by Sergei Markov

The Washington Post published an article about the terrorist attack against Daria Dugina. Our media write that the Washington Post admits, with reference to the CIA, that this was a terrorist attack by the SBU against Alexander Dugin. This is true.

According to WaPo’s Ukrainian sources the bomb was planted in a hidden compartement of a per carrier that was smuggled trough the border by a woman with a 12 year old daughter.

The target was Alexander Dugin.

From the article:

“The operation was orchestrated by Ukraine’s domestic security service, the SBU, according to officials who provided details, including the use of the pet crate, that have not been previously disclosed. The August 2022 attack is part of a raging shadow war in which Ukraine’s spy services have also twice bombed the bridge connecting Russia to occupied Crimea, piloted drones into the roof of the Kremlin and blown holes in the hulls of Russian naval vessels in the Black Sea.”

But the main thing in the article is different – the Washington Post admits that terrorist attacks like the one against Daria Dugina were carried out by the SBU, which was created by the US CIA for 10 years who invested hundreds of millions of dollars and its own intelligence into this organization.

But, supposedly, these are terrorist attacks purely by the SBU, and the US CIA is not responsible for these terrorist attacks and that the CIA is even in conflict with the SBU over this, due to their excessive bloodiness.

I think the Washington Post is lying at the request of the CIA. Apparently, Russia is so incensed by the CIA-led SBU terrorist attacks that it has hinted that it will respond not to the unfortunate Ukrainians, but to the Americans.

And now the CIA, through the Washington Post, sends a signal to the Kremlin – don’t touch the Americans, we are not to blame, it’s all the SBU.

But in Russia they believe that the US CIA not only created the current SBU, but also completely controls the SBU and is therefore responsible for the terrorist attacks of the SBU.

Nevertheless, Russia does not respond because it simply does not want a world nuclear war.

by Gilbert Doctorow

My unfinished sentence about the Russian aircraft now on permanent patrol of the Black Sea and carrying Russia’s hypersonic Kinzhal missiles would have ended in the following: the Russian missiles can strike the U.S. aircraft carrier task force off Israeli shores and two of them are sufficient to send the Gerald Ford to the bottom of the sea.

That last point is not my own interpretation: it was stated clearly on a live broadcast of Russia’s premier talk show hosted by Vladimir Solovyov two days ago. To that I add here a very important additional note that highlights how close we are coming to the war to end all wars: Putin made his statement about the Kinzhals not from his Kremlin offices but from the guest house in Beijing where he spent two days this week and met for several hours with Chinese president Xi Jinping. As a veteran Kremlinologist, I can say with confidence that Putin’s readiness to finish off the American aircraft carrier task force in the Mediterranean if necessary had been discussed with and approved by Xi, who surely has his own concerns about the U.S. navy operating most provocatively in the South China Sea. It also aligns with the threat by North Korean leader Kim one week ago that he is ready to sink the U.S. aircraft carrier that loiters in the vicinity of the Korean peninsula. What we have before us is the prospect of Pearl Harbor all over again, but in three seas.

These separate facts are in the public domain. I remain surprised that no one is drawing the dots to the obvious conclusion: that we are on the cusp of a very great war for which the Mideast crisis is just the detonator.

Nonetheless, it does not have to end this way. Unless attacked, it is unlikely that Iran will enter the conflict directly. Hezbollah can do a good enough job of bloodying the Israelis’ nose without the intervention of their friends in Teheran. And the Russians are certain to hold their fire unless Iran and/or Syria are attacked by the U.S. warplanes based on the fleet.

This is not the Grand Chessboard that Zbigniew Brzezinski had in mind when he published his book on the global power outlook in 1997. Nor did he reckon that the U.S. team of strategists in office would not have progressed beyond Chinese checkers.

by Chimauchem Nwosu via Sputnik

In modern combat operations, speed (whether on land or in the air) is often the signature attribute between victory and defeat. The Avangard’s unparalleled velocity allows it to hit targets with break-neck speed precisely. This capability dramatically lowers reaction time for adversaries and renders traditional defense measures far less effective.

The Avangard missile system is a testament to the rapid advancements in aerial warfare technology in recent years. Developed by Russia, this avant-garde weapon system represents a consequential leap forward in contemporary ballistic missiles.

This missile is represented by its revolutionary hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV), which allows it to travel at unprecedented velocity, far surpassing conventional ballistic missiles.

Furthermore, the Avangard HGV can carry several warheads, providing flexibility in its strategic application.

Its rapid deployment and unmatched speed make it an invaluable asset in offensive and defensive military plans. The Avangard’s ability to elude enemy defenses and deliver payloads with pinpoint accuracy has reshaped the strategic landscape, prompting nations worldwide to reassess their defense postures and invest heavily in countermeasures.

Sputnik touches upon understanding the intricacies of the Avangard system and why it’s pivotal in the evolving face of threats to Russia’s national security.

What’s the Avangard Missile?

Previously referred to as Project 4202, the Avangard is a traditional nuclear-capable, boost-glide vehicle that is transported into space as a multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV) atop an existing intercontinental ballistic missile like the UR-100N UTTH or RS-18A (UR-100/SS-19 Stiletto), R-36M2, or RS-28 Sarmat. After being released, it enters suborbital space and glides down to the atmosphere’s edge at meteoric velocity.

Technical Properties

It’s worth noting that technical characteristics of the Avangard missile system have not been officially published, so any relevant information can only be obtained through public data.

The Avangard is often portrayed as a delta-shaped vehicle, enveloped in a glowing plasma shield. Measuring about 5.4 meters, or nearly 18 feet, the Avangard is a sizeable vehicle and weighs roughly 2,000 kg.

According to media reports, the Avangard missile boasts an impressive maximum speed, ranging from 20 to 27 Mach (24,696 to 33,340 kilometers per hour) in dense layers of the atmosphere. This versatile system is designed to carry nuclear and conventional payloads. However, its potential blast yield figures is estimated to range between 150 kilotons to two megatons (trinitrotoluene – TNT equivalent).

The Avangard’s successful test marks a major milestone in materials science and heat control. Russian authorities say the novel weapon is protected by a unique composite material that endured temperatures between 1,600 to 2,000°C during intercontinental hypersonic flight for several minutes.

Additionally, the Avangard incorporates advanced guidance systems, ensuring precise navigation and target acquisition during its high-speed flight.

The Avangard’s fuselage is engineered to reduce drag and maximize aerodynamic efficiency. This design feature, combined with its maneuvering capabilities, allows the missile to alter its trajectory mid-flight, evading potential interception attempts. The result is a weapon system that challenges existing missile defense paradigms and significantly reduces the response window for potential targets.

Strategic Military Objectives of Avangard Missile

The Avangard missile’s unprecedented speed and maneuverability have profound implications for the landscape of strategic warfare, reshaping the dynamics of offense, defense, and deterrence.

According to Russian sources, the Avangard hypersonic boost-glide weapon is designed to eliminate missile defense installations and high-value targets like heavily fortified sites such as missile silos or military command centers.

Implications of Avangard’s Extreme Speed for Warfare

Reduced Reaction Time: The Avangard’s extraordinary speed drastically shortens the response window for potential targets. Adversaries have significantly less time to detect, assess, and formulate a counter-strategy. This increases the element of surprise and diminishes the effectiveness of conventional defense measures.

Enhanced Precision: The Avangard’s ability to maintain high speeds while making course adjustments ensures exceptional precision in striking targets. This level of accuracy is crucial in strategic warfare, particularly when targeting heavily fortified or time-sensitive objectives.

Evasion of Defenses: As it moves towards a target, the Avangard performs deep maneuvering, both lateral and vertical, rendering it invulnerable to missile defense and air defense systems. Unlike predictable ballistic trajectories, the Avangard’s mid-flight course alterations make it exceptionally difficult to intercept. This challenges existing missile defense paradigms and necessitates the development of more sophisticated and adaptable countermeasures.

Strategic Flexibility: The Avangard’s high speed and maneuverability enable it to engage various targets, including moving naval vessels or time-critical, high-value assets. This versatility enhances its effectiveness in a wide range of strategic scenarios.

Avangard’s Combat Service History

From February 2015 to June 2016, the Avangard, a highly advanced weapon, underwent flight testing. It was launched using UR-100UTTKh ICBMs from Dombarovsky Air Base in Orenburg Oblast. The Avangard demonstrated remarkable speed and precision during these tests by successfully hitting targets at the Kura Missile Test Range in Kamchatka Krai.

October 2016 saw the successful flight test of a R-36M2 heavy ICBM launched from Dombarovsky Air Base. It hit its target at the Kura Missile Test Range, marking the first successful glide vehicle test.

On March 1, 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin revealed in his address to the Federal Assembly in Moscow that the weapon had completed its testing phase and was officially in serial production.

“RUSSIA AND HAMAS ARE THE SAME” – EU Chief Gynecologist “Von Der Liar”

Remember? It started in WWI with the “Belgian children” butchered by the inhuman German bayonets. Against Saddam Hussein, it was the babies killed mercilessly in Kuweiti  incubators? Then, Hamas made a break through the security wall only to attack Jewish babies and decapitate them. 

Now, the Russians are fighting in Donbass in order to maniacally target Russian speakers and kill their babies with machine guns.

It is all about the drums of war. Yes, we are heading towards WWIII. The grandfather and his financial backers have written the script already.

With a delay, but according to the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, the Russian Federation has successfully tested a new cruise missile with an unlimited range (nuclear powered).

t.me/zoka200

via RT

The conflict in Ukraine may lead to World War III because of the “idiots”occupying leading roles in the West, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has warned.

“The number of high-ranking morons is rising in NATO member states,” he wrote on Telegram on Sunday. Medvedev, who currently serves as the deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, was responding to statements from London and Berlin the previous day.

The former president labeled the UK’s newly appointed Defense Secretary Grant Shapps a “freshly minted cretin” over his idea of sending British military instructors to Ukraine to train local troops for the conflict with Russia.

If this happens, the UK servicemen would become a “legitimate target” for Russian forces, Medvedev warned.

Shapps has proposed deploying instructors to Ukraine, “knowing fully well that they’ll be mercilessly destroyed, and no longer as mercenaries, but precisely as British NATO specialists,” the Russian official wrote.

Medvedev also described the head of the German parliament’s defense committee, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, as “another fool” after she urged Berlin to supply long-range Taurus cruise missiles to Kiev. She also claimed that Ukrainian attacks on targets inside Russia using those German-made munitions would be in full compliance with international law.

“In this case, the [Russian] strikes on German factories where those missiles are being made would also be in full compliance with international law,” he said.

“Still, those idiots are actively pushing us towards World War III,” the former president concluded.

In a previous post on Saturday, Medvedev insisted that Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine would continue until the current regime in Kiev is “destroyed and the historic Russian territories are liberated from the enemy.”

Terrorist attack on the Nord Stream gas pipeline. New details. 1. Biden personally gave the order for the terrorist attack.
2. The order was given rather vaguely. The CIA chose the most minimal interpretation of this terrorist attack because they were afraid that a broad interpretation could lead to world war.
3. The purpose of the terrorist attack was not related to Ukraine.
4. The purpose of the terrorist attack was to reduce Russia’s influence on Germany.
5. Biden personally ordered the terrorist attack to the head of the CIA, and the terrorist attack itself was led by the head of the CIA. He was in touch with the direct perpetrators of the terrorist attack in the person of US Navy officers.
6. There is nothing in digital form for the conspiracy of a terrorist attack. All paper trails were burned later.
7. Therefore, nothing can be found from the documents. Only personal interrogation of the terrorist attack participants can provide information.
8. Seymour Hersh published this. This data is passed on to him by CIA employees who risk their lives because they really don’t like that the US President and his team are obvious criminals and are possibly leading the country into the abyss of a nuclear disaster. 9. Today is the anniversary of the terrorist attack. That’s why the new data.

********************

Meanwhile:

A senior Polish official has dismissed multiple German media reports that a Ukrainian special forces team blew up the Nord Stream pipelines by renting a yacht and sailing across the Baltic Sea. Stanislaw Zaryn, the secretary of state at the Chancellery of the Prime Minister of Poland, described the alleged team of military divers as ‘tourists.’

He was speaking to public broadcaster ARD TV, which, along with Die Zeit, Sueddeutsche Zeitung, and several other outlets, investigated the explosion that damaged the two gas pipelines connecting Russia and Germany last September.

The investigation focused on a yacht name Andromeda, allegedly rented by a team of saboteurs several weeks before the blasts. Several of the team are alleged to be Ukrainian, while the charter fee was paid by a company reportedly owned by a Ukrainian businessman. 

Zaryn said, as quoted by Die Zeit, that Warsaw has “no doubts that there was no explosive material on this boat.”

The official stressed that the Polish authorities believe the trip had a “purely touristic character.” “There was nobody in the group who had anything close to military or sabotage-related training.”

However, according to the journalists, in January 2023, an investigative team found traces of HMX on the boat – the same explosive found at the attack sites.

The reporters also claimed that the first rumors of the planned sabotage were picked up by a Dutch intelligence officer who informed his superiors that a commando unit of six people acting under the guise of scuba divers was set to blow up the pipeline.

The officer’s source allegedly claimed that while Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky knew nothing of the upcoming attack, the unit was reporting to Valery Zaluzhny, the commander of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Information about the attack is said to have been shared with the CIA. It was said to be planned for June 19, but it did not happen on this date.

While the investigation by the media conglomerate indicates a Ukrainian role in the sabotage, American journalist Seymour Hersh has blamed the attack on the US, which he said wanted to force Germany to take a hard stance on Russia amid the Ukraine conflict. Moscow officials have also repeatedly blamed the West for the explosion.

via RT

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has claimed that the world is transitioning to a new diplomatic order in which Washington must lead the way in overcoming increasing threats from Russia and China by working with its allies to build trust among nations for whom the old system failed.

“One era is ending, a new one is beginning, and the decisions that we make now will shape the future for decades to come,” Blinken said on Wednesday in a speech at John Hopkins University in Washington. He said the “post-Cold War order” ended as “decades of relative geopolitical stability have given way to an intensifying competition with authoritarian powers.”

Namely, those powers are led by Russia and China, Blinken said, adding that “Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine is the most immediate, the most acute threat to the international order.” China poses the biggest long-term challenge, he claimed, because it aspires to reshape the international order and is developing the economic, diplomatic, military and technological power to do so.

“Beijing and Moscow are working together to make the world safe for autocracy through their ‘no limits’ partnership,” Blinken argued. He claimed that Russia and China have framed the existing order as a “Western imposition,” but that system is anchored in universal values and enshrined in international law. Ironically, he also accused the two rivals of believing that big countries can “dictate their choices to others,” a charge that is increasingly made against Washington.

“When the Beijings and Moscows of the world try to rewrite – or rip down – the pillars of the multilateral system, when they falsely claim that the order exists merely to advance the interests of the West at the expense of the rest, a growing global chorus of nations and people will stand up to say, ‘No, the system you are trying to change is our system. It serves our interests,’” Blinken claimed.

Blinken suggested that the US will lead “from a position of strength” largely because of its “humility.” He added, “We know we will have to earn the trust of a number of countries and citizens for whom the old order failed to deliver on many of its promises.”

Alliances will be key to Washington’s success, Blinken said. He claimed that just a few years after the capabilities and relevance of NATO were openly questioned, the Western military block has become “bigger, stronger, more united than ever.”

The Russia-Ukraine conflict proved that “an attack on the international order anywhere will hurt people everywhere,” Blinken said. He added that the US aims to ensure that Ukraine defeats Russia and emerges from the conflict as a “vibrant and prosperous democracy.”

by Ilya Tsukanov via Sputnik Globe

Russia last proved its penchant for innovation in breakthrough weapons designs in 2018, unveiling a series of cutting-edge strategic systems. Fast-forward five years, and the Russian president has again mentioned work on mysterious new arms based on “new physical principles.” Sputnik turned to top Russian and US military experts for comment.

Russia’s defense sector is working on state-of-the-art weapons based on “new physical principles,” President Vladimir Putin has revealed.

“If one looks into the security sphere, weapons based on new physical principles will ensure the security of any country in the near historical perspective. We understand this very well and are working on it,” Putin said in a wide-ranging speech at the Eastern Economic Forum on Tuesday.

Putin did not elaborate, leaving media and military observers scrambling in a search for more information.

The Russian Defense Ministry’s official online encyclopedia defines“weapons based on new physical principles” as “new types of arms whose destructive effect is based on processes and phenomena which have not previously been used for military purposes.”

As of the early 21st century, these weapons are said to include:

• Directed energy weapons (laser, accelerator, microwave and infrasonic-based arms designed to destroy or disable enemy manpower, equipment, or hardened facilities and infrastructure). “All types of directed energy weapons are practically inertia-free, and with the exception of infrasonic weapons, are instantaneous […] The greatest successes” in this direction “have been achieved in improving laser weapons,” according to the MoD.
• Electromagnetic weapons (ultra-high frequency and laser-based), whose destructive properties are achieved through the use of a “powerful, usually pulsed stream of electromagnetic coherent optical radiation [featured in some types of lasers, ed.], or incoherent optical radiation.”
• Non-lethal weapons, designed to disable weapons, equipment, materiel, and personnel without inflicting irreparable losses on the latter. The Russian military divides these into anti-personnel, anti-equipment/materiel, and combined anti-personnel/anti-equipment/anti-materiel systems. These include various weapons designed to replace existing tools used by domestic security services, such as teargas, rubber bullets, psychotropic devices, infrasonic weapons, and electronic suppression, as well as military-grade biological and chemical agents which can decompose or otherwise render useless fuels, insulation and rubber products, and ultra-high frequency systems meant to disable radio-electronic components of enemy weapons and equipment.
• Geophysical weapons (seismic, climate, ozone, environmental), collectively defined by the MoD as “means to deliberately influence the environment to use the forces of nature for military purposes.” These hypothetical weapons are designed to act against the solid, liquid, and gaseous properties of the planet and its atmosphere, and can include using powerful explosives to cause earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, flooding, and other catastrophes, as well as altering the weather or climate in certain parts of the planet, resulting in droughts, floods, storms, etc. Ozone weapons are designed to create holes in the ozone layer, causing widespread damage using ultraviolet radiation from space across vast geographic areas. Finally, environmental weapons are categorized as those designed to target forests, crops, water, air, or soil resources, possibly through the use of chemical or biological agents.
• Radiological weapons include arms whose destructive effect “is based on the use of radioactive substances capable of poisoning manpower with ionizing radiation without a nuclear explosion,” with radiation-spewing materials obtained from the leftovers of nuclear fuel, or by exposing chemical elements to neutron fluxes to produce radioactive isotopes. These arms can be fitted inside shells, air-droppable bombs, missile warheads, and other conventional munitions, and are designed to contaminate the environment for tens if not hundreds of years.
• Finally, genetic weapons are defined as “a type of weapon capable of damaging the genetic (hereditary) apparatus of human beings,” including through the use of viruses with mutagenic properties, as well as “mutations derived from natural sources by chemical synthesis or biotechnological methods, to cause damage or changes to DNA. This type of prospective weaponry is considered particularly dangerous in light of “the unpredictability of the consequences” of their use, in the Russian military’s estimation.

US Working on ‘Universal’ Genetically Engineered Bioweapon: Russian Parliamentary Investigation

What Types of Weapons Based on New Physical Principles is Russia Working on?

Russia’s military, the state, and military-affiliated research institutes have been mostly tight-lipped about the types of weapons based on new physical principles the country is developing, but have nevertheless dropped hints about their priorities and concerns.

For example, as a party to the Biological Weapons Convention, Russia has set a blanket ban on the creation of genetic weapons. At the same time, the Russian military has revealed in great detail the extent of illegal US research in this direction at biolabs in Ukraine and other countries around the world under the guise of anti-pandemic preparation and other civilian research.

As the possessor of the world’s largest nuclear arsenal, Moscow has also eschewed the creation of radiological weapons, or “dirty bombs,” citing the danger of their development and possible use by terrorists or enemy powers, including for false flag attacks against Russia.

Veteran Russian military observer Viktor Murakhovsky told Sputnik that President Putin’s comments on weapons based on “new physical principles” are most likely a reference to lasers and other high-energy physics-based weapons.

As in the field of hypersonic missiles, in which Russia got a head start thanks to a solid foundation of research going back to at least the 1970s, Russia’s modern research in laser weaponry also dates back to fundamental studies carried out by brilliant 20th century scientists, Murakhovsky said, pointing to the Nobel Prize-winning work of physicists including Alexander Prokhorov and Anatoly Vlasov.

“We have been working on laser weapons for quite a long time, since the 1970s,” the observer said. “Today, Sergey Grigorievich Garanin has been appointed general designer of laser systems. He’s working at the All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Experimental Physics, and currently leading the development of two projects, including a laser complex, and a whole complex of systems designed to ensure [national] security.”

In 2016, Murakovsky recalled, then Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev got a demonstration of an anti-drone laser weapon at the Institute of Laser Physics, after which the state gave the go-ahead on the technology’s speedy introduction into the military.

“Amongst other things, the Peresvet laser installation was created, designed to blind enemy spy satellites in areas where our mobile ballistic missiles are located…A second laser-based system was designed to destroy small drones. Today, elsewhere in the world, including in the US and China, laser systems like Astra Gemini are being used intensively on some ships. But so far we have not seen any clear demonstration of such systems,” Murakhovsky said.

WATCH Russian ‘Peresvet’ Combat Laser System Getting Battle Ready

At present, Murakhovsky believes, the NATO-proxy war against Russia in Ukraine makes anti-drone lasers the most urgently-needed kind of weapon based on new physical principles. Here, he said, a number of teething issues, including lasers’ performance in fog, rain and cloud cover, and the tremendous amount of power they require to operate, have prevented their widespread adoption and deployment.

“The advantage of laser weapons is clear: they instantly destroy their target. But the disadvantages, especially in field applications, are very great. It’s necessary, in effect, to build a separate electrical generator for ground-based systems…So the president was talking about upcoming developments. We will watch, and the entire Western world will also be watching,” the expert summed up.

US’ Aggressive Posture as Primary Motivator

Asked about the factors pushing Russia’s work on fundamentally new kinds of armaments, retired US Air Force ieutenant colonel and former Pentagon analyst-turned whistleblower Karen Kwiatkowski told Sputnik that the US and NATO’s “containment” doctrine, used “to justify its defense spending and maintenance of dollar dominance in the world for a good 40 years after this concept had become hollow and meaningless,” is most directly responsible.

“American military expansion, and more specifically, the US government’s struggle to maintain dollar dominance and global energy control, has caused the rest of the world to think defensively, develop both military and economic strategies to counter US force and hegemony,” Kwiatkowski said.

It’s a dialectical process, in the observer’s view.

“When the US brings its Air Force, Army and Navy close to a country’s shores, and when it targets all parts of a country geographically, as in Asia, Russia, and the Mideast, those countries react accordingly. Those that are economically or politically weaker and non-nuclear choose terrorism and sometimes, compliance; those that are mid-sized will group together with others; and the largest countries, and those with the most to lose, plan strategically to counter the known threat,” Kwiatkowski said.

“The US military does not and is not capable of defending the United States proper, nor can it well defend its many bases around the world…American politicians confuse offense and hegemony with defense, and this vulnerability has shaped the defensive and offensive actions of [areas] of the world that the US considers its enemies and threats,” the observer added.

Ultimately, Kwiatkowski believes that the countries that will set the trend in the creation of new advanced defense systems of the future will be those that will be “open to all kinds of technology” are willing “to design new weapons and improve on the old,” and which have “a well-educated and scientifically-minded country.”

via https://t.me/Slavyangrad edited by Algora

Some or many won’t agree with my assessment, but I do believe that it is worth contemplating.

We are using the phrase “to the last Ukrainian” too often (and I wrote about that earlier). To emphasize and make an argument stronger, we always combine that with talk about their nonstop mobilization and now, also, with mobilizing those who are unfit for military service. If it’s followed by a video of the forceful recruiting methods, even better. For us. However, we tend to forget one crucial thing. In Artemovsk, many of those who fought for the AFU were territorial defense units, with little or no training. They were sent, along with better-trained and equipped troops, to try to hold the city. As a logical conclusion of their participation, they were mostly wiped out, or rendered ineffective due to the terrible losses sustained. No one contests that fact, because it’s true and well-known. Wagner did a good job. But you will remember that many are territorial defense units. Right? Let’s go forward. Only a few months later, the AFU attacked with heavy force in Zaporozhye, and recently in Donetsk. They still hold Marinka, Avdeevka, and Ugledar, and are only slowly retreating in the Kupiansk direction.

Those attacking in Zaporozhye & Donetsk are Western and domestically-trained troops, heavily armed, in significant amounts with Western weapons. I don’t want to reinvent the wheel and claim something, but Artemovsk was a delaying action, and was paid for dearly by the AFU. Ukraine’s high command decided to buy time with the blood (to be honest, they couldn’t do it any other way) but sent those with lower combat value to save troops for the main attack. Now, after all this time, the main attack wasn’t decisive or lethal, as some feared. They’re not idiots in the UA HQ. They are trained in the same schools as Russian generals. If you believe the opposite, you are wrong. They tried a type of blitzkrieg attack, probably under the influence of NATO generals, which proved futile. However, they are still attacking. A logical question arises. Why are they attacking? Is it time to call it off?

Often the response is, 1) They can’t do it, NATO doesn’t allow it; 2) It’s for PR purposes. I will offer answer no. 3), which you may agree or disagree with. Offense is the best defense.

While the grouping currently fighting is being spent, (at this point, already over 80.000 KIA/WIA/MIA), UA is doing the same thing that the Artemovsk group did – meaning: forming, training, and equipping another main battle group, and at the same time creating, again, a secondary group which will consist of defense units. The job of the latter will be to take and try to absorb the Russian counter-strike as much as possible without the need to sacrifice too much of the main strike group, in terms of men and equipment. The idea is similar to ours, to allow the enemy to attack, slow him down, wear him out as much as possible and when the time is right, strike again with a newly-created main group. Then repeat if necessary. You see, thecUA complains about men, but maybe not because of what we are thinking of.

Recruitment centers were under pressure to fulfill quotas. Being corrupt, they let many off. Kiev and bigger cities are full of military-capable men. The problem is the inefficiency of recruiters. All those who are fit will go to better training to create a new main group. All those unfit, young, old, women (maybe), who are intended to contain the Russian attack, will get minimal training. They don’t need anything better, just to know how to shoot, because they will be sitting in the trenches and fortifications, waiting for the Russian army to flush them out, but at the same time waiting for Russians to wear themselves down in the process. Everything that we have seen so far, from the beginning of the SMO and onwards, leads us to think that such development is not only possible but has already been used on several occasions. Such an approach is paid for dearly in terms of human lives and it’s not honorable, but those who fight with honor obviously don’t wage war.

In fact, we can find similar examples in the old Soviet manuals and teachings, some directly from the battlefield of WW2 against the Germans, where some low quality divisions were put out there first, to try to weaken the Germans, thus allowing more worthy Soviet troops to capitalize on a weakened enemy. Both sides know that.

Regarding weapons lost, losses in hardware have been considerable for the UA, but they have plenty. Keep in mind that weapons are flowing non-stop. The news that the USA was sending 190 MRAPS a few days ago passed almost unnoticed. There are many such cases. So, no, Ukraine will not run out of weapons anytime soon.

Personally, I believe that the path to victory in this conflict, chosen by Moscow, is to break the possibility of UA waging war for generations to come. Degradation, exhaustion, breaking their will, and utter defeat, a kind of war of attrition, but on a much grander scale is the accepted solution. Similar recommendations are written in Soviet strategic doctrine. That means that the war will not end anytime soon.

After that, there won’t be any Ukraine anymore.

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Comment by M S:

I believe that the approach you are describing is exactly correct…. with one significant difference – what you call territorial defence, or old and feeble are nothing but Russian speakers! And what you call “trained” and/or strong soldiers are the “Real Ukrainians” if you get my drift (Banderites, if you really know what’s going on).

And if you ask me how is that possible? There is a simple answer – Ukraine is running 2 books (surprise) one for the nationalists and the other marked as ‘the rest – gender, age, health or skill is irrelevant.

Now if you accept the above premise then it is very easy to also understand why the general staff of UA would use the tactics they have …. both in Bachmut and now down in Zaporhozie ….. which is all skilled and well equipped units are used only in the event of high impact and high success operations…. whether they succeed or not after each operation they are rotated out and replaced with the so called “territorial units” … or Russian speakers cannon fodder.

This is also why the saying “to the last Ukrainian” has not alarmed Kiev at the slightest – neither Nuland nor Blinken ‘blinked’ about any of this – and for precisely above stated reason. This is their genocide agenda taken officially to another level.

It also explains why they doggedly deny that UA has too many casualties – they only count as Ukrainian losses those from the first list. Also they are more than happy to assign the second group as really a RF losses …. I know it’s ridiculous but again if you accept the above segregation of the forces it makes a perfect sense.

The total blackout of reporting other than official Kiev assigned sources and making publishing of any media criminal serves one purpose – to contain and scatter any documentation, evidence or even a tell sign that this is going on …. that is genocide at the fastest possible rate (if they don’t want to use gas chambers like the German nazis did) It is also very effective defence against RF army because they know that most of the trenches are manned by those who they [the Rusdians] really don’t want to kill!

I’ve watched this conflict daily from the day 1, from many sources and checked the background of it in detail also. So my statement here as much as you can call a speculation has a deep understanding behind it. Also I come from what you call the Eastern block and thoroughly understand how or why Banderites would generate 2 lists and create 2 layers of population – those who they are keen to preserve and the rest…. I’ve seen that attitude and as revolting as it is, Nuland and Blinken know whose blood is being spilled on the front line (mostly) ….. If RF ever wants to attain the SMO goals they will have to literally sweep clean the Ukrainian step to Lvov…. and even then they will face “the government abroad” claiming to be the real Ukraine same as Taiwan keeps insisting that it is the real China …. in both cases a ghost supported by US of A through smorgasbord of phony “international” fully subordinated organizations.

That’s the main reason I think Russia is not pushing to fasttrack the end of the conflict even though they currently already could. The aspect of building up a strong enough section of Global South which can economically and politically sustain viable opposition to the neocolonial western block – this aspect is as important as the millitary conflict with proxy Nato puppet in Kiev.

Anyone doubting that this is the case should examine at what point was Russia willing to start the open millitary confrontation with the west …. my answer would be – only when Putin knew that Russia has achieved strategic superiority to the West through the functional implementation of hypersonic capability into their nuclear doctrine. The West of course will deny this until blue in the face, but the fact that no nuclear weapon has been used as yet is screeming laud enough to those in the know (if you remember the ‘lettuce lady’ prime minister who didn’t last even 11 days is on record yielling ‘I’ll push the button, just give it to me’ – that was no joke she said that) Since then Pentagon has been happy to empty all armouries of EU so MIC an get decades worth of contracts to rearm, but they also clamped down on any early calls for going nuclear, which there were plenty to start with – a sign that West has had that plan on the table for a very long time …. bullying is one of the critical traits of any top political players in the west!

Yes there was plenty of ‘hope’/wishfull thinking that RF will break down from the applied pressure so going nuclear would never come to play….. but if anyone thinks that these people are just making stupid statements and don’t follow a predetermined game-plan they are grossly mistaken. Of course as time goes by plan A turns to plan B & also whatever was prepared ahead must be adapted …. accepting that Russian nuclear doctrine has gotten well ahead of US means that as much as Russia needs time to build a new political block called Global South to sustain it’s future existence, the West needs time to re-arm and more importantly figure out how to get on equal footing in the nuclear doctrine as well.

Considering they are hopelessly behind in the hypersonic space it will have to come from an asymmetrical approach – all that takes time and for time they will play! If it takes 100 false flags in Ukraine, new international crisis or anything else below the belt they will go for it – the entire western system has been built to run on the platform of creating uncontested supremacy by any means necessary – that is a doctrine which the rest of the world hates, protests against but so far can’t do nothing about!