Political strategic level
Ukraine's Deputy Foreign Minister Andriy Melnyk was disappointed by Germany's indecision to send/send its Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. The politician says he hopes, however, that other countries will follow the UK's example in supplying Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine. According to Mr Melnyk, the inaction of German politicians has been a great disappointment for the entire Ukrainian nation.
"The German government failed to take this important decision not only to first allow other countries like Poland, Finland, Spain or Greece, which have German tanks, to do the same, but also to reinforce and create this, what we call, 'Global Tank Coalition', which would help the Ukrainian forces to push the Russians out and to launch a counter-offensive that would allow us to liberate the occupied territories," said Melnyk.
"After 331 days of brutal war that Russia is waging against Ukraine, they are still taking stock of their industrial plants to check if they have anything to send to Ukraine! This is ridiculous", the deputy minister told CNN.
German officials have announced that not only will they not send Leopard tanks to Ukraine, but they will not allow any other country that has these German-made tanks to do so. The only exception is the condition that the US sends its M1 Abrams tanks to Kyiv. This behaviour by today's German politicians raises reasonable doubts about possible agreements and the influence of the Kremlin. It is too early to talk about 'secret protocols', but, as they say, they cannot be denied.
And all this trampling on the ground, and the apparent division at the NATO summits, Washington's stonewalling and finger-pointing at Berlin, shows that there is tension and confusion in the minds of Western leaders. It seems that the heads of state and officials in charge did not expect that tanks would be needed in Ukraine at all. So what was the delay? Probably waiting for a coup in the Kremlin, for the Russian army to disperse, for the guns to be turned on the politruks and praporshchiks. After all, this war is illogical, terrible and immoral. It is all that, but it is as seen through the eyes of a Westerner, not through the eyes of a Russian at war. Perhaps some hoped that Kyiv would fall, some waited for negotiations to begin, some thought that the war would be over by the New Year, some speculated that Ukraine would launch a 'counter-offensive' and liberate its territories as early as last spring. However, all these predictions by honourable gentlemen turned out to be worth the coffee grounds or the crow's droppings of an old schoolgirl of the late Wang.
We have to admit that the Kremlin's and the opposition's (!) claims that Putin alone has decided to start a war that no one in the Kremlin wants were a smokescreen that stabbed the West. Not a single optimistic astrological prediction has come true, and the lost men in regalia are now pointing fingers at each other. It seems that only yesterday they began to think that maybe they will have to send those tanks to Ukraine somehow, sometime.
As if to mock his partners, German Chancellor Scholz said yesterday that 'Berlin and Paris will not allow Putin's imperialism to win'. How? With the tongue?
"We face a common challenge. Putin's imperialism will not win. We will not allow Europe to return to the days when violence replaced politics. We will continue to support Ukraine. Together. To defend our European peace project", Scholz said, using words like last year's leaves. For some reason, the Chancellor recalled the Elysée Treaty between France and Germany, signed 60 years ago by Federal Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and President Charles de Gaulle, in which the two countries pledged never to fight but to cooperate.
What is Mr Scholz referring to? With whom does he want to go to war this time or not? By the way, Scholz is already being scrubbed by German politicians. Strack-Zimmermann, Chairwoman of the Defence Committee of the national parliament, has declared that Chancellor Scholz's communication on the issue of the delivery of tanks was a 'disaster'. Kyiv had been waiting and hoping that the new equipment would allow the Ukrainian army to increase its firepower for a possible spring offensive against Russian forces. Now this will not happen.
"History is looking at us, and Germany, unfortunately, has just failed," says Strack-Zimmermann. "It would have been right to at least give a green light to our partners", added the chair of the German parliament's defence committee. Russian President Vladimir Putin would probably laugh at Germany's indecision, she said.
Not only would Putin not laugh, but the day before yesterday he and his men-in-arms popped champagne and toasted "opiat obosralisj".
Roderich Kiesewetter, a foreign affairs expert from Germany's centre-right Christian Democratic Party, said that German foreign policy had been seriously damaged. Mr Kiesewetter said he was speechless that Berlin had only just started an inventory of the Bundeswehr's tanks when the war has been going on for a year. This is "shameful and frightening", Kiesewetter said.
Who is scared, and who is dying defending their own peace and life and that of the drunken, stoned politicians in the west.
German media report that former Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht, before her resignation, banned the military department from conducting an inventory of the German army's Leopard and Leopard 2 tanks.
And after such Ramstein negotiations without the desired results, it is clearer than clear that there will be no attack on Ukraine in the near future. According to sources, senior US military officials present at the talks advised Kyiv to refrain from attacking Russian forces. Putin claps.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged his partners to "speed up" the delivery of weapons and stressed that German Leopard tanks are the most important requirement at the moment. Despite the absence of an agreement, the training of Ukrainian troops in Poland to operate these tanks has not been halted.
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky, stated that the West's "indecision" in sending additional weapons to Ukraine is "killing more and more Ukrainian people". "Every day of delay means the death of Ukrainians", Mykhailo Podolyak wrote on Twitter.
Yesterday, the White House attempted to defuse the all-too-obvious differences between the partners by declaring that there is no "confrontation" in the Western coalition over military assistance to Ukraine. John Kirby, Strategic Liaison Coordinator of the US National Security Council, said that the administration of US President Joe Biden believes it is important that any country that "can support Ukraine in its defence needs does so now". The US official noted that one of the most important needs of the Ukrainian armed forces in the winter and probably in the spring will be armoured vehicles, given the complexity of the fighting in the Donbas.
"We know that Germany is developing its own initiative for Leopard 2 tanks. These are excellent tanks, powerful and do not require long training for Ukrainians. However, this decision has to be taken by Germany. We want countries to give what they can, when they can, in the amount, scale and scope that suits them. It is up to Germany... Over the last few months they have really stepped up their readiness and capability to provide advanced capabilities," Kirby said, patching up cracks and fissures in the allied camp.
Although US President Joe Biden says that Washington will not send weapons that could be used for attacks on Russian territory, it seems that the Kremlin rats are afraid of something. Putin's mouthpiece Peskov said that the supply of such weapons would "take the conflict to a whole new level".
Meanwhile, Joe himself, when asked about support for Ukraine, said that Ukraine would get all the help it needed to confront Russia.
It is good that the slogan " ... until Ukraine wins'. It is about resistance.
The alcoholic Medvedev, in a coma, has dreamt that the new war against Ukraine is to 'repeat the victories of 1812 and 1945'. It will therefore be a "new war of the Fatherland". This was Zhirinovsky's response to the statement by the EU's chief diplomat, Josep Borrell, that 'Russia is a big country, a big nation, used to fighting to the end, to almost losing and to getting back up. It would be absurd to think that Russia has lost the war or that its armed forces are incompetent. So far it is losing, but it still has the enormous strength and capacity to continue. Mr Borrell cited the wars of Napoleon and Hitler as examples.
Mishka's drunken dream will not come true because in 1945 a Russian entered Berlin in an American tank, ran with an American shoe and ate an American can. This time, the Allies do not have too much to eat themselves.
Turkey was angered by Sweden's permission to hold a protest outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm, so Turkey cancelled the visit of the Swedish Defence Minister. "At this point, the visit of Swedish Defence Minister Pal Jonsson to Turkey on 27 January has lost its significance and meaning, and we have cancelled the visit," Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar announced, adding that Sweden had not taken action against the "ugly" anti-Turkish protests on its territory.
I wonder what tribute Ankara will demand from the West this time? It seems that new fighter jets from the US are already scarce. The appetite is growing by the day. Be that as it may, this is worrying for our partners the Swedes, because NATO accession may be delayed further.
The Russian envoy to the UN said that Kyiv had 'gagged' Arestovich for revealing the details of the Dnepropetrovsk tragedy. "This means that as soon as anyone in the West or in Ukraine acknowledges these obvious facts, they are immediately muzzled," said Russia's Permanent Representative to the UN, Vasily Nebenzia.
We support Arestovich and believe that he can say whatever he wants, following fairy tales and/or creating nice bedtime stories for grown-ups on a level playing field. Vassia should not listen to these tales, because Crimea has already been liberated at least 15 times in these tales.
Ukrainian media report that the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence buys food for soldiers at 2-3 times the price of Kyiv supermarkets. The Ministry of Defence has allegedly signed a contract worth more than 13 billion hryvnias with Aktiv Kompaniya LLC, a company with a share capital of only 1 000 hryvnias (25 euro). The price quoted for eggs under the purchase agreement is 17 hryvnias per unit, while the price of the product in Kyiv shops is around 7 hryvnias; for a kilogram of potatoes, the price is 22 hryvnias, while the retail price in the shop is 8-9 hryvnias.
For the time being, we consider the information to be only possible. It is possible that this is a provocation. However, it is also a signal to the West that, with billions of euros and all kinds of equipment being given to Ukraine, it is time to think about controlling the use of the money. Corruption has not gone anywhere in Ukraine. And none of us wants our money to turn into luxury villas in the Maldives.
Operational level
The Kremlin's goblins continue their plan to fully occupy Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Attacks are being launched in the directions of Bakhmut and Zaporizhzhya. The Drisks are slowly advancing beyond Soledar. The aim is to encircle Bakhmut from all sides, form a "pocket" and force the Ukrainians to retreat by means of very intensive shelling. We do not rule out that the Russians will succeed in this plan.
Moscow no longer wants and is no longer asking for temporary peace or for negotiations in order to obtain an operational pause for breathing space, because breathing space, thanks to the turmoil in the West, has come naturally. The troglodytes, with their rotten teeth, will therefore now dig deeper into Ukrainian soil.
Moscow is likely to continue its missile attacks as well, as it is now making greater use of reconnaissance drones. Intelligence has increased in recent days, so it seems that Russian attackers are trying to find new targets.
Tactical level
Over the past day, the Russian invaders have fired 1 missile into Ukrainian territory, conducted 27 airstrikes and 55 shelling attacks with rocket fire systems.
The threat of strikes using artillery systems and air-launched missiles and kamikaze drones remains throughout Ukraine, and the decrease in missile strikes means that a reserve is being built up for a mass attack.
The occupiers' attacks in the direction of Avdiivka and Lyman were unsuccessful. However, in the direction of Bakhmut, the intensity of the attacks using aviation is increasing. More than 15 settlements were shelled in the Bakhmut direction.
The occupiers have pushed the Ukrainian defenders west of the railway crossing at Soledar and are beginning to surround Blahodatne from the north. Control of road section 05-13 is likely still in Ukrainian hands. The loss of this control will put the defence of Blahodatne in jeopardy, as the horde has advanced in the south at Krasna Hora and fighting took place last night on the outskirts of this settlement. The Russians appear to have suffered heavy losses at Ivanhrad and their advance here to Bakhmut has been halted. From Klischijivka the Marauders are looking in the direction of Ivanivske, and will probably try to attack here in the next few days, thus trying to continue to force a ring around Bakhmut and from the south.
Russian forces in the direction of Zaporizhzhya have reportedly started to use assault teams instead of reconnaissance teams.
In the Kherson area, the occupiers are again firing all types of artillery systems.
Ukrainian military aviation has carried out 14 strikes on occupier concentrations and 3 strikes on enemy anti-aircraft missile complexes.
Missile and artillery units struck 2 areas of concentration of armed Walkatha.
US analysts declare that the loss of Russian manpower in Ukraine is catastrophic. Russia has lost (wounded, killed) some 188 000 soldiers in the war and some 47 000 have been liquidated. This exceeds the casualties in the Afghan war and approaches the US losses in the Vietnam war.
Unfortunately, there is nothing to be happy about here, because Russia's reserve is not one or two million.
Photo: Every flag on Maidan Square is dedicated to a fallen Ukrainian defender, AP Photo/Daniel Cole.
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