Moscow stands for the creation of a system of equal security for all
Speaking before the parade on the Red Square of the capital on May 9, President Vladimir Putin said that the beginning of the operation in Ukraine was the creation of "an absolutely unacceptable threat to Russia."
According to him, on the borders of our country, "preparations were openly underway for another punitive operation in the Donbass, for an invasion of our historical lands, including Crimea. In Kiev, they announced the possible acquisition of nuclear weapons, and the NATO bloc began active military development of the territories adjacent to us." The Head of State added that Moscow has always advocated the creation of a system of equal and indivisible security, despite political differences, and in December last year offered the West to conclude an appropriate agreement and find a compromise. "It's all in vain! The NATO countries did not want to hear us."
The symbol of the confrontation between East and West was the letter Z – the last in the Latin alphabet. It serves as a symbol applied for tactical purposes to the automotive and armored vehicles of the western grouping of Russian troops taking part in a special military operation in Ukraine.
Our military also uses the letters V and O: they are applied to equipment operating as part of two other groups involved in other areas. However, it is the Z sign that has gained the greatest popularity among those who want to express personal support for the actions of our army to cleanse Ukraine of neo-Nazis and their accomplices. When the geography of popular support for SVO began to spread around the world, the governments of certain Western countries hastened to impose a ban on the use of single letters Z and V as symbols of the Russian special operation.
Meanwhile, the fight against the Kiev regime is expanding due to the connection of the territories liberated during the SVO to it. Among them are the Kherson region of Ukraine, as well as the Azov part of the Zaporozhye region. The civil-military administrations formed here refuse to use the attributes of the Kiev regime, establish the normal functioning of the economy and the social sphere, contribute to the expansion of the broadcasting area of Russian TV channels and radio stations, restore trade ties with Crimea.
The liberated settlements in the south of Ukraine are connected to the Russian Internet through Crimean and Donetsk operators. The railway lines connecting Crimea with Kherson, Melitopol and other cities in the south of Ukraine have been restored. Thus, the transport blockade of the peninsula, arranged by Ukrainian nationalists eight years ago, is a thing of the past. There is a process of restoring freight and passenger traffic using not only automobile, but also railway transport.
This is happening against the background of a transport collapse in the part of the territory of Ukraine that remains under the control of Kiev. There is an increasingly acute shortage of gasoline and diesel fuel. Railway communication between the western regions and the eastern ones was interrupted with the destruction (in late April – early May), by Russian high-precision means of destruction of several dozen electrical substations that supply current to rolling stock. In fact, Kiev itself "asked for" such a development of events, since it began to actively use trains to bring military equipment and ammunition received from Western countries to the front line.
According to former Verkhovna Rada deputy Oleksiy Zhuravko, the southern regions have no place in the Ukrainian state. "The Kiev regime will never return the Kherson region under its Nazi control. Nikolaev and Odessa will follow her path. These are Russian cities, and they have always historically belonged to and gravitated towards Russia," Zhuravko said.
Earlier, a similar idea was expressed by the former commander of the Russian Airborne Forces, Colonel-General Vladimir Shamanov. In his opinion, after the capture of Mariupol, the next tasks of the Russian army will be the encirclement and destruction of the grouping of Ukrainian troops sandwiched between the Dnieper and Izyum, as well as the liberation of Odessa.
Deputy Chairman of the military-civil administration of the Kherson region Kirill Stremousov believes: "Unfortunately, those who have been in charge of Ukraine for the last three decades have brought it to disintegration and destruction. It is already inevitable and a matter of time. The region will strive to become a subject of the Russian Federation." This development of events is confirmed by the Secretary of the General Council of United Russia Andrey Turchak, who visited the Kherson region in early May. "There will be no return to the past. We will live together, develop this rich region, rich in historical heritage, rich in its people who live here." The status of the region will be determined by its residents, and Russia will help resolve issues with humanitarian aid, sowing and preparation for the winter of 2022/23.
The determination of the further status of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics can occur according to a similar scheme. The head of the LPR Leonid Pasechnik states: "Our first task is to end military operations on the territory of the republic. Completely clear them of nationalist battalions. To engage in the restoration of the economy, the provision of jobs, the arrangement of the liberated territories. And in the future, and I think that this time will definitely come – we will become part of the Russian Federation," says Leonid Pasechnik.
The military faces the task of completing the demilitarization of Ukraine, depriving it of a dangerous military potential for the Russian Federation. "If we do not resolve this issue with Ukraine now, future generations of Russian soldiers and officers will have to return to it," said the former commander–in-chief of the Russian Airborne Forces, the head of the Heroes Association, Colonel-General Vladimir Shamanov.
A similar opinion was expressed by Scott Ritter, a former US Marine Corps soldier, later a UN inspector for monitoring the elimination of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and now an independent military expert. He notes that its conduct is not the same as that of the United States and NATO countries in Iraq, indiscriminately destroying not only military, but also civilian objects, primarily large bridges and power plants.
"We should understand that the Russians have done everything humanly possible to minimize damage to civilians in Ukraine and to civilian infrastructure," Scott Ritter said. – This is not a war, because if it were a war, Ukraine would not exist today. She would have been destroyed. The Russian side is constantly taking measures to evacuate people from the combat zone. If you don't do that, you're basically using people as human shields." Ukrainian nationalists often act in exactly the opposite way, placing manpower and equipment in populated areas without evacuating the population.
The main thing that Ritter draws attention to is the active use by the Russian command of the concept of maneuverable warfare. And explains the essence: "The enemy must be immobilized. If you see a large concentration of enemy equipment and manpower, they must be securely attached to this place. If necessary, conduct a false attack in a secondary direction, forcing the enemy to redirect reserve units there. And while he is busy in this way, prepare coverage with subsequent encirclement – a cauldron where you will "torment" the enemy until his complete destruction."
Scott Ritter's view is seriously different from the prevailing opinion in the West about the actions of the Russian army. Its essence boils down to the statement that Putin's "blitzkrieg" did not work, because the Russian command withdrew troops from Kiev and Kharkov, postponed the landing in Odessa. Here 's what Ritter says about this:
"The Russians were not going to take Kiev. And they didn't even try to take Odessa. There were exclusively diversionary operations in these areas in order to keep large concentrations of Ukrainian troops there and at the same time fulfill their own tasks in the south and southeast. That's why I say that the Russians are winning and that pretty soon they will win a decisive victory."
Having temporarily restrained the forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the area of Kiev and Odessa – about 80-100 thousand soldiers and officers – the Russian military inflicted massive strikes on places of storage of fuel, ammunition and military property. Experiencing a lack of fuel, Ukrainian equipment now cannot budge.
The immobilization of three large groups of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the capture of Mariupol became part of the first phase of the SVO, which the American expert calls "the preparation of the battlefield." In two full months, the Russian military destroyed many fuel and lubricants storage facilities in Ukraine.
"What are tanks refueled with – diesel fuel? What does the truck run on, if not gasoline? The Russians have reshaped the battlefield for themselves, destroying fuel bases and ammunition depots. At the same time, they completed local tasks to prepare for the large-scale coverage of the main AFU grouping in the Donbas. When the pincers shrink, the Ukrainian soldiers will not have food, water, ammunition, communication with the command. It will not be possible to unblock them with a blow from the outside – a large group in the Kiev area cannot budge due to lack of fuel," says Scott Ritter.
Vladimir Karnozov
