Geopolitical situation
Western arms are pouring into Ukraine, and Kyiv promises that a powerful counter-offensive is imminent. At the moment, there is a relative ominous calm on the battlefields of war.
Moscow's promised winter offensive never materialised, even though the Diaspora mobilised hundreds of thousands of untrained troops with the intention of seizing the whole of the Donbass. The morale of Russian troops is said to be extremely low at present. The Drisks lack ammunition and food. However, it is acknowledged that a triumphant victory is now required from Ukraine in order to ensure the continued supply of Western military and financial aid. Western public support for the Ukrainian cause is said to be waning.
This general information psychosis in the world and in Lithuania, in anticipation of a general crushing of Russia, is very dangerous. Victory in war is not a steak or a three-pointer in a basketball final with the siren blaring. It is a long work, from planning to the mangled corpses of soldiers in the artillery-milled undergrowth. It is the pus, the pain, the loss, the economic downturn, the disruption of hot water supplies in cities, the inconvenience of travelling due to cancelled flights. It is the uninterrupted supply of tanks, ammunition, fighter jets, ballistic missiles. It is technological warfare, cyber intrusions, information operations and deception.
It is warriors on the ground. Lots of well-trained soldiers on the ground who know what to do. Motivation is good, but it is not enough.
Therefore, we will repeat again what we said at the beginning of the invasion - Ukraine is not capable of crushing Russia without direct Western intervention and involvement in the war. The Ukrainian army will not march through Donetsk to Moscow and invite us all to a victory parade in St Petersburg with black and red flags flying on Nevsky Avenue.
But the Ukrainian army can strike a devastating blow to the Horde in a 10-20 kilometre stretch, breaking down Russian defences and disrupting the front line. Further success depends on the level of panic among the Drisks and the ability of the Ukrainians to occupy and control the retaken territories and organise supplies. We must realise that there will not be a panicked and sudden flight of all the occupiers from all the occupied territories of Ukraine. Let us not forget that Moscow is preparing for this through a new mobilisation.
Andriy Melnyk, Ukraine's Deputy Foreign Minister, has stated that Ukraine must immediately receive 10 times more military aid than it has received so far from its allies, so that the war can be brought to an end this year.
There is nothing more to add here. Ukraine needs not 250, but 2 500 Leopards, with appropriate air and ground support. Then we would say that victory is really close. However, Ukraine needs all the Leopards in Europe for this purpose. Those tanks still need to be operated and equipped and repaired by someone.
Ukraine will only join NATO within internationally recognised limits, said Yevhen Perebiny, Ukraine's Deputy Foreign Minister. "Ukraine cannot join anywhere piecemeal. Ukraine is a state that has certain internationally recognised borders and, of course, we will join these or other organisations within the internationally recognised borders", the politician said.
Perebiny noted that Ukraine has emerged from the NATO Membership Roadmap phase and is ready for it, perhaps more so than some Member States.
Yes and no. Has Ukraine proved that it is capable of containing one of NATO's greatest enemies, Russia? Yes. Does Ukraine control its borders? No. By respecting the existing borders, not the future borders to which the US is currently referring between the lines, accession to NATO could take more than 10 years.
Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikoff reported that the results of Ramstein-11 suggest that Russia is approaching Nuremberg II. Each meeting of this format not only provides more useful "gifts" to the Ukrainian army, but also seeks to bring the perpetrators to justice," Reznikoff said.
Russia is expelling more than 20 German diplomats, according to the foreign ministry of the terrorist country. Moscow's decision is a reaction to the German authorities' decision to send home dozens of Russian diplomatic staff in Germany.
Neither are they diplomats or anything. They are mere SVR agents. Lagamin - train - Moscow.
Significant impulses
Fierce battles for Bakhmut are underway. The main battles are over the "lifeline" 0504. The Ukrainians are reported to be successfully counter-attacking in some positions.
According to the US Institute for the Study of War, the Russians control about 87.9% of the city's ruins.
Briefly
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signs a law condemning and banning the propaganda of Russia's imperial policy in Ukraine and the decolonisation of the country's toponymy.
The law criminalises and condemns Russia's imperial policy and prohibits propaganda of this policy and its symbols. The law will come into force three months after its promulgation, after which local authorities and military administrations will have six months to free public space from symbols of the Russian world: dismantling monuments and memorials, renaming streets and other objects. Settlements with names that promote Russia's imperial policy, its figures or propagandists will also have to be renamed.
A very cool and correct decision. Ukraine is 'warning' Lithuania on this issue and is embarking on the derusification and desovietisation of its public spaces. In our country, however, there are still thousands of Soviet place names, streets and museums that have been left behind by the occupiers, carrying the burden of occupation. There is still a street in Lithuania named after the NKVD executioner Kazis Macevičius.
This shows that our country, our thinking, is still not free. Instead of systemic desovietisation, politicians are putting on a show in front of individual Soviet boulders. Some of them are continuing the best Bolshevik traditions, but the worst traditions of free Lithuanian self-government. Before their feet could warm up, the elected started handing out posts to friends and relatives and privileges to themselves. From afar, we hear the chatter of public procurement.
A photograph of a wounded pregnant woman, Iryna Kalinina, being carried out of a maternity home in Mariupol during shelling won the World Press Photo of the Year award.
The baby died a few days after the photo was taken. Photo by Evgeniy Maloletka. A spectacular image from the Mariupol siege was unanimously chosen as the winner of the World Press Photo of the Year. As the voting took place on the first anniversary of the start of the war in Ukraine, the jury cited the power of the photo and the story behind it, as well as the atrocities it shows.
Before the war is over, with hundreds of women, girls and boys dying every day without being photographed, and therefore ineffectually, the world still thinks itself safe and looks at the war through the spectacles of an ordinary show.
Lithuania
Lithuania's electricity transmission system successfully completed an isolated operation test yesterday, with the system operating fully autonomously for the first time.
"Litgrid carried out an isolated operation test to disconnect the Lithuanian electricity grid from the Russian-controlled electricity grid system, known as BRELL. Electricity was supplied to consumers by Lithuanian power plants, as well as by direct current interconnectors with Poland and Sweden. For the first time in the history of an independent country, the balance and frequency of the electricity system was managed solely by the dispatchers of Litgrid in independent Lithuania.
The system operated smoothly. Congratulations on another victory for independent Lithuania.
In the photo, soldiers of the Azov Brigade are training in Close Quarter Battle (CQB).
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