Officials from both the US and NATO have eagerly jumped on board the Ukrainian claim that three tanks mysteriously milling about Donetsk Oblast are Russian tanks, but as they try to back up that claim they’re finding very weak evidence.
Ukraine had initially identified the tanks as T-72s, but the State Department’s statement, as well as NATO’s annotated photos, identify them as T-64 battle tanks, an earlier Soviet-era model.
While that might seem a minor distinction, it actually isn’t, as Russia no longer has any T-64 tanks in operation, and what they have left in storage are slated for destruction. Ukraine, by contrast, is one of only a handful of nations still using T-64 models in regular service.
Indeed, NATO’s whole basis for identifying them as Russia is a single photo showing a Russian flag on top of one of the tanks, and satellite photos from a Russian military base showing other, unidentified tanks not far from the Ukrainian border. It seems exceedingly unlikely that Russia, which has 15,000 tanks between active and reserve forces, would be dragging the far-outdated T-64 models they have left out of storage just to pass a few off to the rebels for some unknown reason.
Despite being an older model, T-64s are actually considered superior to the T-72s, though both are many decades out of date at this point, and neither would be anything resembling a game-changer in the Ukrainian civil war.
NATO and the US appear to have embraced the Ukrainian allegation, as in the past, simply because it makes Russia look bad if confirmed. Then they tried to “prove” the story and found it had as many holes in it as a 50-year-old Soviet tank.
Amerika grasping at straw to start WW4. More diversions to keep the "murikan" sheeple quiet.
The Ukrainians are really desperate to either get the Russians to invade to justify NATO expansion or to reclaim the southeast where the fracking zones are located in order to satisfy the IMF loan conditions. Meanwhile the MSM keep up its censorship-by-ommission. Another example is the attack on the Russian embassy. Embassy cars were overturned and had <a href="http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?236005-Situation-in-the-Ukraine-Crimea-*Photos-Videos*-ONLY&s=6a20cad77a5a373035ced8a45b1d0b62&p=7225789&viewfull=1#post7225789">Nazi swastika symbols painted on them. The photos in the MSM carefully omit such inconvenient details.
There were also Ukrainians troops transport on russian side of the border.Why nobody speaks about that. ? It is like in the Bible : they have yes but they don't see,they have ears but they don't ear.
What made me suspicious was the publicity hype. If Russia was invading Ukraine, it would,t just send in two tanks, of whatever model. If Russian contractors were returning to the area, they wouldn't arrive in a blaze of publicity, with videos handed out to the media. They would do as in Crimea and, indeed, in these provinces earlier. They would just pop up out of nowhere without anyone seeing them come and melt away without anyone seeing them go. It looks like a last desperate throw on the part of the rebels to force Putin to intervene (although the shooting down of the transport plane now makes that well nigh impossible). An old trick: A wants B to attack C but B won't attack, so A attacks C pretending to be B in the hope that C will then retaliate against B, who will thenhave no choice but to fight.
You need to explain that logic to me.
The only one saying these are "The Ivan" is US state dpratment and Ukraine officials.
Maybe one should just ask the insurgents. Could be the say "yeah we have refitted some old tanks, so what?"