Posted on 11/30/2016 6:58:53 PM PST by Mariner
Ukraine was due to start two days of missile tests on Thursday - a move that has angered Russia, prompting it to put its air defense forces on high alert on the annexed Crimea peninsula.
The disagreement marks a fresh escalation in tensions between the one-time allies, whose relations collapsed in 2014 after Russia seized Crimea and backed pro-Russian separatists fighting in eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine says the tests in its southern Kherson region, bordering Crimea, are legitimate and will be conducted within the framework of international obligations and treaties.
"We will continue to strengthen the defense capability of our nation and continue missile tests and training," the secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council, Oleksander Turchynov, said on Wednesday.
Russia's defense ministry has accused Ukraine of seeking to create a "nervous situation" and put its land-based and ship-borne air defense forces in Crimea on higher alert in response, Russian media reported.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday that he did not know whether President Vladimir Putin had ordered the defense ministry to prepare a potential military response to the Ukrainian tests.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
I wonder if they are trying to provoke Russia...
Nevertheless, routine.
why not missile test over an ISIS target instead of this ?
Ukrainians don’t seem to be the smartest people in the world.
If the Russians shoot it down over Crimea they’ll be within their rights to do so. You can’t launch across another nations land without their prior permission.
Dont you Russia provoked Ukraine by taking its country over killing thousands?
Nah..
Anything to defend Russia, right?
Defending your country is brave,
Taking over another and terrorizing it’s citizens the way Russia does, that’s cowardice.
There are no ISIS targets in Ukraine.
There are some Muslims in Crimea, but they mostly don’t like the Russkis much.
I’m guessing that Ukraine can do their missile test near Crimea as cheaply as almost anywhere else (esp. if the intent is to simply have it go into the sea), so, why not make the Russians lose a little sleep and spend a little money, in the process?
I mean ISIS targets in Iraq. Why not missile test for the targets there?
No, that fight started when German and US Intelligence organized the overthrow of the duly elected and legal President of Ukraine in contravention of the Budapest Memorandum.
It was their own little Slavic Spring. Coincident with much of the Arab Spring...and the heyday of neoconservatives everywhere.
Alas, they have all been expunged from the body politic. And I bet you miss them.
Mostly a pack of line bred Slavs, whose grandaddies hated the Russkies so much they thought the Nazis were their saviors, at least until they were proven otherwise. Always a day late and a dollar short behind the Russians.
Uh, these are air-to-air missile tests. Short range stuff.
http://www.rferl.org/a/crimea-missile-tests-ukraine-russia/28148107.html
The tests are about as far away from any possible Russian interest or territory as Ukraine can (practically) get, and still have any spent missiles fall harmlessly into the sea. Russia knows this, and Ukraine knows the Russians, and probably knows the Russians will huff and puff regardless of what Ukraine does (other than submit). So the Russians wasting some effort is a side bonus for Ukraine.
Even if these were long range ballistic missile tests, are you seriously proposing Ukraine launch missile tests (Tests!) over Turkey to hit ISIS targets in Iraq? (Maps are your friend.)
The test range is within the Crimean territorial sea according to Russians, who claim the Crimea, while Ukrainians say they'll be testing within their territory. It's air-to-air missiles that are to be tested, therefore a flying target must be on the scene. The situation might be a who-strikes-the-target-first contest.
We'll learn it today or tomorrow.
I just hope both parties take more care than they have in the past as neither has a good track record with AA missiles (S7-1812 and MH-17).
The Budapest Memorandum? LOL thats about making sure Ukraine is free, by mandating US and Russia protect it.
An idiotic agreement, since Russia is father or terrorism.
You’re asking the fox to guard the henhouse.
Man, you russians are so against ukrainian independence, it’s truly amazing that you can have that much hatred for a group of people.
Do you have a map locating the test range? The one I saw showed it well west of Crimea. But maybe that is incorrect?
Ukrainians have moved the zone westwards yesterday, so it's beyond the territorial waters (12 nautical miles). There are two maps, the first is based on an NOTAMs ( (NOtice To AirMen, NOTAM) issued by the Ukrainian aerial authorities. 
It's taken from here
BBC has published another map though
Link
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