31 Jan, 2024 22:04

Ukraine promises new ‘counteroffensive’

Kiev’s military intelligence chief believes that spring will bring another opportunity to break Russia’s defenses

Ukrainian forces will go on the offensive against Russia once more in the spring, military intelligence chief Kirill Budanov told The Telegraph on Tuesday. It=remains unclear how Kiev will acquire the weapons or the half a million menit needs to cover its losses after last summer’s failed counteroffensive.

Budanov claimed thatRussia’s offensive operations aroundthe Donbass settlements of Kupyansk, Liman, Artyomovsk (called Bakhmut in Ukraine), and Avdeevka =will be “completely exhausted” by “early spring.”== (Russia will put more military and weapons in tp defeat Ukraine before spring starts)

“We make a move, the enemy makes a move,”he said. “Now is the enemy’s turn. It will end, and then ours will start.”

Ukraine’s last counteroffensive began in June and lasted until around October, with Ukrainian forces attempting to penetrate Russia’s defensive lines at multiple points across Kherson, Zaporzhye, and Donetsk Regions. It failed to achieve any significant territorial gains and cost Kiev around 160,000 lives, according to figures from the Russian Defense Ministry.

This time around, the Ukrainian military would be heading into battle with much of its Western-provided hardware destroyed and its best-trained troops replaced with inexperienced conscripts, all while continued military aid from the US remains uncertain. Even now, the situation at the front is “dramatic,” anonymous “generals and soldiers”told Germany’s Die Welt newspaper last week, citing shortages of vital ammunition and fresh recruits.

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky announced plans last month to mobilize around 500,000 new conscripts to cover those lost since the beginning of the conflict almost two years ago. While Ukraine does not publish casualty figures, the Russian Defense Ministry places Kiev’s losses since February 2022 at nearly 400,000 men. Aleksey Arestovich, a former aide to President Vladimir Zelensky, put the figure at up to 300,000.

Zelensky’s top general, Valery Zaluzhny, described the battlefield situation in November as a “stalemate,” a comment that reportedly angered Zelensky. Acrimony between the two men exploded into the headlines this week when Zelensky reportedly fired – then rehired – Zaluzhny, all while Kiev’s censorship office dismissed the story as a baseless rumor aimed at “destroying the unity of Ukrainian society.”

However, American officials told Bloomberg earlier this month that the rift between the president and the general was real, and was “slowing efforts to crystallize a new strategy”for the coming year.

According to British newspaper The Times, Zaluzhny’s position was offered to Budanov, who declined.Had Zelensky replaced Zaluzhny with Budanov, he would have swapped a cynic with someone who shares his “messianic” belief in a military victory over Russia, as Zelensky’s aides described his vision in a Time magazine article last year.

It is unclear whether Zaluzhny, like Budanov, believes that Ukraine will be able to launch a counteroffensive this spring.(why? more money has to justify for the killing of their own.these people are crazy evil.)

https://www.rt.com/russia/591622-ukraine-new-counteroffensive-budanov/

31 Jan, 2024 22:31

Russia to expand Ukraine’s ‘demilitarized zone’ – Putin

Moscow’s forces must ensure Kiev’s troops cannot strike Russian cities with Western longer-range weapons, the president has said

Russia needs to create a large “demilitarized zone” in Ukraine, one that is big enough to ensure no longe-range weapons can strike Russian cities, President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday

Russian border regions have been subjected to frequent drone and missile attacks, as well as shelling by the Ukrainian military, since the start of the conflict between Kiev and Moscow. One of the deadliest attacks took place on December 30, when Kiev’s forces struck the Russian border city of Belgorod with multiple rocket launchers, including the RM-70 Vampire – an upgraded heavier version of the Soviet BM-21 Grad system.

A December strike claimed the lives of 25 people, including children, and left more than 100 injured. In January, another massive strike hit the city of Donetsk, killing 27 civilians. Both attacks were condemned by the UN.

“This [demilitarized] line should … lie at such a distance from our territory that it would ensure the security [of Russian cities],” the president said on Wednesday, adding that he wasspecifically referring to protection from “foreign-made longer-range weaponsthat the Ukrainian authorities use to strike peaceful cities.”

According to Putin, Russian forces fighting on the frontlines were pushing Kiev’s troops away from Russian borders to safeguard national security. “This is the main mission for our guys: to protect their homeland, to protect our people,”he said.

The “demilitarization” and “denazification” of Ukraine were cited as the major goals of Russia’s ongoing military campaign from the very beginning. Putin specifically mentioned a demilitarized or “sanitary” zone that was to be created in Ukraine in June 2023. At the time, the Russian president said that this zone could be created if Kiev’s forces continue to launch attacks at Russian cities. =The goal of this move would be to make it impossible for the Ukrainian military “to reach us,==” he said.

The US and its allies have been actively supplying Ukraine with heavy weapons throughout the conflict that ranged from howitzers and various artillery pieces to multiple rocket launchers and missile systems.

The list of the longer-range Western-made weapons in Kiev’s possession include the British-made Storm Shadow missiles that have a range of 250km (155 miles) and the US-made Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS), which have a range of up to 160 kilometers (100 miles).

Earlier this week, Politico reported thatWashington could provide Kiev with Ground Launched Small Diameter Bombs (GLSDB), which also have a range of around 160 kilometers(100 miles).

(This is a warning in response to “Kiev’s plan for a spring offensive”)

https://www.rt.com/russia/591625-russia-expand-demilitarized-zone-ukraine/

(This proves the WH sent the whistleblower out)

1 Feb, 2024 00:39

White House staffer unveils what Biden aides ‘can’t say publicly’

A cybersecurity analyst has told an undercover journalist that US officials are privately worried about the president and his VP

A White House aide has admitted that his colleagues are worried about Joe Biden’s deteriorating cognitive skills and the unpopularity of Kamala Harris, but they can’t publicly voice those concerns as the president and his multiracial vice president seek reelection later this year.

Speaking in a hidden-camera interview postedonline by undercover journalist James O’Keefe on Wednesday, White House cybersecurity analyst Charlie Kraiger acknowledged that the 81-year-old Biden is “slowing down.” He said, too, that there had been discussions about removing Harris from the 2024 ticket, given her struggles as vice president, but the Democratic Party’s nominees are set in stone.

“I think they need to get rid of him or get rid of her, but I don’t think they’re gonna do that,”Kraiger told O’Keefe, who disguised himself for the conversation by dyeing his hair and wearing fake glasses. Asked if White House staffers could speak publicly and truthfully regarding the fitness of Biden and Harris to seek another term, he added, “No, no, they’ve got to toe the line.”

Kraiger admitted that staffers are “really concerned” about Biden’s mental state, which O’Keefe called “dementia,” but they have to keep those worries private. “They know it; of course, they do. But it’s the optics and, like, the scandal, I think they feel wouldn’t be worth it. I’m just telling you what I’ve heard. Does it make sense? No, but that’s what I’ve heard.”

Kraiger works in the White House Executive Office as a cybersecurity analyst and foreign affairs desk officer, according to a now-locked LinkedIn account. He told O’Keefe that he manages security of the computer networks at the US State Department and the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

The staffer said White House officials probably understand the severity of Biden’s mental decline, “but no one in modern history has ever said, like, we’re not gonna renominate the president for a second term. That just hasn’t happened.” White House aides are similarly fatalistic about the first female US vice president, who was born of a black father and an Indian mother.

“She’s not popular, but you can’t remove the first black lady to be vice president from the goddamn presidential ticket,” he said. “Like, what kind of message are you going to send to, like, African-American voters?” He added that Harris was unable to retain black staffers, who “quit on her en masse,” but administration officials “sadly” decided to keep her as Biden’s running mate after an internal debate.

Kraiger described himself as “fairly high up” in the Biden administration and, ironically, he claimed to be “good at keeping secrets.”

O’Keefe outed himself at the end of the interview, asking Kraigerhow a White House security official wound up meeting with a famous hidden-camera journalist. “We’re running a good cybersecurity operation,” the staffer insisted.O’Keefe replied, “Obviously not, because you’re meeting with me. Did you not do your research? What is this clown show you guys are running over at the White House?”

https://www.rt.com/news/591628-biden-slowing-harris-unpopular/