NATO believes Ukraine’s counteroffensive unsuccessful so far – FT

Long-term Western support likely depends on the outcome of the operation, a source has told the newspaper

29 Jun, 2023 09

Western officials have privately acknowledged that Ukraine’s counteroffensive against Russia is not going well, and thatfuture military assistance to Kiev may diminish as a result, the Financial Times has reported.

“Russia still has the advantage of mass,”General Christopher Cavoli, NATO’s top commander in Europe, told a private gathering last week, the FT claimed on Thursday. He reportedly added thatUkraine has not achieved any significant successin its operation.

“For better or worse, the outcome [of the operation] is going to impact everything we do regarding Ukraine, and we are all aware of that,” a senior European diplomat told the FT on condition of anonymity. “Funding, support, political engagement… and most importantly thepeace talks that are coming whether we like them or not.”

Publicly, Western officials have pledged to support Ukraine for “as long as it takes” to defeat Russia. However, Moscow has warned that by arming and training Ukrainian troops, the US and its allies are prolonging the conflict and will not alter its outcome. The Western approach amounts to “fighting to the last Ukrainian,” Russian officials have stated.

The FT cited the assessments to illustrate internal discussions in the West. EU leaders are set to offer formal security commitments to Ukraine, and the newspaper said it had obtained a draft copy of the final statement being considered at an ongoing summit in Brussels.

EU members France and Germany, along with the UK and the US, are seeking to provide bilateral security arrangements. The deal would serve as a “stopgap” to give Kiev “confidence in enduring Western support” and ensure that the EU is not sidelined by NATO, the report said.Ireland, Malta and Austria are reportedly against extending vaguely defined commitments.

Ukrainian officials have insisted they will pursue military action until they have reclaimed all the territory lost to Russia. A Ukrainian law also bans any negotiations with Moscow as long as Russian President Vladimir Putin remains in office.

Moscow has said it is prepared for peace talks under certain conditions, and that Kiev’s uncompromising stance, calcified by continued Western support, stands in the way of diplomacy.

(When the Financial Times report’s on this, its a marker that the end is coming for Ukraine’s war. FT’s is all about the London Bankers)

https://www.rt.com/news/578898-ukraine-security-commitment-counteroffensive/

29 Jun, 2023 13:38

Ukraine (whines & is) outraged over Western expectations - Economist

Kiev is reportedly frustrated with slow weapon deliveries from its partners who are demanding swift results from the operation

Kiev is doing its best on the battlefield and using all the resources it has at its disposal, the Economist reported on Wednesday citing a source in Ukrainian intelligence who noted that Western calls to speed up the operation have proven to be frustrating.

The outlet pointed out that the Ukrainian army had suffered heavy casualties during the first weeks of thewidely-anticipated counteroffensive without making any significant gains so far, prompting Ukrainian commanders to try and protect their depleted forces.

Previously, Ukrainian officials had claimed that they had hoped the operation could progress more swiftly, but have pointed to a number of challenges its forces have had to face,such as effective Russian aviation, large minefields and bad weather. (Have you ever heard that bad weather was responsible for losing any wars?)

The slow pace of the counteroffensive has reportedly started worrying Kiev’s Western backers, according to The Economist, with officials arguing that alack of shock and momentum will cost more lives in the long run. Politico also reported on Monday that certain Western officials have called Ukraine’s Armed Forces “too cautious” and are demanding that its troops hurry up and make significant battlefield gains soon.

An unnamed Ukrainian intelligence source, however, has told the Economist that such statements coming from the West are hypocritical.

“Let me put this as diplomatically as I can,” he told the outlet. “Certain partners are telling us to go forward and fight violently, but they also take their time delivering the hardware and weapons we need.” (Ukraine whines over and over though they have received $100+ billion in aid. These excuses will not impress the West, and will backfire on Ukraine. I’d be surprised if Zelensky is President much longer. They are definitely panicking!)

Earlier this week, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba also told top EU diplomats that Kiev needed more artillery systems and missiles, insisted on speeding up the training of Ukrainian pilots on advanced fighter jets, and called for more sanctions to be placed on Moscow.

Publicly, Western officials have pledged to support Ukraine for “as long as it takes” to defeat Russia. However, the slow progress and lack of results of Kiev’s counteroffensive could jeopardize future military assistance, the Financial Times has reported.

Meanwhile, Russia has repeatedly pointed out that the continued delivery of Western weapons to Ukraine would fail to change the outcome of the conflict and only served to prolong it and cause more unnecessary bloodshed.

https://www.rt.com/russia/578912-kiev-outrage-western-expectations/

(This is 3rd or 4th major outletin the last two days, that has been told to report the truth)

29 Jun, 2023 11:50

Ukraine suffered ‘disastrous’ losses in single offensive – Forbes

Kiev reportedly lost over 25 tanks and IFVs trying to cross a minefield in Zaporozhye

Ukraine’s widely anticipated counteroffensive has seen Kiev’s forces lose a significant amount of armor, including dozens of Western-supplied tanks and infantry fighting vehicles, Forbes reported on Tuesday.

According to the outlet, analysts believe that an attempt by the Ukrainian army’s 47th Assault Brigade and 33rd Mechanized Brigade to cross a minefield near the town of Malaya Tokmachka in Russia’s Zaporozhye region on June 8proved to be “even more disastrous”than previously thought.

Despite deploying de-mining vehicles, including several Leopard 2Rs donated by Finland and one German-made Wisent, the Ukrainian battlegroup appears to havefailed to clear a paththrough the minefield. The Wisent and three Leopard 2R struck mines, as did several US-supplied M-2 Bradleys, while the brigade came under fire from Russian artillery and aviation.

Experts have estimated that as a result of the failed attempt, which lasted several hours, no fewer than 25 Ukrainian vehicles were destroyed, including 17 M-2s, four Leopard 2A6 tanks, three Leopard 2Rs and one Wisent.

Forbes noted that while the loss of one Wisent is not important, as the Ukrainian army has dozens more, theother losses have proven to be more significant. The 47th-33rd Brigade battlegroup lost nearly a fifth of Ukraine’s M-2s, a fifth of its Leopard 2A6s and half of its Leopard 2Rs, the outlet claimed, pointing out that Kiev lost theequivalent of an entire battalion in one botched assault.

Although Washington has already pledged to provide more M-2 vehicles to make up for Kiev’s June 8 losses, Ukraine’s European allies have yet to agree to provide more Leopard 2A6s andthere are literally no more Leopard 2Rs left to send, Forbes noted.

Meanwhile, Kiev has admitted that its much-lauded counteroffensive is not proceeding as quickly as it had hoped. Speaking to Ukrainian media on Wednesday, the head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council Aleksey Danilov stated that Russian troops have shown stiff resistance and acknowledged that the huge minefields laid by Russian forces have proven to be a challenging obstacle.

The Russian Defense Ministry has also reported that Kiev’s large-scale assault has so far failed to achieve results. Russian President Vladimir Putin has described Ukraine’s losses as “catastrophic” and claimed on Tuesday that Kiev had lost 259 tanks and 780 armored vehicles since the start of the advance.

https://www.rt.com/russia/578907-ukraine-counteroffensive-tank-losses/

>>19094479

I honestly don’t know how colleges didn’t know this? Except intentionally inserting racism back into the system.

Six-Minute-Abs: Desperate for Traction DeSantis Vows to Start Shooting Mexicans at the Border

June 29, 2023 | Sundance |

President Trump famously threatened Mexican President AMLO with 25 to 50% immediate border tariffs within a week if Mexico didn’t help secure the southern U.S. border. The result was 18,000 activated Mexican National Guards to enforce the “Remain in Mexico” policy, while the border wall was under construction.

The southern border crisis has created an opportunity for a desperate Ron DeSantis to skip the seven-minute-ab border security competition and go straight to the six-minute-ab pitch, whereby a President DeSantis will start shooting Mexicans who attempt to smuggle across the border. Appearing in a heavily coordinated and scripted interview with Rupert Murdoch’s debate moderator, Martha MacCallum, DeSantis announced his “use of deadly force” policy just before traveling to the Yale Club in New York for fundraising.

A gleeful Martha MacCallum was more than willing to support the 6-minute-ab pitch, narrating an introduction of “the governor“, yes, she used that exact descriptive for the guy who is on the monitor. The transparent construct of the interview was made even funnier by the desperate transparency of it. WATCH:

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2023/06/29/six-minute-abs-desperate-for-traction-desantis-vows-to-start-shooting-mexicans-at-the-border/

Remember this article from RT yesterday, well it didn’t happen the way Ukraine lied about

Clandestine@WarClandestine

Let’s talk Kramatorsk.

The city is approximately 25 miles from Bakhmut/Artyomovsk, very close to the front lines in the Donetsk region.

Ukraine claimed Russia struck civilians in a restaurant,turns out it was a hotel being used as a “temporary deployment point” for Ukrainian soldiers and foreign mercenaries, to include some former and/or possibly current US/NATO soldiers.

Russian MoD confirmed they struck the location, and that it was a military installation. The surfaced videos seem to corroborate this, as the rubble is full of soldiers.

Of course, Ukraine and the West are painting this as a horrific war crime, when it is Ukraine who have been using civilian infrastructure throughout the war, to shield themselves from Russian fire and to smear Russia.

Ukrainian forces will set up camp inside a rundown and empty school, and then when Russia bombs it, they call it a war crime. They’ve been doing it the entire time.

Looking at the situation big picture, I think this escalation is somewhat tied to Prigozhin’s complaints, that Shoigu and Russian MIL are being too nice and that the Russian People want this to be resolved.

It appears Putin and Shoigu have turned up the heat, and are becoming impatient with the West and their desires to prolong this war.

3:26 PM · Jun 28, 2023

https://twitter.com/WarClandestine/status/1674137263452704768?s=20

This is insane, dumbing down is an understatement!

https://twitter.com/greg_price11/status/1674426520100814848?s=20

Stephen Miller going after college cartel, pass the word. Class action lawsuits are going to be huge, and the university college endowments are going to be drained

https://twitter.com/StephenM/status/1674438642679308294?s=20

Kek!

https://twitter.com/JesseBWatters/status/1674178134336307205?s=20

>>19094921

https://twitter.com/GOPoversight/status/1674123663367348224?s=20

Accountability required

https://twitter.com/julie_kelly2/status/1673678829397630985?s=20

N>>19094995 Former VP Mike Pence makes surprise visit to Ukraine and meets with President Zelensky

Thats a confirmation now, for anyone doubting Pence is comped.

Pence is comped

Glenn is right!

https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/1667919815321739265?s=20

We know why, green energy is expensive, useless and makes their investors rich beyond compare

https://twitter.com/JoshuaSteinman/status/1674452027257274369?s=20

Pence is Scum. I hope he liked the 30 pieces of silver

https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1674440964855791618?s=20