Volodymyr Zelensky wants to provide “a full list of possible targets while allowing the White House to veto any of the potential sites”. Writes Drago Bosnic
The Kiev regime’s pleas to get long-range munitions from the United States seem to have been answered. Although neither side has yet confirmed which type of munitions have been delivered, sources from the Pentagon are suggesting the Neo-Nazi junta is already in possession of weapons that can target Crimea. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Russian, Ukrainian, and Eurasian affairs Laura Cooper confirmed this during a press briefing. However, it seems the Kiev regime forces still haven’t received the ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile Systems), but an updated version of the GMLRS guided rockets [Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System]. Intelligence sources suggest these are not the standard M30 and M31 munitions, but that the US has secretly transferred the new ER-GMLRS rockets. The exact number of these rockets is very difficult to determine, considering that production began only in the spring of this year.
The ATACMS missile which the Kiev regime has been asking for months can hit targets up to 300 kilometers away, while the regular GMLRS rockets (the aforementioned M30 and M31) used by the Kiev regime forces have a maximum effective range of approximately 80 kilometers. On the other hand, ER-GMLRS rockets have an extended range of up to 150 km. The first successful test flight of an ER-GMLRS occurred in March 2021. At the time, Lockheed Martin anticipated it would be able to start production in 2023, but it seems the plans have been accelerated earlier this year. In recent months, there have been several reports that the Kiev regime forces are using some kind of long-range munitions for the US-supplied M142 HIMARS MLRS, the range of which exceeds the capabilities of M30 and M31 rockets. Cooper’s statement is the first confirmation by a US official that such munitions are being used.
The Russian government has warned that such actions will not be tolerated and will be seen as a direct hostile act by anyone supplying such weapons. However, the Kiev regime decided to go a step further. According to multiple sources who have been interviewed by CNN, the Neo-Nazi junta wants to give the US control over which Russian assets would be targeted. The proposal was made in an attempt to receive longer-range missiles, most likely the ATACMS. And while the mainstream propaganda machine claims this is being done to supposedly “avoid escalation”, it would accomplish the exact opposite and cause swift retribution from Moscow. To make matters worse, the Kiev regime frontman Volodymyr Zelensky wants to provide “a full list of possible targets while allowing the White House to veto any of the potential sites.” US media are claiming Zelensky is “hoping the increased transparency will pave the path to Biden authorizing more weapons transfers.”
The troubled Biden administration is claiming it wants the Kiev regime to “refrain from targeting Russian territory”. However, the US and Russia currently have very different views on what “proper” Russian territory is. After the political West staged the 2014 Neo-Nazi coup, the people of Crimea held a referendum and voted to join Russia. Last week, four additional regions (DNR, LNR, Zaporozhye and Kherson oblasts) followed suit. Although the US, UK, EU and the Kiev regime refused to accept the will of the people in these areas, Moscow isn’t interested in the opinions of the political West and will continue with the integration process. The Russian government already confirmed that it views the four regions as its own and that it will respond to any attack on the country’s territory, regardless of who might be the perpetrator.
The US claims it has provided at least 16 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) to the Kiev regime forces and is planning to send approximately a dozen more. The Neo-Nazi junta has already used these MLRS to target residential areas in Donbass and elsewhere in Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, causing dozens, if not hundreds, of civilian casualties.
Moscow gave multiple warnings that this will not be tolerated anymore, while Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov repeatedly stated that if the political West provides the Kiev regime with longer-range weapons, the Russian military will be forced to “expand the scope” of its special military operation. In July, Lavrov authored a piece in which he claimed that NATO was essentially already a party to the conflict and that it was coordinating attacks on Russian units. “NATO instructors and Multiple Launch Rocket Systems aimers are, apparently, already directing the actions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and nationalist battalions on the ground,” Lavrov said.
In addition to regular CIA presence on the ground in Ukraine, special forces from Lithuania, Canada, the UK, France and several other NATO member states are also present. Many former US special operators, now embedded within various mercenary and “volunteer” groups are also present on the ground near the contact line, training the Kiev regime forces and working on tactical battle plans. It is impossible to imagine their presence is accidental and/or unknown in the US.
What’s more, the Biden administration has repeatedly stated it wants to see Russia “defeated”. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken declared that the goal was to “see Russia suffer a strategic defeat in Ukraine”, while the Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin gave a similar statement about “the necessity of seeing a weakened Russia.” Other Western officials, such as the new UK Prime Minister Liz Truss have also said that “diplomacy should not be considered until Moscow is defeated.”
Drago Bosnic, independent geopolitical and military analyst.
