On Tuesday, Moscow claimed that Ukrainian forces were planning to use Western-supplied missiles to strike targets inside Russia and the annexed peninsula of Crimea. Russia threatened “immediate retaliation,” said The Moscow Times.
The Redline
It’s another redline, and Ukraine has crossed them all. This one is probably the one they will respond to.
“The leadership of Ukraine’s armed forces plan to strike Russian territory, including Crimea, with HIMARS and Storm Shadow missiles,” Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said during a meeting with military officials.
Shoigu warned of swift retaliation if the weapons were used to strike targets inside Russia or on the Black Sea territory. Moscow annexed the region in 2014.
“The use of these missiles outside the zone of the special military operation will mean the United States and Great Britain’s full involvement in the conflict and will entail immediate strikes on decision-making centers in Ukraine,” Shoigu said.
Moscow has accused Western countries of directly waging warfare against Russia by arming Ukraine.
Stoltenberg Again Says Ukraine Decides Conditions for Peace
In an interview with Germany’s Welt am Sonntag published on Sunday, Stoltenberg declared that “peace cannot mean freezing the conflict and accepting a deal that Russia dictates.” Stoltenberg added that “only Ukraine can define the conditions that are acceptable,” an explicit endorsement of Kiev’s vow to drive Russian forces back to pre-conflict borders and seize the Russian territory of Crimea.
“If NATO, through the mouth of Stoltenberg, once again declares that they are against freezing, as they say, the conflict in Ukraine, then they want to fight,” Lavrov told a press conference. “Well, let them fight; we are ready for this; we have long understood the goals of NATO in the situation around Ukraine, which have been formed for many years.”
Russia claims the offensive will end in weeks because they’ve lost 20,000 of the 40,000 to 50,000 they had trained for the offensive.
THE HISTORY
The one thing we should not do in this case, is ignore the history.
If we allow Ukraine to attack, Crimea, we are attacking Russia based on their history.
Crimea remained part of Russia proper until 1954, when the government of the former Soviet Union transferred Crimea from the Russian Soviet Federation of Socialist Republics to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.
When the west says that Crimea is part of Ukraine, they are using the 1954 soviet border.
At that time, all Soviet satellites were part of the USSR. They were all Soviet it didn’t matter.
Historically, there is no denying that 75% of the people in Crimea are Russian, speak Russian, and they would rather be part of the Russian Federation.
All we hear is that Putin forcibly annexed the Black Sea peninsula in 2014. They refer to this peninsula as simply “Russian-occupied Crimea.”
Yet, according to the Wilson Center, the population of the Crimean peninsula — approximately 1.1 million in 1954 when the Soviets threw it into the Ukrainian Republic — was roughly 75 percent ethnic Russian and 25 percent Ukrainian. That peoportion continues today.
The Accounting Error
Meanwhile, the Pentagon claims they made an accounting error of $6.2 billion in military aid to Ukraine, $3.6 billion this year, and $2.6 billion last year. They allegedly shorted Ukraine and plan to send the $6.2 billion to Ukraine instead of keeping it.
Crimea is a real red line due to the naval bases and Black Sea presence. Ukraine’s government would be destroyed. This is not a fair fight. Russia is hardened in position in its backyard. The corrupt west is pushing Ukraine into more deaths. Russia is the obvious winner. If there is all out war in the Black Sea, I will not be rooting for NATO or the USA.
10% of the Billions sent to Ukraine are sent back to Democrats
I have no proof of this, but knowing what I know, I am probably right.
Democrats are using the USA and its tax payers as a giant ATM, it is their magical golden goose, and they do not care about anything else.
Actually a few RINOs are part of that scam, very few Republicans are. It is mostly a democrat thing.
I agree. One RINO war pig that comes to mind is Lindsey Graham.
The corrupt RINO, China Mitch, repeatedly says supporting Ukraine is the most important thing on Earth.
Strange, I thought the red-line was keeping Russia out of the Crimea until 2014 and do nothing Obama/Biden was the regime in the USA that allowed the Russian aggression.
As usual the Commies try to set the rules for a war they started.
1) “We attack your country, you are not allowed to attack ours.”
2) “We steak your land and once we have it, you are not allowed to consider yours anymore or ever have it back.
3) We can use whatever weapons we want, you can only use what we signal you can use.”
4) We must win, you most lose.”
This is not a support statement for either side, just making sure everyone knows the rules for war.
Obama’s red lines – water colors
Russia’s red lines – Permanent markers!