“Ukraine – Russia”

Recent reports from major U.S. outlets have presented a startling departure from the customary narrative surrounding the war in Ukraine.

It is becoming clear that the only war the U.S. has been winning has been the information war surrounding the conflict. With the report from the RAND Corporation last month, who have been advising the Pentagon since 1948, comes the news that the ground war is lost and that no return of Ukrainian lands is likely.

The report, titled “Avoiding a Long War,” glosses over the complicated history of Ukraine and makes no mention of the many interventions and diplomatic failures directed by the US and its NATO allies, which I detailed in a long four part series here.

Instead, it focuses on the need to avoid a protracted conflict – chiefly to free up the U.S. military to concentrate on the next big war with China.

We’ll see. The war on corruption likely indicates Z was read the riot act.

The US says additional military aid to Ukraine worth $2.2bn (£1.83bn) will include long-range missiles capable of doubling its attack range.

It brings the total amount of military aid given to Ukraine to more than $29.3bn (£24.31bn) since February 2022.

The package includes ground-launched small-diameter bombs (GLSDB) which can hit targets 150km (93 miles) away.

But officials refused to be drawn on speculation that the munitions could be used to attack parts of annexed Crimea.

The first task is to wipe off or cover up the Z, says Anatoly, 44, of the call sign infamously daubed on Russian hardware involved in the war in Ukraine. “We don’t want friendly fire later on.” Then the mechanics get to work.

In a secret location in Ukraine, within a vast warehouse that could be mistaken for a tank graveyard, what was once Russian – Soviet, in many cases – is being turned Ukrainian.

All the headlines have recently been made by the decision of Germany and a host of others to supply Ukraine with western heavy armour: Leopard 2s, Challengers and Abrams.

Germany has approved the export of older Leopard 1 battle tanks, which would add to the raft of fighting vehicles Berlin promised last week it would send to Ukraine.

A spokesperson said on Friday that Olaf Scholz’s government had granted an export licence for the German-made tanks first produced in the 1960s and replaced within Germany’s own military by Leopard 2 tanks in 2003. Further details would be provided in the coming days and weeks, they said.

#Ukraine: The second ever destruction (in as many days) of the extremely rare Russian 9A331MDT Tor-M2DT air defense system, intended for use in the Arctic.

It was again destroyed using M982 Excalibur guided projectiles in #Kherson Oblast. pic.twitter.com/8FrubQC64K

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) February 3, 2023

In early October 2021 President Joe Biden, the CIA director William Burns and other top members of the US’s national security team gathered in the Oval Office to hear a disturbing briefing from US military chief General Mark Milley. ‘Extraordinary detailed’ intelligence gathered by western spy agencies suggested that Vladimir Putin might be planning to invade Ukraine. According to briefing notes that Milley shared with the Washington Post, the first and most fundamental problem facing Biden was how to ‘underwrite and enforce the rules-based international order’ against a country with extraordinary nuclear capability ‘without going to World War 3’. Milley offered four possible answers: ‘No. 1: Don’t have a kinetic conflict between the US military or Nato with Russia. No. 2: Contain war inside the geographical boundaries of Ukraine. No. 3: Strengthen and maintain Nato unity. No. 4: Empower Ukraine and give them the means to fight.’

It was Christmas Eve, and the Alberta-born sniper was sitting alone in an abandoned apartment on the fifth floor of a building in the battle-ravaged eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. His .50-calibre rifle was leaning across an ironing board and a desk, pointed out a blown-out window toward the Russian front line.

#Ukraine: The first confirmed destruction of an esoteric Russian air defense system- the 9A331MDT Tor-M2DT, intended for use in Arctic environments.

The SAM system was destroyed by the 406th Artillery Brigade along with a DT-30 carrier using M982 Excalibur guided projectiles. pic.twitter.com/JYItQ4yHBl

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) February 1, 2023

Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s crackdown on corruption has continued as the woman leading the Kyiv tax authority was accused of massive fraud after a raid of one of her four homes, and a series of national officials were forced from office.

The residence of the businessman Igor Kolomoisky, a former political ally of Ukraine’s president, was also raided as part of an investigation into the suspected evasion of customs duties linked to the Ukrainian oil producer Ukrnafta and refiner Ukrtatnafta.

The media empire owned by Kolomoisky, who is already under US sanctions for his alleged involvement in “significant corruption”, helped popularise Zelenskiy as an entertainer and then supported his political career. Kolomoisky has denied any wrongdoing.

ALONG THE SOUTHERN DNIEPER RIVER, Ukraine — Only the water keeps them apart.

Russian soldiers — pushed into retreat by a counteroffensive late last year — control the east bank of the mighty Dnieper River. Ukrainians control the west.

As Ukraine awaits new tanks from the United States and Europe, and fighting rages over strategic towns in the east, a war of attrition is underway in this southern battleground. The river limits territorial advances, permitting — for now at least — only destruction from a distance.

#Ukraine: The Ukrainian 110th Mechanized Brigade destroyed three BMP IFV and at least one other armoured vehicle of the Russian Army in the vicinity of Avdiivka, #Donetsk Oblast. pic.twitter.com/qGsNDM9bFG

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) January 28, 2023

Germany has decided to supply battle tanks to Ukraine. International law experts are now debating whether this makes Germany a party to the conflict with Russia.

After German Chancellor Olaf Scholz decided to send Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine last week following a long hesitation, the response from the Russian government was swift.

“Everything the alliance and the capitals of Europe and the United States do is perceived in Moscow as direct involvement in the conflict,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday, according to a report by the Russian news agency Interfax.

That’s exactly what Scholz has been trying to avoid: triggering an accusation from Moscow that Germany is now also a direct party to the war in Ukraine. Speaking with public broadcaster ZDF on Wednesday, he rejected any interpretation that Germany is directly involved in a war with Russia. “No, absolutely not!” he said. “There must be no war between Russia and NATO.”