This veteran explains the cabals’ lies on Ukraine
Putin rules out further major strikes on Ukraine for now
There is currently no need for additional large-scale missile strikes on Ukrainian targets, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday.
During a press conference in Astana, Kazakhstan, he explained that the Russian military is now pursuing other objectives, as only seven of some 29 targets designated by Russia’s Defense Ministry were not hit in a bombardment earlier this week.
“But these objects are being finished off gradually. There is no need for major strikes, at least for now,” Putin said.
On Wednesday, Ukraine’s Energy Minister German Galushchenko revealed that about 30% of the country’s energy facilities were damaged in two consecutive days of Russian strikes, according to CNN.
Putin said Moscow does not have the intention of destroying Ukraine as a country, and the current situation is a response to hostile actions taken by Kiev. He explained that if Ukraine had not blocked the water supply to the nearly two and a half million people living in Crimea, Russian forces would not have had to enter the country to open it back up.
“If they hadn’t done this, there wouldn’t have been other counteractions,” the President noted, adding that the recent attack on the Crimea Bridge is now also forcing Moscow to “think ten times” about how important it is for Russia to establish a link with Crimea across Ukrainian territory.
Asked whether or not he regretted the decision to launch a military offensive against Ukraine, Putin stressed that “everything that is happening today is unpleasant, to put it mildly.” Nonetheless, the Russian leader insisted that “all of this would have happened a little later, but only in worse conditions for us,” arguing that Moscow’s actions were timely and correct.
Russia sent troops into Ukraine on February 24, citing Kiev’s failure to implement the Minsk agreements, designed to give the regions of Donetsk and Lugansk special status within the Ukrainian state. The protocols, brokered by Germany and France, were first signed in 2014. Former Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko has since admitted that Kiev’s main goal was to use the ceasefire to buy time and “create powerful armed forces.”
In February 2022, the Kremlin recognized the Donbass republics, which have since joined the Russian Federation, as independent states and demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join any Western military bloc. Kiev insists the Russian offensive was completely unprovoked.
US Sending $725 Million More in Weapons to Ukraine
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a meeting with the U.S. secretary of state in Kyiv on Sept. 8, 2022. (Genya Savilov/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
The Department of Defense (DOD) has announced that the United States will provide $725 million in additional security assistance to meet Ukraine’s “critical security and defense needs” as it battles a Russian invasion.
”This authorization is the Biden Administration’s 23rd drawdown of equipment from DoD inventories for Ukraine since August 2021. The United States has delivered unprecedented security assistance to Ukraine and will continue to work with allies and partners to ensure Ukraine has the support it needs,” said an Oct. 14 DOD press release.
As part of the assistance, the United States will hand over 23,000 155mm artillery rounds, 5,000 155mm rounds of Remote Anti-Armor Mine (RAAM) Systems, 500 precision-guided 155mm artillery rounds, and additional ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS).
Ukraine will also receive 5,000 anti-tank weapons, over 200 High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWVs), High-speed Anti-radiation missiles (HARMs), small arms and over 2,000,000 rounds of small arms ammunition, and medical supplies.
Since January 2021, the United States has committed over $18.2 billion in security assistance to Ukraine, of which $17.6 billion was spent after Russia invaded the country in late February. Since 2014, the United States has spent more than $20.3 billion on Ukraine’s security.
The DOD announcement follows Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s meeting with defense ministers from almost 50 nations at the Ukraine Defense Contact Group this week in which the leaders committed to providing the war-torn country with necessary security assistance.
Spain has committed to offering four HAWK launchers to boost Ukraine’s air defense while Germany has delivered the first of four IRIS-T air-defense systems it has promised to Kyiv.
Ukraine’s Cost of War, NATO Application
During the recent Second Ministerial Roundtable Discussion for Support to Ukraine in Washington, D.C., IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva praised Ukrainian authorities for having done “an impressive job” in managing the country’s economy at a difficult time.
Ukraine’s financing needs are expected to remain strong throughout the year. “The external financing requirement will remain large as long as the war is ongoing. Our current thinking is that the financing requirements will be around US$3–US$4 billion per month in 2023,” Georgieva said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has appealed to international donors for more contributions. The country is in need of around $38 billion to $55 billion to cover the estimated budget deficit next year.
Meanwhile, Deputy Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Alexander Venediktov has warned that admitting Ukraine into NATO could trigger a World War III.
On Sept. 30, Zelensky announced that his country has applied to join the NATO military alliance. The application came after Russia annexed four partially occupied Ukraine regions of Kherson, Luhansk, Donetsk, and Zaporizhzhya.
