Ukraine: US Lies, Provocation, Broken Promises, Fake News

[Anthea]

Tensions between leaders in Ukraine

Dmitri Kovalevich is the special correspondent in Ukraine for Al Mayadeen English. He writes a monthly situation report for the publication as well as occasional special reports

In November, the Ukrainian authorities once again extended martial law for three months. This means that the presidential election scheduled for March 31, 2024, will not happen because the election law requires 100 days for campaigning. Martial law restrictions and a 'democratic election' are not mixing well in militarized Ukraine.

Volodymyr Zelensky himself affirmed on November 6 that "now is not the right time" to hold an election. The secretary of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) of Ukraine, Oleksiy Danilov, predicts "great misfortune" for Ukraine if an election were held because of the widespread political discussion it would provoke. But there is a rub: President Zelenskyy's election term, according to the Constitution, ends on March 31, 2024. After that, he loses constitutional legitimacy and becomes a usurper of power.

Additionally, legislative elections in Ukraine should have been held in October 2023, meaning the legislature has actually lost its constitutional legitimacy, even if it continues to pass laws. These legal nuances do not receive any attention from the Western sponsors of the Kyiv regime or the regime itself. That is because, in their opinion, the abolition of democracy in Ukraine has taken place in the name of "democracy" and the fight against the "authoritarian regime" of the Russian Federation. In Russia, presidential and legislative elections will be held next year.

Meanwhile, The Economist newsmagazine recently cited Western officials saying that the conflict in Ukraine may well last another five years. The Western military-industrial complexes like the sound of such a scenario predicting a drawn-out battle because a long war would be profitable for them. What's more, in order to motivate Western governments to make room in their budgets to expand the military-industrial complex, the demand for more and more armaments must be good for years, if not permanently.

Ukraine cannot sustain its war machine

But here is the problem that concerns Ukraine: the country will soon exhaust its human resources, regardless of how many armaments are sent its way by the NATO countries.

The American satirical publication The Babylon Bee draws attention to this contradiction when it writes, jokingly, “Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is calling for the immediate suspension of presidential elections in his country, so that he may focus all his efforts on fighting to protect democracy in Ukraine.

'We must suspend democracy to save democracy', said Zelensky during his weekly 'telemarathon' [situation report]. 'If we allow democracy to get in the way of fighting for democracy, we might lose our democracy.

And also lose our billions of sweet, sweet American dollars. What will happen to my superyacht in Dubai... Oh, sorry, what was I talking about? Oh yeah, it's time to cancel elections so I may remain president indefinitely'”.

The Bee's humor is not so humorous for the Ukrainian people because in order to maintain power, Zelensky could theoretically extend martial law endlessly, thereby forcing thousands and thousands more conscripted citizens into the slaughter along the front lines.

An MP from Zelensky's party and his closest adviser, Mykola Tishchenko, recently responded rather frankly to a colleague, MP Heorhiy Mazurashu, about the state of democracy in Ukraine. "Democracy does not exist anywhere in the world", he said. "It is a myth".

Concern about 2024 U.S. election

Nevertheless, Zelensky rather suspects the likelihood of a change of administration in the United States next year. In anticipation, his office has begun to examine the exact stances of the Republican Party, as it similarly studied four years ago where the Democratic Party stood on Kyiv's conflict with Russia.

In November, Zelensky invited Donald Trump to Ukraine, presumably expecting to hear from Trump there would be no overtures with Russia for a negotiated end to the war should Trump be elected. Wartime rule is all that Zelensky and his advisers and sycophants have left. Trump declined the invitation to visit.

Ukrainian authorities then came up with the idea of inviting former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to join the board of directors of Ukrainian operator Kyivstar, Ukraine's largest mobile operator. Pompeo is reported to have accepted.

Under a similar scheme, Joe Biden's son was earlier invited and accepted to work at the Ukrainian gas production company Burisma. This kind of work pays stratospheric salaries to selected board members who may not even show up to attend meetings or who merely stage rote appearances. It is called 'sinecure' in English, defined as a position requiring little or no work but giving the holder status or financial benefit'.

It is a common form of bribery and corruption of high-ranking officials in capitalist countries, including in subordinate countries such as Ukraine. "This is how bribes are paid in the ‘enlightened’ West", writes the Telegram channel 'Open Ukraine', commenting on Mike Pompeo's new job. "Gone are the days of paying bribes with suitcases stuffed with cash".

Rifts exposed between Ukraine's political and military leaders

However, after the failed 'counteroffensive' of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), launched in June of this year to much fanfare but with little achieved many months later, and after recent delays in promised deliveries of more U.S. military supplies to Ukraine (perhaps portending outright cuts to supplies by the U.S. government), a rift has emerged within the Ukrainian power system.

Since his election in 2019, Zelensky has already purged the near entirety of the political opposition in the country, accusing many of them of "working for the Kremlin". So the only political conflicts that can now erupt are internal, pitting the governing regime against this or that clan of former associates. Odessa-based anarchist Vyacheslav Azarov writes that all of opposition politics in Ukraine is now reduced to "squabbles of factions within the ruling party".

The main rift today is between the country's political and military leadership. The real power in Ukraine sits with those who control the military, including its far-right paramilitary formations now fully integrated into the regular armed forces. Failures in the counteroffensive have deepened existing frictions and political divisions.

The Ukrainian military is now blaming the political leadership for throwing it to the slaughter for the purpose of providing Western benefactors with images and reports of military ‘successes’, which, in turn, act to sustain the flow of money and arms to Kyiv.

Ukrainian soldiers are routinely labeling their commanders as 'butchers' for sending them for the umpteenth time to storm Russian defense lines head-on, in many cases stepping over the bodies of their comrades who fell during previous assaults since June. For his part, Zelensky blames the generals for the failure of the counteroffensive

According to Zelensky's former adviser Oleksiy Arestovich (who has fled to the U.S.), the president is in a "serious conflict" with high-ranking Ukrainian military officers over the failure of the AFU counteroffensive.

As it turns out, Ukrainian military leaders are not satisfied with the misuse of Western military aid and the low level of competence of the government, as they see it. Zelensky's policy is simply becoming ineffective, says Arestovich. He explained in a recent interview with Spain's El Mundo that the position of AFU commander-in-chief Valeriy Zaluzhnyi "often radically diverges" from Zelensky's position.

Valeriy Zaluzhnyi leads a group of disgruntled military men and is in a position to challenge Zelensky. All other rivals from the 2019 election find themselves either in jail or in exile. Some analysts believe that Zaluzhnyi may be chosen to replace Zelensky for the purpose of leading when the negotiations inevitably take place with Russia. One year ago, Zelensky banned all negotiations with the Russian president. It would be a very difficult sell for him to now turn around and conduct talks.

Zaluzhnyi told The Economist on November 1 that the conflict with Russia had entered a "stalemate". Zelensky has responded with harsh words for his top general, telling him to "stay out of politics" (as though Zaluzhnyi's claim of 'stalemate' has nothing to do with military realities).

Sergei Markov, director of the Russian Institute for Political Studies, believes that the head of Zelensky's Office, Andrei Yermak, flew to the United States in mid-November to meet with current Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and coordinate the dismissal of General Zaluzhnyi. "But not simply fire him. If Zelensky fires Zaluzhnyi… he will become a free man who will be able to run for president and win the election [in 2024] against Zelensky.

The president suspects that the Americans want to replace him with Zaluzhnyi. Therefore, Zelensky must not just fire Zaluzhnyi, but repress him, accusing him of corruption or high treason. Zelensky can also appoint Zaluzhnyi to a position that prohibits him from participating in elections. This is the main problem that Zelensky is tackling".

According to Markov, there is a popular belief in United States governing circles that leaders in countries subordinate to the West should be periodically changed so that they do not become too independent. That said, Markov believes that a change of leaders in Ukraine at this stage cannot affect the outcome of Russian military operations for the simple reason that one or the other leader is not the one directing the course of the country. That is being decided and directed in Washington.

An MP from Zelensky's party, Yevhen Shevchenko, says that General Zaluzhnyi has very flawed perceptions of reality. He dreams and writes about robots replacing humans in combat. If you read his narrative in The Economist on November 1 [text here], his ideas for 'winning' the war include acquiring 'military-technological innovation', going so far as to compare today's situation to that of hundreds of years ago when China first invented and used gunpowder.

"He is referring to robot soldiers. He saw these robots somewhere at a military exhibition in New York, then came to Zelensky and said, 'We need those.' "

Shevchenko writes that sooner or later, Ukraine's supply of soldiers will run out. "Can you imagine the look on Zelensky's face when he heard about 'robot soldiers' from Zaluzhnyi? Now do you understand the nature of their conflict?"

In an interview with Ukrainian political analyst Vadim Karasev, AFU Major General Dmytro Marchenko blames Zaluzhnyi for the failure of the counter-offensive. "Who forced us to attack right at the center of the enemy's reinforced defenses instead of along the flanks? Who was deciding this? Where are the diversionary and deceptive maneuvers that are needed? Where are they? And we thought he was a brilliant commander", Marchenko said.

As a Ukrainian saying goes, a victory always has many fathers while a failure or defeat is always an orphan.

There are further rifts within the Ukrainian military. In an interview with Ukraine's Radio NV, Roman Kostenko, secretary of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security, Defense, and Intelligence, said that Ukrainian military men in the trenches joke that there are two Ukrainian armies –the AFU led by Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, and the one led by Olexandr Syrsky [commander of Ukraine's ground forces].

Each military grouping has its own political ambitions and appetite for funds from the Western sponsors of the war. And the more that funding from the United States decreases, the more the internal strife and competition among American vassals in Ukraine will grow.

Zelensky reaching out to Trump for Republican support

In addition to meeting with the Biden administration, Zelensky's people in the United States are trying to establish contacts with Trump's entourage, according to Ukrainian MP Oleksandr Dubinsky. Commenting on the recent visit of the head of the Office of President Andriy Yermak to Washington, he writes, "Now the real president of Ukraine--named Yermak--is in the United States trying to convince the American government that there is no corruption in Ukraine and to blame the theft committed by him and those from his circle on the scheming of “Kremlin agents”. He is also trying to arrange a telephone conversation between Zelensky and Trump in order to gain support in Congress for aid to Ukraine, which he and Zelensky are plundering".

Dubinsky's comment is written to right-wing U.S. journalist Tucker Carlson in the form of an appeal to join forces in 'exposing' the corrupt regime in Kyiv. "By joining our forces, we will be able to reveal to the world the truth about the gang of swindlers who captured Ukraine. Reveal the Ugly Truth that Yermak and Zelensky and their associates are trying to hide".

Even Zelensky's advisers are admitting to Western media that corruption is rampant. "People are stealing like there's no tomorrow", an unnamed advisor to Zelensky is quoted in TIME magazine on November 1st.

Dubinsky was once elected on the ticket of Zelensky's Servant of the People party, but then the paths of the two diverged as Dubinsky began to criticize the president. Recently, this former associate of Zelensky has been charged with high treason and has been sent to a pre-trial detention center for two months.

Similar procedures have been used in the past in Ukraine to purge any opposition, all in the name of 'fighting for democracy'. Typically in Ukraine, the criminally accused do not receive a verdict in court. Instead, they can wallow in jail for years while awaiting a court’s verdict.

Pervasive corruption and the decisive role by Washington

The continuation by Kyiv of the war against Russia and refusal to negotiate to perpetuate not only a dictatorship in Ukraine but also the pervasive corruption in the country, making it a central part of the lives of all of the country's citizens. Today, the opportunity to flee abroad (and thereby avoid military conscription) costs between US$7,000 and US$10,000 in bribes.

Temporary deferment from conscription for six months costs from US$2,000 to US$5,000. For military service outside the combat zone: US$1,000 to US$2,000 for six months. It goes without saying that those employed in military administrations have formed into a parasitic caste with strong material interests in having the war last forever.

However, the duration of the war depends not only on the actions of Ukraine’s authorities. The decisive role is being played by the U.S. government. Even Ukrainian military leaders and ultranationalists recognize Kiev's complete dependence on the U.S. Ruslan Onishchenko, ex-commander of the 'Tornado', ultranationalist (far right) battalion of the AFU told journalist Volodymyr Panchakin in an interview with he believes Ukraine will be forced into negotiations when and only when it suits U.S. interests.

"I am leaning towards the fact that we will be dragged to the negotiating table by the scruff of the neck. By whom? By our allies, let's call them so. I would not like to call them masters, although we are vassals and slaves" he says, acknowledging that the regime in Kyiv is merely a tool or a vassal of the United States.

We should recall who are these self-declared U.S. vassals. In 2015, Ruslan Onischenko and many other members of the 'Tornado' battalion were accused of torture, atrocities, rapes, and sadism which they practiced not only against Donbass residents but sometimes also against their own soldiers. They were sentenced to long prison terms but released in 2022 into the Ukrainian army, to be unleashed against Russian soldiers.

Some Russian political analysts are convinced that the West is merely seeking a temporary respite in the war, enough time to produce more shells and military equipment. Deindustrialization in the West has produced a shortfall in production capacity, unlike in Russia. Once the Western military-industrial complex succeeds in renewing and expanding its production capacity, a new Kyiv regime will once again be pushed into attempts at suicidal revenge against Russia.

Ukrainian voices opposing such a course will continue to be silenced and suppressed. But it is highly unlikely that after all the people of Donbass, Crimea, and the Russian Federation as a whole have been through since 2014, nothing less than Russia's original goals will be on a negotiation table. The three, principal Russian conditions for peace remain as before: no NATO membership for Ukraine, and the demilitarization and denazification of the country.

https://english.almayadeen.net/articles ... ders-in-uk

[Anthea]

Seymour Hersh: Russia, Ukraine peace underway

Included in the potential deal would also be Russia's agreement to Ukraine’s accession to NATO provided that NATO troops are not stationed on its territory and only defensive weaponry is located there

In his newly released article, renowned US journalist Seymour Hersh assured that peace negotiations between top Russian and Ukrainian generals Valery Gerasimov and Valerii Zaluzhnyi respectively are currently underway which include a potential security of Crimea and another four former regions of Ukraine as part of Russia.

Included in the potential deal would also be Russia's agreement to Ukraine’s accession to NATO provided that NATO troops are not stationed on its territory and only defensive weaponry is located there.

According to Hersh, both Russia and Ukraine agree that the persistence of war is illogical and that Russian President Vladimir Putin would be with an agreement that fixates borders according to where the troops are stationed after the end of peace negotiations

Hersh cited a US official involved in the top negotiations as saying: "This was not a spur-of-the-moment event," adding: "This was carefully orchestrated by Zaluzhny. The message was the war was over and we want out. To continue it would destroy the next generation of the citizens of Ukraine."

On the other hand, the Biden administration is strongly opposing the peace deal while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky remains the "wild card" but has been allegedly told that "this is a military-to-military problem to solve and the talks will go on with or without you".

"The White House is totally against the proposed agreement," the US official said, noting: "But it will happen. Putin has not disagreed."

Win some, lose some

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has declared that Ukraine has made substantial progress in fulfilling the criteria set by the European Union (EU) to commence the process of joining the union.

Speaking to Politico on Tuesday, von der Leyen affirmed that Ukraine has met "all the necessary requirements for nearly all the seven steps we asked them to do … when they became a candidate country."

In her address to the Ukrainian parliament on November 4, von der Leyen disclosed that Ukraine had already satisfied 90% of the prerequisites necessary to initiate the accession process. She further noted that if the conditions are promptly met, negotiations could begin by the end of 2023.

This may not spell wholly good news for Ukraine

Hungary and Slovakia publicly declared ending aid to Ukraine, and France announced its intention to minimize aid to Ukraine after Minister of the Armed Forces Sebastien Lecornu stated it would no longer provide from its own stockpiles and that Ukraine would have to purchase equipment from private companies "using money from a special fund."

Slovakian former Prime Minister Robert Fico, who is currently in the parliamentary elections, has also publicly declared that he will not support Ukraine's accession to NATO. Campaigning under "Not a single round" for Kiev, Fico has put Western states on their toes

Hungary's Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto even said his country would veto the 12th sanctions package by the EU if it targets Russian gas, oil, or nuclear energy.

According to Szijjarto, any restrictions on those who have done good to Hungary by "saving the lives of Hungarians, for example through making it possible that we could buy vaccines," or contributing to its energy supply will be opposed.

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/pol ... new-region

[Anthea]

No magic pot' for Ukraine funds

The White House told Congress on Monday that unless Congress adopts its supplementary budget request, it would run out of money to give military help to Ukraine before the end of the year

Shalanda Young, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, wrote to Speaker Mike Johnson and other House leaders that as more equipment is sent to Ukraine, there is no "magical pot of funding" to address the need. "We are out of money - and nearly out of time."

Young stated that, despite help from friends, US backing "cannot be replicated by others," and that abandoning it would increase the likelihood of a Russian triumph. She also stated that it aided the domestic defense industry base and US military readiness.

This comes after NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said during an interview with the German Das Erste TV channel that the Ukrainian military has failed over the past several months to make any breakthroughs, but Ukraine should still be receiving unwavering support from the West.

US House Speaker Mike Johnson said on Monday that if Democrats participate in sensible conversations, Congress and the White House might reach a deal on Ukraine aid and border security.

Johnson expressed on X that “House Republicans have resolved that any national security supplemental package must begin with our own border. We believe both issues can be agreed upon if Senate Democrats and the White House will negotiate reasonably."

According to Johnson, the Biden administration has failed to address concerns about a lack of a clear plan for Ukraine and is neglecting the situation on the country's borders.

Disagreements over-delivering help to Ukraine and getting cash to strengthen US border security may postpone Senate approval of the supplemental spending package until next week, according to reports.

US military spending is anticipated to rise by 3.6% in the 2024 fiscal year, reaching approximately $830 billion. The Pentagon already surpasses the combined defense budgets of the world's nine next-largest nations.

Additionally, President Joe Biden has sought congressional approval for $106 billion in supplemental national security funding, including $61.4 billion in extra military aid for Ukraine. He also motioned to lift all restrictions on military weapons being sent to "Israel", eliminating the $200 million cap, and creating a free-flowing to provide any defense articles to "Israel".

As the US monetary policy is hindered by the excess of military aid overseas, worries about a governmental shutdown are looming

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/pol ... aine-funds

[Anthea]

The Donbass - My Articles
By Eva Bartlett

Videos & Interviews From/On the Donetsk & Lugansk People’s Republics (2019-present)

*The Alley of Angels, a memorial for Donbass children killed by Ukrainian shelling since 2014. From mid-Feburary, 2022 to mid-December, 2022, Ukrainian shelling killed 154 more children, on top of the over 130 children already killed since 2014.

-US cluster munitions will bring more pain and death to Donbass civilians, and Washington doesn’t care, August 1, 2023, RT.com (In Gaza)

-Artyomovsk locals reveal how Ukrainian forces targeted civilians and took away children during the ‘battle for Bakhmut’, June 7, 2023, RT.com, (In Gaza)

-As Donetsk civilians live in constant fear of Ukrainian shelling, from on the ground, I detail the terror, May 11, 2023, RT.com, (In Gaza)

-Here’s why Human Rights Watch deliberately only scratched the surface in exploring Ukraine’s use of banned ‘petal’ mines, March 28, 2023, RT.com (In Gaza)

-What I’ve seen of Ukraine’s war crimes against civilians in the Donbass over the years (In Gaza)

-Ukrainian Army War Crimes Include Shelling of Ambulences, Firetrucks, and Rescue Workers in the Donbass Republics—Similar to Israelis and U.S. Backed Terrorists in Syria, September 23, 2022, Covert Action Magazine (In Gaza)

-Maligned in Western Media, Donbass Forces are Defending their Future from Ukrainian Shelling and Fascism, Nov 19, 2022, Covert Action (In Gaza)

-Ukrainian Army War Crimes Include Shelling of Ambulences, Firetrucks, and Rescue Workers in the Donbass Republics—Similar to Israelis and U.S. Backed Terrorists in Syria, September 23, 2022, Covert Action Magazine (In Gaza)

-Western media continues to ignore how Ukraine is using NATO weapons to kill innocent civilians in the Donbass, Sep 23, 2022, RT.com (In Gaza)

-Western media continues to ignore Ukraine’s public ‘kill list’ aimed at those who question the Kiev regime, September 10, 2022, RT.com (In Gaza)

-In Just Under Three Weeks, Ukrainian-Fired Prohibited “Petal” Mines Maim At Least 44 Civilians, Kill 2, in Donetsk Region, August 23, 2022, Covert Action Magazine (In Gaza)

-The West is silent as Ukraine targets civilians in Donetsk using banned ‘Petal’ mines, Aug 7, 2022, RT.com (In Gaza)

-Ukraine bombed a Donetsk hotel full of journalists – here’s what it felt like to be inside at the time, Aug 4, 2022, RT.com (In Gaza)

-Who killed the POWs at Yelenovka? All signs on the ground point to a Ukrainian attack, Aug 2, 2022, RT.com (In Gaza)

-As West blames Moscow for ‘food crisis’, ships sail from Mariupol with Moscow’s help while Ukraine holds vessels in its ports, July 1, 2022, RT.com (In Gaza)

-Western media and politicians prefer to ignore the truth about Donetsk civilians killed in Ukrainian shelling (& maternity hospital shelled), June 16, 2022, RT.com (In Gaza)

-Ukrainian strike on Donetsk market was a terrorist act, April 30, 2022, RT.com (In Gaza)

-Here’s what I found at the reported ‘mass grave’ near Mariupol, April 28, 2022, RT.com (In Gaza)

-They Saw and Heard the Truth — Then Lied About It: Media on Donbass Delegation Omitted Mention of Ukraine’s 8 Year War on the Autonomous Republics, (In Gaza)

-Seven years after Maidan divided country, Ukraine intensifies shelling of Donbass to sound of deafening silence from Western media, Mr 2, 2021, RT.com (In Gaza)

-Under Fire from Ukraine and Misperceived by the West, The People of the DPR Share Their Stories, October 16, 2019, Mint Press News (In Gaza)

MY VIDEOS FROM THE DONBASS

**On October 14, 2023, Youtube deleted my entire channel. The related videos are at my Odysee channel

“Ukraine shelled a completely civilian area of central Donetsk, killing at least 5 civilians”

“Carnage: Ukraine’s terrorism on Donetsk September 19 killed 16 civilians, 9 in one spot”

“Ukrainian Terrorism of Central Donetsk September 17 Kills 4, Using Western Weapons”

“More Ukrainian War Crimes: Killing & Maiming Heroic Donbass Medics & Emergency Workers”

“Ukraine’s Bombing of Central Donetsk August 4: 2 Ballerinas Among the 6 Murdered by Ukraine”

“Ukraine bombed just outside the hotel I was in. Was Ukraine targeting journalists?”

“Ukrainian Terrorism: Firing Munitions Containing Petal Mines On Donbass Orphanage, Another War Crime”

“Ukraine Shells Gorlovka Civilian Areas, Continuing Its War Crimes Against The Donbass People”

SEPTEMBER 2019

MY INTERVIEWS ON THE DPR/LPR

“Interview: 1 day in Ukraine is a normal day in the Donbass under Ukraine’s bombs”

“Eva Bartlett describes the unspeakable genocide in Ukraine FULL INTERVIEW (Graphic Content Warning)”

“”CBC Fake News: Hit Piece Targets Journalists ( Eva Bartlett )”–Interview on Maverick Media”

https://ingaza.wordpress.com/the-donbas ... 9-present/

Follow the link above and read the articles in full

[Anthea]

Ukraine war a great tragedy

Russian President Vladimir Putin says that Russia and Ukraine, despite the hostilities, remain one people, making the 'great tragedy' in Ukraine nothing more than a 'civil war' funded by the West for geopolitical gains

Normal relations between Ukraine and Russia have been made impossible in the post-2014 coup, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, stressing that Russia had attempted to establish them "at any cost," given that the people of Ukraine and Russia are one people despite all current hostilities.

Putin spoke during a live marathon presser, on Thursday, and responded to a series of questions among which was whether he perceived a possible normalization of ties between the West and Russia in the near future.

To that end, Putin explained that Russia had aimed to maintain good relations with as many nations as possible and has never intentionally ruined or severed ties with any, however, the West continuously tried to isolate Russia and neglect its national interests.

These Western plots culminated in the 2014 coup d'etat in Ukraine which he stated was staged by Russia's geopolitical "opponents."

Civil war between brothers

According to Putin the coup back then is what led to the current conflict which he considered to be a "great tragedy".

The war in Ukraine, said Putin, is a "civil war" between brothers, explaining that good relations between Moscow and southeast Ukraine are historic, and the leadership there has always tended to be pro-Russian.

However, "after the coup d’etat of 2014, it became clear to us that we would no longer be allowed, by force, to build any sort of normal relations with Ukraine," Putin said.

Putin even reminded that the US, at the time, had publicly confessed to spending $5 billion to overthrow the Russian-friendly Ukrainian government and explained that such US interests came in parallel with NATO’s"uncontrollable desire to creep towards our borders"

NATO sought to achieve that by promising Ukraine a warm welcome to the bloc under specific circumstances thus triggering the 8-year-long bloodbath in Donbass. All this was crowned with the current tragedy in Ukraine, because otherwise, "how are we supposed to build relations with them?"

The Russian President noted that the West has continued to act as if it has no recollection of doing any of the things mentioned above, and only occasionally confessing that it signed the Minsk Accords with its fingers crossed behind its backs, hoping to "give Ukraine time."

Notably, Putin proclaimed that "[The West] has largely lost its sovereignty," and warned Western nations, that with the exception of Hungary, their decisions regarding the tragedy in Ukraine and their choice to isolate Russia continue to only hurt themselves.

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/pol ... om-western

[Anthea]

Kyiv forced to cut military operations

Ukraine has warned it is already being forced to downsize some military operations because of a drop-off in foreign aid

Top general Oleksandr Tarnavskyi said troops faced ammunition shortages along the "entire front line", creating a "big problem" for Kyiv.

It comes as billions of dollars of US and EU aid have been held up amid political wrangles.

Ukraine said it hoped to boost its own ammunition industry with western help.

But it relies heavily on western supplies, particularly on deliveries of long-range missiles and air defence systems, to fight occupying Russian forces.

Gen Tarnavskyi told the Reuters news agency that the country lacked artillery shells, particularly for its Soviet-era weapons.

"The volumes we have are not sufficient, given our needs," he said. "So, we're redistributing it. We're re-planning tasks that we had set for ourselves and making them smaller because we need to provide for them."

He said that diminishing foreign military aid was already having an impact on the battlefield, and forcing a change in tactics.

"In some areas, we moved to defence, and in some we continue our offensive actions.

"And we are preparing our reserves for our further large-scale actions. Their intention remains. The only thing is that their actions change, tactics change."

His comments come in the wake of setbacks in both the EU and US. Republicans in the US Congress first blocked a $60bn (£47bn) military package for Ukraine earlier this month.

That was followed by Hungary's blocking of the EU's €50bn ($55bn; £43bn) financial aid deal last week. EU leaders however said Ukraine would not be left without support.

Ukraine was already facing an ammunition shortage as Western powers struggled to maintain supplies. The EU pledged to send one million artillery shells by March 2024, but so far only 480,000 have been either delivered or are in the pipeline.

Meanwhile, the US has provided Ukraine with more than two million 155mm shells for use in Western-made artillery systems. But its own stocks have been depleted, prompting the decision last summer to send cluster munitions.

Ukraine is already using ammunition faster than partners can produce it. A report by the Estonian defence ministry said Kyiv needed a minimum of 200,000 artillery shells a month to retain an edge against Russia.

"Sustaining this rate will empty European and US stockpiles over 2024 and will require significant foreign purchases of ammunition," it said.

Speaking to the BBC, Ukraine's Deputy Defence Minister Ivan Havryliuk said the country was ramping up production of kamikaze drones "to compensate [for] the lack of artillery shells".

Additionally, it was increasing its own production of artillery rounds "for almost the entire range" of its Soviet-era weapons.

He also said the country hoped to boost its defence industry by jointly producing ammunition with Western companies on Ukrainian soil.

Gen Havryliuk said this was the focus of negotiations with US companies when he accompanied President Volodymyr Zelensky during his December visit to the US.

Ukraine signed a number of agreements with US firms to start joint production.

He said that Ukraine could not match the resources of or manpower of Russia and the goal was to achieve technological superiority.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-67748813

Zelensky and his chums could always sell off their villas and ships, perhaps release the opposition parties and allow the people to vote

[Anthea]

2023 year of disappointment and corruption
By Dmitri Kovalevich

Dmitri Kovalevich is the special correspondent in Ukraine for Al Mayadeen English. He writes a monthly situation report as well as occasional special reports. This is his situation report at the end of 2023

For Ukraine, the year 2023 was far from comforting, notwithstanding the efforts by the country's government and heavily-censored media to uplift the spirits of the population with promises of economic improvement and military victories in the new year.

The news at the end of the year makes clear, even to optimists, that everything promised by the West and by the Ukrainian authorities during the past two years has been mere words. The sole purpose of all the year-end, optimistic statements and promises is to induce Ukrainians to continue to suffer conditions of war and economic upheaval… for the interests of the NATO countries.

The Western press would have the world believe that the conflict in Ukraine is all about the country's independence and sovereignty. But in reality, Ukrainians have become the cheap foot soldiers of the Western imperialist countries. Tragically, hundreds of thousands of our compatriots did not live through 2023 and see the dawning of the year 2024.

Compulsory military conscription

One of the most difficult and controversial issues of the past year in Ukraine has been the country's compulsory military conscription. As resistance to the war has grown, conscription has come to increasingly resemble slave markets of yore. At the end of 2023, Ukrainian authorities and deputies to the Rada (national legislature) are discussing changes to the conscription law to require military registration by women, the elderly, and youth aged 18 or higher.

Russian senator Igor Kostyukevich, who represents the Kherson region, recently told the Russian state broadcaster RIA Novosti of cases he has learned of children in orphanages being taken into military service in Ukraine.

A draft law likely to be adopted early in the new year lowers the age of military service from 27 to 25 years and it introduces compulsory, military training of three months duration for Ukrainians between the ages of 18 and 24.

The amended conscription law will strengthen the power of authorities to identify those of the age of military service age and track down those who have managed to avoid it. The draft law introduces easier procedures to summon conscripts, including by email and through employers providing information directly to recruiters. Presently, conscripts are summoned by letter or by a visit from a police or conscription officer.

Ukrainians between the ages of 18 and 60 will henceforth need to carry a military registration document with them at all times and present it when requested by an officer.

A catastrophic war by Ukraine

Ukrainian experts are comparing the present conflict to the Paraguayan War of the 1860s, notorious for killing some 70 percent of the country's population of the day. Ordinary Ukrainian children are writing letters to Santa Claus asking him to protect their parents. "Please don't let them take my dad and mom to the army to die. Otherwise, I will become an orphan," a Telegram posting writes, displaying a note written by a six-year-old named Olya.

2023 was a year of Ukraine losing the war on all fronts. This was stated in late December by Kirill Veres, commander of the 'K-2' battalion of the 54th brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, speaking to the ICTV television channel. "If we talk about the war on all fronts, we are losing. Where are we winning? I don't know, I can't say. We are surviving. These are two different things: doing something to win, and acting to simply avoid perishing."

"It is a very difficult time for us," said Veres. He believes that overheated expectations from the summertime 'counter-offensive' of the AFU helped lead to the present situation. He says that Ukrainian men who are forcibly conscripted are very bad at fighting.

Even the head of the Defense Ministry's intelligence service, Kirill Budanov, has admitted that conscripted Ukrainians do not want to fight. He says the effectiveness of forcibly conscripted Ukrainians "is almost zero".

The Associated Press reports on December 18 that as winter approaches, Ukrainian soldiers "worry that Russia is better equipped for battle and are frustrated about being on the defensive again in a grueling war. Some doubt the judgment of their leaders.

"Discontent among Ukrainian soldiers — once extremely rare and expressed only in private — is now more common and out in the open."

Even among those Ukrainians who previously shared pro-Western sentiments, frustration and fatigue have been increasingly evident. Men are fleeing the country dressed as women, mothers smuggle their sons out in trunks, and at the front, deserters who do not want to fight but cannot return home are living for months at a time in the ruins of buildings.

In the Poltava province of Ukraine, located east of the Dnieper River and app. 125 km southwest of Kharkiv, conscription has netted only 13 percent of eligible men; in Sumy region, it is only eight per cent. This despite routine raids by conscription officials of enterprises, gyms and parks, and dwellings.

During the summer and fall counteroffensive, almost all units, including the most combat-ready ones, suffered high casualties. Some brigades have endured three changes in personnel.

In late December, Taras Chmut, a Ukrainian ultranationalist and head of the Turn Live Foundation, acknowledged in a broadcast interview that there are virtually no people left in the country to recruit to the military. "We need to think how to make sure that we (Ukrainians) do not run out of army personnel," he warns.

"There are no people. Many have left the country, while many others were drafted into service but were killed or wounded. If we throw away the lives of recruits, and sometimes that happens, then unfortunately we will just mathematically run out of bodies."

Also, in his opinion, the Russian military is technologically superior to Ukraine's military. "Russia produces airplanes, ships, submarines, helicopters, tanks, artillery, ammunition, gunpowder, explosives, aircraft ammunition, cruise missiles, ballistic missiles. What do we have? Unfortunately, much less." says the Ukrainian rightist.

Lose territory, of lose a country?

For this reason, even former Ukrainian MP and far-right nationalist Ihor Mosiychuk is raising the question of what is more important: recapturing territories lost to Russia's army, or preservation of the Ukrainian nation. He is calling for negotiations. "We have all our strategists talking about the liberation of territories, but I want to put the question in a different way: why are we not talking about the preservation of the nation? After all, it is clear that territories can be returned, but a nation that loses itself cannot.

"Of what use are territories to a lost nation?"

Rumors of an imminent military coup against the current governing regime in Ukraine and of revolts by military units whose funding has been cut significantly are running rampant in Ukrainian society. Even many pro-Western Ukrainians are acknowledging that in the eyes of the rulers of the Western countries, Ukrainians will never be equal, no matter how contemptuously the latter may regard and treat non-European peoples.

"Maybe it is time to recognize that the whole course of 30 years since the beginning of Ukraine's independence, in which Euro-Atlantic integration is our national idea, has failed. A national, civic dream –call it a religion – held out the prospect of joining NATO and the European Union. But that has exhausted itself.

"The dream of Ukraine's accession to NATO and the European Union has led to war, a war between the West and Russia over Ukraine," said Ukrainian political analyst Vadym Karasev recently in a broadcast by the 'Novini live' internet channel. He added that Ukraine's new strategic culture may not be pacifist, but it should not be militarized either. We should work, work, and work, not fight".

A war by the West and for the West

Ukrainian society has actually forgotten how to work and create. It has been pushed for many years towards warfare, paid for by Western countries. As a result, Ukraine's infrastructure is crumbling and Ukrainian experts are thinking about the countries from which the workers of the future may be drawn (to be paid, for sure, by Western partners).

Many of our officials, even at the level of small towns, have become habituated to living off Western financial injections. All of them are making plans to enrich themselves for years to come, comforting themselves with the belief that the West owes a large debt to Ukraine because it has been fighting on behalf of Western interests. (This does not apply to many government officials who have already enriched themselves and have already managed to send their children or other family members to schools and universities in Western Europe and the United States.)

Ukraine's infrastructure crumbling

Reconstruction is in full swing in the Russian-controlled territories of Ukraine. The city of Mariupol, for example, was all but destroyed in the spring and summer of 2022. Today, it is rising from the ashes not only with new housing and commercial buildings to replace those destroyed but also with an entire plan to makeover of the city, dominated for decades by highly polluting steelmaking right in the heart of its heart. A road and railway corridor along the northern coast of the Sea of Azov from the Rostov region all the way to Crimea (and beyond?) will be built or restored.

Ukrainian authorities, meanwhile, are dealing with a crumbling subway ('metro') system in Kiev, to take just one example of infrastructure in serious need of repair. The Degtyarevsky Bridge over the Dnieper River in the capital city recently collapsed during repairs that were unrelated to any military action by Russia. The city's Metro Bridge, carrying vehicle traffic and the 'Red Line' of the metro system (one of three lines), is facing lengthy closure for urgently needed repairs. City council official Andriy Vitrenko calls the situation "catastrophic" because the city already suffers from a shortage of bridges across the Dnieper River.

Six stations of the city's 'Blue Line' metro closed earlier this month for an expected six months due to flooding and unstable soil conditions surrounding them.

There have been far too few repairs and maintenance of the Kiev metro system since Soviet times (more than 30 years ago). Investigations are said to be underway to determine how much outright negligence may be responsible for the recent line and station closings.
Ongoing corruption and the rising discontent it is causing

Unable to win a military clash with Russia, and with hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers having perished, irritation and discontent may at some point drive large numbers of Ukrainians to protest this continuing war. The regime of Volodymyr Zelensky will be hard-pressed to mobilize its security apparatus to suppress such protests.

Ukrainians are particularly irritated by the numerous corruption scandals that have haunted the country throughout the past year. Corruption has flourished precisely due to the ongoing military actions against Russia and the obligatory conscription that 'feeds' these. Reports are widespread in Ukraine of military conscription officials accepting bribes to assist potential conscripts to avoid military service, notably by issuing fraudulent medical certificates.

Some military officers are buying up real estate in Europe thanks to earnings from bribes received from those seeking to evade conscription. The situation became so bad this year that in August, the regime of President Zelensky replaced the officials in charge of conscription in every region of the country.

Corruption in purchases using Western aid funds has also become huge. Food for the military is purchased at prices 200-300% higher than market prices, while overpriced items not particularly needed in military shelters are being purchased (such as trendy frying pans for $19,000 each).

It's also worth noting that individuals do not actually purchase items using foreign aid funds. In fact, many military personnel buy their own food, and civilian shelters may remain stay closed even during air raids. (See: Corruption exposed: the disturbing reality of Kyiv shelters, published in Voice of Europe, June 6, 2023.) Conditions of war also allow many civilian items of value purchased as civilian aid to be stolen and written off as if destroyed by war.

During this year's Christmas vacation period, vacation operators say that the resorts and hotels in the Carpathian Mountains region in the west of Ukraine country have sold out all of their very expensive rooms (suites), while ordinary hotel and resort rooms selling for exorbitant prices are also full. These and many more such examples are evidence of a colossal stratification taking place in Ukrainian society between a very poor majority and a very rich minority.

Even in the streets of Kiev and Lviv, one sees many, very expensive luxury cars, imported under the guise of humanitarian aid, while in a number of regions, public transport has stopped running, typically because drivers have been drafted into the armed forces.

And conflicts over military service

By the end of 2023, irritation and conflicts between the neo-Nazi paramilitary units (now formally incorporated into the armed forces) and units composed of conscripted soldiers are on the rise. Neo-Nazi leaders routinely refer to citizens seeking to avoid military service as "creatures" and "subhumans". 'Right Sector' leader Dmiytri Yarosh stated in late November, "I cannot call them anything but an abomination that discredits the Nation."

The scale of evasion of military service is really impressive. Every day, Ukrainian border guards catch dozens of illegal fugitives along the country's western border. Dozens more are handed over each day by the border guards of neighboring, eastern European countries. Added to this are the estimated 6,000 men of military draft age who have left Ukraine legally. This was reported by the head of the Department of organization of Border Control of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine Igor Matviychuk.

The scheme of leaving Ukraine following marriage to mothers with many children has become popular recently. Fathers with three children or more under the age of 16 are exempt from military service and can even leave the country. Men of military age may also leave the country while acting as escorts for the disabled, and many do so. Disabled persons are reportedly being escorted out of the country multiple times by different people. Some male escapees go so far as to change the gender in their passports and dress as women to fool border guards.

At the end of December, an MP of Zelenskyy's party, Maryana Bezuglaya, decided to conduct an Internet poll, inquiring into whether those evading conscription should be stripped of their civil rights. She conducted a survey asking whether men would be willing to lose their Ukrainian citizenship as the price of refusing compulsory military service. Of those surveyed, 74 per cent replied 'yes'.

Such ambivalent attitudes to the country and its citizenship are increasingly common in Ukraine these days, even among radical nationalists. Growing numbers of Ukrainians are realizing that they are fighting and suffering due to NATO's expansion policy, not for the independence and betterment of their country.

Many look with envy at neighboring Belarus, which in 2020/2021 prevented a pro-Western,'color' revolution similar to the one that occurred in Ukraine in 2013/2014 and culminated in a violent coup. The leaders and the people of Belarus have preserved the country's industry and prevented internal strife along national grounds because they rejected the promises and siren songs of Western leaders.

In a published survey in 2019, well before the Russian military operation began in Ukraine, most Ukrainians considered the president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, as the best foreign leader, beating out the then-chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel.

In 2024, against a background of anticipated, continued, military setbacks by Ukraine and reductions of Western aid funding, anti-Russian sentiments may be expected to ease in Ukraine while anti-Western sentiments and dislike for the NATO military alliance will grow. Let us hope this year will see an end to the military conflict with Russia and the reformatting of Ukraine into an independent country on the model of neighboring Belarus.

https://english.almayadeen.net/articles ... er-present

[Anthea]

West using Ukraine

Putin calls Ukraine’s missile attack on the Russian city of Belgorod "a terrorist act."

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called the Ukrainian missile attack on the Russian city of Belgorod a "terrorist act."

On Saturday, Ukraine executed an indiscriminate strike on the Russian city of Belgorod, utilizing cluster-mounted Vilkha missiles and shells from a Czech-made RM-70 Vampire multiple-launch rocket system.

This is 100% an intentional attack against the population, and it is the true colours of Ukraine that our media isn’t too keen to share.

The Russian Defense Ministry asserted that Ukraine orchestrated the attack to divert attention from its battlefield defeats and provoke Russian forces into similar actions.

In a meeting with Russian servicemen at a military hospital, Putin explained that this was a "terrorist act" and that there was "no other way to call it," due to the launch of "multiple launch rocket systems, which is, as you, servicepeople, know, a weapon to attack squares, and they used it to attack the city center where people walk ahead of the New Year."

He vowed that the Russian army would intensify strikes on Ukraine's military sites following the death of 24 people and the injury of over 100 from the Ukrainian strike that he called intentional. Putin expressed that Ukraine had fired "right in the city centre, where people were walking around, before New Year's Eve."

"We're going to intensify the strikes. No crime against civilians will rest unpunished, that's for certain," he said, explaining that Russia would hit "military installations".

According to TASS, the Russian leader expressed that Moscow wanted to end the war but "only on our terms," detailing that he was being briefed Russia held a "strategic initiative" in the war.

“In any case that is how I am being briefed and I always insist: any offensive operations should be done after a defeat of the enemy."

He reiterated his accusation that the West is using Ukraine to "settle its problems" with Russia.

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/pol ... ussia--put

[Anthea]

Biden, Zelensky critic Gonzalo dies

The US Department of State has confirmed the death of Biden, Zelensky critic Gonzalo Lira in Ukrainian prison, refusing to provide further comments on the mysterious circumstances surrounding the event

Chilean-American journalist, Gonzalo Lira, has died in a Ukrainian prison after he was "tortured" and denied medical treatment.

Lira was known for his criticism of Ukraine and Joe Biden's administration. His position on the conflict in Ukraine, in which he voiced out critical opinions of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, led to his rearrest in May 2023, just after he was briefly arrested in 2022.

"We can confirm the death of a US citizen in Ukraine. We offer our sincerest condolences to the family on their loss," a representative of the US State Department the Russian TASS news agency. The Department of State refused to provide further comments on the incident, saying it has done so out of "respect to the family during this difficult time."

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) arrested Lira for his pro-Russia stance before he was tortured and killed, according to journalist Tucker Carlson. His trial was scheduled for December 21, 2023, but was reportedly rescheduled for another time, due to a lung infection.

Gonzalo Lira, Sr. says his son has died at 55 in a Ukrainian prison, where he was being held for the crime of criticizing the Zelensky and Biden governments. Gonzalo Lira was an American citizen, but the Biden administration clearly supported his imprisonment and torture. Several… https://t.co/F0nOG9qGvv
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) January 12, 2024

US Embassy did nothing to help

His father, Gonzalo Lira Sr., slammed both the Ukrainian and American governments for murdering his son.

"I cannot accept the way my son has died. He was tortured, extorted, and incommunicado for 8 months and 11 days and the US Embassy did nothing to help my son. The responsibility of this tragedy is the dictator Zelensky with the concurrence of a senile American President, Joe Biden," Gonzalo Lira Sr. said.

In a letter that Lira wrote from prison and sent to his sister, he explained that he has a severe case of pneumonia, "as well as pneumothorax and a very severe case of edema."

He said that he fell ill in mid-October, but his medical case "was ignored by the prison."

Furthermore, Lira reveals that Ukrainian authorities "only admitted" he had pneumonia at the December hearing. The late blogger said that he would have a surgical procedure soon to relieve the pressure built on his lungs, which caused him extreme shortness of breath, "to the point of passing out after minimal activity, or even just talking for 2 minutes."

It is worth noting that prominent American figures such as Elon Musk and Tucker Carlson have recently lobbied for Lira's release, a few days before he was announced dead.

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/pol ... ian-prison

[Anthea]

Military aid to Ukraine ground to a halt

US funding over

While Congress still contemplates support for Ukraine, White House National Security Spokesperson John Kirby announces that all military aid to Ukraine has been suspended

While Congress still contemplates support for Ukraine, White House National Security Spokesperson John Kirby announced that all military aid to Ukraine has been suspended.

“We have issued the last drawdown package that we had funding to support, and that’s why it’s critical that Congress move on that national security supplemental request,” Kirby said, noting that US military support for Ukraine has "ground to a halt."

This comes right after White House and Senate negotiators revealed that they were on the verge of finalizing a comprehensive deal for a supplemental bill aimed at funding aid to Ukraine and US national security measures, including enhanced border security.

"We are very close, we're dealing with the last one or two items, but we're working productively with a shared focus on getting to an agreement," Senator Kyrsten Sinema stated in an exclusive interview for local news broadcaster KGUN 9.

Sinema revealed that she anticipates a draft text of the bill to be available for other lawmakers to review shortly. This development comes amid mounting concerns over the urgency of providing aid to Ukraine and "Israel", two key US allies.

Drawdown authority exploited and capped

The last military package Joe Biden allocated to Ukraine was worth $200 million drawn from the Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA), which does not rely on congressional approval.

The package included air defense system munition, ammo for high mobility artillery rocket systems, mine clearing equipment, tank ammo, additional artillery, missiles, anti-armor rockets, vehicles and water trailers, more than 12 million small arms ammunition and grenades, demolition munitions, and finally, spare parts for maintenance equipment.

Pentagon Comptroller Michael McCloud later said in a letter obtained by Sputnik that the US will run out of Ukraine aid funding on December 30 after it completes a transfer of $1.07 billion to replenish US stocks of weapons sent to Ukraine.

According to a spokesperson from the Pentagon, there is still $4.4 billion of the "restored" presidential drawdown authority earmarked for Ukraine. This amount serves as a credit, resulting from the Pentagon's acknowledgment that it had unintentionally omitted the proper quantity of military equipment in previous aid packages for Ukraine. McCloud emphasized that, without approval for fresh funding, the US can only deliver one more additional aid package to Ukraine before the year concludes.

However, earlier in January, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, Shalanda Young, said the PDA would not be sending "big tranches into Ukraine".

Ukraine's frustration with its funders

Meanwhile, Congress is still inherently divided, and the European Union still debates its direction and the mobilization of all its capabilities, especially as Ukraine has not met military expectations despite a large abundance of funds.

Josep Borrell warned against a victorious Russia, saying, "And if we don't change course rapidly if we don't mobilize all our capacities, it will let [Russian President Vladimir] Putin win the war in Ukraine."

"The important thing is what we can do in order to avoid Russia winning the war. What are we ready to do? Are we really ready to do everything it takes? This is the question that we have to put ourselves," Borrell was quoted as saying by The Guardian.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba slammed the current Western reality in the context of the war, saying, "Europe doesn’t know how to fight wars. Unfortunately, our friends spent too much time deliberating on how and when to ramp up their production of weapons and ammunition."

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/pol ... nding-over

[Anthea]

Prospects and expectations
By Dmitri Kovalevich

Dmitri Kovalevich is the special correspondent in Ukraine for Al Mayadeen English. He writes a monthly situation report as well as occasional special reports such as the following:

Ukraine in 2024: Prospects and expectations: Ukrainian and Western experts are asking themselves at the beginning of 2024 how long the conflict with Russia may last and what to expect from the coming year.

The beginning of the New Year in Ukraine is shrouded in much gloom, with a noticeable accumulation of irritation in society. Social events during the holiday period were held behind tightly closed doors, with blackout curtains and guards at entranceways. Fireworks were already banned in the country and this year it was rare to see a flashing Christmas tree in a house window or shopping district.

Christmas celebrations were changed this year because in their anti-Russia zeal, Ukraine's leaders have officially changed the date of Christmas from January 7 to December 25. For centuries, January 7 marked the day of celebration of Christmas for Eastern Christian churches, including the Russian Orthodox Church, the largest denomination in Ukraine.

Men across Ukraine are facing intensified military conscription as the new year opens, with mobile police and military checkpoints operating in and between city districts. Often, men of military age are simply seized on the street by police or military recruiters and soon find themselves at the military front following the briefest of training

On January 4, the Ukraine Rada (legislature) held its first formal discussion of proposed revisions and tightening of the military conscription law. Among the proposed revisions is the lowering of the conscription age from 26 in order to capture, as it were, men otherwise planning on higher education. Some far-reaching proposals being aired include confiscation of the property of conscription evaders ('draft dodgers' in American slang) and revocation of the passports of those who have left the country. (Ukrainian men of military age are forbidden from leaving the country except by special permit.)

Possible timeline for the end of the conflict

Ukrainian and Western experts are asking themselves at the beginning of 2024 how long the conflict with Russia may last and what to expect from the coming year. One analyst in Japan believes the war may last another five years, while many in the U.S. say that the outcome of U.S. elections ten months from now will be the decisive factor.

Russian security expert and reserve FSB (security service) officer Sergei Khrapach writes on Telegram that the continuation of the armed conflict in Ukraine would be the result of unresolved conflicts between Russia and the United States. He says the U.S. is firmly opposed to ceding its self-appointed role of "world gendarme" because this would open the door to a multipolar world order, a very bad thing in its eyes. Consequently, Russia's special military operation in Ukraine will only end when the conflicts in the region between the two major powers are resolved.

Other Russian analysts are convinced that the military operation may last through 2024, noting that Russia's military industries are only just reaching optimal production capacity.

Ukrainian generals have nowhere to lead their soldiers

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke to German media in late December about the challenge facing government's declared goal of mobilizing some 500,000 additional Ukrainians into its armed forces. Quite aside from the challenging task of tracking down the 500,000, then forcing many of them into training and eventual service, Zelensky explained that some 500 billion hryvnias (US$13 billion) are needed from the state budget to pay for training, equipment, and salaries.

"One fighter requires six people [to keep him or her active and under arms]. That's six people in civilian life working and paying taxes. Multiply the 500,000 additional military recruits we need times the six civilians needed to support each one of those. How can I, the government, pay for three million additional personnel beginning this month, January 2024?" Zelensky asked in his commentary.

The German report added, "According to calculations by Vladimir Dubrovsky, a senior economist at the public organization CASE-Ukraine, which specializes in macroeconomic policy research, about 170 billion hryvnia per year (US$5 billion) are needed just for the salaries of those who are mobilized into the armed forces. 'If you take the average salary of 30,000 hryvnia per month ($US800), this comes out to 360,000 per person per year, for a total of 170 billion hryvnia per year. And that is not to speak of the costs of arms, food, clothing, and other equipment.' "

The head of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, General Valery Zaluzhny, spoke to the aforementioned Rada session on January 4 and he stressed the need to boost military recruitment. One observer reported Zaluzhny asking the legislators, "With whom and what am I supposed to fight? Either you turn to the world asking for fighters, or go join the fight yourselves." Zaluzhny promised 80 full days of training for new recruits, likely responding to the widespread belief in Ukraine (and claims by soldiers themselves) that recruits are not given adequate training before facing the hellfire of the frontlines. "Give me more people," he urged lawmakers.

Former Interior Minister and prosecutor-general of Ukraine, Yuriy Lutsenko, said in early January that Ukraine was losing an average of some 30,000 military personnel on the frontlines per month to death or injury. In Lutsenko's opinion, the total losses since the beginning of the conflict amount to half a million people - the exact number of replacements that the Kiev regime is calling for today.

Dying for the sake of Western interests

Soldiers in Ukraine’s Marines service recounted to the Washington Post recently that they are being “tossed like pieces of meat to the wolves” along the front lines of the conflict. They describe the very harsh efforts ordered by their superiors in December to reclaim some slivers of territory lost in the Kherson region last year on the opposite side of the Dnieper River. “We bear many losses. We simply lose people, but there is no result”, says a 22-year-old marine named Dmytro.

Describing the operation in Kherson, the WashPo writes, "With their counteroffensive stalled, Ukraine’s military and political leaders were eager to show their Western backers some progress — any progress." It recounts stories from the marines of wounded soldiers drowning in the marshy conditions on the east side ('Right Bank') of the Dnieper River, unable to swim with their injuries or being sucked into the waters by their heavy packs.

To limit or prevent Ukrainian politicians from telling Western publications anything that contradicts Zelensky's official positions, the elected members of the Rada are now, of January 1, prevented from travelling abroad unless under instruction from the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, as explained recently on Telegram by Ukrainian MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak.

As stated in the document published by the MP, a trip can be denied if, during a previous foreign trip, the MP did not receive "official explanations from the Foreign Ministry regarding Ukraine's foreign policy course" or did not fairly report same. To put matters simply and crudely, in a country, Ukraine, which the West claims to be a democracy, elected leaders may now only make comments or statements on government policy that have been approved by the Ukrainian president or the government he leads.

Brutal, class war in Ukraine for prosperity in the United States

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba is confident that the United States will not abandon Ukraine, as it abandoned Afghanistan in 2021, because Ukrainians are fighting precisely for U.S. prosperity. "We don't have a plan B. We are confident in plan A," Kuleba said when asked what Kiev would do in case of a shortage of military aid from the U.S. or other NATO countries.

Kuleba is confident that the aid will not stop because it is "an investment in defense of NATO and also in defense of the prosperity of the American people". In other words, the 30,000 people being killed or seriously injured each month on the Ukraine side are an investment in the prosperity of the United States, not of Ukraine. Indeed, under the current circumstances, Ukraine is running the risk of further, serious depopulation. There has been no census conducted in Ukraine since 2001, a situation resembling Sudan and or Somalia, two countries which the UN has been urging for decades to conduct a census in their respective countries.

Ukraine's population 30-plus years ago, at the time of the demise of the Soviet Ukraine, was 52 million. By 2001, following the dismantling of the planned, social economy of Soviet times and a resulting, sharp social and economic decline, the population had shrunk to 48 million. Estimations following that differ.

A report by the Kyiv School of Economics in August 2023 says the population was 37 million in 2021 and it estimates this number to fall to 30 million by 2030. Ukraine’s Institute for the Future (UIF) estimates the population in 2023 at 28.5 million.

All of this is understood in the United States. Recently, U.S. Army Colonel Douglas McGregor, a former advisor to President Donald Trump and a conservative critic of the current war, tweeted: "We have set the Ukrainians an impossible mission and basically told them to die there. I think the Ukrainian people have had enough ... At some point we will see what happened in Afghanistan happen in Kiev."

By requiring more and more Ukrainians to submit to conscription, the Ukrainian authorities have once again emphasized the class-based nature of the measure. Previously, wealthy Ukrainians could pay off the conscriptors and go abroad. But with the proposed changes to the law, Ukrainian MPs are actually discussing how to protect people of privilege from conscription. This recalls past centuries in which only men of property could vote. The KP.ua news website reports that Ukrainians in social networks are taking note that the very principle of equality of citizens is at stake and social tensions are on the rise as a result.

Different missile strike strategies

In late December and early January, Ukraine and Russia exchanged a series of missile strikes. The Russian Federation military fired more than 120 missiles as well as dozens of attack drones each day against Ukrainian military enterprises and military facilities. That the Russian weapons targeted military operations (storage, supply, transport) is recognized even by Ukrainian experts. Ukraine could only mount responses of five or six missiles per day.

Since 2022, the Ukrainian public has been assured by authorities that the Russian Federation has only a limited supply of missiles and artillery, sometimes only enough to last for a few days at a time. The public was told that Russia's weapons supplies would not be easily replenished. This claim and variants thereof have been constantly repeated ever since. The pro-Western 'Bellingcat' internet outlet joined that same chorus early on, with spokesman Hristo Grozev saying in March 2022 that the Russian military campaign would collapse within days.

In essence, Western and Ukrainian politicians are applying to the Ukrainian people the manipulative methods commonly applied by parents or psychologists to children who resist an unpleasant procedure or task, that is, to plead for patience, then more patience, and yet more patience with the promise that everything will soon be better. These methods are being applied to the Ukrainian population as a whole in refusing to countenance peace negotiations with Russia.

It is also noteworthy that there remains a big difference between the Russian Federation and Ukraine in their respective uses of missiles and artillery. The Russian Federation is pursuing a declared strategy of the demilitarization of Ukraine, and so it strikes warehouses stocked with Western-supplied weapons, weapons-producing or -repairing facilities, and military transport. It strictly avoids any strikes against civilian targets, and even some politicians and ultra-nationalists in Ukraine acknowledge this.

For its part, Ukraine weaponry cannot reach most Russian factories and warehouses, so it employs terrorist tactics against the Russian population by striking civilian targets in towns and cities. Valeriy Zaluzhny, the AFU commander-in-chief, is reported by the Ukrainian news publication Strana as stating that the Russian people are not presently against the war in Ukraine because they do not fully experience it "in every sense". Ukraine's strategy is "to make these feelings more acute for the Russians, despite the considerable distance to targets."

Such thinking is also being justified in Western publications. "Ukraine trains its sights on the Russian border region, seeking to stir up discontent", headlines a January 3 report by Associated Press. It writes approvingly: "Hitting [the Russian border city of] Belgorod and disrupting city life is a dramatic way for Ukraine to show it can strike back against Russia, whose military outnumbers and outguns Kyiv’s forces. The tactic appeared to be having some success, with signs that the attacks are unsettling the [Russian] public, political leaders and military observers."

In general, even Ukrainian military officers on Ukrainian television say that the Russian army is better equipped than the Ukrainian army. In early January, an AFU battalion commander of the third assault brigade with the call sign 'Rollo' explained as much. Responding to a viewer of broadcast panel discussion who asked what kind of equipment the average Russian military has and "how much worse is [their equipment] compared to ours?", the commander replied: "The Russian army is no worse than the Ukrainian army, even better. Technologically better equipped, has more vehicles, better weapons, better equipment than the Ukrainian one." According to him, the Russians not only have better equipment but also better programs to train and equip its army.

The Russian Defense Ministry is reporting that 54 foreign countries are providing military assistance to Ukraine and have already spent more than 200 billion dollars since the start of the special operation. It is obvious that all Western countries, as well as Japan and South Korea, are helping Ukraine with money and weapons and that these same, leading capitalist countries are using Ukraine to protect their hegemony over the rest of the world and keep the existing world order in place.

Between the desire for socialism and the cult of Nazi-collaborationists

There are also large differences in moral standing between the Ukrainian and Russian armed forces. While the Ukrainian authorities claim almost every day in their statements to the West that they are fighting for the United States, for NATO and for Europe, those on the Russian side appeal to the Soviet legacy of fighting Nazism and big-power domination.

These sentiments on the Russian side are sharply intensifying. In late 2023, Russian sociologist Maria Matskevich of the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, wrote a report in the printed magazine Polity, issue #4 in 2023. She cites stunning data, according to the Russian blogger 'Tolkovatel': "Thus, in 2022-2023, the desire to live in a socialist rather than capitalist society has risen sharply [in Russia]. While in 2020, sympathies for socialism and capitalism were about equal (26% and 21%, respectively), by mid-2022, 48% chose socialism and only 12% capitalism. In 2023, this ratio is already 48% vs. 5%."

By contrast, in Ukraine there are constant appeals by the government and its supporters to the legacy of the Nazi collaborators of the World War II era of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists/Ukrainian Insurgent Army. However, such appeals unwittingly generate defeatist sentiments and increase the desire of many Ukrainians to flee to the West.

In early January, the commander of the 'Aidar' company (a neo-Nazi battalion accused by Amnesty International back in 2014 of war crimes against the people of Donbass) named Yevhen Dikiy mentioned in an interview by Strana that in case of defeat, armed Ukrainian units "can break through the [western] border of Ukraine in an organized manner, enter the European Union and live there." He cited the experiences of many Nazi-collaborationists from WWII Ukraine the UIA who did succeed in entering American and British zones of occupation in Germany and gaining refuge and protection

Ukraine without land and without people

On January 1, Ukraine launched the second stage of a land reform that has been long demanded by the International Monetary Fund and other Western creditors as a condition for financial assistance to the country. Beginning in 2024, legal entities [companies] can buy agricultural land. Previously, only individuals could do so. As well, the size of a plot that can be purchased has risen to 10,000 hectares (100 square kilometers).

"Ukrainian farmers will return from the front only to find that the country has run out of land for them," warns the Ukrainian Telegram channel 'Minister of retirement'. It warns that as a consequence, as occurred 100-plus years ago, farmers along the front lines may "stick their bayonets into the ground" and return home to fight for their land.

In Ukraine, most agricultural land has been bought up by Western agricultural holdings through frontmen, as the Oakland Institute explains in its research report issued in early 2023, titled 'War and Theft: The takeover of Ukraine’s agricultural land'. Now such land acquisition can be done openly and legally. In early January, major American billionaire Warren Buffett announced that he plans to build logistics hubs in Ukraine's Transcarpathia region for grain transshipments.

Thus we see that farmers in Europe's poorest country, Ukraine, have no money to buy the land that until recently they managed and owned collectively or individually, as inherited from Soviet Ukraine and the USSR. Ukrainians are now dying in a war for control of land whose ownership is being bought up by large agricultural interests in the West.

In general, the continuation of the conflict in Ukraine driven by the interests of foreign (Western) capital threatens to leave the country not only without a viable population but also without land for its people to work and with which to prosper.

https://english.almayadeen.net/articles ... pectations

[Anthea]

Kiev's accession to NATO

tantamount World War III

Slovakia's Prime Minister reiterates his vehement opposition to Kiev's accession to NATO and criticism of their accession to the EU

Ahead of his visit to Ukraine, Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico declared in an interview with RTVS on Saturday that Slovakia will block Ukraine's bid to join NATO.

Fico, who is scheduled to meet Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmygal, emphasized that his visit is driven solely by "humanitarian" concerns, and pledged to communicate Bratislava's stance on a range of issues, including Ukraine's potential accession to the EU and NATO.

"I will tell him that there are things on which we have completely different opinions,” Fico said.

“I will tell him that we respect them when it comes to joining the EU, but they must fulfill the conditions,” he added, explaining that a situation where “a country that absolutely does not meet any requirements” joins the EU is unacceptable.

The Prime Minister unequivocally ruled out the possibility of Ukraine joining NATO, asserting that such a move could lead to a catastrophic global event, suggesting a direct collision between NATO and Russia.

"I will veto and block [a NATO bid by Ukraine] because that is exactly the basis of the third world war and nothing else," Fico declared.
'Not a single round'

Additionally, Fico reiterated his election campaign pledge to cease the supply of military aid to Ukraine ("Not a single round!"), insisting that the decision remains in force.

However, he noted that this restriction applies solely to state-sponsored military aid from Slovakia, with arms manufacturers remaining free to engage in sales to Ukraine.

“When Slovak companies don’t make money, American ones will,” Fico noted.

He also acknowledged the shift in Slovakia's stance, highlighting that, prior to his assumption of office, Slovakia had been among Ukraine's top supporters, providing extensive military aid, including warplanes and anti-aircraft systems.

‘No air defense, no air force’: Slovakia says after Ukraine aid

Slovakia's ongoing military aid to Ukraine during the previous government has significantly undermined the country's defense posture, requiring "years" to address, according to the new Slovak Defense Minister, Robert Kalinak.

Since taking office in October under the leadership of Prime Minister Robert Fico, the minister accused his predecessors of relinquishing vital military equipment to Ukraine without ensuring a plan to secure replacements

Kalinak criticized the previous administration, stating that the defense ministry had been managed by individuals with qualities more akin to "pugs rather than wolves," as reported by The Standard newspaper on Thursday.

“The former government left us without our own anti-aircraft defenses, without combat aviation, and we don’t even have the promised 700 million for MiGs, which the government also handed over to Ukraine,” Kalinak stated.

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/pol ... -slovak-pm

[Anthea]

REMEMBER:

The U.S. broke a NATO promise

Russia is the wronged party. The United States has failed to uphold a promise that NATO would not expand into Eastern Europe, a deal made during the 1990 negotiations between the West and the Soviet Union over German unification.

REMEMBER:

The Minsk agreement forbade Kiev attacking Donbass and guaranteed the Donbass a certain amount of autonomy

REMEMBER:

The UNSC accepted the Minsk agreement into INTERNATIONAL LAW

So under Internal Law Kiev's NINE YEARS of genocidal attacks on the Donbass are ILLEGAL

REMEMBER:

Following years of genocide and numerous international appeals by the Donbass and Russia on behalf of the Donbass

The Donbass asked Russia for help

[Anthea]

Italian support hits historic low

According to a survey conducted by La Repubblica daily on Monday, public approval of military aid for Ukraine has hit an all-time low in Italy, with only 42% in favor of further military supply

In December, the Demos research institution and the University of Urbino conducted a poll of 1,298 Italians.

It discovered that the proportion of Italians in favor of continuing to give military help to Ukraine decreased from 50% in April 2022 to 47% in September 2023 to 42% presently, while the proportion opposing to ongoing military supplies climbed to 57%.

Notably, 56% of voters in the opposition left-centrist Democratic Party support sustained military aid to Ukraine, compared to 46%-48% of voters in the ruling coalition, according to the publication.

The opposition populist Five Star Movement party has the lowest level of support among voters, at 34%.

Italy passed eight military aid packages for Kiev, the last of which was approved in December. The sixth package, implemented in early 2023, contained air defense equipment, most notably the improved Samp-T anti-aircraft complex.

Italy's Council of Ministers approved a measure in December to provide military, humanitarian, and financial aid to Ukraine through 2024.

According to statistics from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, Italy supplied Kiev with 1.3 billion euros ($1.4 billion), ranking 15th among donor countries.

Last year in May, the Corriere Della Sera newspaper reported that after supplying Ukraine with six military aid shipments, there is "not much left" in Italy’s military stockpiles.

Also in May of 2023, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell described the war in Ukraine as a "laboratory testing ground" for the military capabilities of the European Union from which they can learn and improve their military.

At the time, Borrell revealed the EU had supplied Kiev with 220,000 artillery ammunition and 1,300 missiles since the start of the war.

Ukraine FM: Give us weapons, no need to use your own troops

The cost of supporting Ukraine's troops as a force instead of Western troops is "minuscule compared to the overall US military budget," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba said in an interview with Bloomberg at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Kuleba has argued that this security investment serves the interests of the US military-industrial complex.

In contrast to some other countries considered "allies" of the US, Kuleba pointed out that Kiev is not requesting the deployment of troops on Ukrainian soil, effectively describing Ukraine's army as a proxy force.

"We kind of offer the best deal on the global market of security... Give us the weapons, give us the money, and we will finish the job," emphasized the FM before adding, "So you save the most important, you save the lives of your soldiers."

Elsewhere in his statement, the Ukrainian diplomat maintained that Ukraine "does not steal any money from American taxpayers," given that "the sum of money allocated to Ukraine is, to say the least, a very little part" of the US military budget.

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/pol ... rt-hits-hi

[Anthea]

Ukrainian Shelling of Donetsk Market

IS TERRORISM

On Sunday, Ukrainian forces hit a market in the west of Donetsk with a deadly artillery strike, killing at least 27 people and injuring 25 others

The market was crowded when it was targeted by a barrage of 152-mm caliber and 155-mm caliber shells from the Ukrainian side

Among the injured, 18 were hospitalized, most of them in critical condition. Many of the wounded suffered severe injuries, such as penetrating wounds to vital organs and traumatic amputation of limbs.

The Russian Mission to the United Nations announced that the incident will be discussed at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) meeting on Monday. The Russian Foreign Ministry also plans to raise the issue at the UN events, where Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will be present.

A market in the Donetsk district of Tekstilshchik came under artillery fire. The market was attacked on Sunday, when it is most crowded. 27 civilians were killed and 25 others injured, including… pic.twitter.com/W98LuReGys
— Sputnik (@SputnikInt) January 22, 2024

On Monday, the Kremlin described the attack on the market in Donetsk, a city that was reincorporated into Russian territory since 2014, as a "terrorist act."

"This bombing is a monstrous terrorist act. The Kiev regime continues to show its ferocious face and deal blows against civilian infrastructure and the population. We strongly condemn it and, naturally, we will continue the special military operation to protect the people from this threat," Russian Presidency spokesman Dmitri Peskov said.

The market affected by the attack is located in the Tekstilshchik microdistrict and is located about ten kilometers from the front line. This attack occurs at a time of intensifying fighting on the Ukrainian eastern front, where Russian troops made progress on Sunday, according to the U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Ukr ... -0003.html