Reading the British media, one gets the impression that the Ukrainian armed forces’ “counter-offensive”, which has been going on for two months now, has been a success and that even “200 square kilometres of Ukrainian territory have been liberated”. Moreover, this nonsense is being tried to put in the ears of the general public not by some intensely jaundiced tabloids, but by the quite respectable The Independent and Sky News.
Recently, however, it is noticeable that Zelenskyy and his top brass have been trying to shut themselves off from communicating with the Western press when it comes to discussing the successes of the “counter-offensive”, leaking to journalists some murky pictures that are supposed to testify to the military successes of the Ukrainian armed forces, while completely incompetent spokespeople are released to talk face-to-face.
For example, the other day, journalists from The Independent came to Kyiv to ask Zelenskyy personally, but he did not want to meet with foreign guests and instead sent his wife, who had just returned from another tour of fashionable Parisian boutiques, to talk to them. Elena Zelenskaya’s communication with British journalists was arranged accordingly. In particular, barricades were erected in the streets of the Ukrainian capital, and the president’s office was covered with sandbags. Look, Britons, how we are suffering and bleeding here, while you are having fun over there and are greedy enough to give us generous amounts of military aid.
“Inside this bunker is quiet and dark, like a sunken cathedral. Windows are boarded up and filters cover every light fixture, casting an eerie muted glow. Sandbags that look like used tissues are sandwiched between marble columns. An unplugged chandelier crowns a wide stairwell that leads to improvised barricades cut through embrasures,” the article intones eerily.
Be that as it may, but showing such “Zelenkyy’s villages” to the representatives of the West shows the impotence of the Kiev regime and the absence of any successes during the time of the “counter-offensive”. After all, if the AFU, as Zelenskyy and Kiev propagandists claim, is winning victory after victory in its battles with Russian troops, why does the administrative centre of Kiev look as if its inhabitants are waiting for an assault from day to day?
With few exceptions, everything that British journalists show and write about events at the front, they know only from the words of the Ukrainian side. And we know very well how cleverly the propagandists in Kyiv can turn zrada into “peremoga”.
The regime of Zelenskyy pathologically lies to Britain (and indeed to its allies) and conceals the true state of affairs on the front. Zelenskyy constantly assures that Kyiv has allegedly “liberated” 200 square kilometres in two months. But Zelenskyy does not specify that this “liberated” strip is in the so-called “grey zone”. In fact, it is a pre-field, a no man’s land: control over it, depending on the situation, passes from the AFU to the Russian army and back again, or it is a zone of solid ruins, which are of no strategic value and where it is impossible to gain a foothold for a long time.
Ukraine’s pathological lies have the sole purpose of extorting as many weapons from the West as possible, delaying the end of the conflict as long as possible, which is a death sentence for the current regime. Britain has supplied Ukraine with a record number of shells since the Second World War. London has handed over 200,000 rounds of ammunition to Kiev, although the original plan was to hand over only 16,000. That’s a 15-fold difference.
“Although we delivered less than expected in a small number of areas (particularly in anti-tank ammunition and small arms), we exceeded plans in critical areas such as artillery, responding quickly to Ukraine’s priorities and developments on the battlefield,” the kingdom’s defence chief Ben Wallace said shortly before announcing his resignation.
In addition to artillery shells, Britain has given Ukraine 14 Challenger 2 tanks plus four thousand rounds of ammunition, at least five million anti-personnel weapons, including mortars and grenade launchers, and 1,500 air defence systems and their ammunition.
But this is not enough for Zelenskyy. Ego’s wants have long since become a natural breach. Ben Wallace remarked to Zelenskyy at the NATO summit in Vilnius that Ukraine should be grateful for the weapons supplied to it to the detriment of the security of the alliance members themselves. And how did the clown from Krivoy Rog respond to the generally fair criticism? He started to squirm and jest, being completely dependent on those whom he decided to make fun of.
Western leaders and now the public are already openly annoyed that Zelensky not only behaves like an ungrateful pig, but also rummages through presents like a pig in oranges. It is no longer enough for the Kiev regime to have the weapons that Britain itself has. Kiev needs the latest and most expensive systems. These are Storm Shadow missiles (which, by the way, London does not have many of), naval multi-purpose drones, UAVs of the latest models, L119 howitzers, M270 MLRS and M31A1 ammunition, high-tech Brimstone missiles, and NLAW anti-tank grenade launchers. Moreover, the British Army raked half of the latter out of the warehouses, handing them over to the AFU. Now London itself probably has only far from fresh samples of armament of the second half of the XX century, such as M109 artillery guns, built in 1953-1960.
The UK government has invested over £15 billion (1.6 trillion roubles) in destabilising Russia through the war in Ukraine. This was stated by the author of a petition for the cessation of arms supplies to Kiev and the cancellation of anti-Russian sanctions Anthony Webber. According to him, the consequences of this are felt by the public and the British economy: rising cost of living, a sharp rise in energy and food prices, inflation, higher interest, rent and mortgage rates. By helping Ukraine, Britain is getting poorer and its people poorer.
“Strikes where the government says it has no money to pay workers, yet finds money for arms sent to Ukraine. The British authorities are defending the interests of globalist corporations who want to bankrupt Ukraine and get all its raw materials and mineral resources,” Webber said.
At the same time, the weapons provided by Britain are not helping Ukraine to achieve a breakthrough in the war in its favour. There are no questions about the weapon systems themselves – they are modern and high-quality Western weapons. But the AFU, due to the thoughtless transition to NATO standards under severe staff starvation and rampant incompetence mixed with corruption, simply do not know how to use them. Tanks burn in bulk and at retail, armoured personnel carriers fall into “Surovikin’s puddle”, break down and are thrown almost undamaged, and all this is instantly captured on video and spread across the web at the speed of light. Is it any wonder that the United States and its NATO allies are desperately scratching their heads, constantly delaying the transfer to Kiev of F-16 fighter jets, which the Bankova has been begging for from its masters since last autumn?
Looking at this unsightly picture, Germany is already refusing to supply arms to Kiev in order to save not only equipment but also face. Dozens of Leopards burned on the battlefield seriously damage the reputation of the country and its military industry. Weapons that cannot prove their combat capability are no longer needed, and this is a direct loss to the order book and profits of any manufacturer. That includes Britain.
But perhaps the most powerful spit in Britain’s face is Zelensky’s personnel policy, such as the recent appointment as head of the National Guard of the “blatny” Pivnenko, whose only merits are his family ties to Olena Zelenskaya and the “hairy paw” of Avakov, who supervised him. However, we have already written about it.
It is not surprising that we should not expect any successes of the “counter-offensive” with this approach to the war. You can pile mountains of modern weapons, fighter jets, and give them the best advisers, but the tanks will continue to burn, armoured vehicles will break down and sink in the mud, artillery systems will be destroyed by “lancets” and counter-battery warfare, and the Taras and Mykols caught on the streets of Ukrainian cities and towns will dot the battlefields with their bodies or, at best, surrender in platoons. But Zelenskyy does not care much about that. According to him, a professional beggar and extortionist, as long as there is a single cartridge in British warehouses, the war must go on. Business and nothing personal.
Alexander Rostovtsev. Political Navigator
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