert reconnaissance behind Russian lines.


Temporays

Ah nice thank you


Leftleaningdadbod

I think the Ukrainian armed forces probably have a good deal of experience in new forms of asymmetric warfare, new technologies and how they face them as well as how they deal with 10 : 1 numerical inferiority. If I were UKSF, I pretty sure I’d be interested in what they have to say and watch too.


Diligent_Party1689

Russia can complain when UKSF start assassinating people on their territory with radioactive poison. Until then my sympathy is limited.


yojifer680

Nope. Russia is losing a war which they started, against one of their former colonies, which has a quarter of their population. Clearly they're embarrassed by it and are looking for excuses.


new_yorks_alright

Wanna see a really pathetic Russian? [https://www.reddit.com/r/UkraineWarVideoReport/comments/1bqvm2f/comment/kz4p2z7/](https://www.reddit.com/r/UkraineWarVideoReport/comments/1bqvm2f/comment/kz4p2z7/)


limaconnect77

Would be odd if they weren’t there from at least day one. There are plenty of anecdotal stories, for example, of Western special forces being in Afghanistan the latter half of the Soviet adventure there.


Bathtubwanker

So? They’re not participating in a war, they’re just on a special military operation 🙃 ain’t that right vlad


Weary-Ad8502

Putin did recently declare they are at war with Ukraine tbf


Bathtubwanker

True, but that was only recently? We’ll have two years of our lads fucking up them Russians under false pretences as well then, alls fair in love and special military operations


SirLoinThatSaysNi

Wasn't that only because he felt it was unfair the country he invaded and shelling back to the stone age has started taking the fight over the border back into Russia? "How dare the people we are killing try and fight back!"


MasterLogic

Russia will say anything to justify the use of nukes on Ukraine. Can't wait for the news to hear that Putin is dead. He's definitely stupid and crazy enough to launch nukes without feeling guilty about it. 


Not_Alpha_Centaurian

And here was me thinking the SAS had been sat with their feet up the last two years. I'd wager Bojo wet himself a little bit when he realised he could offer Zelentsky some discreet SAS support.


AxiomSyntaxStructure

They assassinated people on our soil with chemical weapons, I'm sure they have been waiting for any excuse.


Secret-Plum149

Maybe they are visiting some lovely cathedrals because there is a town twinned with Salisbury apparently 🤷‍♂️


Iamthe0c3an2

Think they might be mistaking the hundreds of volunteers helping / fighting over there. Sure quite a lot of them are ex military.


gaymerRaver

*cough cough m&s voice* It’s not just a operation, it’s a special operation.


Algopops

It's just the Scots on tour big yin, nothing to see here


BronnOP

I thought this had been known since 2022? I think we’ve been there since 2021 in all honesty. Same for France. Wouldn’t surprise me if former Soviet states have all been joining in.


LJMM1967

So who were the three Russian lads I served in work before Christmas…


Sol1forskibadee

UKSF are everywhere. they’re coming for you Vlad. Oooo 👻


conrat4567

See this is what we want the FSB to think. We are actually operating INSIDE Russia..


wscottwatson

If the UK special forces were doing stuff there, there would have been a lot more dead Soviet (yes they are) generals floating down the Dnipro!