23 Jul, 2023 15:17

West knew Ukraine wasn't ready for counteroffensive – WSJ

The US mistakenly thought that Kiev would make up for its lack of arms and training with “courage and resourcefulness”

Western military officials knew earlier this year that Ukraine lacked the supplies and training necessary to launch a successful counteroffensive against Russian forces, butallowed Kiev to launch its disastrous operation regardless, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.

Nearly two months since it began, Ukraine’s counteroffensive remains stalled. By attempting toadvance through Russian minefields without air support or adequate anti-air weapons, the Ukrainian military has lost 26,000 menand more than 3,000 pieces of hardware, according to the latest figures from Moscow. In return, Ukraine has captured only a handful of hamlets and villages, while failing to penetrate Russia’s multi-layered network of defensive trenches and emplacements.

The US and its allies knew that such an outcome was inevitable, according to the Wall Street Journal. Citing leaked Pentagon documents, the newspaper claimed that US military analysts counted a “tiny number” of Ukrainian weapons capable of hitting Russian aircraft, and determined that Kiev would face an “inability to prevent Russian air superiority.”

“America would never attempt to defeat a prepared defense without air superiority, but [the Ukrainians] don’t have air superiority,”John Nagl, a retired US Army lieutenant colonel, told the paper. “It’s impossible to overstate how important air superiority is for fighting a ground fight at a reasonable cost in casualties.”

In public, American officials told a different story. “We believe that the Ukrainians will meet with success in this counteroffensive,” White House national security advisor Jake Sullivan told CNN on the eve of the operation. Several months earlier, Dan Rice, an Iraq War veteran who now serves as an adviser to the Ukrainian armed forces, declared that the counteroffensive would “shock the world” with its success.

European leaders were similarly optimistic. Polish President Andrzej Duda, who has been one of Kiev’s most fervent backers, announced in early June that the operation would lead to “the ousting of Russian military forces from all occupied territories.”

Western officials have since downgraded their expectations, and are privately “alarmed” at the lack of results on the battlefield, according to recent media reports. Western governments are therefore at a crossroads, and will soon need to decide whether to commit the massive amounts of arms, equipment, and money necessary to support Kiev in a longer conflict, the Wall Street Journal explained, citing anonymous diplomats.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has described Ukraine’s counteroffensive as “suicidal.” In a public address on Friday, he pointed out that despite the “colossal amounts of resources,” and “thousands of foreign mercenaries and advisers” that Kiev has received from the West, its counteroffensive has still resulted in failure.

There are no Nato announcements on RT

https://www.rt.com/russia/580159-ukraine-not-ready-counteroffensive/

23 Jul, 2023 16:43

Demining Ukraine will take 757 years – WaPo

The use of US-made cluster bombs will only make the situation worse, the paper reports

The conflict with Russia has turned Ukraine into the “most mined country” in the world, the Washington Post reported on Saturday, citing data from the nation’s government and several non-governmental humanitarian mine clearance groups.

Almost one-third of Ukraine’s territoryhas been affected by heavy fighting and will likely require intense demining operations, the media outlet said, adding that over 67,000 square miles (173,529 square kilometers) have been contaminated with unexploded ordnance, according to Slovakia-based think tank GLOBSEC. That’s more than the size of Florida and roughly equivalent to Uruguay.

“The sheer quantity of ordnance in Ukraine is just unprecedented in the last 30 years. There’s nothing like it,” Greg Crowther, the director of programs at British NGO Mines Advisory Group, told the Washington Post.

According to UN data, almost 300 civilians, including 22 children, died in Ukraine in incidents linked to unexploded ordnance between February 2022 and July 2023, the Post reported. Mines and other unexploded munitions also resulted in 632 civilian injuries over the same period, it added.

Both sides of the conflict actively use mines in their operations, the media outlet noted. The US also contributed to the mining of Ukrainian territory by supplying Kiev with 155-millimeter artillery rounds that create temporary minefields, although their submunitions are technically supposed to self-destruct, the Washington Post reported. Another US-made ordnance that was sent into Ukraine was the M21 anti-tank mine, which does not self-destruct, it added.

Washington’s decision to provide Kiev with US-made “cluster munitions, which are known to scatter duds that fail to explode, can only add to the danger,” the media outlet said.

According to some estimates, it could take 757 years to clear all of the unexploded ordnance scattered around the country, even if 500 demining teams were tasked with the mission, the Washington Post reported. World Bank estimates show that the cost of these operations could reach $37.4 billion in just the next ten years, it added.

Washington has so far committed just around $95 million to demining operations in Ukraine, according to a 2023 State Department report.

On Friday, UN Under Secretary General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo warned the UN Security Council that huge swathes of Ukrainian territory have been covered in mines and cluster bombs that will “continue to pose danger to civilians for years to come.”

Earlier this week, Russia’s ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov,blasted Washington for turning Ukraine into a “burial ground” for lethal waste.

https://www.rt.com/russia/580172-demining-ukraine-take-years/

23 Jul, 2023 12:35

‘Stupidity’ behind foreign mercenaries' deaths in Ukraine – Putin

The Russian president has once again reiterated that Kiev’s counteroffensive attempt has failed

Not only the Ukrainian military, but also foreign mercenaries are suffering a high level of casualties in Kiev’s counteroffensive, according to Russian President Vladimir Putin. He characterized the effort as a failure.

Since the assault kicked off in early June, Ukraine’s armed forces “have already lost more than 26,000 people,” Putin said during a meeting with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko in St. Petersburg on Sunday.

“As for the foreign mercenaries, they also suffer significant losses” during the counteroffensive, the Russian leader added.

Lukashenko suggested that flawed tactics were to blame, which involves “walking in groups.” Putin replied by saying it was “because of their stupidity.”

Moscow will make sure that “the public in the countries whose governments send people to the war zone” is aware of what is actually happening on the battlefield in Ukraine, the Russian president pledged.“We will inform people so that they can evaluate the actions of their governments.”

On Saturday, Russia’s Defense Ministry said that some 4,990 foreign fighters had been killed since the start of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine in February 2022, with roughly the same number of them fleeing the country.

“Russia’s armed forces will continue the targeted destruction of foreign mercenaries on the territory of Ukraine,”it warned.

Earlier this month, the Defense Ministry claimed that Kiev had intensified its efforts to recruit more fighters across the globe because of manpower shortages at home. The foreign troops are mostly used “as cannon fodder for meat assaults,” it said, addressing those thinking of coming to Ukraine.

Moscow has warned throughout the conflict that mercenaries are not viewed as combatants under international law and “the best thing that awaits them if they are captured alive is a trial and maximum prison terms.”

https://www.rt.com/russia/580150-putin-ukraine-mercenaries-lukashenko/

23 Jul, 2023 13:17

Putin estimates Kiev’s counteroffensive losses

More than 26,000 Ukrainian service members have been killed in action, the Russian president has said

The Ukrainian military has failed in its long-anticipated counteroffensive against Russia, losing tens of thousands of service members in the process, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said.

On Sunday, Putin met with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in St. Petersburg, who said, citing US intelligence assessment, that theUkrainian military has sustained 26,000 “irreplaceable losses.” “It’s more than that,” Putin replied.

In addition to this, Russian forces have eliminated numerous foreign fighters in Ukraine, he said. “Foreign mercenaries… are also suffering significant losses. Because of their stupidity.”

The public in the countries whose governments send people to the war zone… should also know what is happening there. And we will inform the people about it so they can assess the actions of their policymakers.

Putin recently described Ukraine’s losses during the counteroffensive – which Moscow says has failed to gain any ground – as “catastrophic” andexceeding Russia’s by a factor of ten.

In recent months, Russia has launched missile strikes on facilities accommodating foreign mercenaries which Moscow considers “legitimate military targets.” According to the Russian Defense Ministry, since the start of the conflict in February 2022, Moscow’s forces have eliminated around 4,990 foreign mercenaries, with another 4,910 scrambling to flee the embattled country.

https://www.rt.com/russia/580154-putin-ukraine-counteroffensive-losses/

23 Jul, 2023 20:04

Zelensky (whines &) reveals cause of counteroffensive failure

Kiev's allieshave not dug deep enough into their weapons stockpiles, according to the Ukrainian leader

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky attributed the delay and lackluster results of his military’s much-hyped counteroffensive to insufficient weapons and training from Kiev’s Western allies in an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria on Sunday.

“We did have plans to start [the counteroffensive] in spring. But we didn’t, because, frankly, we had not enough munitions and armaments and not enough brigades properly trained in these weapons,”Zelensky explained, adding thatholding the training outside Ukraine further contributed to the delays.

It was this delay, he said, that allowed Russia to “mine all our lands and build several lines of defense,” forcing upon the Ukrainian military “a slower pace of our counteroffensive actions.”

“We don’t want to lose our people, our personnel,” Zelensky said, adding, “our servicemen didn’t want to lose equipment because of that.”

Zelensky gave similar excuses at the Aspen Security Forum on Friday, explaining that Ukraine had wanted to launch the counteroffensive in the spring but decided against it due to a lack of ammunition and training. However,he implied that victory was imminent as soon as the military finished removing the mines that Western stinginesshad allowed Russia the time to plant. (757 years is the estimate to remove the mines)

While Pentagon officials have stressed that it is too early to write the counteroffensive off as a “failure,” the US has refused to supply Ukraine with long-range ATACMS or F-16s, explaining with regard to the latter that there simply is no time or money to train the Ukrainians to fly and maintain the aircraft in time to make a difference in the conflict.

Even the Western media has acknowledged the counteroffensive’s lackluster performance. The New York Times reported earlier this month that Ukraine’s military had lost 20% of its weapons in the first two weeks of the operation alone, losses Zelensky also blamed on the insufficient generosity of his Western allies. The Financial Times and Washington Post have both reported this month that the West and US, respectively, are concerned about Ukraine’s lack of progress in the counteroffensive they had promised would deal a decisive blow to Moscow.

While NATO has pledged to prop up Ukraine’s military for “as long as it takes” to defeat Russia, the alliance stopped short of inviting Kiev to join during its summit in Vilnius earlier this month. This incensed Zelensky, who called the bloc’s behavior “unprecedented and absurd.”

Ukraine has received a massive amount of military aid from NATO members in the last 18 months, with $46.6 billion coming from the US alone. However, Kiev’s allies are running critically low on ammunition, while the publics in Western countries are questioning the wisdom of what is increasingly seen as an open-ended proxy war with a nuclear power.

https://www.rt.com/news/580176-ukraine-zelensky-blames-weapons-counteroffensive/

23 Jul, 2023 20:39

Ukraine reveals anticipated number of post-war veterans

The ongoing hostilities are likely to increase the number of ex-servicemen in the country by eight times, national news outlets have reported

Ukraine is set to see a sharp increase in the number of veterans because of its ongoing conflict with Moscow, according to Yulia Laputina, head of the Ukrainian Veterans Affairs Ministry. Local media outlets are reporting concerns that the sudden spike in numbers could severely tax a system that has already faced criticism from a veterans affairs organization.

“We expect the number of such people to be no less than 4 million” by the time the conflict ends, she told journalists this week during a visit to the western Ukrainian city of Lviv. According to multiple Ukrainian media outlets, the number of veterans registered with the government’s electronic database amounted to around half a million before the conflict with Russia broke out. (Here’s the next grift from Ukraine, the West will need to support their veterans when we don’t care of our own.)

Ukraine’s Strana news outlet has reported that this number is likely to increase “by eight times.” In early July, Ukrainian MPs suggested creating a special veteran assistance service to facilitate the reintegration of military personnel into civilian life. Under this plan, assistants would be expected to help veterans access social care, medical services, and education, and also provide them with psychological support, according to media reports. However, the bill has not yet gone through the Ukrainian parliament.

Some Ukrainian media outlets warn that the nation might face an “economic collapse” even if the existing veteran assistance system is kept and the number of veterans only doubles in comparison to what it was prior to the conflict and reaches 1 million.

The government’s expenses on veteran assistance skyrocketed in 2022, the news outlet Hromadske reported in late June. Kiev spent 6 billion hryvnas ($160 million) on aid to veterans that year, which was six times more than in 2021. The figure is expected to rise further in 2023.

However, according to Ilya Shpolyansky, head of the Veterans' Movement of Ukraine, the money spent on various social benefits for veterans was being wasted. “It is going down the drain, without providing enough financial assistance even for a single veteran!” he told Hromadske.

In late June, Ukraine expanded its general mobilization. Those eligible for military service in certain districts in Kiev, as well as in the western Ukrainian city of Ivano-Frankovsk were required to report to a military recruitment office within ten days, even if they had not received a personal draft notice. At the same time, Ukraine’s Chernigov Region reported that it was struggling to meet its mobilization quota.

The developments came amid the much-touted Ukrainian counteroffensive, which has failed to bring about any tangible results nearly two months since it was launched. By attempting to advance through Russian minefields without air support or adequate anti-air weapons, the Ukrainian military has lost 26,000 men and more than 3,000 pieces of hardware, according to the latest figures from Moscow.

https://www.rt.com/russia/580177-ukraine-million-veterans-conflict-minsiter/

23 Jul, 2023 12:14

15 Leopards, 20 Bradleys destroyed in one day – Putin

The Russian president discussed the record amount of Western hardware hit in Ukraine during his meeting with Alexander Lukashenko

The Russian military has destroyed a record amount of Ukraine’sWestern-supplied armor in the last 24 hourswhile repelling Kiev’s much-hyped counteroffensive, President Vladimir Putin told his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko on Sunday.

The Russian leader delivered the remarks while speaking to Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in St. Petersburg. Lukashenko, citing his own data, said that Moscow’s forceshad taken out at least 15 German-made Leopard tanks and over 20 US-made Bradley infantry fighting vehicles in just one clash.

Putinappeared to agree with this assessment, saying that “apparently, [we] have never destroyed so much in one day”and proceeding to explain that this figure stemmed from the fact that Russian troops were facing Ukrainian units that were “fully equipped with foreign hardware.”

He added that since the start of the Ukrainian counteroffensive in the early days of June, Kiev had lost more than 26,000 service members, describing the long-anticipated push as “a failure.” Putin also noted that “foreign mercenaries” fighting for Kiev had suffered heavy losses as well, due to their “stupidity,”vowing to make this reality known to the public in the countries that had sent those people to the frontline.

Putin’s remarks come after on Saturday several Telegram channels released an unverified video showing a tightly packed group of four Bradleys that were apparently destroyed by Russian forces in Zaporozhye Region.

Last week, the New York Times reported that the Ukrainian military had lost 20% of its battlefield equipment, including many Western-provided vehicles, in the first two weeks of the offensive, which Moscow says has failed to gain any ground. On July 11, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu estimated Ukrainian losses at 3,000 units of military hardware.

Meanwhile, several other media reports have suggested that Kiev’s Western backers are alarmed at Ukraine’s slow progress on the battlefield, with a recent Wall Street Journal article claiming thatthey were also “jolted” by the “swift loss” of armor. However, numerous Ukrainian officials attempted to explain the difficulties in the offensive by pointing to delays in Western military assistance.

https://www.rt.com/russia/580151-ukraine-record-losses-western-vehicles/