Political strategic level
Europe is preparing to transfer around 80 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine in the near future, reports Spiegel. The allies are currently discussing the transfer of a total of 80 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, partly to form two battalions of 40 tanks each.
Germany will provide Ukraine with 14 Leopard 2 A6 tanks (a company) from the Bundeswehr in a first phase. These tanks will be part of the same battalion with Finnish, Spanish and Dutch Leopard 2A6s. The second battalion is said to be composed of older tanks from Poland and Norway, which have Leopard 2A4s."
The US intends to send 31 Abrams M1 tanks to Ukraine. This was confirmed yesterday by President Joe Biden. According to Washington, training Ukrainians to "operate" US war machines will not take months - it will take weeks.
The ice has shifted. But in the short term - meaning within months. Tank battalions can be completed and transported to Ukraine in late spring. Ukrainian President Volodymyr V Zelensky has said that Ukraine needs not 10 to 15 tanks, but "at least 300 tanks" to be able to defeat the Russian forces on land.
The Kremlin warns that the Abrams supplied to Ukraine by the United States will "burn". Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that sending Abrams was a waste of money.
"I am sure that many experts understand the absurdity of this idea. The plan is disastrous from a technological point of view. <...> These tanks burn like all the others," Peskov added.
The decision to send tanks is a major turning point in the minds of Western politicians. When, at the very beginning of the invasion, we called for Russia not to be scared and for heavy weapons to be given to Ukraine, we were branded as madmen and warmongers. Now the 'warmongers' are Western leaders. We have no doubt that F-16s will arrive in Ukraine. We are also sure that the day will come when the British and the Americans will be at the helm of the Abrams M1 and the F-16. It is a pity that this will come too late.
According to the Russian Ministry of Defence, the frigate Admiral Gorshkov has tested its capabilities in the western Atlantic. The frigate is said to have carried out computer simulations of Zircon hypersonic missiles with a range of 900 km (560 miles) and a speed several times the speed of sound....
Oh, we're already packing our pants after such supersonic simulations. Much scarier for us would be a supersonic broomstick, with a jet-powered Putka flying into the White House.
The Russian Embassy, reacting to Berlin's decision to approve the supply of Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, stated that in doing so, Germany was abdicating its 'historical responsibility to Russia' for the crimes of the Nazis during the Second World War. The Embassy said in a statement that this decision escalates the conflict to a new level.
"This extremely dangerous decision takes the conflict to a new level of confrontation and contradicts the statements made by German politicians about the unwillingness of the Federal Republic of Germany to get involved," said Ambassador Sergei Nechayev in an attempt to stamp on the Germans' foot.
This alone makes it necessary to condemn communism and to convict all the Soviet and terrorist Russian scum.
The Polish Foreign Ministry informs us that the next package of EU sanctions against Russia will be the most painful if it is not immediate. Poland's Permanent Representative to the EU, Andrzej Sadosz, has expressed his dissatisfaction that work in Brussels on the 10th EU sanctions package has slowed down. "Poland is disappointed that the commission has not come up with proposals," Sadosz complained.
The Polish politician stated bluntly that there are brakes in Europe, such as Hungary, and "there are countries that would very much like to look like they are always defending values, always opposing aggression, going very far in their declarations, but when it comes to taking concrete decisions, that determination is already weakening and that will is really becoming much, much weaker".
Oh, how impatient those neighbouring Poles are. Do they not realise that European officials are overworked, overtired and, after the New Year, have been scattered all over the world, lying on their lager on sunny beaches or spending time with their grog in their hands in ski resorts.
Anyway, yesterday it was reported that EU ambassadors confirmed that all economic sanctions imposed by the EU on Russia for its aggression against Ukraine will be extended for another six months. On that occasion, Russia says it is ready to "start confiscating" the assets of other countries. Andrei Klish, Head of the Committee on Constitutional Law and State Building of the Council of the Russian Federation, stated that the aggressor Russia intends to start confiscating the assets of foreign legal entities.
As of 3 January 2023, the EU and the G7 countries have frozen more than €300 billion of Russian assets. As of last month, Hungary froze €870 million of Russian assets, while Switzerland froze around 7.5 billion francs belonging to Russians and 15 real estate properties. However, Switzerland is not prepared to confiscate frozen Russian assets, as other countries are demanding.
The EU has put forward the idea that the confiscation of these assets will allow the reconstruction of Ukraine's devastated infrastructure. The European Commission proposes that the frozen assets be transferred to a fund where they could be actively managed to generate profits to finance the reconstruction of Ukraine. However, Brussels proposes that the assets should not be confiscated permanently, but should be returned to Russia if a peace agreement is signed.
On what basis, we wonder, are Brussels officials preparing to return the assets of Russian war criminals? Perhaps the officials are wizards who can resurrect tens of thousands of murdered people, regrow severed limbs, bring back to life raped children and their mothers, and rebuild ruined towns and villages at our expense?
This double-bottomed Western morality, this grovelling before the murderer, drives us to despair, as does the claim by some EU leaders that a peace treaty will lead to the resumption of economic relations with Russia. Such thinking is natural suicide, liquidity, or simply brain degeneration.
Ukraine's defence ministry has announced that it is transforming the "old Soviet corrupt" system of arms procurement into a modern, NATO-style system, Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said yesterday. The corruption scandal has led to a number of Ukrainian government officials leaving their posts.
Ukraine's National Anti-Corruption Bureau said it was investigating allegations that the defence ministry was buying military supplies, including food for soldiers, at inflated prices.
Corruption is an old cancer that is not in its first stage in Ukraine. It is a very serious problem. If the country fails to tackle corruption, it will remain among the ranks of the underdeveloped countries, which will mean automatic alignment with Russia in the near future. Ukraine is facing a war with this terrible disease, and it is no less of a war.
The United Nations has confirmed that children have been sexually abused by the Russian occupiers. Yasminka Jumhur, the Human Rights Ombudsman for Bosnia and Herzegovina and a member of the UN International Commission on Violations in Ukraine, says that the commission has found that war crimes, human rights violations and violations of international humanitarian law have been committed in Ukraine. The Russian armed forces are responsible for the majority of the crimes.
"The spectrum is very broad. We are talking about torture, violence, rape and other forms of sexual violence. We have recorded a number of crimes against children, including various cases of sexual violence. When we are talking about children, they have been injured or killed with firearms. They have been sexually abused," says Jumhur.
There is a lot of information about the abduction of children when their biological parents remained in Ukraine.
Iryna Didenko, prosecutor for sexual abuse cases at the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office, says that sexual crimes against Ukrainian men and women are recorded in each of the regions of Ukraine that have been liberated from the Russians. Some of the rapes were bragged about by the occupiers themselves, and there are numerous cases where Russian military commanders were not only aware of the rapes, but also encouraged them.
Putin, the world's No 1 terrorist, claims that the special operation is aimed at protecting the people and Russia itself. "The purpose of the special military operation, as I have repeatedly said, is first and foremost to protect the people and Russia itself from the threats it faces on our historical lands bordering our territory. We cannot allow this to happen", declared the 21st century plague.
Where do Russia's borders end? In Berlin? In Alaska?
The Kremlin is worried about the "Doomsday Clock", as the "doomsday clock" is closer than ever to midnight. The "Doomsday Clock" created by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists to show how close humanity has come to the end of the world moved its "time" to 90 seconds to midnight on Tuesday, 10 seconds closer than it has been in the last three years.
"The whole situation is really worrying," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a "startled" statement. "This obliges us to be extremely cautious, vigilant and take appropriate measures," he added.
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists analyses real, nuclear and other threats. Meanwhile, the Kremlin's Neanderthals have been spouting off about the end of the world in order to frighten the world. Some sources claim that Putin and his gang are particularly interested in black magic and conjure from dried cow poo.
Operational level
No major changes
According to the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the country's armed forces have withdrawn from the city of Soledar in the Donetsk region because it has been razed to the ground by the Russian invaders.
However, Ukrainian forces remain in control of the situation in Bakhmut and are successfully fighting the enemy.
Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov, spokesman for the terrorist Russian Ministry of Defence, told how the Ukrainian army was being "crushed" by the Russians.
They reportedly hit 79 firing positions of Ukrainian artillery units, live fire and military equipment in 124 locations.
Numerous German-made Panzerhaubitze 2000, Polish-made Krab, as well as Msta-B and Gvozdika were destroyed. The Russians stopped Ukrainian attacks in the Kherson and Dnipro areas. Su-27 fighter jets and Mi-8 helicopters were shot down.
In total, since the beginning of the special military operation in Ukraine, the Russian armed forces have reportedly destroyed 377 Ukrainian warplanes, 204 helicopters, 2 948 unmanned aerial vehicles, 402 surface-to-air missile systems, 7 627 tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, 988 multiple rocket launchers, 3 906 field artillery guns and mortars and 8 171 special military motorised vehicles, Comrade Konashenkov reported.
Here we were already gripped by an uncontrollable fit of laughter. We need to be able to destroy several times more tanks and artillery guns than Ukraine has ever had. The Kremlin's losers are trying to increase Ukraine's losses in every possible way in order to justify their failures.
In reality, Ukraine's losses are much lower. It is not the number of irons that determines the level playing field, but the superiority of Western technology. That is what the Kremlin fears more than anything.
Meanwhile, CNN reports that since the invasion began, Russia has lost 1 642 tanks and Ukraine 449. The Ukrainians are said to have 1 200 Soviet-made tanks. How many tanks Russia has left is anyone's guess. It is known that "on paper" Russia has produced 17 300 tanks since 1950.
According to various databases, there are about 10 200 tanks in Russian warehouses, including T-72s of various modifications, 3 000 T-80s and 200 T-90s. Some 3,000 tanks have been destroyed and damaged beyond repair.
How much of this equipment can be repaired, remanufactured and thrown into the front line is anyone's guess.
Tactical level
A massive missile attack is expected in Ukraine. The electricity is being cut off.
Over the past day, the occupying forces have launched 37 air and 10 missile strikes, including on the civilian infrastructure of the cities of Dnipro and Zaporizhia. Russian terrorists carried out 97 attacks with cruise missile systems, targeting mainly residential buildings in Kherson.
Despite heavy losses, the crackdown continues in the Bakhmut and Novopavlivka areas. Unsuccessful offensive operations continued in the Lyman and Avdiivka directions.
In the temporarily occupied Crimea, another wave of mobilisation is being prepared. By 29 January, all public and private bodies must submit to the military commissariats lists of persons to be called up for military service. The next mass mobilisation wave is scheduled for the end of February. From 1 February 2023, all repair and construction work in state-owned enterprises and institutions will be suspended and all budget funds will be diverted to support the armed aggression against Ukraine. Most likely, all material resources will be devoted to the installation of defensive fortifications.
The people of Crimea, the Crimean Russians, can now rejoice that they have voted in favour of joining the Russian Federation. This step has given them a unique opportunity to join Kobzon and Zhirinovsky in an extremely short period of time.
Over the past day, Ukrainian military aviation has carried out 14 air strikes against enemy concentrations and 2 air strikes against Russian anti-aircraft missile system positions.
2 Russian Su-25 jets, 1 Ka-52 attack helicopter, 4 enemy Orlan-10 UAVs and 1 enemy Superkam UAV were destroyed.
The Ukrainian Rocket and Artillery Forces eliminated 1 command post, 12 troop concentrations and 4 ammunition depots of the Russian occupiers.
Photo: To Moscow. Source: AP, Daniel Cole.
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