RUNNING UPDATES ON THE CONFLICT IN UKRAINE - 13.03.2023
Including geopolitical issues affecting the balance of power in the ongoing end game war to establish our common future, a closely monitored prison planet or tolerance for diverse modes of governance.
THE ROAD TO THE ULTIMATE CONCLUSION OF WORLD WAR III RUNS THROUGH HERE.
*** BAKHMUT IS FALLING. HOW MANY MORE WILL DIE FOR IT? ***
…………
“Ukraine. What is the truth...?
Why won’t western media tell both sides…?”
***
VIRTUALLY UNREPORTED ATROCITY IN LUGANSK, 2nd JUNE 2014
A lot has been said about atrocities in the western media claimed to have been perpetrated by the Russians, for example at Bucha and Mariupol among others. These assertions are conveyed on the say so of the Ukrainian authorities. How willing though are western news broadcasters to convey atrocities attributed to the Ukrainians? The following will I think provide the answer.
If anyone wonders if they are receiving accurate coverage of the conflict in Ukraine I would suggest watching the video below of an event which occurred on the 2nd of June 2014 and ask themselves if they recall hearing about it on any mainstream media news channel at the time.
The video is harrowing to watch. The bodies (five women and three men) are real. Yet across western media there was only one single news report that occurred a day later. This was from CNN and occurred only because a CNN team happened to be nearby at the time of the atrocity and so the network could hardly ignore it as all others so obviously did.
The video below shows the unvarnished truth that was not considered newsworthy in western mainstream news.
THE SINGLE WESTERN MSM REPORT ON THE LUGANSK ATROCITY, 3rd JUNE 2014
The video at the CNN link below is the crime scene sanitised by CNN, though played straight with honest reporting on the scene not playing things to Kiev’s tune.
(There was a time early in the war in the Donbass when CNN were not afraid to contradict the Ukrainian regime in Kiev.) Watch because it's the first and last time you will see this.
5 women and 3 men died, all civilians.
Air attack on pro-Russian separatists in Luhansk kills 8, stuns residents.
…………
Lead feature:
Latest update on events within Ukraine by Alexander Mercouris of ‘The Duran’.
Russia Advances Bakhmut Slaviansk, Ukraine Delays Counterattack, Kremlin Only Military Solution.
Latest update by Brian Berletic of ‘The New Atlas’.
Ukraine's Possible Bakhmut Counteroffensive + What Poland's Military Build-Up Means.
iChongqing
FOUR possible ALTERNATIVES | To End The War in Ukraine.
With Brian Berletic Cyrus Janssen & Alex Reporterfy.
DANNY HAIPHONG
The Duran: Iran & Saudi Peace BIG WIN for China as Ukraine DESTROYS NATO's Credibility.
THROUGH THE EYES OF...
SCOTT RITTER ON GEORGIA, BAHMUT, XI JINPING -ZELENSKY TALKS, AND WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN THE WAR ENDS...
JUDGE NAPOLITANO - RAY MCGOVERN
The Two CIA's. Fmr CIA analyst Ray McGovern.
THE DURAN
Foreign agents and protests in Georgia.
Kiev regime continues shelling Donbass residential areas. Aftermath of the strike on Perevalsk, LPR
LEVAN GUDADZE
Update-Ukraine, Xi Jinping heads to Moscow, Tbilisi annoyed by Kiev, UK vs. RF, India - Oil, Oscars.
DIALOGUE WORKS
What does Putin mean to Russia | Scott Ritter & Ray McGovern.
REDACTED
Oh SH*T, more banks fail as Biden authorizes Fed and FDIC takeover | Redacted with Clayton Morris.
Putin and China just launched the GREAT RESET on the west with this move | Redacted News.
U.S. Tour of Duty
Scott Ritter on misguided demonstrators in Georgia.
PROFESSOR JOHN J MEARSHEIMER
The U.S. is DESTROYING UKRAINE.
HistoryLegends
BAKHMUT WAS A TRAP
COLONEL DOUGLAS MACGREGOR
NATO Will Only Back Off When Ukraine Is Completely Destroyed.
A Massive Aggressive Onslaught.
acTVism Munich
China sidelines US and forges diplomatic ties btw. Iran & Saudi Arabia | Prof. Kuznick.
JEFFREY SACHS
Beginning of the end.
SCOTT RITTER
UKRAINE: THE ZELENSKY LINE HAS BEEN A VERY HARD NUT TO CRACK.
ShanghaiEye魔都眼
Ukraine crisis: More civilian casualties in Donetsk shelling; Ukrainian soldiers mock real combat.
RealTruthTalk
Nord$tream Pipeline$ Fanta$y
Geopolitical Economy Report with Ben Norton
China brokers Iran-Saudi peace: big blow to petrodollar, geopolitical game changer.
RICHARD MEDHURST
China Proves Diplomacy Can Win: Saudi Arabia & Iran Resume Ties.
Li Jingjing 李菁菁
Saudi Arabia & Iran restore ties after brokered by China | Discussing the importance and impact.
U.S. Tour of Duty
Scenes from the Evolution Ep. 27: Special Guest Tim Kirby Russia.
usefulidiots
Monday Mourning with Katie Halper and Aaron Maté.
DEEPIN MOMENTS
Rejecting expensive US energy, German people demand NATO fix pipeline to restore Russian gas.
ASIAN QUICKTAKE
NO MORE ALLIES! 4 Nations Sell massive U.S. Debt, Saudi Arabia Dismantles PETRODOLLAR.
CGTN
China's people-centered economy, BRI keep inspiring people around world.
FIRSTPOST
Saudi Arabia - Iran Truce: America Gets A Reality Check | Vantage with Palki Sharma.
LINE FLUX
CHINA and BRICS slams US to Submission point | US Dependency yoke broken.
SOUTH AFRICA touts JAMIACA joining BRICS+
BREAKING POINTS
China WARNS US Policy Will Lead To Conflict.
Antiwar News With Dave DeCamp
China Brokers Iran-Saudi Normalization, US-Ukraine Unity Is Cracking and More.
TFIGlobal
#TheNewWorldOrder : US and Europe were happily ever after...until China showed up.
THE CONVO COUCH
SVB Collapse & Economic Consequences, HUGE Shift Iran-Saudi Peace via China, Signals West Decline.
The destruction of the anti-aircraft missile system of the Armed Forces of Ukraine "Stormer HVM".
Donetsk airport battle.
CGTN
Chinese premier: Achieving GDP target at around 5% requires redoubled efforts.
LIU SIVAYA
😱 NO ME LO PUEDO CREER: la OTAN se acaba de despertar, le preocupa que Rusia consiga su armamento.
acTVism Munich
Ehem. CIA-Offizier McGovern über die Ukraine & Nord Stream vor dem UN-Sicherheitsrat.
Article published by Russia Today (RT) - 13th March 2023:
US-Ukraine relationship ‘cracking’ – Politico.
Vladimir Zelensky is ungrateful for Washington’s support and his war aims are unrealistic, officials have told the news outlet.
The US and Ukraine are increasingly at odds over how Kiev intends the conflict with Moscow to continue, and eventually end, Politico reported on Sunday. President Joe Biden’s insistence that Ukraine will decide when to seek peace might not remain “tenable” for much longer, US officials reportedly believe.
Ukraine’s refusal to abandon the encircled city of Artyomovsk (Bakhmut) has caused some Biden administration officials to worry that it is “expending so much manpower and ammunition” that it could be unable to mount a counteroffensive against Russian forces elsewhere, Politico claimed.
Although the Pentagon has suggested that holding the city is not strategically important for Ukraine, “Kiev has, for now, ignored Washington’s input,” the report stated.
The dispute over Bakhmut’s value has been reported by US media already, but it is just one area of disagreement highlighted by Politico. President Vladimir Zelensky’s attitude towards military support from the US is another. While the US has given Ukraine tens of billions of dollars worth of weapons out of a $113 billion fund, Zelensky has repeatedly demanded more.
“There have been grumblings about the constant requests and, at times, Zelensky not showing appropriate gratitude,” Politico wrote, citing two anonymous White House officials.
Biden has repeatedly stated that the US will keep American weapons flowing into Ukraine “for as long as it takes,” and that Kiev alone will decide when to sit down to peace talks with Russia. However, officials reportedly worry that Zelensky’s promise to capture Crimea – which voted to join Russia in 2014 – will only “extend the war,” and could trigger “a dramatic escalation from Moscow.”
Politico’s report is not the first indication that Washington doesn’t back Zelensky’s plans for Crimea. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley warned in January that attacking the Russian peninsula would be “very, very difficult,” while the Pentagon has reportedly been telling Congress that Ukraine lacks the capability to launch such an operation in the first place.
“Biden continues to stick to his refrain that the United States will leave all decisions about war and peace to Zelensky,” Politico wrote. “But whispers have begun across Washington as to how tenable that will be as the war grinds on.”
Ukraine’s decision-making has also been called into question by US intelligence agents, who told the New York Times last week that a “pro-Ukrainian group” was behind the September 2022 attack on the Nord Stream gas pipelines. Although the spies stressed that Zelensky’s government was not involved, Politico claimed that the Biden administration has signaled to Kiev that “violence outside of Ukraine’s borders will not be tolerated.”
The New York Times article contradicted earlier reporting by journalist Seymour Hersh, which blamed the explosions on the Biden administration and CIA. Moscow described its publication as a “coordinated hoax” aimed at shifting blame away from the US and toward Ukraine.
MAPPING/ANALYSIS CHANNELS
* Updates will be added here as and when they become available.
MILITARY SUMMARY UPDATE
Ukraine. Military Summary And Analysis 2023.03.13
KEEP IT SECRET NEWS UPDATE
Ukraine Russian War, Rybar Map, events and analysis for March 11-12, 2023 The First for Donbass.
NWE WAR REPORTS UPDATE
Russia Captures Krasnohorivka | Launches NEW Attack North of Bakhmut.
DEFENSE POLITICS ASIA UPDATE
No update posted so far today
DPA WAR UPDATE
WAGNER ENTERS ORIKHOVO-VASYLIVKA FROM BELOW; Danger ard Ivanivske [ Ukraine SITREP ] Day 382 (12/3).
THETI MAPPING UPDATE
No update posted so far today
WAR IN UKRAINE UPDATE
Ukraine: military situation Mar 11-12, 2023.
BALKAN MAPPING UPDATE
Ukraine [13 March 2023] 'Today'.
MILITARY AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS NETWORK UPDATE
Battlefield Ukraine Russia Masses Forces.
RYBAR UPDATE
Rybar military highlights of special military operation in Ukraine 11-12.03.2023.
M MAPPING UPDATE
No update posted so far today
WEEB UNION UPDATE
Wagner STORM Azom Steel Plant As They're Expecting 40000 Strong Ukrainian Counteroffensive 13/03/23.
Detailed situation reports can be found on a daily basis concerning events in Ukraine over the past 24 hours at the ‘A SKEPTIC’ Substack account:
Link to 'A SKEPTIC' Substack channel.
***
SUPPORTING SCOTT RITTER
I've been listening to Scott Ritter describe how things are for him and I suspect have been for him for quite some time now.
He has been doing a LOT of unpaid work with a great many interview requests coming in that he has been ready and willing to agree to. But the work where receives some pay for have suffered due to this, being left until the wee small hours of the night to complete work on.
Scott, I think you will agree, has been one of the most influential voices out there on Russia and Ukraine.
I was moved by Scott's words to take an annual subscription to his Substack account that he runs in coordination with his colleague on 'U.S. Tour of Duty', Jeff Norman. This is the main way that Scott recommends to help him with finances with which to upgrade his delivery of comment on Russia and Ukraine, via a better microphone etc. and perhaps the creation of a recording studio in his basement to create a more professional and impressive look. To invest in these things he would like to be sure that this has a viable financial future.
Would you also like to help by subscribing at one of the various levels to Scott's Substack account? I hope so. If so the link is here:
Below you'll find the edited part of the video where Scott talks of his commitments to get the facts out on events in Ukraine and of the finances that would come in handy to enhance their delivery:
***
VICTORY BELONGS TO RUSSIA: IT IS ONLY A MATTER OF TIME
Each day that passes makes a conclusive Russian victory in the Donbass and beyond more certain. As Russia bolsters her forces, and weaponry, those of Ukraine decrease. Russian forces gain ready access to rest and recuperation as troop numbers increase. The increasingly exhausted and demoralised Ukrainian troops have an ever decreasing prospect of such respite. This situation is likely to bring them to complete breakdown as Russia unleashes the firepower of the more modern and advanced weaponry that is arriving with the newly mobilised Russian troops.
The various Ukrainian offensives are now weak when confronted by the reinforced Russian lines. A few futile efforts achieve quite miserable results before fire reigns down on the Ukrainian troops and they are forced back to their starting positions.
And now, all this being said, we have arrived at the wet, and later, freezing conditions where these pathetic Ukrainian forces will be subject to myriad forms of abject misery with death and injury all around them while they lie sodden or frozen, abandoned to their fate by Kiev.
The pitiable young and old of Ukraine have been frogmarched to their deaths as cannon-fodder while the bestial elites of the collective West urge their "president" to add more to their number there at the gates of Hell and their doom. We must feel for the majority of them as they are not the Nazis we revile, in most part they are decent men, fathers, sons, brothers, husband and uncles, who no doubt saw through the coup of 2014 for what it was. But sadly, their fate seems sealed.
Nothing will stop Russia now. Every factor favours them. Victory will be Russia's. In Donbass and beyond and in due course across the world.
Victory belongs to Russia: It is now only a matter of time.
UPDATES TO BE ADDED HERE AS AND WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE OVER THE NEXT 24 HOURS.
UPDATES TO BE ADDED HERE AS AND WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE OVER THE NEXT 24 HOURS
UKRAINE: THE ZELENSKY LINE HAS BEEN A VERY HARD NUT TO CRACK
That’s what it has been named, ‘The Zelensky Line’. It runs from Siversk in the north down through Soledar to Bakhmut and south then to the heaviest Ukrainian defenses of all, opposite Donetsk City.
The so-called Zelensky Line consists of a mass scar of trenches over a thousand kilometers long that from the air appear as myriad zig-zag stitches dug into the land, a modern mirror image of World War I battlefields.
Dugouts buried deep below the surface provide multiple places of refuge when the Russian military bombard with up to 6,500 missile attacks per day. In and around all this are solidly built buildings and bunkers that can stand huge punishment as they consist of reinforced concrete, the most common construction material in the time of the Soviet Union.
All along this line, built continuously over the eight years since the Russian-speaking Donbass rose up against the collapse of democracy in Ukraine that came with the insurrection on Kiev’s Maidan Square, heavily armed troops in huge number stand ready to repel the Russian military. Provided with training over this period and some of the most modern weaponry available the Ukrainian military had a huge initial advantage and even now, after over 12 months of conflict they still put up a fight.
However, the Zelensky Line is now showing distinct signs of buckling. Opposite Donetsk City where Ukrainian artillery daily shell the civilian population of the city the Russian military has recently punched a hole in the line at Pisky and is now threatening to surround Avdeevka. Further south still Marinka is also in the process of being liberated.
The tactics of the Russian forces are to pummel all along the line with incessant multiple missile strikes for as long as it takes to decimate the majority of resistance before moving forward to occupy the freed-up territory, mopping up any remaining resistance and position their artillery for the barrage of the next target. This is an inexorable process of incrementally grinding down the vast barriers that run all along the border of the region known as ‘The Donbass’.
The Russian Meat Grinder as it has come to be known is incessantly eating into the rock-solid defences it is encountering while its long distance missiles hit a variety of targets all across Ukraine. Fuel and ammunition dumps, barracks, factories, supply lines and train depots/control centres and much else. Fire control is established over road after road denying the Ukrainian military reinforcement or resupply.
Every once in a while activity picks up and rather than a kilometer or two’s progress Russia’s military moves quickly to take towns and large swathes of land surrounding them. All movements across the 2,000 kilometer long battle line coordinated in ever-evolving strategies, the most frequent being the creation of cauldrons. A cauldron is formed when a town or city is surrounded on several sides with all access roads and train lines under fire control. At this point all hopes of defending such a town or city are lost.
Most of the time however, a slow, grinding war of attrition is being fought with the vast preponderance of gains being made by the Russian military with sporadic gains by the Ukrainians which more often than not are of a very temporary nature and can even indicate a withdrawal by the Russians to lead their enemies into a trap where they are swiftly dealt with.
It is a bloody business where mass carnage is commonplace, this has been especially so in the latest period of the conflict stretching back around a week from the writing of this commentary. Ukraine has been losing a great many troops on a daily basis. The average is surely running at more than four hundred per day currently and the injured many times this number.
The Ukrainian authorities have recently raised the call-up age to seventy. This fact alone speaks volumes for the attrition rate among its troops. Every able-bodied man appears to be at risk of being frog-marched immediately into the military. If they are lucky they may get a few weeks training. Most of the NATO-trained troops have been eliminated, either killed or rendered incapable now of combat. Those who take their place can surely be little more than cannon-fodder sent to face Russian troops given regular rest and recuperation behind Russian lines, rotated every couple of weeks.
Bakhmut is falling as you read this. It is only a matter of time now until it has been cleared of Ukrainian troops. The only remaining question is how many of them will run away, how many will surrender and how many will die.
Just as soon as the Zelensky Line collapses once and for all, a nut finally cracked by the relentless and utterly inexorable pressure exerted by the combined forces of the Russian military.
And then…?
And then we reach the final phases of Russia’s campaign, the taking of Kramatorsk and Slavyansk, the last stands of Ukrainian forces in the Donbass… leaving the road clear all the way to the Dnieper River… and beyond.