Backdrop of significant phone call
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin made a phone call to his Russian colleague Sergei Shoigu on May 13, 2022. Mr. Austin initiated the call. This is a short snapshot of that phone call, a wider study comes later.
April 25, 2022, Kyiv/Ukraine and Poland, American stance fully disclosed now
US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin, together with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, said “the US wants to see Russia weakened to the degree that it can’t do the kinds of things that it has done in invading Ukraine”. The Pentagon chief added that US officials still believe Ukraine could win the conflict with “the right equipment” and the “right support”.
At a news conference in Poland after the Kyiv visit, Mr Austin told again reporters the US wants to see Russia weakened and Ukraine can still win the war, if given the right support. He also announced the US would allocate an extra $713m of military aid to Ukraine and other European nations, from which nearly $332m would be allocated to Ukraine. It brings the total US security assistance provided to Ukraine since the invasion began to more than $3.7bn.
Mr Blinken also defended America’s diplomatic approach, telling reporters that the Western alliance the Biden administration had assembled, had put pressure on President Putin’s government. “The strategy that we’ve put in place, massive support for Ukraine, massive pressure against Russia, solidarity with more than 30 countries engaged in these efforts, is having real results,” Mr Blinken said. “And we’re seeing that when it comes to Russia’s war aims, Russia is failing, Ukraine is succeeding.”
President Biden has made so far clear that the US won’t directly intervene in the war in Ukraine. He won’t be sending American troops to join the battle. But the truth is that the US is getting more deeply involved – and that’s been highlighted by the words of the US defence secretary. America has dramatically increased the supply of weapons to Ukraine in recent weeks. Despite Russian warnings, it’s made clear it’ll be sending more. Mr. Austin’s words underline that America is not a bystander in this war but an active participant.
It is now fully clear that the official stance of America is to see Russia defeated in Ukraine and to see Russia’s military machine reduced to such an extent that it will not be able to threaten any another European ally in the future.
May 13, 2022 Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin made a phone call to his Russian colleague Sergei Shoigu
Readout of Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III’s Call With Russian Minister of Defense Sergey Shoygu, May 13, 2022 Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby provided the following readout:
On May 13, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III spoke with Russian Minister of Defense Sergey Shoygu for the first time since February 18. Secretary Austin urged an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine and emphasized the importance of maintaining lines of communication.
Just a couple weeks ago, the same Mr. Austin stated that Ukraine is winning and the whole main stream media has repeated this same narrative “Ukraine is winning the war. It will soon push the Russian forces back over the border and with the help of Western aid will crush the Russian war machine.”
Mr. Austin initiated the call and the US is seeking an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine!
Why? What for?
Conclusion / explanation
If Ukraine is really winning the war or at least has an upper hand over Russia in the battlefield, there would be no sense or logic that Austin should contact Shoigu and beg an immediate ceasefire. No way.
That massive Western military aid and all kinds of support the US and its allies have been providing to the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), including continuous military intelligence and special forces operations, should turn the battle situation for AFU.
However, the operation to “weaken Russia”, which Austin had publicly announced two weeks ago, does not seem to go that well.
Armed Forces of Russia (AFR) has continued high-precision missile strikes and massive artillery strikes for over a month and systematically destroyed the military infrastructure of AFU around Ukraine. This campaign may result now. AFU has been facing very tough times in last two weeks and will face even more so also for next couple of weeks. The US military is well-aware of this situation. Final results remain to be seen.
“Secrets of Mariupol” under Azovstal will be disclosed sooner or later, some preliminary info of arrested Canadian General Trevor John Cadieu (reportedly in Moscow now) may shed light on that “mystery”. This may turn around many, many narratives, now hold as “facts”.
Besides the military posture, Russia’s economy would have to be collapsed already a month ago. Now, the value of rouble is record high (USD-RBL at 60 – 65), foreign trade surplus record high etc. Sanctions are very badly backfiring those countries imposed them, much worse than Russia, which initially was a target country. Quite curiously, many planned punitive things against Russia, have turned upside down.
In wider context
There are plenty of different events, processes and other things going on, taking place and emerging around the Ukrainian crisis case worldwide.
I am studying all relevant things from the view point of great powers on continuous base and will release new articles frequently on my website.