Last week (December 19–25), the gas pump country decided to grow the army, develop a nuclear triad, and build a Union State with Belarus, with a joint military group and an air defense system.
At the same time, putin advocated for the rapid end of the war and the protection of people who "feel part of russian culture." He admitted that the forced increase of fighting at the front leads to unjustified losses. Therefore, he said, russia will act more carefully – "chicken is pecking a grain at a time."
On the other hand, the United States increased their military assistance to Ukraine by providing the Patriot missile systems. The Kremlin is going to "crack" these systems, and complains that Biden and Zelensky will not listen to russia's concerns.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping, in a meeting with dmitrii medvedev, called on russia to negotiate with Ukraine, and Iran threatened Zelensky for accusing them of supplying drones to the russian federation.
Every week, russia confirms its terrorist core by persistently attacking Ukraine's energy infrastructure. The difficult situation also prevails in the occupied territories, where the "russian space" has led to destruction and suffering. The deplorable situation is recognized even by the headmen of the so-called LPR/DPR, who ask for money from putin to "save face" in front of the population.
Ill-fated russia is making excuses for the protracted war in Ukraine
Last week, russia again publicly declared their intentions to end the war as soon as possible, but did not take any steps to do so. Instead, the kremlin removed all barriers to the creation of a Union State with Belarus. They do not spare any money for the army and set a goal for 2023 to continue the "special operation".
On December, 19, vladimir putin visited Belarus, where he discussed with alieksandr lukashenka the integration cooperation within the Union State.
"I would like to say that I am happy about the successful implementation of 28 sectoral integration programs developed in the context of the fulfillment of the Treaty on the Union State. This is a very good move forward, a good pace," said putin at a joint press conference with lukashenka in Minsk.
He also said that "russia supplies Belarus with oil and gas on very favorable preferential terms, which confirms the privileged nature of our partnership." This confirmed the status of the russian federation as a gas pumping country.
Some time later, at a meeting with putin, the Secretary of State of the Union State of russia and Belarus, dmitry mezentsev, said that "today, fundamentally all restrictions on the projects of the Union State have been removed, which previously could be implemented only in the field of education and culture."
Of course, there was also cooperation in the defense sector. vladimir putin confirmed that there is a russian-belarusian regional group of troops operating on the territory of Belarus that runs combat coordination activities; and there is a unified air defense system created and operating. Also, russia will train belarusian pilots on the aircraft with special combat units.
According to the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Oleksii Danilov, putin demands that belarus directly enter the war with Ukraine: "The russians will now move heaven and earth to force Lukashenka to participate in this. We will see what decision will be made shortly. We are preparing for any developments.”
Of course, putin's press secretary, dmitry peskov, denied everything, but no one forgot his words that "Russia has never attacked anyone throughout its history" which he voiced on the eve of the full-scale invasion.
In addition to involving Belarus into the war, russia decided to increase its own army to 1.5 million people, and the age limit for conscripts up to 30 years, to improve the fighting capacity of the nuclear triad, and create a military grouping in the northwest of russia because of the accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO.
"We do not have any restrictions on funding. The country and the government give everything that the army demands, everything," putin said at a meeting of the board of the russian Defense Ministry. The Minister of Defense, sergey shoigu, identified the priority for 2023 as "to continue conducting a special military operation until the mission is completed."
Oleksii Danilov believes that russia is now putting everything on the line. "We understand that to date, the capacity of the russian army to defeat us in open combat is not available. They are now trapped in a dead end. And a rat trapped in a dead end is the most dangerous. We are preparing very actively for the next month, or two, or three, which can be decisive in this moment, "Danilov said.
Despite russia's attempts to intensify the war, putin is doing a lip service claiming a rapid end to it. At the meeting with russian journalists, he said that russia wants the war to end as soon as possible.
"Our goal is not to push the flywheel of military conflict, but, on the contrary, to end this war," putin said, calling the war the war for the first time.
He acknowledged that the intensification of hostilities resulted in unjustifiable losses.
"Chicken pecks a grain at a time," putin described the new tactics of fighting at the time when Ukraine's defense forces had already liquidated 100,000 russian soldiers.
The commander-in-chief of the russian army also changed his audacious rhetoric about denazification and demilitarization. He said that he considers the Ukrainian people brotherly, and the primary goal of russia is to protect.
"Our primary goal is to protect people, I repeat, the people who feel part of our nation, part of our culture," putin said. "All conflicts, all armed conflicts will eventually end in some kind of negotiations on the diplomatic track – and we have never refused from it. Those were the leaders of Ukraine who prohibited to conduct negotiations," he added.
Obviously, such rhetoric of the kremlin's strategist did not quite appeal to russia’s population. Soon after, dmitrii peskov explained putin’s words and said that russia had a significant success in demilitarizing Ukraine, and the completion of "SMO" will come when the goals of the russian federation are achieved.
Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War believe that putin wants to absolve himself of responsibility for the protracted war in Ukraine. “The statements are part of the kremlin's consolidated effort to justify putin's expensive military activity to the russian audiences who get to sacrifice increasingly more to achieve the kremlin's unrealistic goals.”
putin is going to “crack” Patriot's and sends medvedev to the Celestial Empire
On December, 21, Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, visited the United States of America, where he met with Joseph Biden and spoke in Congress. The visit consolidated the unwavering support to the Ukrainian people from the United States.
Ukraine received new military assistance, including the Patriot air defense system, which russia rushed to declare as weak and outdated. At the same time, dmitry medvedev went to China, where he also discussed the war in Ukraine.
Advisor to the Head of the Presidential Office, Mykhailo Podoliak, neatly described Zelensky's visit to the United States: "The United States has finally secured the base: russia must lose, there will be no compromises such as the "territory in exchange for a pseudo-peace," Ukraine will receive all the necessary military assistance, russia's "talk to us" tantrum is of no interest to anyone."
"We return from Washington – we are bringing some good results. Something that will really help. When we say "patriots" in Ukraine and in the United States, we equally mean the protection of the state and the people. This issue has been resolved for Ukraine. The financial support is also available. There are other arrangements, too, " Zelensky summarized the trip.
The event certainly made the terrorists respond. russian president's spokesman, dmitrii peskov, said with regret that "nothing has been said by Biden and Zelensky about any potential willingness to listen to russia's concerns."
maria zakharova went further and acrimoniously trash-talked the President of Ukraine:
"V.O. Zelensky is their "son of a bitch", that is why he is allowed to do anything. Moreover, he is not just a "son of a bitch" but also their tool in countering our country, "she said at the briefing of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of russia.
Patriot systems are the long-awaited aid to Ukraine, which will deprive the terrorist state of its main tool – the missile attacks on infrastructure.
Spokesman for the Air Force Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Yurii Ignat, is certain that Patriot will help to create a layered system of air defense.
Patriot systems will prevent putin from forcing Ukraine to surrender, so he immediately began to claim that the russian military would destroy them.
"And as for Patriot, it's quite an old system. It doesn't work like, say, our S-300... So their effort will go in vain: it's just a protraction of the conflict, that's all... They can place Patriot there. Okay, let them do it – we’ll crack the Patriot, too," he said.
At the same time, dmitrii medvedev went to China to discuss bilateral cooperation and the war in Ukraine with Xi Jinping. At the meeting, the Chinese leader called on the rf to negotiate with Ukraine.
"China hopes that the relevant parties will be able to remain rational and composed, conduct comprehensive negotiations and resolve mutual security problems through political methods," he said.
However, in order to achieve its goal in a bloody war, russia is only capable of terrorism, and political methods of solving problems are not inherent in the criminal russian regime.
russia brings chaos and death
Everything touched by the russian federation turns into a disaster.
The humanitarian, social, and economic crisis in the occupied territories cannot be concealed even by the self-proclaimed republics of Donbas. In addition, there are weekly attacks on the critical infrastructure of Ukraine.
According to Ukrainian Prime Minister, Denys Shmyhal, russian terrorists will leave no stone unturned to leave Ukrainians without power supply by the New Year.
On December, 16, rocket fire left 22 million Ukrainians without electricity supply. Earlier last week, russia launched the most massive attack by Iranian drones on Ukraine's critical infrastructure. Although the aggressor did not achieve its goal, several drones still hit the power system of Ukraine causing a dire situation – in 10 Oblasts, emergency power cuts were applied.
In addition, one of the drones flew near the nuclear facility at the Pivdennoukrainska NPP, which is "an absolutely unacceptable violation of nuclear and radiation safety," the press service of the Atomic Energy Agencysaid .
“These are the Shaheds from the new batch that russia received from Iran. 250 units – this is the total number of "Shaheds" that have been received by the terrorist state ", – reported Volodymyr Zelensky. However, the fact that Iran is supplying russia with fighter drones has never received a proper international response.
The head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba, accused the UN of inaction – the organization failed to send a mission to investigate the use of Iranian drones by russia.
"The supply of Iranian drones to russia violates the UN Security Council resolution of 2015, which consolidates the nuclear agreement with Iran," said Kuleba.
vasily nebenzya, the in the field of mosquitoes and Russia's envoy to the UN, responded to that: "Kyiv did not provide Tehran with any bilateral confirmed facts of the use of Iranian drones by russia." However, russia's poisonous presence in international security bodies will not be eternal because Ukraine is preparing to launch a political process to deprive the terrorist state of its seat in the UN Security Council.
At the same time, Iran denies the supply of fighter drones to russia and threatens Zelensky in general – after the President of Ukraine drew the attention of the US Congress to Iran's criminal complicity in missile terror.
“Zelensky should know that Iran's strategic patience with such groundless allegations is not without limits,” said Nasser Kanaani, spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, adding that Iran has always respected the territorial integrity of all countries, including Ukraine.
Against the background of ongoing missile terror, another cynical and false statement was made by sergei shoigu at the extended meeting of the board of the russian Ministry of Defense: "russian troops continue to destroy military targets, to carry out massive high-precision attacks on the military control system, enterprises of the defense and industrial complex and related facilities, in particular, energy facilities."
The russian army is able to fight only with electric transformers or obliterate Ukrainian cities, and then hoist the tricolor on the ruins. "Look at russia's offensive, what they leave behind where they bring their flag. Scorched earth, destroyed life... Pain, ruins, and graves make up the so-called "russian world". This is what our heroes are stopping, ”– Volodymyr Zelensky commented on what he saw during his visit to Bakhmut.
The terrible consequences of the "russian world" were felt by the "liberated" settlements. At a meeting with putin on December, 20, the self-proclaimed heads of the so-called DPR and LPR admitted that the situation remained difficult.
pushilin said that in Donetsk, Makiivka, and Horlivka, water was supplied for two hours every three days. There is a lot of destruction in localities, in particular in Mariupol, where people are staying at temporary accommodation sites. Due to forced mobilization, there are not enough utility services workers.
In Luhansk oblast, according to leonid pasichnyk, most of the miners went to the front, and the coal industry became unprofitable.
Coal is extracted in the so-called "rathole mines" that are illegal, so the head of the "republic" asks for money from putin to pay salaries to keep the face before the population.
There are no specialists in the region who can establish communication and the Internet. All this is public and official information. Instead, the real picture could be even more disastrous.