The Saker web site reports rebel forces in total control of Debaltsevo. It cites Russian sources saying about 1,000 troops didn’t surrender.
Sputnik News reported Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) military spokesman Eduard Basurin estimating about 3,000 junta troops remaining.
Rebels intend simply waiting them out to succumb to hunger, cold and recognition that continued fighting is futile. They can’t last much longer. They’re virtually out of ammunition and food.
Debaltsevo represents the “catastrophic collapse of combat capability of the junta forces,” said The Saker. It’s why Poroshenko is desperate for Western help. He wants NATO doing his fighting for him.
Kiev’s military is a spent force. The Saker said it reached its “breaking point.” Debaltsevo represents a Ukrainian Stalingrad. Engaging rebels head-to-head assures more catastrophic defeats.
Especially since Ukrainian conscripts don’t what to wage war on their own people. Rebels are determined to prevail in their freedom struggle from fascist rule.
It’s just a matter of time before conflict resumes full-force. Perhaps this time with US-led NATO doing Kiev’s fighting.
Poroshenko Bloc MP Vadim Denisenko urged NATO air strikes on rebel held areas. The Alliance “is very slow in acting,” he said.
Only now are there public discussions about Kiev’s open secret. Washington and other NATO countries have been supplying heavy weapons throughout months of conflict covertly.
On Tuesday, Putin said “(a)ccording to our information,” Western countries are already delivering arms.”
They accomplish nothing but more death and destruction. The don’t change the balance of things on the ground.
Supplying more heavy weapons means “(t)he result will remain the same as it is today.,” Putin stressed.
“(T)his is an inevitability, since the vast majority of the personnel of Ukraine’s armed forces, in my opinion, has no desire to participate in a fratricidal war, far away from their own homes, while the Donbas militia have the great motivation of protecting their families.”
“(T)he next step will obviously be air strikes,” said Denisenko. Maybe by spring. “(T)here is no possibility for a political compromise on the matter of solving the conflict in eastern Ukraine.”
“(A)ll that’s left to do is to formally declare (full-scale) war.” Junta forces need all the help they can get. A previous article said they’re outmaneuvered, outsmarted, outfought and soundly defeated.
Obama so far wages proxy war in Ukraine. Once Congress authorizes unconstrained use of military force, will he deploy US troops to Donbass?
Will he order air strikes on rebel held areas? Will he pressure other NATO countries to wage war? Will he end up ravaging and destroying another country? Will millions more Ukrainians be affected?
Poroshenko’s call for Western peacekeepers is a thinly veiled request for NATO help.
Kiev’s national security and defense council wants it. NSDC head Akekandr Turchinov said “(w)e hope (parliament) will support this this decision regarding an appeal to the UN and EU on the deployment of a peacekeeping contingent to Ukraine.”
Its parliament is rubber-stamp. Fascist regimes operate this way. Turhinov wants NATO forces positioned along the entire demarcation line as well as so-called “uncontrolled” parts of the Russian/Ukrainian border.
Imagine US and other NATO combat troops deployed meters from Russian territory. Imagine hugely flashpoint conditions.
Turchinov ludicrously calls it a way to “provide real steps for the peaceful settlement of conflict in Ukraine.”
Poroshenko says it’s “the most effective and optimal solution…” Deploying peacekeepers requires Security Council authorization. Russia justifiably expressed opposition.
Moscow’s UN envoy Vitaly Churkin said Poroshenko’s proposal indicates a “lack of determination” to observe Minsk II provisions.
“I think it’s a little bit disturbing, because they just signed the Minsk agreements on February 12,” said Churkin.
“And the Minsk agreements provide for” OSCE monitors only. “There is nothing about the UN or European Union.”
“So for them to start talking immediately about something else…I think instead of coming up with new ideas they should really work harder on implementing what they agreed on.”
Poroshenko and Turchinov proposing Western combat troops in Donbass masquerading as peacekeepers flies in the face of wanting real conflict resolution.
On February 18, Foreign Policy (FP) published a report explaining Kiev’s military dire state.Ukrainian youths reject war, it said.
They’re “making themselves scarce.” Growing numbers ignore conscription notices. A young man identified as Roman said he’s “against every war, but especially this (one) because it’s meaningless.”
It was “created artificially. The Ukrainian mass media helped this along by spreading this patriotic hysteria.”
Earlier, Ukrainian military sources said 85,792 summoned for service in 13 regions last year didn’t report as ordered.
“Now young men with views like Roman’s are on the run as the government tries to stem a rash of reported draft dodging and is cracking down on anti-war sentiments,” said FP.
Mass avoidance of service “raised questions about whether Ukraine will…be able to recruit the manpower it needs to defend itself against (nonexistent) Russian aggression.”
The Big Lie persists despite clear evidence debunking it. FP operates like other media scoundrels. Presstitution is national MSM affliction.
Truth-telling on issues mattering most is strictly verboten. Big Lies substitute ad nauseam.
FP blames Russia and rebels for US planned, implemented and directed Kiev aggression against its Donbass citizens.
It said nothing about lawless putschists running things. Neo-Nazis masquerading as democrats. Fully supported by Washington. Jointly planning their next moves against rebels wanting freedom from fascism.
Poroshenko serves at Washington’s discretion. His days may be numbered. Obama officials, Kiev hardliners and militant oligarchs may want him replaced.
Rumors circulated last September after earlier defeats. Talk was about replacing his fumbling administration with new leadership.
It surfaced again as junta forces faced defeat in Debaltsevo. The German publication Der Tagesspiegel discussed it.
Saying “in Kiev…an open power struggle (rages) between” Poroshenko and prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk.
When Poroshenko announced Minsk ceasefire terms, “some of the large Ukrainian TV channels turned away.”
“Even the 5 channel (he owns) did not show his speech.” Observers see an ongoing power struggle he may lose.
Ultimately things will be decided in Washington. Obama installed Poroshenko. He’s a convenient US stooge. If no longer useful, he’s out.
Yatsenyuk is a Washington favorite. He’s virulently anti-Russian. He wants Donbass freedom fighters crushed.
Perhaps he’ll be Ukraine’s next president – tasked with waging greater than ever full-scale aggression on his own people.
Maybe this time with US-led NATO help? Will Ukraine be another Libya?
Will Obama use congressionally authorized unconstrained war-making powers to unleash US-led NATO force like before?
Will Southeatern Ukraine be ravaged and destroyed in the process? Will millions more Ukrainians be harmed? Countless thousands killed or maimed. Enormous greater numbers displaced.
How much more criminality will Obama add to his rap sheet in his remaining 23 months in office? He’s already a war criminal multiple times over.
His lust for mass slaughter and destruction appears insatiable. Perhaps he’ll attack Russia after Ukraine.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at [email protected]. His new book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.” http://www.claritypress.com/
