Julia Musto
Fox NewsFri, 27 May 2022 17:49 UTC
© AP Photo/Markus SchreiberUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy displayed on a screen as he addresses the audience from Kyiv on a screen during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Monday, May 23, 2022.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday that while Ukraine was not eager to have a dialogue with Russian President Vladimir Putin, his country has to face the reality that communication will likely be needed to end the war.
"There are things to discuss with the Russian leader. I'm not telling you that to me our people are eager to talk to him, but we have to face the realities of what we are living through," he said in an address.
"What do we want from this meeting ... We want our lives back ... We want to reclaim the life of a sovereign country within its own territory," he said.
Zelenskyy
noted that Russia did not seem to be ready for peace talks.
On Thursday, the Kremlin said that it expects Ukraine to accept Russia's demands and "the understanding of the real situation that exists de-facto."
Russia's assault on Ukraine has not let up and its military on Friday pounded the last Ukrainian strongholds in a separatist-controlled eastern province of Ukraine.
Ukraine's foreign minister warned that its forces would not be able to stop Russia from gaining control of Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk without more foreign weapons. The cities are the last areas under Ukrainian control in Luhansk.
In Donetsk, Russian-backed rebels claimed Friday to have taken control of Lyman, however there was no immediate confirmation of the claim from Ukrainian officials.
Zelenskyy has
accused Moscow of pursuing "an obvious policy of genocide."
"Pressure on Russia is literally a matter of saving lives," he said. "And every day of delay, weakness, various disputes or proposals to 'appease' the aggressor at the expense of the victim is new killed Ukrainians. And new threats to everyone on our continent."
The leader noted that Russia's
offensive in the Donbas could leave communities there uninhabitable.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), there have been 3,998
Ukrainian civilians killed in the conflict and 4,693 injured.
However, the actual figures are believed to be considerably higher.
Comment: RT reports on one part of
Ukraine's reality:
Russian forces in Donbass outnumber Ukrainian soldiers by 7 to 1, an ABC reporter has said, citing a Zelensky spokesman
A number of analysts have doubted how the claim could be possible, given that, officially, Ukraine says it has more than 7000,000 soldiers available. The Russian total is believed to be less than a third of that figure.
Nevertheless, Moscow has never officially revealed the total number of troops involved in what it calls a special military operation in Ukraine. Before the conflict began, however, Western media and officials made some estimates about the number of military personnel Russia had amassed on Ukraine's borders. A week before the conflict broke out in late February, the US said that Russia had between 169,000 and 190,000 troops in the region. In mid-February, Estonian intelligence put that number at around 150,000.
The figures revealed by Nikiforov put earlier statements made by Zelensky into question. Last week, the Ukrainian president said that Kiev had "700,000 people" under its command. "So, what you see is the result of the work of 700,000 people who are fighting and defending our territory," he told the broadcaster Ukraine 24.
Zelensky's aide, Alexey Arestovich, has also described the situation on the frontlines in Eastern Ukraine as "critical" for the Ukrainian troops. According to the high-profile presidential adviser, Ukraine has "lost" to Russia when it comes to the pace of accumulating reserves.
"We are lagging behind and that makes the situation on the frontlines extremely dire," he said in an interview that aired on Wednesday. Arestovich added that he believes Russian troops might once again make advances in Ukraine's north and mount an offensive in the south.
Nevertheless, the Empire intends to fight to the 'last Ukrainian', in a bid to create
another Afghanistan for Russia. However, Moscow learned its lesson well, and will not allow itself to maneuvered into another quagmire. The number weapons the U.S. and its allies pour into the country will make no difference, as all major supply routes to the east of the country are now interdicted. Plus, Russia has been methodically destroying weaponry even before it makes it out of the eastern warehouses.
The Biden administration is preparing to step up the kind of weaponry it is offering Ukraine by sending advanced, long-range rocket systems that are now the top request from Ukrainian officials, multiple officials say.
The administration is leaning toward sending the systems as part of a larger package of military and security assistance to Ukraine, which could be announced as soon as next week.
Senior Ukrainian officials, including President Volodymyr Zelensky, have pleaded in recent weeks for the US and its allies to provide the Multiple Launch Rocket System, or MLRS. The US-made weapon systems can fire a barrage of rockets hundreds of kilometers โ much farther than any of the systems Ukraine already has โ which the Ukrainians argue could be a gamechanger in their war against Russia.
Another system Ukraine has asked for is the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, known as HIMARS, a lighter wheeled system capable of firing many of the same types of ammunition as MLRS.
"The US intends to discuss the issue of supplying Ukraine with these weapons as soon as next week," Olga Skabeeva, a prominent Russian TV host, said on her high-profile show on the state network Rossiya-1. "At the present moment, the issue is being addressed by the US presidential administration. So now, we are not even talking about tactical weapons anymore, but about the operational-tactical weapons."
She continued: "The US MLRS can launch shells over 500 kilometers. And if the Americans do this, they will clearly cross a red line, and we will record an attempt to provoke a very harsh response from Russia."
The issue of whether to supply the rocket systems was at the top of the agenda at last week's two meetings at the White House where deputy Cabinet members convened to discuss national security policy, officials said. At the heart of the matter was the same concern the administration has grappled with since the start of the war-- whether sending increasingly heavy weaponry to Ukraine will be viewed by Russia as a provocation that could trigger some kind of retaliation against the US.
One major hang-up, the sources said, had been the rocket systems' extensive range. The MLRS and its lighter-weight version, the HIMARS, can launch as far as 300km, or 186 miles, depending on the type of munition. They are fired from a mobile vehicle at land-based targets, which would allow the Ukrainians to more easily strike targets inside Russia.
Ukraine is already believed to have carried out numerous cross-border strikes inside Russia, which Ukrainian officials neither confirm nor deny. Russian officials have said publicly that any threat to their homeland would constitute a major escalation and have said that western countries are making themselves a legitimate target in the war by continuing to arm the Ukrainians.
Another major concern inside the Biden administration had been whether the US could afford to give away so many high-end weapons drawn from the military's stockpiles, the sources said.
Every drawdown from existing inventories involves a review of its potential effect on US military readiness. With the previous drawdowns, the risk has been "relatively low," said Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley on Monday. The military is watching "very, very carefully" to make sure the stockpiles don't drop below levels that create a greater risk, he added.
The concern grows significantly with more capable, more expensive systems of which the US does not have as large a supply, the sources said.
Pentagon officials met with the CEO of Lockheed Martin last week to discuss supply and ramping up production of the MLRS, one source familiar with the meeting told CNN. The meeting was led by the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Bill LaPlante.
The UK is also still deciding whether to send the systems, two officials told CNN, and would like to do so in conjunction with the US.
Stupid is, as stupid does, and the only winners will be the defence contractors when weapons stocks need refilling.
Finally you are listening to the German
JewZionist Heinz Alfred Kissinger. Seems he is the wizard in all this BS over there.