NATO’S Undeclared War On Russia
South Front, Jan 26 2023
The Ukrainian army is preparing for counter-offensives, Biden said. According to him, offensive operations of the Ukrainian military are planned in the early spring. Now the US and its servants are sponsoring offensive actions and provide Ukraine with weapons so that its military could try to change the situation on the battlefield. The US will send 31 Abrams tanks to Ukraine, which is equal to one Ukrainian tank battalion. Germany also announced that it would hand over 14 Leopard tanks to Kiev and allow the allies to supply these vehicles to Kiev. In total, Germany and its partners intend to provide 112 Leopard. However, new gifts only made Kiev hungrier. Ukraine will seek supplies of long-range missiles and aircraft, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said in response to the announcement of tanks supplies. he said:
We have to supply aircraft for Ukraine, and this is a dream and this is the task.
The next day after his statements, Politico reported, citing military officials and diplomats, that Western countries were discussing the possibility of supplying jet fighters to Ukraine. A diplomat from one of the Nordic countries told the newspaper:
The next natural step would be fighters.
He noted that there is a “red line” for Western support for Ukraine, but it is changing. For example, last summer it concerned the supply of HIMARS missile systems, which Kiev eventually received. Then the same thing happened with the supply of tanks. On Jan 26, the Minister of Defense of Slovakia said that his country was thinking about the supply of MiG-29 fighters to Kiev. Earlier, the Dutch Foreign Minister said that the country was ready to consider transferring F-16 multi-purpose fighters to Ukraine if Kiev officially requests military aircraft. Amid the ongoing discussion about the possibility of Western supplies of aircraft for Ukraine, Lockheed Martin from the US is considering plans to increase production of F-16 fighters.
Officials of NATO countries are openly declaring that they are waging an aggressive war against Russia, without publicly declaring it and without observing internal political procedures, that is without consent of their own people, declaration of martial law, etc. They openly, massively and systematically send various weapons to the Ukrainian front lines, including heavy military equipment for offensive operations. Military personnel and units of NATO countries take part in hostilities and coordinate military operations of the Ukrainian army. Special services of NATO countries prepare and coordinate terrorist attacks on the territory of the Russian Federation. NATO has to admit that it has already entered the war against Russia. This means that military facilities, infrastructure facilities and political decision-making centers located on the territory of NATO countries become legitimate targets for Russian missiles.
NATO At “War With Russia” As Western Main Battle Tanks Are Sent To Ukraine To Enable It To “Win This War”
Dr Leon Tressell, South Front, Jan 26 2023
This year marks the 80th anniversary of the largest tank battle in history, which involved 1,600 tanks, and had a decisive impact on the course of WW2. On Jul 5 1943 Nazi Germany launched Operation Zitadelle, its last summer offensive on the Eastern Front. Hitler felt Army Group South could win this battle due to the massive hopes he placed on his new ‘wonder weapons,’ the Panther and Tiger tanks. Hitler’s confidence was misplaced as these new powerful weapons failed to bring him the victory he desired. Instead, the German army went down to a decisive defeat which as Churchill observed, ‘marked the ruin of Germany on the Eastern Front.’ Here we are 80 years later and the Western media are drooling over the prospect of German Leopard 2 tanks being sent to fight Russian forces in Ukraine. Apparently, they will help it deal a ‘decisive blow’ to the Russian army during 2023. This narrative is exemplified by an article by Business Insider on Jan 20 2023 which commented:
These formidable main battle tanks would provide a massive firepower boost on the battlefield.
Two days ago the German government caved in to enormous pressure from its NATO allies and agreed to send 14 of these ‘wonder weapons’ to Ukraine, which will take 3-4 months to deliver. Berlin gave permission for its NATO allies to export their Leopard 2 tanks to Kiev. According to Luxemberg’s Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn, NATO members intend to send around 300 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine over the next few months. Apparently, the goal is to have them in place before Russia launches a major offensive this spring. ABC news has reported the preliminary numbers of Leopard 2 tanks to be sent by European NATO members to Ukraine amount to 111. The breakdown by donor country is below:
- Germany will give 14 Leopard 2A6 models;
- Poland will give 14 Leopard 2s;
- Holland will give 18 Leopard 2s;
- Portugal will give 4 Leopard 2A6 models;
- Spain plans to send 53 Leopard 2s;
- Norway plans to give 8 Leopard 2s.
Finland and Sweden have expressed their readiness to send tanks, but have not specified a number. On top of this, Biden has announced the transfer of 31 Abrams tanks to Ukraine, which will take several months to deliver. War hawks in the US Congress and in governments across European NATO are insistent that deliveries of tanks and other heavy weapons will be maintained and increased to help Ukraine “win this war.” The Russian government’s response was predictably hostile considering this major escalation of NATO aid for Ukraine. Kremlin spox Dmitri Peskov said the deployment of Western tanks would lead to “unambiguously negative” consequences. Andrey Kartapolov, head of the State Duma Defence Committee, dismissed the supplies of Western main battle tanks to Ukraine in an interview on Jan 25 on the Russsia-24 TV channel, saying:
The Leopard tanks are not bad. I would say they are more effective than the Abrams in many characteristics. But nevertheless, if compared to our T-90s, they are significantly inferior in firepower and armour protection, including its active component.
He also added that Russian tanks and their crews have been tested under battlefield conditions and shown themselves “at their best.”
The Western media and politicians are bragging over this latest escalation of NATO’s proxy war with Russia. However, Western main battle tanks in Ukraine will face a number of obstacles and difficulties. The first issue that that will have to be dealt with is training Ukrainian tank crews for the different kinds of tanks sent by NATO, from Challenger 2s to Leopard 2s and M1 Abrams tanks. Most estimates agree that this will take several months, just to produce entry-level tankers who have mastered the basics of tank operation. Given Russia’s activation of offensives on several fronts, which is leading to very heavy losses in men and equipment for Ukraine, these ‘wonder weapons’ may well arrive too late make any difference on the battlefield. Ukraine has recently lost the fortified city of Soledar while the Russian offensive against Bakmut has left this strategically important city very close to operational encirclement and facing capture in the next few weeks. Meanwhile, Russian forces are advancing in the city of Ugledar and are making progress in their offensive in the Zaporozhye region where they have crossed the Yancher river and entered Kamyanske which is an important transport hub.
The next factor to consider is the all-important matter of logistics to support these main battle tanks. Yesterday AP carried a piece on the US pledge to send M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine. It noted the many difficulties the Ukrainian army will face operating these tanks:
Just last week, Under Sec Def for Policy Colin Kahl told reporters that the Abrams is a complicated, expensive, difficult to maintain and hard to train on piece of equipment. One thing Sec Def Austin has been very focused on, he said, “is that we should not be providing the Ukrainians systems they can’t repair, they can’t sustain, and that they, over the long term, can’t afford, because it’s not helpful.”
At this point I could wax lyrical about how M1 Abrams tanks and Leopard 2 have proved to be not so formidable in combat against enemies who are no where near as well armed as Russian forces which have air superiority and a massive artillery firepower advantage. From Mar 2003 to Mar 2005 approximately, 80 Abrams tanks were knocked out by Iraqi militias using IEDs and Russian-made anti-tank weapons. In Syria 10 Leopard 2 tanks were knocked out by ISIS and Kurdish militias using Russian-made anti-tank weapons whilst fighting against Turkey’s invading army.
We could go on to discuss the different specifications of Russian tanks as compared to Western main battle tanks. In many ways that is a fruitless endeavour, as training, experience and how the tanks are used in combined arms combat are more important on the battlefield. The military analysts on the Slavyangrad Telegram channel have observed:
Any comparison between tanks doesn’t matter a bit, because any Western tanks provided to Ukraine will be managed by crewmen inexperienced with Western systems, while Russian crewmen have hundreds, if not thousands of hours of real combat experience with their own systems. It’s going to be a manslaughter (or rather a “tankslaughter”).
The main take-away for me from the announcement of Western tank deliveries to Ukraine is how this represents a huge escalation of the proxy war between the US and Russia. The questions ordinary people in the West should be asking are: Will deliveries of hi tech NATO 5th-generation fighter-bombers be the next weapons system to be sent to Ukraine? Or maybe the West will send Ukraine long range missile systems that can hit Moscow and other major Russian cities? Are these weapons deliveries going to continue escalating to the point where Russia feels it has no choice but to use tactical nuclear weapons in response? You may say that I am exaggerating. However, comments from various NATO politicians make it clear that the West intends to support Ukraine until it wins victory over a nuclear armed power. At a PACE meeting, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock stated:
And therefore I’ve said already in the last days, yes, we have to do more to defend Ukraine. Yes, we have to do more also on tanks. But the most important and the crucial part is that we do it together and that we do not do the blame game in Europe, because we are fighting a war against Russia and not against each other.
In reply to Baerbock’s comments, Russia’s Foreign Ministry spox Maria Zakharova retorted:
If we add this to Merkel’s revelations that they were strengthening Ukraine and did not count on the Minsk agreements, then we are talking about a war against Russia that was planned in advance. Don’t say later that we didn’t warn you.
We are living in very dangerous times which require ordinary people all over the world to pressure their governments to support the demand for immediate peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine. You may say that I’m a dreamer, but I know that I’m not the only one who doesn’t want the war in Ukraine leading to a nuclear war between Russia and the US.
War To Last Ukrainian Accelerates – Pressgangs Kidnap Men For Front
South Front, Jan 26 2023
Only four days ago, we published an article about the methods used to hand out draft notices in Ukraine today. In the last few days, the situation has moved to a new level of irrationality. Men of all ages are simply being kidnapped from the streets of Ukrainian cities and villages. Ukrainian social media reports that, for example, in Dnipropetrovsk, men have even been seized at the entrances to metro stations during air-raid alerts. Earlier it was reported that the general staff of the AFU agreed with the presidential office to hand out draft notices to car drivers during police stops. The drive to mobilize has become relentless, given that the General Staff has increased plans for mobilization to 200k people. Kiev is preparing for a massive offensive in spring 2023. It is for this operation that NATO countries are now sending main battle tanks and other military equipment to Ukraine.
The real aim is not, supposedly, to create two new tank battalions, but to form a strike mechanized corps that can breach the front line and drive a deep wedge into Russian-held territory. The capabilities of this new corps are estimated at up to 60k men, 250 main battle tanks, up to 1k IFVs and APCs, and 100 SPAs. In all likelihood the expensive Western equipment will be operated by NATO crews. There is no time and resources to train Ukrainian crews. Men are not being drawn off the streets of Ukrainian cities to serve in this corps. They are destined for territorial defence brigades, which will undertake the first wave of attacks. In other words, they will become simple cannon fodder. Without such sacrificial troops, the new offensive would not succeed. The valued troops of the new corps would only suffer heavy losses in the first phase of the operation, making it impossible to implement NATO’s plans to dissect the Russian grouping in the Donbass or to break through to Crimea. The territorial defence brigades and motorized infantry brigades formed from mobilized people will tear up the Russian defences first. If enough of these formations are gathered, they will be able to break through the first line of defence, obviously at a cost of colossal losses.
Next, the cadre brigades of the AFU, armed with Soviet-era vehicles, are set to go into battle. They are destined to die pushing through the Russian defenses and in battle with Russian mobile units. But if successful, they will pave the way for the new mechanized corps equipped with modern Western weapons, to break through the Russian lines cleanly. There will also be diversionary offensives, in other directions, to hold back the redeployment of reserves. In the end, NATO seeks to implement one of two scenarios: either to reach Crimea and ideally break into the peninsula, or to cut off the DPR/LPR from the Russian Federation, as was planned in 2014, ie to destroy one of the two groupings of the Russian Armed Forces. Whatever the situation, tens of thousands of Ukrainian men are doomed to die in the coming months in the interests of global capital. And then … and then the exchange of nuclear strikes is likely to follow, whoever presses the button first. WW3 has begun, it is already an obvious fact.
Niqnaq 