Published by dreizinreport on March 27, 2022
- Ukraine defeated in southern Kharkov,
- Huge Russian redeployment under way,
- The Donbass and Mariupol,
- The biolabs,
- Death squads pursuing dissidents,
- ISIS TYPE VIDEO: UKRAINE NOW SHOOTING PRISONERS ON CAMERA
- Ukraine posting everything online is about to bite them HARD
- Poland mobilizes for intervention,
- Every American will pay the sanctions price,
- Putin makes Europe his bank,
- NPC’s for the Ukraine,
- Russian volunteers incoming,
- Ukraine famine on the way
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The end is in sight
As I wrote several weeks ago (email edition, prior to this website), the Ukraine war will be decided in the Donbass. Don’t get distracted by Kiev, where the foreign reporters are. It’s almost irrelevant for now. The Ukrainian army group in the Donbass is (was) half of all Ukrainian ground forces, and by far the more combat-capable half. As I’ve said, just the Donbass group alone had more firepower than the entire British army.
After it is gone, Russian and Donetsk/Lugansk forces will have operational freedom to advance at any point(s) of their choice along a 200-plus mile north-south axis in east-central Ukraine; the country east of the Dniepr river will be indefensible.
Southeast Kharkov
The fight for Izium in southeast Kharkov province has decisively swung to Russia.
There are still several under-strength companies of Ukrainian infantry blockaded in the southern portion of the city or its environs, however, on Friday or thereabouts, their intended relief in the form of up to three battalions backed by artillery was largely broken up and killed or dispersed and driven off by Russian forces, reportedly assisted by multiple OTRK Iskander guided ballistic missiles and TOS-1 Solntsepiok (“sunbake”) thermobaric MLRS-launched rockets as well as conventional artillery.
Russian forces have since taken some points south of Izium and are further reconnoitering the area; resistance further south appears to be minimal or ineffective. There is evidence that Ukrainian “territorial defense” militia has been sent from Dnepropetrovsk to help stem the tide in the open country. If this is the case, it is a sign of desperation as the militia are not fit to stand against an army outside of the cover of an urban area.
(The below video titled “DHL van” shows an unusually well-dressed, territorial defense militia “migratory mortar” squad, using one of six DHL delivery service vans supposedly donated by a regional DHL manager, to drive the mortar around. Most of the militia are not as well-dressed or equipped as these guys.)https://videopress.com/embed/9aBiydai?cover=1&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=1&hd=1Video: “DHL Van”
Most of Izium is now safe enough that Russia can distribute food aid to lines of civilians inside the city; however, these “events” are being held using small trucks or vans so that any given aid run is wrapped up quickly, in case Ukrainian mortar crews get a whiff of it and don’t realize it’s a mostly civilian gathering (assuming they care.) Larger food runs will probably have to wait a few more days.
Izium lies on the road to Slaviansk and is a critical node in the encirclement of the Slaviansk-Kramatorsk agglomeration and nearby points
—which together form the last (but massively strong) redoubt of Ukrainian forces in the Donetsk Peoples’ Republic—as well as the Severodonetsk-Lisichansk agglomeration to the east in the Lugansk Peoples’ Republic, which likewise constitutes the powerful last stand of Ukrainian forces in Lugansk.
To free up strength for the encirclement of what remains of the Ukrainian army group in the Donbass, Russian units have partially de-blockaded and redeployed away from Sumy to the northwest and Nikolaev to the southwest. The forces redeployed from Sumy have been moving through Russia proper towards the Izium area. Fresh forces have also been coming north through the port of Berdiansk (where a Russian cargo ship was set on fire and sunk under unclear circumstances.)
Once Mariupol to the south is cleared out, aside from a small garrison left to liquidate stragglers, most Donetsk forces and Russian army and marines from the city will likewise be deployed northwards. This is in addition to Donetsk and Lugansk forces already slowly advancing on Slaviansk-Kramatorsk and Severodonetsk-Lisichansk from the north, northeast, east, south, and southwest, as the case may be.
We’re talking possibly over 80 battalions of Russian and Donetsk/Lugansk forces that are either now or will soon be completely encircling what remains of the Ukrainian army group in the Donbass, which (as of the commencement of large-scale hostilities) numbered 80 thousand men with hundreds of tanks, a thousand-plus other armored vehicles, and hundreds of tube and rocket artillery fixtures. It is estimated that close to half of this force has already been killed, wounded, taken prisoner, or has (probably this accounts for by far most) deserted and fled.
Thanks to Uncle Sam’s eyes in the sky, the Ukraine is aware of the above-mentioned movements, but can’t do anything, other than to withdraw its forces, which it won’t do, as they would be partly destroyed from the air en marche, and partly so disorganized and lacking in munitions and heavy equipment as to not be effective in establishing another defense line around Dnepropetrovsk to the west.
For Kiev, it is preferable that they die on site, in their fortress cities, so as to buy time for a miracle, or World War 3, or whatever Jesus Zelensky and his regime may be hoping for. They are the sacrifice. (World War 2 history buffs can draw some parallels.)
Hence, the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency is like Magenta in The Rocky Horror Picture Show—“In another dimension, with voyeuristic intentions, well secluded, I see all”—and, like Magenta, the U.S. only observes and can’t do anything; it has no active role at all in this particular theater of the war. All the Javelins etc. that could be sent here, have already been sent.
While Russia reduces Ukrainian forces in the Donbass, U.S. generals and colonels (and so on, down the chain) continue to enforce the vaccines, white guilt therapy, and various pronouns on their own respective commands. To each, his own.
The Donbass
The Ukraine’s extensive, deeply-layered defense in the Donbass is being mashed and broken in, one hedgehog or defense line at a time. Every town or village taken by Donetsk forces is an absolute mess of destroyed homes, sliced-up trees, abandoned trenches or bunkers, wrecked Ukrainian equipment, Ukrainian bodies, and the weapons and munitions, disorganized piles of supplies, and trash that the Ukrainians left.
The Donbass war is not what Americans think of as a 21st century war. This is a World War 2 type conflict, with two well-equipped, capable, real armies fighting each other for control of towns, villages, and fortifications.
Seeking to pin down Ukrainian forces while moving to encircle them from the west, as well as to reduce artillery fire against Donetsk city and nearby areas—casualties are constant and “seemingly random”, such as the bodies (**do not watch if you are easily disturbed**) in the below video titled “Donetsk victims” —, Donetsk forces, with support from their own and Russian artillery as well as Russian airstrikes, have finally broken through the painstakingly-engineered, heretofore-impenetrable first line of defense around Ukrainian-held Adveevka, just north of Donetsk city. https://videopress.com/embed/e4IPBzHH?cover=1&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=1&hd=1Video:”Donetsk victims
In the field, Donetsk forces have seized at least one Pion (“peony”) ultraheavy self-propelled cannon that was previously aimed at their positions outside Donetsk; see the picture titled “Pion.” Another Pion was seized at a repair base, I had the photo but it got lost in the mix. Other such cannon in this battery (among other batteries) were likely destroyed from the air. The point is, the Ukraine’s artillery menace against the Donetsk city area is being neutralized.
(Note the Ukrainian trident symbol inside of an Imperial-era German “iron cross” painted on the side of this cannon. This is very similar to the emblem of the Ukraine Security Service, the local successor to the Soviet KGB. Modern Ukraine loves its German/Nordic-inspired symbols and imagery, in line with the post-2014 trend towards a forced and artificial but nonetheless complete break with all Russian/Soviet history, symbolism, and nomenclature, as if the Ukraine has more in common with Germany than with Russia. I’m not even getting into much detail about the “Death’s Head” patch of Nazi Germany’s 3rd SS Panzer Division, worn today as an adornment—whether optional or required—by thousands of Ukrainian servicemen and militia members (see the below photo titled “Death’s Head” for an example.))
The below video titled “Mar’inka 1” gives you a taste of combat in the Donetsk town of that name, which has seen very intense fighting for some days now. The drone view at the beginning of this video shows the outskirts of town, with a slag heap in the distance.
**CAUTION:** Roughly at the middle of this video, there are five Ukrainian bodies shown, some in horrendous condition. **Do not watch if you have a “weak stomach.”** https://videopress.com/embed/LWJWQXqA?cover=1&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=1&hd=1Video; “Mar’inka 1“
The below video titled “Mar’inka 2” provides a longer version of the aerial footage in the prior video. No bodies, but the destruction is awful. https://videopress.com/embed/64atfHNY?cover=1&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=1&hd=1Video; “Mar’inka 2”
**CAUTION: NOT GRAPHIC, BUT MORE BODIES**
The below video titled “Rubezhnoe”—which would violate the Geneva Conventions prohibition on using dead servicepersons for propaganda purposes, if the Lugansk People’s Republic was a signatory—shows seven or eight Ukrainian bodies in a field and a nearby copse, near the Lugansk town of Rubezhnoe, part of the Severodonetsk-Lisichansk agglomeration which is now substantially surrounded by Lugansk forces. The “narrator” indicates that these deceased were with a unit of National Guard (under the Ukraine’s Interior Ministry), which includes the Azov regiment and is a smaller, politically-vetted, sort of “political backup” army within the Ukraine’s force structure. It seems they may have been gunned down while retreating. Of course, the best thing in these situations is to drop flat on the ground and wait and then try to surrender—from the ground—if or when approached. https://videopress.com/embed/vREzcti1?cover=1&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=1&hd=1Video:”Rubezhnoe“
I included the above video to show the degree to which the Ukrainian body count in the Donbass is racking up (and the vast majority of the dead are not on video)… whereas all these accounts of thousands and thousands and thousands of dead Russians—where are they? They’re not there. You’ve got to question what you are reading in the MSM.
Granted, while not even remotely approximating the death toll for the Ukrainian army group in the Donbass, Donetsk and Lugansk losses are now high enough that their commands have stopped reporting their body counts. It is likely that total combined dead for the two regional armies (including Donetsk KIA in Mariupol) is now over 600, with several times that number wounded and at least temporarily out of action. However, since Donetsk and Lugansk are constantly “taking the field”, you don’t see it.
The Ukrainian KIA figure (including in Mariupol), while not entirely knowable, is certainly many times higher, and then there are the Ukrainian prisoners as well as a very large number of stragglers and deserters.
What’s interesting is that at least the Donetsk army is much larger and more capable than had been let on during the low-intensity Donbass war that simmered for years prior to last month. Including demobilized healthy veterans who must have been called back to action quickly, as of late February, Donetsk alone (not including Lugansk) likely had at least 30,000 combat arms personnel in the first echelon, if artillery, air defense, and all special police / police commando units are included.
Mariupol
The below videos titled “Prisoners 1” and “Prisoners 2” show the same scene (from different angles or perspectives) of seven Ukrainian servicemen who were detained by rear-echelon Donetsk reservists while trying to escape by road from Mariupol and towards Ukrainian-controlled territory. Hundreds of others trying to escape in this manner have been detained or liquidated; probably a much larger number have made it out successfully. https://videopress.com/embed/8uG1KiNa?cover=1&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=1&hd=1Video:”Prisoners 1″
https://videopress.com/embed/o0qCjP9V?cover=1&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=1&hd=1Video:”Prisoners 2″
There is a lot of fake reporting around Mariupol. No, Russia is not trying to kill civilians. The population of Mariupol is not aiding in the city’s “defense”. The population in the conflict is in practice, powerless and neutral, but in principle is overwhelmingly Russian or identifies as Russian or as closer to Russia. Russia is not trying to destroy them. In fact, probably about five percent of Donetsk military personnel are originally from Mariupol or its environs.
The civilians are completely irrelevant to what each armed side hopes to do to the other.
As a soldier, shooting at a target that you know to be a civilian target, is a risk because (1) you are wasting your attention, time, and ammunition on something that’s no threat, and (2) you are potentially giving away your position for no good reason. Either (1) or (2), or (1) and (2) together, can get you killed. Likewise, if you are directing aviation or artillery support, you don’t waste time and munitions bombing random places that your scouts have not pointed out to you—if you do, you’re depriving your own “ground-pounders” of fire support where they need it, which may prove deadly for them, and you won’t keep your job for long.
So, again, if you hear from outside observers that one or another side is “systematically” targeting civilians on a large scale, or is laying down “indiscriminate” fire, well, sure, there are some sadists and rapists out there, but mostly it’s bunk, it’s just garbage from unthinking idiots who don’t know anything, and just parrot the BS.
The civilians are like trees, they are unnecessary props. One may be totally indifferent to trees, one may shed no tears for the trees, but no sane, normal person looks at a tree and deliberately targets it.
What the Mariupol defenders (the Azov regiment and some Ukrainian regular army units) did was to take up firing positions in civilian homes, to include high rise blocks, and tell the residents to get the hell out; typically, the residents would go hide in the basements or cellars.
Then, the advancing Russian and Donetsk forces would take fire from such a position, identify its source, and aim tank fire or other means against the given window or floor or building, neutralizing the cause of the trouble, such as the poor schmucks who died and remained in the stairwell in the below video titled (CAUTION, BODIES, NOT FOR THE FAINT-HEARTED) “Mariupol apartment block.” https://videopress.com/embed/ieOqq1kG?cover=1&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=1&hd=1Video:”Mariupol apartment block“
(DISTURBING, WATCH AT YOUR OWN RISK, NOT FOR THE FAINT-HEARTED: This is not to say that the Azov regiment—which accounted for the bulk of Ukrainian forces in Mariupol—are nice guys just because they probably don’t go out of their way to target civilians. Video below labeled “Basement” shows what’s said to be a basement at a Mariupol school, where the Azov had a base. There are a number of uniforms on the floor, suggesting that their owners changed into civilian clothes to flee the city. On the floor, there is also a female corpse in civilian clothes, with a large SWASTIKA drawn in blood on her stomach; presumably the blood is her own. Most likely, she had been detained for aiding the Russian/Donetsk forces, or some such crime. But remember, Brandon said there’s no Nazis in the Ukraine because they have a Jewish president, it’s all good!!!)https://videopress.com/embed/pZ2UoEfN?cover=1&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=1&hd=1Video:”Basement”
Absolutely nothing was done to feed or otherwise take care of the civilians, because the municipality was run by Ukrainian ideologues handpicked by Kiev, who answered to Kiev and not the locals. In fact, the mayor disappeared, and then it turned out, he got out of town before the door was slammed shut with the siege. Now he’s talking a good game from the comfort of his Zoom, telling our MSM how bad the Russians are—and the MSM eats it up. He could care less about “his own people.”
The Biolabs
Russia has released what seem to be authentic captured U.S. documents indicating that among the work of the U.S.-funded biolabs in the Ukraine, was the testing of 400 and 4000 Ukrainian soldiers, respectively, for antibodies to Crimea-Congo fever and regional hantaviruses, not to mention looking for anthrax spores in soil at livestock graves.
As I mentioned in a previous message to my mailing list, the U.S. or U.S.-funded biolabs in the former USSR (with the “flagship” being near Tbilisi, Georgia) were always intended and used to study LOCAL diseases and their transmissibility and pathogenicity in animals and/or humans.
This does not make it good or bad; it just shows that the labs are meant to study diseases NOT present in, or endemic to, the USA. To what end? How does it help us? I don’t know, but Uncle Sam wastes a lot of money, every way he can, and perhaps this is just another way. That’s the most generous explanation. Another explanation would be, “Any biological program that receives military funding, is a military biological program.”
Extrajudicial detention and torture
The below photo titled “Dissident” is reportedly of a self-identified communist in Dnepropetrovsk, who had a political “rap sheet” dating to the Russian Spring of 2014, and who was recently paid a visit and detained by guys who feel that he didn’t pay enough for his anti-state activity at the time. Again, this is “reportedly.” It’s just a photograph, so I can’t say anything for sure, other than, I know it’s recent and from the Ukraine.
What’s certain is that many, many hundreds of people across the Ukraine, people with “political records”, or those who were known as having traveled to Russia and been too close and friendly to Russians, have been extrajudicially detained by the territorial defense militia or some thugs, beaten/tortured, and some fraction have disappeared.
Something like this happened to thousands of persons after the failure of the Russian Spring throughout southern and eastern Ukraine in 2014; now it is echoing on a smaller, less-organized scale. (To be fair, some of the Russian Spring muscle was also quite nasty, but that side lost everywhere except in part of the Donbass, and—nasty or nice—the ones in Ukrainian-held territory were all made to pay.)
The police have not gotten involved, as many of the thugs have AK-47’s whereas most police only carry pistols (and the SWAT teams are busy with the war), not to mention that the police in the Ukraine tend to stay out of the politics, and never protect the politically incorrect.
I’m not going to show video of Ukrainian torture of Russian prisoners. Some really sick stuff came out on Saturday—A WOUNDED PRISONER BEATEN TO DEATH, PRISONERS SHOT IN THE LEGS, ALL ON CAMERA, AND THE F***ING MORONS PUT IT ONLINE!!!
If they can do anything to their own people, well, in the wrong hands, a captive invader has nothing to look forward to. Why do they put this stuff on the Internet, you ask?
This is what happens when Uncle Sam and the MSM let you know that you can get away with ANYTHING; they just won’t show or talk about it; it’s off-limits, taboo. In this regard, Russia is Donald Trump (they’ll dig up everything, and invent what they can’t) and the Ukraine is the Biden family.
What the abusers are too dumb to realize is, these videos get around inside Russia and, well, see the “Russian volunteers incoming” section, further down.
Not to mention, Tucker Carlson will be talking about this very soon.
“Divergence” in Intelligence (and the Polish angle)
Initial MSM accounts of Pentagon and “intelligence” views on the war, were that Uncle Sam views the situation as very poor for the Kiev regime. (Remember the “Kiev is going to fall within 3-4 days” nonsense—that was not going to happen, it was never a Russian goal; the goal was to pin the Ukrainian command down near Kiev and leave the door open to potentially take the capital later.)
Sometime around March 10th (give or take a few days), within the span of about 36 hours, everything changed and it became “Russia is in trouble.” Both extremes are incorrect. Russia is a steamroller, and the Ukraine had no chance after it failed to implement any coherent defensive or counteroffensive strategy in the first days of the war; however, the “bipolar” (manic-depressive) assessments have been ridiculous.
At this time, “intelligence” (regarding the Ukraine’s ability to hold out, win or no win) being fed to Anglo-American leadership is too rosy (for the Ukraine) and is relying almost 100 percent on Ukrainian claims, while the mainland Europeans are getting a very different, more realistic picture. The latter is closer to being correct. Mainland European officials expect Russia to wreck what’s left of the Ukrainian army and basically decide the war by mid-April. (I think this is too early; I am calling it for the end of April.)
This is probably why Poland has been preparing its 18th Mechanized Division for deployment, and desperately begging NATO and the European Union to bless its proposed “peacekeeping” intervention to establish a protectorate in western Ukraine—the Poles know that time is limited.
(Incidentally, a former/retired chief of Polish ground forces told a Polish tabloid that Russia’s Kaliningrad province—ripped off from Germany after War 2—is rightfully Polish and should be taken. He doesn’t speak for the government, but this gives you an idea as to what the media is selling the public over there, day in, day out. It’s not enough for them now just to pose against Russia; Poland’s leadership is getting a whiff of becoming an empire again, like before the 1700’s.)
When Russia reaches the entire east bank of the Dniepr river, it will be able to turn the full attention of its air and missile forces to western Ukraine, whereas now, there is still a chance for Polish forces to cross the border and not get destroyed before establishing themselves and mixing in with the urban landscape and population. So, it seems they know, time is short.
The Non-Player Characters (NPC’s)
Once a week, I drive a few blocks of Queen Street in Alexandria, Virginia, the stretch closer to the Potomac river. This antique residential area is heavy with lobbyists and senior officers at government contracting firms. It’s normally very expressive in terms of flags and signs. The most recent time, I counted six full-sized Ukrainian flags in the span of two blocks. They had all appeared in just one week, since I last passed through. There were also many American flags, as usual. Not one house with a Ukraine flag, had an American flag on it.
In prior months and years, the Ukraine fans would have displayed BLM or rainbow flags or signs. Now, the Ukraine is “the thing.” In as little as a few months, the thing will be something else. That’s our Democrats for you. Let’s all mask up and get vaccinated for democracy in the Ukraine!
The head of the VA, the Government agency where I work my day job (and which I don’t represent or speak for in any capacity whatsoever), sent out an email saying if anyone is stressed out about the Ukraine situation because they know someone over there (LOL, we have 400,000-plus employees and I doubt even 1500 have anyone close in the Ukraine), or who has “died for their country” over there (I’d be surprised if we have five employees who know anyone killed by the Russian army)… they can call the suicide crisis line, or if they’re an eligible veteran, they can see a VA shrink or whatever.
It seems like something they just had to say, based on the daily call that all agency heads or their chiefs of staff have with the White House. You know, “Here’s the daily message, get it out.” It wasn’t like this under Trump (or Obama, for that matter), but everything is hyper-political now. If it’s a trendy, pet cause, they can’t pass it up, they have to highlight their wokeness to it, one way or another.
YOU will pay for the Russia sanctions
Brandon is now talking openly about “food shortages” and how the price of Russia sanctions will be borne by EVERYONE (including you.) This is straight-up going off the rails.
Now, Republicans will have to come up with some talking points to blame this on Brandon canceling the pipeline, or on bureaucratic red tape, or the Secretary of Agriculture’s incompetence, or whatever. What else can they do? No one wants to climb down from the roof and say the sanctions are dumb, and they’re a choice, and it’s our foreign policy that’s killing us, we’re basically sanctioning ourselves. That kind of talk is taboo, it’s outside the “Overton Window.” No one “respectable” can say it… yet. (Give it a few months.)
As I’ve said for months (ever since I saw the war coming), every American working household will pay for “standing up to Russia”, because “not standing up to Russia” is not an option, because when it comes to a choice between your well-being on the one hand, and the turf, ego, careers, and cashflows of the foreign policy establishment and military-industrial complex on the other… Well, I’m sorry but that machine’s gotta get fueled and lubed. You’re a very distant second.
How many Americans did the politicians, bureaucrats, and MSM kill by demonizing, censoring, and withholding Hydroxy[CENSORED] and Iver[CENSORED] (which worked very well for me and people I know)? Now, can we expect them to give a damn about $5 milk, or about depriving your kids of meat or whatever? Not likely. You can just go and die.
They lined up behind Big Pharm, and now—this time, with the Republicans fully on board—they’ve lined up solid behind the War-and-Empire Agenda. They don’t run this show for you. Thanks for your vote and your $20 donation.
Putin judo-drops the sanctions
As a Machiavellian “prince”, not bound by fickle, short-term democratic pressures, Putin knows how to bide his time, and then act suddenly, forcefully, but calmly when it’s called for. He has pulled a master move by promising a very fast renegotiation (one-sided, if necessary) of all gas contracts with “unfriendly” countries, forcing them to pay for Russian gas in rubles, on the force-majeure grounds that these countries have frozen much of Russia’s foreign currency reserve and thus, Russia can’t keep taking payment in currencies it can no longer use. (Who can argue with that?)
Comments from Europe range from condescending to incredulous to panicked. “This can’t be serious. Where will we find the rubles?”
You’ll find them in Moscow, geniuses. You’ll need to find some smaller banks to work with, as the big ones are sanctioned. Which means you won’t get the best rates, and/or there will be other transaction costs or inconveniences.
It’s not a threat, it’s happening, and it will be effected (as per Putin’s stated timeline) this week, although of course each customer has its own payment schedule, so the full impact will be felt a bit later. All that new demand for Russia’s currency will spike it, possibly lifting the ruble above where it was when the sanctions hit, in which case, Russia would literally be profiting from the sanctions.
In effect, foreign buyers of Russian gas will be acting in the capacity of Russia’s central bank, stabilizing and lifting the ruble.
(It was also made clear, this is a “pilot”—Russian uranium and other non-oil commodities and related goods may be next.)
When this was announced, the ruble rallied hugely, but then dropped somewhat in the following days, once it was assessed that Russia can’t be serious and the Europeans won’t go along. Let me tell you, they have no choice, they will go along. Germany’s finance minister said, rather weakly, he doubts that gas-buying companies will go along, but he didn’t rule it out, and certainly didn’t say it was verboten.
If need be, Russia can afford to play “chicken” for a week or two, cutting the gas flow while prices double overnight and then double again. It can’t lose.
What’s also funny, the brain trusts at Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, the thinktanks, etc., have said for decades that the Russian economy’s biggest problem is eighty or a hundred billon dollars a year leaking out of the country, because the rich want to get their money to London, Cyprus, or Switzerland. Well, that’s not a problem anymore. Now, there’s hardly any way out. It’s a massive, free (though not immediate) recapitalization of Russia’s banking system.
Russian volunteers incoming
Recognizing that local authorities and police in most Russian-controlled areas (outside of the Donbass) have either evacuated to Ukrainian-controlled areas, or else are too afraid—of consequences, should Russia leave—to cooperate with the invader (even just to come to work), the Kremlin has, belatedly, finally accepted that more bodies are needed to perform basic security and humanitarian functions.
Thus, draft boards across Russia are now signing up eager volunteers. Any “Category A” (no limitations), no-criminal-record, Russian male of draft-eligible age can now volunteer to be sent to the Ukraine as part of a paramilitary militia force. It is likely that tens of thousands will be mobilized and sent to the Ukraine within the coming weeks, or in April, anyway.
Ukraine famine
There will be almost no large-scale planting or harvest in the Ukraine, outside of areas under Russian control. Among other problems, the Kiev area and everything east of the Dniepr (whatever’s outside of Russian control at present) is more-or-less out of diesel as of right now, today. The agricultural center and west of the country—where Russia is less likely to advance—will be soon. Russia has bombed the diesel (which runs not only tractors but all military vehicles, which are no longer moving in most of the country), and any new supply would have to come from where it normally does, that is, Russia or Belarus.
There will be no harvest, and there will be hunger as of this coming winter if not much sooner.
If the Poles, Slovaks, etc. don’t start shooting people at the borders, there will be millions more refugees into Europe, people just looking to eat—and keep in mind, the Poles, Slovaks, etc. must eat, too, and things aren’t looking too good, globally.
This could have been avoided by just committing in writing to not include the Ukraine in NATO, and to nudge Jesus Zelensky to fulfill the 2014-2015 Minsk Accords by giving autonomy to Donetsk and Lugansk.
But, that would have involved “looking weak” and “giving in to Russia”—and so now, a large country is being permanently wrecked, and God only knows how many infants and helpless old people will starve to death—for those pretty talking points so popular in Washington, DC and in the MSM (to include most of Fox.)
“The posturing has a price”—we and the entire world will pay it, but some more than others.
