Political
Ukraine crisis: Putin’s tough strategy
Russia is sending its army to Belarus, officially for a “harmless” military exercise with the neighboring state. Video recordings reveal otherwise: the Russian army is concentrating precisely where no maneuvers are actually supposed to take place. These are clear indications of Putin’s war tactics.
Videos from Belarus document: Putin is sending his troops across the country.APA/AFP/KREMLIN.RU
Although Russia officially denies planning an attack on Ukraine, video footage of Russian military deployments speaks a different language. They show that Putin is willing to do anything to prevent Ukraine from joining NATO. Military experts now consider a war to be very likely.
Russian troops were seen in Mozyr (Gomel region, Belarus) pic.twitter.com/hsIdnKPHPu
— MotolkoHelp (@MotolkoHelp) January 18, 2022
The Kremlin has been moving its troops to Belarus, north of Ukraine, since the weekend. Officially, the two heads of state, Alexander Lukashenko and Vladimir Putin, want the joint maneuver to be completed by February 20. But in reality, as experts suspect, there is more to it than that. In this way, Putin wants to put pressure on Ukraine and overwhelm the Ukrainian military.
Another train with military equipment was spotted in Minsk. pic.twitter.com/6w52BjV7Bs
— MotolkoHelp (@MotolkoHelp) January 18, 2022
“The more Russia can force Ukraine to deploy its troops along an ever-longer potential front, the less resistance there will be in one place should Putin decide to strike,” said military expert Gustav Gressel of the European Council on Foreign Relations in Berlin to the Bild newspaper. In the event of an invasion, Russia would “not advance on the whole front, but drive anti-tank wedges into Ukraine. When the Ukrainian troops want to rush to reinforce their attacked units, Russia’s air force gets into action. That is why a longer front is advantageous for the Kremlin.”
The Belarusian-Russian military drills “Union Resolve – 2022” will be held from 10.02 to 20.02. They will work on reinforcement of the state border, searching for illegal armed groups & enemy groups and destroying them, as well as post-conflict settlement issues. pic.twitter.com/vIBY7TRlan
— MotolkoHelp (@MotolkoHelp) January 18, 2022
The Austrian military expert suspects that Russia could advance towards Kiev from the region around Gomel, the second largest city in Belarus. The latest recordings prove him right. According to the official maneuver plan, no military maneuvers were to take place in Gomel at all. But this is exactly where Putin unloads his military from the trains to march towards Ukraine, as video footage shows. From Brest, further west, Russian units could push south to cut off Kiev from the Polish border and possible supplies.”
Gressel’s forecast bodes ill: “An attack is not yet set in stone, but in Washington and London it is expected with increasing certainty.” A Russian breakthrough to the cities of Ukraine is “unfortunately a likely scenario at the moment”.
#NewsMap
Putin regime troops in the southern #Belarus city of #Mazyr, heading south west.
They were recorded yesterday, 42 km north of the Ukrainian border. Shall be much closer to it now.
Source: https://t.co/ri8lPQKBTA#PutinAtWar pic.twitter.com/Vls2djK2ll— Julian Röpcke (@JulianRoepcke) January 19, 2022