Ukraine Updates: Fighting in Donbas Reaches ‘Maximum Intensity,’ Kyiv Lashes Out at NATO
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on NATO: “But war is always a test that takes the masks off.”
Day 91. Ukrainian President Voplodymyr Zelenskyy went off on former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger who told Ukraine to let Russia take some land.
Someone tell Kissinger that Russia took Crimea in 2014.
Fighting in Donbas is escalating. Kyiv is sick of NATO’s hot air.
Maximum Intensity
Yes, the fighting in Donbas can get worse:
Ukraine’s deputy defence minister says the fighting in Donbas has reached maximum intensity, with the Russians storming Ukrainian positions in several areas simultaneously.
“As of today, the aggressor conducts intensified fire along the whole line of contact and the positions of our forces in the Donetsk operational region. The enemy uses tactical rocket systems, aviation and artillery,” Hanna Maliar says.
“The situation is difficult and there are signs of escalation. The enemy has used all resources to capture our territory and surround our forces. The fighting has reached maximum intensity. The enemy attacks our positions at different points simultaneously. We are in for a very difficult and long stage of the struggle.”
Earlier, the authorities in Donbas said the Russians had attacked more than 40 settlements in their drive to take the strategic towns of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk, the AFP news agency reports.
Russia: We’re Not Blocking Grains?
Russia now says it’s not blocking grains. Didn’t they say earlier that if we ease sanctions they would allow food to pass? Weird:
Ukrainian farmers have 20 million tonnes of grain they cannot get to international markets due to the ongoing invasion.
“We categorically do not accept these accusations. On the contrary, we blame Western countries for taking actions that have led to this,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
Moscow called for the West to remove the sanctions which it says are blocking grain exports from Ukraine.
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said earlier this week Russia was using “hunger and grain to wield power”, while Ukraine has accused Russia of stealing hundreds of thousands of tonnes of grain in areas their forces have occupied.
Russia Gains in Donbas
Ukraine Foreign Minister is Tired of NATO
Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba accused Nato of “doing literally nothing” in the face of Russia’s invasion, while praising the EU for its “revolutionary” decisions to back Kyiv
“Nato as an alliance, as an institution, is completely sidelined and doing literally nothing. I’m sorry to say it,” Mr Kuleba told the World Economic Forum in Davos, while praising Brussels for its “revolutionary, groundbreaking decisions, which even they themselves did not expect to make”.
“At the beginning of the war, there was a public sentiment that Nato was the strong force and the EU was only capable of expressing various different levels of concern.”
“But war is always a test that takes the masks off.”
He did, however, qualify his remarks, saying some “Nato allies are helping us.”
Will the EU Go Through With the Oil Embargo?
It’s at a standstill. Hungary depends on Russian gas and oil. The country would have to spend 700 million euros to fix its infrastructure to receive energy sources from other places:
Hopes that the standoff between Hungary and the other 26 members of the bloc could be overcome at a summit in Brussels on Monday and Tuesday are also fading. Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary, seeming to relish his position as the E.U’s spoiler-in-chief, asked earlier this week that the proposed embargo remain off the table because his concerns were not anywhere close to being resolved.
Mr. Orban’s ability to assert himself was emboldened after a recent landslide victory in Hungarian elections. Mr. Orban has come under repeated and stiff criticism in the E.U. for flouting its norms in areas such as media freedom and the rule of law. Concerns that he was abusing his authority were further fanned this week when he invoked a state of emergency that would allow him to bypass parliament.
At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday, Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the Netherlands was skeptical the impasse with Hungary would get resolved next week. Mr. Orban “is not giving a lot of reason to hope that we could get to a deal on Monday, Tuesday,” he said in an interview, adding that he thought the bloc would eventually overcome the standoff.
Severodonetsk
I wrote about Severodonetsk on Wednesday. Russia is getting closer:
Lugansk regional governor Sergiy Gaiday described the fighting outside of the industrial city of Severodonetsk, a key military goal for Russia, as “very difficult,” as Russian troops shelled the city from the outskirts with mortars.
“The coming week will be decisive,” Mr Gaiday said in a video posted on Telegram.
He said he believes Russia’s goal is to “capture the Lugansk region no matter what cost”.
“There is a colossal amount of shelling,” he added.
Russia Outnumbers Ukraine in Donbas
Another broken record moment: Russia has been in eastern Ukraine since 2014. I documented it at Breitbart.
Now they don’t have to hide. Ukrainian officials claim the Russians outnumber their troops seven to one:
Sergii Nykyforov, a spokesman for the Ukrainian president, said that Kyiv’s forces were outnumbered by seven to one in some areas of the Donbas.
Capturing Severodonetsk and the neighbouring city of Lysychansk would hand Moscow control of more than half of the eastern Donbas region, in what would be a major battlefield victory for the Kremlin.
“The Russians are advancing in the Luhansk region in all directions all at once,” Mr Haidai said, adding that Severodonetsk was “under constant enemy fire around-the-clock”.
“The situation is serious. The city is constantly being shelled with every possible weapon in the enemy’s possession,” he said.
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Comments
Herr Doktor Heinrich Kissinger… gads. Is he still around?
There were times when Kissinger could bring meat to the table. Now the table is brought to him, and we get nothing! His time has changed as the world has gone mad!
Canada announced they have run out of weapons to send. And the US has already sent 1/4th of all it’s Javelin missiles and 1/3rd of it’s Stingers.
Crew served weapons like artillery with guided shells are coming next. But, Russia loves wars decided by artillery.
The Russians have much easier supply lines in the Donbas. The more open terrain with smaller towns allows them to gain and press the advantages of local superiority of troop numbers. The broader the front the more they stress the Ukrainian forces. For now they hold the initiative.
The strategy of advancing on a broader front but prioritizing the location of the fight they force Ukraine to make a choice; give ground/pull back to more defensible terrain, concentrate their forces which risks destruction or fight in penny packets along the entire advance risking defeat in detail.
Both sides are tired and worn down. Currently the Russians are able to rest their forces in some locations via this strategy. As they make gains their morale will improve and however badly trained and led initially they have earned valuable experience and are gaining confidence.
Will it be enough? Maybe. The Ukrainians are training forces on the arriving NATO equipment; particularly the large number of howitzer. That takes time. Once deployed those forces could tip the balance. If too late to halt the advance then bother sides will likely settle into a defensive stalemate for a time.
The Russians are fighting a war not only of attrition but of wearing down in terms of human factors. This is obvious based on the tactics employed.
As an outsider with no “secret” knowledge of their true plans and intent, these tactics usually represent an action where the force wants to take the land with a minimal amount of force and overall damage to population.
(That’s why they are not “carpet bombing” them into oblivion which is both “cheaper” with aircraft and missiles than the cost and logistics of artillery)
They don’t seem to mind damaging the population.
No, “Damaging the population” defined in military terms would be like London, Dresden, Tokyo, Hiroshima etc.
They are using artillery to shock, stress and wear down- not to turn into a parking lot.
They have a reason for such measured fighting ( most likely several different reasons based on the specific target demographics and importance)
It could be much worse, millions have fled, probably never to come back and if he carpet bombed them into hell he would murder millions more and gain nothing
Ukraine is not another South Africa, not a Libya, not Syria, not even Serbia, etc. It is closer to a model of Georgia, where the defensive action never progressed to be nationally inclusive.
Russians have lost 15,000 men by accounts and opened up the military without age restrictions
True Russians are in the minority now as their population has decreased apparently. They are gathering up children in Ukraine, like a million so far
They want all Russian peoples in Russia
BE YE WARY of these “alleged” loss accounts.
At best they are hearsay, biased, politically motivated and use bad/unverified information to calculate. (remember ‘Nam and the nightly enemy KIA reports that were routinely doctored to make it look like every day was a gain).
Having been in Russia and worked there, I can tell you that getting really accurate information on anything is extremely difficult as all things are layered and heavily monitored.
Unless everything you hear can be independently validated by at least 3 different sources open to review, I suggest a HIGH degree of legitimate skepticism on any numbers or intent you hear ( especially from the media or a Govt with a vested interest in the outcome)
Russia is making money hand-0ver-fist off of commodity sales right now. The sanctions are not hurting them financially to any great degree, and as time goes on they’ll figure out how to get around just about anything the EU throws at them.
They’re using back channels for oil sales, Swiss commodities traders are making a killing off of sales of Russian oil right now. Greek maritime shipping co’s are making big money of it, too, even going so far as to transfer oil ship-to-ship. The ships are bound for such places as India, which has vastly increased their purchases of Russian oil, and China.
Maybe. Who is reporting this?
The average income in Russia has dropped about 45% from 10 years ago.
I don’t have any information on this but suspect it is largely correct since India, China and other major consumers of energy have said they will continue to buy Russian oil.
The telling point for me that the anti Russian effort is largely a US/Globalist effort is that the major European nations are spending very little to prop up the Ukrainian government and military and the US is spending 10’s of billions.
If any type of negotiated settlement is concluded it would be very easy to turn on the spicket for Russian oil/natural gas and get their economies back on track.
However, under the Biden administration it is almost certain the US will continue to pour billions in cash and weapons into Ukraine to keep the carnage going. Until we have a new administration I fear Ukraine is going to suffer a repeat of Obama’s horrid example in Syria and Libya.
“Kyiv is sick of NATO’s hot air.
Ukraine Foreign Minister is Tired of NATO
Put up or shut up, NATO:
Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba accused Nato of “doing literally nothing” in the face of Russia’s invasion”
When my house burned down, Progressive did literally nothing for me.
I never had a policy with Progressive, but that shouldn’t matter.
The US has given Ukraine billions of dollars of weapons, and billion of dollars of aid. And all we hear is bitch, bitch, bitch.
In the case of your burned down house, if somebody in another country half way around the world was good enough to donate tons of money and materials wouldn’t you be greateful?
Oops. “grateful”
I would be very grateful if there was an edit function.
Actually, its the conduct you are outlining that leads me to believe there is some other psyops going on here. (It could be even simpler and this is just a bottomless money laundering operation by Zelenskyy and the left and the RINO’s)
If he had a normal tactical success with the weapons he has “allegedly” been given- he should be invading Russia by now. Also, I found the total lack of any IG “oversight” from our govt. very telling too.
The article indicates that many of those weapons are in Poland or ? due to required training of Ukraine forces on how to use them!
That’s pretty much SOP
For months we’ve been reading reports like these:
“In less than a week, the United States and NATO have pushed more than 17,000 antitank weapons, including Javelin missiles, over the borders of Poland and Romania…”
Since the invasion began, US-made Javelins and Stingers have been the terror of Russian troops. Now using the missile with stinging effect to attrite Russian forces…”
“Ukrainian forces use stinger missle to destroy Russian helicopter”
Russian airplane shot down with US stinger missle.
Russian air force general killed after his Su-25 fighter jet is ‘blasted out of sky with US-made Stinger missile’
“Whole column of Russian tanks destroyed by U.S. antitank missles.”
I believe that- money laundering – is what’s occurring as well, a huge “slush-fund” operation is taking place, and there are many moving parts taking place in this so-called “war”.
My “spidey-senses” have been on high alert ever since it began, and so very much about it makes zero sense, from any logical, military, or diplomatic standpoint. All I know is it is being used to serve purposes very different than any we are -or may never – hear about.
The closest model of Ukraine is South Africa, not to politically marginalize two historically warring tribes (i.e. Zulu and Mandela’s Xhosa), but to secure Kiev in the wake of the Slavic Spring, and, ideally, to force a Russian Spring, for the sake of transnational special and peculiar interests with “benefits”.
Oh noes!!! I though Ukraine was defeating Russia badly. I guess you can when you believe everything the propagandists have been saying. Maybe it’s time to bring back the ghost of Kiev for another glorious adventure in the skies to stiffen your morale. Cheers!
Those BBC maps are curious. They suggest that Russia weren’t attacking Kharkiv in April.
I’m.. sceptical. Not least because there are plenty of other sources showing otherwise.