Express: Putin trying to 'pummel Ukrainian people into demanding a ceasefire' for sanction relief
Russian President Vladimir Putin has been accused of trying to pummel Ukrainians into demanding a ceasefire by retired military General Wesley Clark.
Retired military General Wesley Clark estimated that Russia could only keep on battling with this level of intensity in Ukraine for around seven weeks or a little longer.
The retired US army officer explained that Russia was struggling to produce their own modern missiles, so were taking nuclear warheads off some of their missiles in order to use them.
He also told John Berman that Putin was trying to get the Ukrainian people to call for a ceasefire in order for him to get relief from Western-imposed sanctions and so that he can rebuild his military in order to try and finish taking over Ukraine.
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Update: Ukraine holding on amid Donbas 'meat grinder' as Putin turns Bakhmut into 'killing field' (Express)
WNU Editor: It was only two months ago that retired General Wesley Clark was saying the Russian military was facing defeat, the momentum was on the side of Ukraine, and that dissent was growing in Russia that was jeopardizing Putin's hold on power(link here).
And now he is telling a different narrative. An acknowledgement that Bakhmut is a killing ground for Ukrainian forces, Ukrainian forces are facing logistical problems (due to their being no electricity to run their trains), and that Russia has the capability to launch missiles and artillery strikes for weeks. No mention from retired General Clark on Putin being removed from power as he was hinting two months ago.
But the retired General has to give some hope. So he says this is an opportunity for Ukraine to push and take Crimea, while ignoring the inconvenient fact that much of the original Ukraine army has been destroyed while Russia's military mobilization has now resulted with almost 700,000 soldiers being deployed to (and around) Ukraine.
Retired military General Wesley Clark is not the only pundit that has changed his narrative on the course of the war. Almost every other military pundit that I have seen in the US, Canada, and the UK are now reporting on the war in a different manner.
I think they see what I see.
A massive deployment of Russian forces, facing a Ukrainian army that has been significantly degraded after 9 months of fighting. It should also be mentioned that Russian forces now outnumber Ukrainian forces in the field. This is a first for Russia since the start of this war, and an ominous indication on what is coming.
WNU Editor, we appreciate your journalistic freedom, especially given your personal background. Truly so. But it's past time to admit that Russia is way, WAY, out of bounds here. Yes, atrocities have probably been committed on both sides. But Russia is so far out of bounds, in every sense, that there's no longer any room to pervaricate! It's time to call a spade a spade. Russia is the "bad guy" here, and what they're doing in Ukraine is nothing short of crimes against humanity. Regardless of their excuses.
ReplyDeleteLets redo this.
DeleteThe Ukrainians are way out of bounds here. Thier behavior to ther own citizens in the donbass and the burning of perple in Odessa was un conscionable. Thier official mandates of outlawing the Russian language after year's of usage was truly Racist blah blah blah
No the Russias are not clearly at fault. You still do not understand that this war is the fault of the west and their
machinations of 2014.
Now you have Slavs putting bayonets into each other.
Wake up
2.34. WNU Ed needs to admit nothing.. He's simply reporting on
ReplyDeleteevents happening around the world and makes comments when he sees fit. Any opinions he may have will always be disagreed with some of his readers.
Delete^ i luv it when misfit fred blathers away
ReplyDeleteyo. asshole. this is fred and i have NOT commented. You remain a mommy's little brat.
ReplyDeleteYou need to buy sandbags and surround your house with them Fred. Otherwise, the next high tide may inundate your hovel sweeet hovel.
ReplyDeleteMore Russian troops means more Russian targets for precision weapons. That means a large death toll if Ukraine gets the weapons. It needs cluster warheads for its HIMARS. It needs more field artillery and shells. It needs more land mines. It needs more drones. Escalation of weaponry is the game. Finally it needs the long range version of HIMARS to deny Russia freedom of movement 100 miles inside the border of Russia.
ReplyDeleteWesley Clark was a DC general who never led large military campaigns. He’s just a shill.
ReplyDeleteNATO and the U.S. have exhausted their ammo supplies and don't have the industry to keep up. Whereas the Russians do and have been slaughtering the Ukrainians with artillery, etc. Ukraine has fought bravely... but trouble is on the horizon
ReplyDeleteWesley Clark is a Democrat politician. Of course he is a know-nothing shill and basturd.
ReplyDeleteKnow people who served with him. Your assessment is close to the mark. Everything he says is suspect
Delete'Whereas the Russians do'
ReplyDeleteIs this why the russian are buying artillery shells from North Korea?
Russia is largely self sufficient at this point... that's the first I'm hearing of any major North Korean support. Though it wouldn't surprise me, they maintain their arms but don't feed their people. Chinese involvement wouldn't surprise me either but they have their own problems
ReplyDeleteKIM WRONG UN North Korea is ‘smuggling ammo to Russia to bolster bloodbath in Ukraine’
ReplyDeleteThe Sun Headline is clickbaitish. Fact stand that Russia is or did get shipments of North Korean ammo.
Kim Jong Un got some horses in addition to cash.
Russia is in trouble, which does not preclude Ukraine being in trouble. Russia is recruiting convicts and soccer hooligans. That is a mixed blessing for Russia. It tamps down on violence in the civil sphere, but that tamping is temporary. I wonder about the convicts. Assuming or knowing some of them survive combat, what percentage will get better and which one will be worse?
Will Russia do to convicts what they did after WW2?
Another issue is societies mostly ignore returnees in peace time and war.
Friendly reminder that the singular fake story (in a western rag no less) about Russia buying shells from North Korea has faded off into the memory-hole, without any further substantiation or evidence. Meanwhile western pro-Ukrainian outlets are running stories every single week about how NATO is unable to procure enough shells to donate, and they've resorted to asking the AFU to simply fire less.
ReplyDeleteIronically the latest attempt to source old discount shells for Ukraine was from none other than South Korea. Might explain the insecure projection about Russian/North Korean shells.