ADDITIONAL US MILITARY EQUIPMENT - TO LAUNCH THE OFFENSIVE (01.04.2023)
Political strategic level
Following Turkey's ratification of Finland's request, the Nordic country has become in effect the 31st member of the Western military alliance. The addition of Finland, which shares a 1,340 km long border with Russia, will more than double the length of NATO's border with Russia. However, there are still a number of steps and procedures to be followed before Finland becomes a full-fledged NATO member.
Turkey (and Hungary, which was the penultimate country to ratify Finland's application) now have to send letters of approval to the United States. They are NATO's depositary (i.e. custodian of agreements) under the 1949 Treaty establishing the Alliance. The letters will be kept in the archives of the US State Department, which will notify NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg that the conditions for Finland's invitation to become a member have been met.
NATO will then send a letter signed by Mr Stoltenberg inviting Finland to join the military alliance. In the meantime, Finland will send its reply, the decision document on accession signed by Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto, to the US State Department. Finnish President Sauli Niinistö has authorised Mr Haavisto to sign the document. The document will be delivered by the Finnish Embassy in Washington or by a Finnish government official.
Legally, when Finland's reply reaches the State Department in Washington, the country will officially become a NATO member. In practice, Finland will receive congratulations and NATO leaders will shake hands and see the grimaces of concern on the faces of the Kremlin's war criminals when they arrive in Vilnius on 11 and 12 July.
Sweden may have to wait for this celebration. This depends largely on the elections in May in Turkey, where a progressive segment of society is planning to overthrow the regime of dictator Erdogan. The progressive, most advanced part of society, as you understand, is not the majority. But we and the Swedes are keeping our fingers crossed.
David Beasley, head of the Nobel Prize-winning UN World Food Programme, has warned that if the millions of hungry people in the world do not receive billions of dollars for food, in the next 12 to 18 months the world will see mass migrations, destabilised countries, and starving children and adults. He praised the increase in funding from the United States and Germany last year and called on China, the Gulf States, billionaires and other countries to "step up significantly".
Next week, the head of the world's largest humanitarian organisation will hand over the helm to US Ambassador Cindy McCain. She will face a huge challenge as the programme looks set to raise less than half of the $23 billion needed to help millions of needy people. "At this point, frankly, I will be surprised if we get 40% of that", said the outgoing head of the UN WFP.
Food, like energy, is a weapon in the hands of terrorist countries such as Russia.
On Friday, the UN is engaged in a battle of words over Moscow's plans to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. Ukraine has condemned the move as a desperate attempt by the Kremlin to avoid a military defeat and to "threaten the world with a nuclear apocalypse". China, without naming Russia, has made clear its opposition to the planned deployment.
"We call for the abrogation of nuclear sharing agreements and advocate that all nuclear-weapon states should not deploy nuclear weapons abroad and should withdraw nuclear weapons deployed abroad," said Chinese spokesman Geng Shuang.
Vasily Nebenzia, Russia's ambassador to the UN under terrorist control, said Moscow was not handing over nuclear weapons but "operational tactical missile complexes" under Russian control. The pig-eyed war criminal spokesman insisted that this did not violate Moscow's international obligations.
Meanwhile, Moscow's stooge impostor, Belarusian President Lukashenko, has stated that Russian strategic nuclear weapons could be deployed in Belarus along with part of Russia's tactical nuclear arsenal.
Russia is openly mocking the civilised world, and its blackmail and intimidation have long since crossed all boundaries. China, too, seems to be turning away after such circuses. To make it easier for the Communist Party bosses in Beijing to do so, representatives of the EU countries are on its doorstep.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, on a visit to China yesterday, called on the dictator Xi Jinping to talk to the Ukrainian leadership and find out first-hand about the Kyiv peace formula, which Spain supports.
And French President Emmanuel Macron, who has thrown his phone in the corner, will also go to China next week to try to convince Xi that now is the time for China to put an end to Putin's madness.
We would like to see him succeed, but given the chaos Macron has created in pushing through pension reform in his country, it is hardly realistic to expect a major breakthrough. We have to put it bluntly. The French leader looks increasingly lost, making mistakes not only at home but also in foreign diplomacy. His decision to cancel the state visit of Britain's King Charles is not just a little pin in the trousers, but a whole lot of open defiance of a monarch and the institution of monarchy that is held in the highest esteem on every continent.
A mistake that could cost far more than the bill for telephone calls to the Kremlin.
Operational level
A new $2.6 billion US military aid package is expected to be announced as early as Monday, and could include air surveillance radars, anti-tank missiles and fuel trucks for Ukraine's fight against Russia, three US officials said Friday.
The list of equipment, which could be finalised this weekend, will also include tank ammunition, high-precision aerial munitions and bridgehead equipment that Ukraine would use to attack Russian positions, vehicles to pull damaged heavy armoured vehicles off the battlefield, and additional NASAMS missiles for air defence, which the United States and its allies have previously handed over to Kyiv.
The day of reckoning for the invaders is drawing ever closer.
The International Monetary Fund has announced that its Executive Board has approved a four-year, $15.6 billion loan to the Kiev government. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has announced a four-year, four-year loan programme for Ukraine, out of a total package of around USD 115 billion. The package, which includes a total of USD 115 million to support the country's economy.
In the face of ever-increasing support for Ukraine, the Kremlin yesterday managed to pretend that the war will continue. "As far as Ukraine is concerned, nothing has changed, the special military operation is continuing, because today it is the only means we have to achieve our goals," said Peskov, who is working with his mouth for the Russian führer. He added that parts of China's proposed plan for peace in Ukraine are currently "not being implemented because of the unwillingness - or rather inability - of the Ukrainian side to defy its leaders and commanders".
For his part, General Mark Milley, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, called Ukraine's intention to expel all occupiers from Ukrainian territory by 2023 "a very difficult military task". "I don't think it will be done any time soon this year", the general predicted.
It is possible that this statement by the General is a deliberate misleading and deception by the occupier.
Oleksiy Hetman, a veteran of the Russian-Ukrainian war and a retired army major, says that the Ukrainian army is likely to launch a counter-offensive in a southerly direction, reach the coast of the Sea of Azov, and "cut off" the Crimea from the Russian mainland already in the near future.
The timing of the offensive and the victory, he predicted, would be in early summer: "it will probably happen when the soil dries out, in late spring or early June".
Tactical level
During the previous day, the enemy launched 5 rocket and 16 air strikes, and 39 salvoes of fire.
31 March. The Russian Federation launched another missile strike against civilian targets using ballistic missiles. The enemy also deployed 6 Shahed-136 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for air strikes. All of them were destroyed.
The likelihood of further missile and air strikes across the territory of Ukraine remains quite high.
Russian marauders are trying to withstand Western artillery fire with their bodies and are attacking in the directions of Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Maryinka. Thanks to the organised and coordinated actions of the Ukrainian Defence Forces units, as well as the personal courage of each defender, 70 enemy attacks were repelled on this front.
The top political leadership of Belarus continues to support Russian aggression, giving the enemy airspace and territory. Territorial units of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation are being trained on Belarusian training grounds. There are no signs of the formation of enemy offensive groups.
The Russian occupiers have continued to storm the town of Bakhmut and are attempting to take full control of it.
The Ukrainians have effectively shelled areas where enemy troops and equipment were concentrated and the occupiers have reinforced their counter-intelligence regime in the Troitsk district of Luhansk region. The local population is being checked and mobile communications have been switched off in some areas.
Cases of use of civilian infrastructure and private property by the occupiers continue to be documented. In the Shchastin district of Luhansk region, people have been evicted from their homes to accommodate Russian occupation troops.
Over the past day, the Ukrainian Air Force has fired 10 times on areas where the occupiers are concentrated. Rocket and artillery units have struck 9 times at enemy concentrations of manpower, weapons and military equipment, a fuel and lubricant depot, 2 anti-aircraft missile systems, an artillery unit in a firing position, and a radio electronic warfare station.
Lithuania
People say that reckless smoking is unfortunately already visible in our country. Last night, it is said that the car of pro-Russian activist Laurynas Ragelskis caught fire, probably because of a dropped cigarette butt.
We categorically disagree with this statement - it is certainly not a dropped cigarette butt.
Look where this capitalist dung called a car is made! "The Chrysler Voyager! Can the Americans make anything that does not spontaneously combust? Our version is confirmed by the fact that the smoke is coming from the engine compartment.
We are just genuinely surprised that Comrade Ragelski has so recklessly chosen the waste of the Yankee industry instead of the reliable Lada-Zhiguli.
Pictured here, Ukrainian soldiers sit in a trench along the front line during fighting with Russian troops near Bakhmut, Sunday, March 26, 2023 (AP Photo/Libkos)
Thank you for supporting us and giving us the opportunity to say what we really think. Special thanks to our sponsors DT Artelė, UAB and the Lithuanian Brewers Guild. Daily Reviews is part of the "Getting to Know Russia" project, supported by the Foundation for the Support of Press, Radio and Television. Would you like to invite us for a discussion or training? Contact: info@visagentura.com
Public Information Security Agency, Account No LT447300010172065624
Comments