US Lt-Gen. Hodges (ret.) interviewed for the Kyiv Post by Tatyana Popova.
– POPOVA: What can you say about the supply of anti-tank guided missile ATGM, NLAW and Javelin in such numbers? What kind of weapon is this, and why’s it being delivered to Ukraine in such quantities now?
– HODGES: …I’m in favor of anything that brings more support for Ukraine. Whether it’s financial support, which I think is necessary, intelligence-sharing, equipment, ammunition. Certainly, UK and Poland have the capabilities that will help Ukraine.
It’s important that the UK is supportive, also because there is so much Russian money tied up in the UK in real estate. So I think this will also help to shine light on this, where the Russians have buried so much money in London real estate. And hopefully the government and UK will get serious about dirty money and exposing this.
This will be an important way to put pressure on the oligarchs that are keeping Putin in power.
– POPOVA:
I spoke with Lieutenant General Romanenko. He said that Ukraine lacks sufficient protection in the air. What can you say about this?
– HODGES: I mean we only have one Patriot battalion in all of Europe.
So we would have to find where we would get this from, and then deliver and then go through all the training. This is part of the longer-term strategy that we need to be doing. I absolutely agree with that. But there’s not some anti-missile system. I don’t think anybody has it, that could just be handed over right now and Ukrainian forces would be able to employ it right now.
So, there are near- term, immediate and longer-term capabilities that are being provided. I have always been impressed with Ukrainian soldiers, how fast they learn.
This is not about whether they’re able to adapt to a sophisticated equipment. Of course, they’re able. It’s the reality of whether it’s American, Ukrainian, British, German. Whatever it takes months to learn.
How to properly use a Patriot system or similar type capabilities. You have to have radar, multiple radar. It’s not just a rocket that shoots down another rocket.
– HODGES:
But now I certainly would never be in favor of any diplomatic effort that betrayed Ukrainian sovereignty.
– POPOVA: Why do the Russians blame the Americans and the West in general for all this tension that has arisen now? They say that it is the West that is waging an information war against Russia and that, in fact, they are not going to attack any part of Ukraine.
At the same time, 130,000-150,000 troops are still moving along with equipment along the Ukrainian border from different sides, exercises are being held in Belarus. Nevertheless, they say that this is an information war on the part of America. Why is that?
– HODGES: I don’t believe anything that comes from the Russian ministry of foreign affairs.,,,
What event was this a week ago?
– HODGES: This was a delegation of five former ambassadors. …
But anyway, our purpose for going was not just that event but also to convey our support for Ukraine, the temperature of what’s going on, to have a feeling for the actual situation.
So, we had meetings with the ministers, several different members of the Rada, President Zelensky talked to Ukrainian officers. It was productive. Certainly my understanding of what’s going on is much better. And now we are able to be better advocates for Ukraine.
LTG (Ret.) Ben Hodges served in the U.S. Army for 38 years, culminating in his last assignment as commander of U.S. Army Europe (2014-2017) in Wiesbaden, Germany. During his command, he was responsible for the more than 30,000 U.S. soldiers https://www.kyivpost.com/europe/javelins-and-diplomacy-russia-ukraine-conflict-insights-from-us-general-ben-hodges.html
…………………………………
Feb. 10, 2022 at 6:34 pm
The chairman of the All-Russian Officers’ Assembly, retired General-Colonel Leonid Ivashov, has published an appeal on his organization’s website to “the President and Citizens of the Russian Federation.”
The sharply worded missive, issued on behalf of the organization, ends with the words: “We, Russia’s officers, demand that the President of the Russian Federation reject the criminal policy of provoking a war in which Russia would be alone against the united forces of the West… and retire.”
Ivashov, 78, was a leading military hardliner in the 1990s. He was one of the instigators of the famous standoff at Pristina Airport in 1999, when Russian troops sought to block the entry of NATO peacekeepers into Kosovo. …
Second, Ivashov and his society are known as the most hardline Russian military figures, considered to have good relations with the Russian military intelligence agency, known by its Russian acronym GRU ….the rationale for the military escalation around Ukraine is artificial and self-serving only for Putin rather than serving a greater good for Russia. As a consequence of the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine became an independent state, a member of the United Nations, entitled to individual and collective defense, in accordance with Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, Ivashov continues.
… therefore, the overwhelming number of states in the world still consider them to belong to Ukraine) convincingly shows the failure of Russian foreign policy, and the unattractiveness of its domestic [policy].”
Ivashov’s main criticism is focused on the threat to Ukraine. He argues that the attempts to force people to “love” Russia and its leaders through ultimatums and threat are senseless and very dangerous. To use military force against Ukraine puts the very existence of Russia as a state in question.
It will make Russians and Ukrainians mortal enemies forever. It will cost both sides tens of thousands of deaths, he argues….Ivashov makes is that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan appears to have placed Turkey, a member of NATO across the Black Sea from Ukraine and Russia, firmly on the side of Ukraine in the current standoff. Erdogan has criticized the Russian buildup, and visited Kyiv on Feb. 3 to meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Ivashov floated the threatening prospect that Turkey may feel compelled to “liberate” Crimea and Sevastopol and perhaps also enter the Caucasus, a scenario that would, to say the least, set back, rather than advance, Putin’s ambitions. https://www.kyivpost.com/author/anders-aslund
……………………………
Many high-upw are saying Feb. 16 is Rus invasion date of Ukraine. Looking at the astrologic configurations I say the hour of max danger is Feb. 15, 3 a.m. Kiev time, 2022 because of declination of moon with Mars. Then ~4 p.m. same day Kiev time is also dangerous with a T-square involving moon, saturn and uranus. Pluto is in parallel declination to Mercury on these several days, showing deceptions at work. The buildup and intelligence is very intense; it appears Putin is very close to giving invasion final okay of Ukraine, after all. -r, Siskiyou County, Calif.
No comments:
Post a Comment