ok, the action will be based in 2003, the first "energy" war. With the split away of the ukraine from Russia , and the uncertainty post gulf war 1, the Russians took the opportunity to charge the ukrainian government with stealing gas supplies ( an actual event that happened later in real life). At the same time Soviet agents disrupted their own gas lines flowing throgh the Ukraine and claim it was sabotage hoping the west would remove support for ukrainian independence.
This backfired when the agents were captured and skirmishes on the border led to open conflict. NATO intervened to protect the gas supplies for Europe but get pulled into a more broader conflict.
Some of the particpants i'll put into the AAR's as the conflict commences






As you can see the RAF and USAF and navy are involved. The ukraine government will not allow the german luftwaffe into their airspace ( long memories and painfull ones). I do expect other NATO countries to be pulled into the fight.