The US and its allies are holding a series of meetings this week in Europe where new pledges for military aid to Ukraine are expected to be made, and more countries might agree to arm Kyiv with tanks.
NATO Defense Ministers are set to meet in Brussels on Wednesday and Thursday, followed by a meeting on Friday in Germany of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, which includes military officials from beyond NATO. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has been chairing the Ukraine Defense Contact Group since the early days of the war.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken previewed what is to come during a press conference with his British counterpart in Washington on Tuesday. “You’ll hear more announcements in the days to come,” he said. “We’re coordinating security assistance among many countries. So stay tuned for more on that.”
Blinken said that the role of the US is to “put Ukraine in the strongest possible position when a negotiating table emerges so that there can be a just and durable peace.”
As things stand, there’s no sign of a negotiating table emerging as Ukraine is demanding war crimes tribunals before talks can even begin, and Russia wants any deal to recognize its annexation of the territory it has captured. The only chance for peace talks is if the US pushed Kyiv to the negotiating table, but the Biden administration has shown no interest in backing down.
Recognizing that there’s no end to the fighting in sight, Blinken said he expects the war to “go on for some time.”
Speaking alongside Blinken, British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said the Western powers need to “intensify” military aid for Ukraine to prevent a stalemate. “We can’t allow this to drag on and become a kind of First World War attritional-type stalemate,” he said.
Cleverly’s trip came after the UK pledged to send 14 Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine, and Ukraine is hoping other Western nations will follow London’s lead. Poland and Finland have said they’re willing to send their German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Kyiv, but the plan still needs to be signed off by Berlin. The issue of tanks is expected to be a major topic of discussion during this week’s meetings in Europe.
NATO is getting a rough lesson that all ground support is worthless without a proper air superiority.
Even if all NATO air forces go to Ukraine, hardly it can influence the outcome of the war; Russian anti-air defense can cope with it. Besides, if they attack Russian targets from airports in Poland or other NATO countries, the airports would be destroyed immediately; they can’t defend them against Russian hypersonic.
Yes, but Russia has limited hypersonic missiles. Otherwise they would bypass NATO air defense on a regular basis.
So far, Russia is hitting targets only inside Ukraine. Territories of NATO countries are outside of this war. However, if NATO air forces start to participate in this conflict direct from NATO airports, then those airports will be targeted by Russian missiles.
How do we know that?
The technology is relatively new. Their defense budge is fairly small comparing to other countries. The purpose of hypersonic is to override all NATO air defense system. So using these missiles for petty Ukrainian is waste of a huge resources.
No, they are seeing that air superiority as the US has used it since 1944 simply no longer exists against a first line opponent.
The Russian MOD is fighting a very successful war of attrition disarming NATO (Ukraine was disarmed in March), tank by tank, artillery by artillery, air defense by air defense. Poland has called up 200,000 reserves, Ukraine is collapsing and Poland/Romania are now being called up to die for empire. What the empire looses in the Ukraine, they loose for the final NATO war against Russia.
NATO overall has accumulated the following equipment losses;
372 Aircraft, 200 helicopters, 2891 UAV’s, 401 Anti Aircraft systems, 7549 tanks inc. APC’s, 984 multiple rocket launchers, 3853 rocket launchers and 8081 military automotive equipment.
In the past year we have seen the Rules Based Order act in a state of criminal insanity. They blew up the Nord Stream Pipeline which will cause the deindustrialisation of Europe. The shelling the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Station in an effort to cause a nuclear accident. The planning of a false flag nuclear weapon detonation on their own soil!!! This is the actions of criminally insane psychopaths.
Ukraine is fighting a very successful war of attrition disarming Russia, tank by tank, artillery by artillery, air defense by air defense. What the empire loses in Ukraine, they lose for the final Russian war against NATO.
Picture confirmed Russian vs Ukrainian losses:
Ledgend: Rus=Russia, Ukr=Ukraine,
Lost=Destroyed+Captured, D/A=Damaged+Abandoned
Country___________________________________Rus___Rus____Ukr____Ukr
Sources:__________________________________________Lost__D/A____Lost___D/A
Tanks_____________________________________1487..132.....409....40
Armoured Fighting Vehicles________________.718...36.....246.....8
Infantry Fighting Vehicles________________1802..123.....417....34
Armoured Personnel Carriers_______________.272...17.....205....18
Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) Veh..38....5......26....12
Infantry Mobility Vehicles________________.170....3.....249....14
Command Posts And Communications Stations_.216....4.......8.....0
Engineering Vehicles And Equipment________.224...42......39.....0
Self-Propelled Anti-Tank Missile Systems__..27....4......20.....1
Heavy Mortars_____________________________...0....0.......0.....0
Artillery Support Vehicles And Equipment__..89....2......21.....0
Towed Artillery___________________________.144...11......74....16
Self-Propelled Artillery__________________.296...15......86....18
Multiple Rocket Launchers_________________.162....4......33.....2
Anti-Aircraft Guns________________________..16....0.......4.....0
Self-Propelled Anti-Aircraft Guns_________..20....3.......3.....1
Surface-To-Air Missile Systems____________..77....9......80.....4
Radars____________________________________..20....1.......0.....0
Jammers And Deception Systems_____________..20....2.......1.....0
Aircraft__________________________________..64....4......56.....0
Helicopters_______________________________..65...10......28.....1
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles__________________.154....0......45.....0
Naval Ships_______________________________...8....4......24.....1
Logistics Trains__________________________...0....0.......0.....0
Trucks, Vehicles and Jeeps________________2120...88.....478....19
https://www.oryxspioenkop.com/2022/02/attack-on-europe-documenting-equipment.html
https://www.oryxspioenkop.com/2022/02/attack-on-europe-documenting-
Someone blew up the Nord Stream Pipeline which will cause the problems for industrial activity in EU almost on par with their climate initiatives – if they change the climate ‘tax’ – they can in other words deal with the problem.
Given that this is a problem mainly for Europe it is clear that the incentive to carry out this action is higher for Russia than for UK, EU or the US – as hurting the coalition against Russia is not in their interests – yet you believe without evidence that it was done by the west!?
The rest is as poorly attached to realities and unsubstantiated to be worth even mentioning.
“picture confirmed”, eh? Sure you got the serial numbers or UBC codes on those tanks, then?
Perhaps in a war where one side is using propaganda on an incredible and unprecedented level one should be a little careful about trusting data from that side and its patrons??
“Perhaps in a war where all sides are using propaganda on an incredible and unprecedented level one should be a little careful about trusting data from those side and their patrons??”
Fixed, no charge.
Sure, Tom. We are just as much subject to Russian propaganda as the entire western megaphone speaking with a uniform voice and blocking and down-trending all contrary opinions. You’re absolutely right.
The difference between Russian and western propaganda and narrative control is that the former can be easily seen … it is amateurish and rarely encountered. The latter is the water in which we fish swim … difficult to see and all-encompassing.
I’m not sure who the “we” you’re referring to might happen to be.
Look it up for yourself – it is not perfect but it is a hell of a lot better than trusting figures from Moscow or Kyiv.
Yes this would be a very good point if Oryx was a government controlled organization and if their figures were more alike to those of the Kyiv.
Oryx is a Dutch (ie Western/NATO) “organization.” Also, it’s founders are associated with Bellingcat, another Netherlands based organization, and one with a clear pro Ukraine slant. And it is regularly cited by the Western (ie pro Ukrainian) MSM. An organization need not be “government controlled” to have a POV or bias. I would put more faith in an organization based in a truly neutral nation.
I also think it is kind of naive to believe that merely producing “pictures” proves anything. Anything can be faked in a picture. A single tank can be photographed a dozen times, from a dozen different angles. It can be moved around and shot over and over again. And then there is photoshop and any number of other, more sophisticated ways to doctor photos. Plus, one wonders whether “Oryx” has equal access to both Russian and Ukrainian sources.
We also know for a fact that the West/the Ukies are engaging in a much more comprehensive effort at propaganda and narrative control than are the Russians, and that the Western efforts are better tailored to convince a Western audience than are the Russians’. I don’t think it would surprise anyone if it turned out that there is a link between this “independent” organization and NATO governments.
As for Kiev’s “figures,” those are straight out of Alice in Wonderland, and shouldn’t even factor into the analysis.
If it’s coming from the MSM West, discount it and divide by 10.
It is my firm belief that Russia began accumulating resources from the moment the West refused to allow Russia to become a member of the Western Alliance, positively when Clinton ramped up the inclusion of former Soviet bloc countries (or whoever) to become members of NATO, and then armed them on Russia’s border. Russia correctly, in my estimation, had the foresight to prepare. For thirty years.
“For thirty years” – less than that. When in August 1999 Putin was appointed as Prime Minister, Russian army was almost nonexistent.
In terms of troop numbers, the Russian armed forces numbered about 1.8 million active duty personnel in 1997 and number about 1.4 million now.
As to the quantity and quality of equipment, that might be a different story.
It all goes back to the US violent coup in 2014. Russia understood that we declared war on them and acted accordingly. We deserve everything that is coming.
Russia since Stalin’s time before WW2 always piled up tanks and guns and ammo. It has a different political system that favors that — factories are state owned and not connected to design teams. They just churn out stuff, or they sit ready to do so. During the Cold War we said Russia piled up another 2,000 new tanks every year, almost all shrink wrapped and stored in “unit sets” on mobilization bases with minimal manning. Despite Yeltsin and Putin, that basic structure is intact, just their way of doing things.
The “14 Challenger 2 tanks” is just a hoot, like some kind of tank demonstration team. They should cut it down to 8 and name them after Santa’s reindeer or Snow White’s dwarfs.
Blitzen in the lead, I assume?
Will you be serious.
Maybe Bangy, Boomy, Flamey, Melty, TOWy, Kaboom, Cookoff, … and Blitzen.
Blinken said that the role of the US is to “put Ukraine in the strongest possible position when a negotiating table emerges so that there can be a just and durable peace.”
It’s official. The worst secretary of state in my lifetime. And with all that stiff competition, that is saying a lot.
He’s so far out of his depth as our chief diplomat, he can’t see the water surface … but in his real role of spokesman for the pentagon, he does a half-decent job.
Indeed. Him and Lloyd are interchangeable.
He could have had that just by honoring the already-agreed Minsk II accord. That was better than anything he can get back to now.
This is a measure of the defeat of what he has done.
Wars, since ByeDone is actually a propped-up cadaver, by all accounts the Blinkin’ Idiot is Asshole-in Chief.
Sorry, wars, Blinken is just a place-holder for the Zionist effort to escalate this conflict into being a catastrophic war with Russia that will be the end of the USA as we know it. Both Putin and Lavrov know that the current administration is not “agreement capable” to use Lavrov’s very words.
I would think that Russia is just a little tired of Israel.
Lol…who isn’t, V?
14 tanks??? Does that mean we have to have at least 14 reports that these 14 tanks might some day be sent to Ukraine???
For all the discussion, there is not so much information about who the crew will be (NATO or Ukrainian), or any of the logistical issues around them such as fuel, ammunition, or repair facilities.
The US still seems to think of the conflict as a fun PR exercise, a real life Marvel movie, with Putin in the role of chief villain.
FAFO — what will the Russians do if we do *this* next? Keep pushing, until we see what happens.
What do our “leaders” really want to happen?
They have fever dreams of replacing Putin with a Yeltsin clone, or of breaking up Russia into some new -stans that can be bought up and looted. That is not going to happen.
What is happening instead is Russia mobilizing for war, and being driven into the arms of China.
Here is the leftist Reuters about Bakhmut:
This is after Russia has taken Soledar which is part of the defense line centered on Bakhmut, and now can attack Bakhmut from the north and also encircle it. Probably tens of thousands of Ukies have died. Russia has six times more artillery and the Ukies have mostly just assault rifles. Zelensky demanded counter-attacks against Soledar THREE TIMES which all failed, losing lives and equipment, and the military finally resisted the demand for a fourth disastrous attack.
In Reuters propaganda that becomes “both sides have taken heavy losses for scant gain”.
I can imagine Reuters reporting on Argentina scoring 8-1 against Brazil if they wanted to politicize it: “Both sides fighting fiercely for scant gain.”
The pychos in DC won’t be happy until Chicago is a smoking, glowing hole in the ground.
Or any other major Amerikkkan city.
Oh, joy. More instruments of death and destruction.
I sense a mushroom cloud in our future.
This is a war that was meant to be “lost” from the get-go. With no adequate preparation on the part of NATO and seemingly no awareness of the negative effects of Russian sanctions on Europe, it will inevitably lead to WWIII with Russia. Somehow that seems to have been the goal all along. The dark cabal that brought us 9/11 and all the wars of this century must be laughing their asses off at our gullibility. Once again we have been forced into a self-destructive war that this time will result in the end of the USA, Russia, and most of humanity.
In a nuclear exchange, the “dark cabal” would eat the same fallout. Hilarious thinking on their part.
Which leads me to ask, is that dark cabal even human anymore? Certainly they have no use whatsoever for actual human beings.
They’re readying their fortified bunkers but who are they going to get to do the actual work as we know any kind of physical labor is below them, and I’m sure they’ll have plenty of third world sex slaves to take care of their needs.
Gee, the gathering at Brussels is just like 2003 when there was world wide protests against our “shock and awe” against Iraq. /s
US, Allies Preparing to Ramp Up Their Own Destruction
At this point, one would have to be insane to believe that Blinken has any interest in genuine negotiations or that Cleverly thinks he is preventing a stalemate. In truth, they are determined to do the very opposite of what they say, and they full well know it.
But they aren’t deceiving Putin, or the men who wear Armed Forces of Ukraine uniforms; or the civilians who are currently trying to flee. They seek to provide cover for their actions, and to convince those who are about to die that there is hope, or that something good can still come out of this. Good luck with that.