A senior Pentagon official told Reuters on Monday that the US plans to start training Ukrainians on how to use howitzers in the coming days. The official said that the training would take place outside of Ukraine.
The US is giving Ukraine howitzers for the first time as part of a new $800 million weapons package that was announced last week. When announcing the new aid, the Pentagon said the Ukrainians would need training on the howitzers and on advanced radar systems that are also part of the package.
So far, the US has sent four flights to deliver the new weapons. Since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, the US has pledged about $2.6 billion in military aid for Ukraine and has delivered the arms rapidly via Eastern European NATO countries that border Ukraine.
The Pentagon official who spoke with Reuters did not elaborate on where the training will take place outside of Ukraine, but it’s likely it will be in an Eastern European country. Earlier this month, Lithuania announced a plan to start training Ukrainian forces on its territory.
On Friday, The Times reported British Special Air Service (SAS) soldiers are inside Ukraine training Ukrainian forces on anti-tank weapons that have been provided by London. The SAS deployment is the first known NATO troop presence in Ukraine since Russia invaded and risks provoking Moscow.
Last week, in a diplomatic letter to the State Department, Russia formally warned the US and NATO to stop arming Ukraine. Russian officials have also warned they would target Western arms shipments entering Ukraine. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, Russian airstrikes destroyed a large number of foreign-made weapons stored at a Ukrainian military logistics center near Lviv on Monday.
So Ukrainians are now a special branch of US Army.. is this a new method of warfare? Are we in war allready?
Yes, Bianca – there are a few thousand NATO troops actively fighting inside Ukraine right this very minute. NATO officers command and control the Kiev military.
Thats a fact ma’m
I’m reasonably certain that NATO is directly involved in the execution of this war. But I seriously doubt they are authorized to command Ukraine troops. What are your sources?
The last 8 years of NATO ‘training ‘ plus a French journalist interviewed Kiev military who told him NATO officers were in command.
The CIA have addmitted they have been training Ukrainian soldiers since 2014 for the Russian invasion , yeh they new back then a Russian invasion was going to take place , so the question is how did they know a invasion was going to take place ? , even Putin had not decided at that point i would imagine .
The “frozen conflict” in Donbas started in 2014. Many were surprised that Putin didn’t go ahead with a “special operation to liberate” the LPR/DPR back then. It wouldn’t have been unreasonable since then to expect that something like what ended up happening would happen sooner or later.
Besides which, neither the US regime in general nor the CIA in particular require a reasonable likelihood of anything to use the supposed prospect as an excuse for spending money on weapons, troops, etc.
Are you saying the CIA has some kind of mind control over V Putin? That would explain him putting his dick into Joe Biden’s clever trap.
Clever? Like that was a good thing? Are you a neocon? Fuck diplomacy, we can destroy Russia. Don’t matter if we destroy ourselves, I would assume.
The war party has been trying for 8 years to force a big war in Ukraine. The war party is content to bleed Ukraine dry and turn Ukraine into a wasteland if the result is a weaker Russia. Insane, but that’s the war party thinking
That is Russian propaganda. The Russians don’t want to believe they are loosing to Ukraine, so to save face they claim they are loosing to NATO. I grant you NATO is giving them a lot of help.
Errr… the Russian peacekeepers and the 50,000 Ukrainians fighting alongside them seem to be winning.
The goal of the peacekeeping mission is demilitarization and denazification. So far about 22 of the 25 combat brigades the Kiev regime started with are no longer combat capable. The Volksturm cannon fodder NATO officers are blitz training and sending into battle are just victims.
You might want to check Moon of Alabama for independent news on the topic
Pfft, check back in a month, and lets see what kind of “victory” the Russians achieve.
It’s going to be a multi year war. The Pentagon’s 70 year track record of losing every war will likely repeat.
Check in a month
The War Party does really want to turn Ukraine into a barren wasteland, that’s been a open secret for years.
The Wester munitions are pretty accurate they are mostly going into Russian equipment and bodies. The Russians are leveling entire cities. Hey Putin was sitting at a little table with his recovered defense minister what is up with that? Does the size of the table match the size of his ego?
Try moon of Alabama for independent reporting on the topic
That guy is a nut, and not very accurate in my experience.
Patrick Lancaster on Site reporting YouTube Channel ?
Apparently since everybody seems OK with a WW3 for a stoned coke addict.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6399573ad66ae72a5474a2c2c95e5ea5677b6a2edf0e5823863e8aefdbf90a96.jpg
Is there a link for this?
I remember when President’s felt an obligation to declare war before they waged it; and to ask Congress for a formal declaration except in response to a direct attack.
I wonder how the world would look today if Presidents had to get permission to pursue regime change in places like Libya, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Ukraine.
I’d guess the world would look exactly the same. Our congress if full of rabid warmongers and they love the MIC. They don’t want to vote because their constituents might get pissed but I find that doubtful too. As soon as the bombs start flying the jingoistic morons are all in. USA! USA!
I have read that almost every state of the Union has a weapons factory so many jobs are relient on war mongering , there`s lots of votes to be had or lost.
USA, USA! How many people have you killed today?!!
Donna I’d give that ten upvotes if I could!
Congress is supposed to be the part of government that wages war. That went out the window with President George W. Bush and the AUMF. Which is still in effect.
Weapons shipments do not equal war.
No war has been declared, no US soldiers are involved, they were evacuated before hostilities commenced. We are giving them weapons as is our perfect right. For once the US is opposed to regime change.
The US, in this case, is indeed opposed to regime change- because it’s trying it’s best to keep in power the regime it put in itself in 2014-15. Remember the Nuland phone call and the ‘Maidan Revolution’? 100% US led and financed from first to last, with our hand-picked officials installed right on schedule.
Sure but post that, there was an election in 2019.
Wow. That conjures up so many thoughts!
I think the roots of this war began in 2014 when Yanukovych and his Party of Regions were driven out at gunpoint during the Euromaidan riots and the US State Department put “our man Yats” into power. 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 was regime change.
In March 2021, Zelensky’s national security decree 117/2021, which stated Ukraine would take back Crimea and Donbas by any means necessary, started the tension. US weapons sent to the Donbas border (not the border with Russia) on 2/19/22 were the reason Putin invaded on 2/24/22. He probably thought that an invasion of Donbas was imminent.
Whether you admit it or not, the US has been participating in a war against Russia since the invasion, and there are indications that the US is now working on plans to cause regime change in Russia itself.
So the 2019 election was that free and fair? How did your boy do? Crimea and Donbas are part of Ukraine as agreed upon at the breakup of the USSR. War as a means of changing borders is unacceptable .
“Our man Yats” was the term used by deputy S.O.S. Nuland when she selected him as Prime Minister.
In 2010 Yanukovych won the Presidential election in a runoff against Tymoshenko (who was the sitting President.) In the 2012 election, the Party of Regions won 100 seats more than any other party. In 2014, Yanukovych fled Ukraine to avoid being killed. The Party of Regions was dissolved. Death threats were issued to news organizations that published the “wrong” news.
Crimea seceded from the USSR separately from Ukraine. A referendum was held at that time solidly supporting independence. It is abundantly clear that the people of Crimea have never wanted to be part of Ukraine. While Donbas is not so clear-cut, it also existed as a separate republic. It also has a majority of ethnic Russians. It also seceded and has held its ground for the past 7 years.
We are not thinking that referendum was free and fair. Anyway F Russia you start this shit you deserve all the bad the befalls you.
As much as Russia and the US were at war during the both the Korean and the Vietnam war.
Are you saying that Russia managed North Korean military the wsy US is managing Ukrainian?
Yes, they even provided them with Russian fighter jets!!
As I see it, it’s more like the Syrian war part 2.
Wrong – it was the Soviet Union.
Wrong it was Russia / China but Stalin got cold feet , Mao had a almost limitless supply of soldiers and was prepeared to use them human life meant nothing to him but to serve his agenda.
Big difference, apart from there is a crazy dwarf in Kremlin these days.
China was not involved?
They sure were, but Russia was involved too.
The Chinese where doing the fighting under Mao who planned to kill at least 700,000 US troops with over whelming numbers, but Stalin stopped him , the US would face the same fate today there is no way the US with the NATO Numpties could defeat the Chinese army in a conventional war , make no mistake the Chines will fight to the bitter end , read accounts of the long march under Mao and how the Chinese fought every inch of the way be it in battle or battle with mother nature.
People always underestimate the other guy.
NATO isn’t fighting Russia, if they were Moscow would be surrounded by now.
This was about providing support for one side in a conflict, which Russia did by providing fighter jets to North Korea.
Try to understand the topic being discussed next time.
Nope, we are shipping weapons to a sovereign country as is our right. Russia shipped all sorts of weapons to Vietnam back in the day, as was their right.
Russian authorities face mounting unwillingness to fight among both conscript and contract personnel. Russian forces began on April 18 efforts to form additional units in Rostov and Crimea by April 24 to form a “second echelon” to occupy administrative buildings and important infrastructure in occupied Ukraine. Numerous reports reveal that the number of Russian personnel refusing to join the war effort is increasing, including 60-70% of contract soldiers in the 150th Motor Rifle Division of the 8th Combined Arms Army—the primary Russian combat force in eastern Ukraine. Russian authorities are threatening the families of servicemen who refuse to fight and making permanent marks in the criminal records of those servicemen.
And your reliable source????
Isn’t it obvious?
Out of his………………….
What you are implying is asstronimcal!
Donna, keep’em comin’! 😆
That conflicts with what I’ve read about public opinion on Russia – they are overwhelming behind the war, convinced Ukraine has been taken over by proper Nazis, needing rescuing by the heroic Russian army.
Men of able age in Ukraine are conscripted when they try to flee the country. Azov fighters have surrounded themselves with civilians and threatened to kill servicemen who wish to surrender in the face of insurmountable odds in Mariupol. A good portion of the equipment used by the separatists in Donbas was acquired from Ukraine soldiers who chose to defect rather than fire on their own people.
Morale isn’t good in Ukraine, either. It’s about to get much worse.
Sources? Speaking of criminals, what say you about Zelensky allegedly releasing criminals to fight? Did he get the idea from the movie “Suicide Squad”?
I’m sure he did, but then again he’s president and can release whoever he wants, OK?
See above.
“The official said that the training would take place outside of Ukraine.” In lovely Lithuania, of course.
Or Poland. Or Finland. Or Sweden.
The CIA was already training in the south in the US.
If this war were going to be going on for another 3-4 years, this would be an important development. However Russia’s going to finish annexing the south and east of Ukraine in the next 2-3 months, so new training on heavy weapons is irrelevant. Too late to affect the outcome of the war.
The halting of the conflict is not in Russia’s hands unfortunately. It is NATO that is pushing the Russians as far as they will go short of a nuclear war. So even if Russia manages to annex the East, the war will continue on the border with rump Ukraine.
I think it will be in Russia’s hands. It’s one thing to pretend that your brave heroes are going to be able to stop Russia’s advance. It’s another to be deluded enough to believe they can invade and reconquer territory Russia has already taken and dug into. If Ukraine doesn’t agree to a ceasefire then Russia will shell Kiev.
So we are sticking our nose deeper into it. All those weapons to export, all that $$$$.
And yet NPR managed to strongly imply without quite lying that striking Lviv was just Russia sending a message to Ukrainian civilians that nowhere in Ukraine is safe. Massive US weapons shipments into Lviv are what made W Ukraine so unsafe, but in our bubble of western media propaganda it’s impossible to put 2 and 2 together to make 4.
Russian troops massacring civilians also makes it unsafe. It is nice of them to do this, as it has really caught the attention of the rest of Europe. Nobody is under any illusion that the Russians are just like us anymore.
God, I’d hate to be “just like us.”
‘nobody’ like the majority of the world’s governments who didn’t vote for the recent UN resolution to condemn Russia? The world is actually more than the US and Europe. The world knows Russians ARE just like us, murderous invaders.
Dosen`t Russia have military satallites over Ukraine ? , if it does then they will know where all the NATO weapons are being stored and should destroy them ASAP , NATO has unofficially declared war on Russia .
Satellites aren’t magic.
no, they are real
I would wait for the weapons to be fully delivered then destroy the warehouses as trucks arrive to deliver them. Then destroy all the roads and tracks around Lvov and every other city with roadways into the West. Likely this is what they have already done.
Russia may be out of precision weapons. It is a poor country and a lot of their military seems to have been constructed out of cardboard and cardboard derivatives.
Cardboard weapons from someone with a paper cache brain…
If I’m reading it right, Russia IS destroying all the NATO weapons it can locate.
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-says-destroyed-foreign-made-weapons-stored-near-ukraines-lviv-tass-2022-04-18/
Russia is bleeding out NATO troops and weapons. If i was Europe i would start to panic. Brussels could well be the target of Denazification.
They are already beginning to panic.
Inflation is now nearing to being out of control.
We’re getting up to about a billion dollars a day here. Who is bleeding whom?
If you read the same announcement on 5 different days that doesn’t make the cost 5 times higher. Anyway USA and NATO countries economy is 40X? larger than Russia’s.
The cumulative number so far is $2.6 Billion. All of it is borrowed. You’d think we weren’t worried about stagflation in the US right now.
I’ve posted this elsewhere. But it’s worth repeating here.
Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, the I.M.F.’s chief economist said the war is slowing growth and spurring inflation throughout the world. Disruptions to Russian supplies of oil, gas and metals, along with Ukrainian exports of wheat and corn, will ripple through commodities markets and across the global economy “like seismic waves.”
“𝑅𝑢𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝑠𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝐴𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑎 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑡𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑏𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐼.𝑀.𝐹.’𝑠 𝑔𝑙𝑜𝑏𝑎𝑙 𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑤𝑡ℎ 𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘.”
“𝘈 𝘵𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘙𝘶𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘨𝘺 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘯 “𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘴𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘰” 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘧𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘱𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥.”
A bargain, Once the Russian threat is reduced to insignificance we can certainly cut back our defense spending by a bunch.
Ajamu: “I just realized I dislike Zelensky almost as much as I dislike Obama.” lol
Meanwhile, a train cargo and a storage of everything US has sent the last month was blown up by Russia at a train station outside Lvov. The fireworks was spectacular…
Where is the source of this news? Russian State TV? Most of the equipment has already arrived. The US advertised the future delivery to distract the Russians. Most of the equipment arrived before they announced it.
It will be destroyed or fall into Russian hands. The US knows Ukraine can’t win this. The game is to replenish stocks with newer, more expensive systems. They all have stock in defense companies.
I don’t think the US knows anything of the kind. The Russians are terribly outnumbered 20 million to 170k. Partisan warfare is kicking off, there will be no safe space for Russian troops in Ukraine. Russian wives and moms are going to eventually start asking questions about where Yuri has gone.
What do you call a dead SAS guy? A good start!
More targets for Mr. Kinzhal. You guys do know that it is nuclear capable? Insane Senator Coons wants to put American troops in combat in Ukraine.
Well, It ain’t me, it ain’t me. I ain’t no Senators son, son, Lord
It ain’t me, it ain’t me. I ain’t no fortunate one, one.
Maybe Joe Biden should send his sons Hunter and Beau. Oh that’s right Beau Biden had a defective brain and morted from cancer, while Hunter was in the Navy Reserves for all of one week before he was booted out on drug charges.
The Kh-47M2 Kinzhal is a Russian nuclear-capable hypersonic aero-ballistic air-to-surface missile. It has a claimed range of more than 2,000 km (1,200 mi), …Maximum speed: Mach 10 – Mach 12
Like a typical Russian super weapon they have 7 of them and I think they used 3 already.
Come on all of you big strong men
Uncle Sam needs your help again!
He’s gettin’ in a terrible jam
Way down yonder in Ukraine-Land
Apologies to Country Joe and the Fish
This giving them the big guns is so stupid as to be criminal. Why not send white flags and a manual on how to negotiate instead. Too bad American mistakes like the 2014 coup, will cost cost them Crimea and the Russian speaking areas in the East. Better to save the capital and what they can get, rather that see the whole country wrecked. Just like Shaskaveeli, Zelinski got suckered in and now the shoes are falling. Did he think the Ukraine military could handle the Russians…???? WTF…….
So at least there’s a job for them in the U.S. when they have to flee Ukraine.
Not only is Russia suffering tremendous losses on the battlefield, but its ability to resupply its forces has taken a beating thanks to punishing economic sanctions imposed by the U.S. and its allies.
Since the start of its war on Ukraine Feb. 24, Russia has lost thousands of major weapons systems, like tanks, armored personnel carriers, air defense systems, helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft, ships and many other weapons that have been destroyed, damaged or captured, according to Oryxspioenkop, an independent open-source investigator.
“There has been an effect on Putin’s ability to restock and resupply, particularly in the realm of components to some of his systems and his precision-guided munitions,” the official said. “They’ve already faced an issue in terms of replenishing their inventory because of components to some of those systems. And that’s already had a practical effect on Putin.”
One example, according to Russian media, is the next-generation airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft, the A-100 Premier. Its progress has been stalled due to delays in the delivery of electronic components like microchips, thanks to sanctions imposed on Russia.
Among other things, tank and air defense system resupply efforts are severely being affected by sanctions.
The Russian armies are in full flight! Ukies are knocking at the gates
of Moscow! Putin has fled to the moon! Up is down, and the sun will rise in the west! You can believe all this!!!
I’m sure the Russians are shaking in their boots.
OSCE’s mission in Donbass is a lie. The Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics have banned the organization and ordered it to leave their territory.
The OSCE has used high-resolution cameras, originally placed to conduct ceasefire monitoring, to relay DNR and LNR positions to the Ukrainian military which would then use the provided data to target or correct their artillery fire at the DNR and LNR forces. The OSCE mission in Donbass provided the Armed Forces of Ukraine with their observation data, captured by cameras and other monitoring equipment they installed over the last 8 years.
The OSCE was waging war on the side of the post-Maidan Kiev regime. The OSCE monitoring data also included the movement of regular Russian military personnel in the last 50+ days. Russia, an OSCE member state, has pointed out that the organization’s actions have contributed to the death of Russian and DNR/LNR troops.
$2.6 BILLION in military aid?
What the hell, is Ukraine the new Israel?
In the meantime, the number of homeless Amerikkkans is overwhelming; people cannot afford to feed their families because of insane inflation; if your car dies, good luck finding one you can afford. Better get used to walking.
And you get to choose between paying your rent or taking your heart medication.
But we apparently can afford to shower money printed out of thin air to some backwater for the sole reason that we detest their enemy.
The buck stops SOMEWHERE, Bye-Done. Bye, you’re Done, and you’re the reason Trump’s gonna get re-elected if he’s not in jail.
Howitzers with 40,000 rounds of shells. That sounds like a lot. It’s not.
Nightvision over at The Saker’s blog points out:
You want to see real shelling? Download this short video of the Russians shelling at night from my Google drive:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oF1R_rSnJUGbOzaaOwZsOIIrz9CqcC-H/view?usp=sharing