Ukraine’s eastern invasion is still just getting started, but seems to be stalling just two cities in, as troops withdrew from Slovyansk before nightfall, and many surrendered outright to locals.
The Tuesday offensives against Kramatorsk also saw the fighting end before nightfall, but today’s had a decidedly more defeated tone, with no real gains in Slovyansk and some very high profile losses.
The biggest defeat was the 25th Dnipropetrovsk, a supposedly “elite” brigade which ended up surrendering to jeering locals, and handing several armored personnel carriers to militias supporting the cause of the protesters.
Ukraine apparently deployed the troops with no plan for crowd control, evidently reflecting the assumption that the locals didn’t really support the protests. When the military arrived, they were berated by residents, any many refused orders to conquer the city, choosing surrender instead. Militia members driving captured vehicles and flying Russian flags in them was the result.
Ukraine’s Defense Ministry initially tried to paint the whole situation as a myth, and Svoboda Party leaders claimed the military had put the Russian flags on the vehicles themselves as an “ingenious” plan to get around the crowds. Later they were forced to admit that the first six APCs surrendered, and the other 15 never bothered to arrive in Slovyansk, staying on the outskirts of nearby Kramatorsk rather than facing the crowds.
The people's army is there to defend people against treason, they are not there to fight people, when they do it means that are not the people's army but rather mercenaries, paid entity of a government whom are not the people's government. Carl Bildt the Swedish foreign minister have said: if things like this (referring to eastern Ukraine) would happen in Sweden, the government of Sweden would call upon police and army to crush the movement! And that's kind of democracy these liberals presenting.
Babushkas and Uncle Vanyas are not terrorists, not matter how much the White House endorses splattering them.
and the army consisted of 17 & 18 year olds with a couple of weeks training, they looked around and saw mom & dad. Cannot shoot them.
Congratulations to, as of this writing, 300 young lads in slavyansk only, family fathers and others, for making the right the decision not to shoot their fellow citizens. Brennan & McCain must be fuming in anger. Babushka granny´s, beautiful girls and other locals didn´t have to do much to convince them. They were starving and had been woke up in the middle of the night with orders to eliminate "terrorists". When they found out that they had been lied to, they decided not to spill one drop of blood for the US imposed Nazi junta in Kiev and swiched sides, joined the locals or left their weapons and APC´s and went back home.
And that was the Elite Paratroopers. The others have already refused and have since been replaced with more (for the US imposed Nazi putsch junta) reliable fascist freaks from the Lvov region and a couple of hundred Blackwater merc´s that has gone missing apparently: http://www.voltairenet.org/article183269.html
Good show!
"The others have already refused and have since been replaced with more (for the US imposed Nazi putsch junta) reliable fascist freaks from the Lvov region and a couple of hundred Blackwater mercs"
at huge expense.
Putin appears to be winning without lifting a finger…..or opening his mouth.
Pessimistic note: those who surrender today don't get to surrender another day…
But hopefully the 'new Ukraine' won't be running-out of men who'd rather donate equipment than kill.
Refusing to attack and kill your own people is an act of bravery and true patriotism.
unlike US police
Victoria Nuland must be apoplectic as PNAC's latest war is coming off as planned.
The FedGov, having obtained the best military repression machine the dollar can buy, arrogantly overlooked the possibility that other countries' armed forces actually care about their own people. However, Americans will be wise not to think that their military will not mow them down at a moment's notice. Marc, in his comment above, noted that the Ukrainian troops were woken up and ordered to eliminate "terrorists." The same will happen with the FedGov troops, only the FedGov troops will mercilessly carry out the orders. Even now, we see this scenario slowly unrolling in Nevada.
It looks like the rank and file Ukrainian soldiers are real people who prefer not to shoot other real people who just happen to prefer aligning themselves with the country they used to be part of rather than being 'governed' by a quasi Nazi ragtag bunch who are happily on the take from the US Government. It's a joke really but the politicos and newscasters back in Washington who probably couldn't even find the place on a map must be frothing at the mouth, or maybe they'll just sink into a big sulk cos they're not loved enough . . . "Hell, these Commie Russkie lovin' Eastern European folks should be welcoming us with open arms – they are are just damned . . . unpatriotic!".
This is a dangerous situation for the Junta in Kiev. At some point what remains of Ukraine's "defence force" will draw the conclusion there is no future for them under the 'new government'.
I saw a video of the incident on RT.com. The locals weren't jeering, they were cheering the troops for standing down. When they found out the soldiers hadn't been fed for four days by the coup government, women brought them bags of food. Morale in the Ukrainian army appears to extraordinarily low.
The King of Zor he called for War
and the King of Zam he answered…
Long live the peoples' republics in Eastern Ukraine!
A conscript army never wants to fight! The same thing would occur if Putin's military was up against US forces. I'm sure the few of the locals support the protests but with armed mercenaries pointing guns at their backs and their families, I assume that many just did what they were told. In the same circumstances, wouldn't you?
Big difference fighting their own people and fighting foreign troops their Michael Kenny, Nationalism does big things to troops Australian Conscripts in WWII fought the Japanese hand to hand, and turned them back in the Jungles of New Guinea on the basis that if they took Port Moresby they would be on Australian soil! Don't think that the US would be a shoe in, in a fight in Russia although it is the summer coming up, there would be a lot of dead Americans there on the plains of Ukraine, seriously not worth the fight! Of course it shouldn't be forgotten that a fight with Russia could mean 100 million dead Americans as well! How long do you think it would take before a nuke was cooked off especially in Ukraine, tactical Nukes were the preferred plaything of US generals in the Cold war games scenarios, do you think they wouldn't try the same tactics! BTW the Abrams is a Desert Tank, wait for winter! If the US is stupid enough, then start digging your nuclear shelters because a hot war is so different to a cold war! Do you not think the US would not launch on warning! After the first launch do you not think that the Chinese would also launch!
THIS IS NOT A GOOD IDEA!
All the armies in WW1 and 2 were conscripts. They all fought.
Just a "few" of the locals support the protests?
I am so happy we still have soldiers who refuse to attack their own. Others will just kill and claim they were just following orders, shame.
The facts are there has been a Terrorist takeover of Ukraine Backed and funded by the United States of America, and if the same thing happened on the US doorstep America would be as concerned as Russia is, but never have this idea that the United States wouldn't invade because they would, they have done so on numerous occasions through out their History, the War of 1812 wasn't started by the British, The Bay of Pigs, Granada, the Iranian Contra deal all US started activities! The list is however longer than that, and we should NEVER forget that the United States has sent US troops to fight on Russian soil against Russian troops before after WWII against the Bolsheviks.
We need laws in the United States clearly stating only national guard troops from their home area can be used to police local people .