June 19, 2023 | Seppo Niemi

Death reaps the harvest – the end of Ukraine war at hand

The war in Ukraine has left an indelible mark on the relations between Russia and the US including the whole “West”. Relationships are unlikely to ever recover to the previous form, so deeply are hatred and mistrust rooted in them. Open war between the parties is getting closer every day as the escalation seems to be accelerating and no one is talking about peace.

Speaking of the Kiev regime’s much-touted counteroffensive, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, said that the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) were “very well prepared,” as the US and its Western allies have been sending significant amounts of weaponry and ammunition to the country as part of their proxy war against Russia. AFU counteroffensive started on June 4-5 and the first week (up to June 10-11) was disclosing the characters and trend of fighting. Massive AFU losses and insignificant achievements.

Kakhovka Dam

The destruction of Novaya Kakhovka dam, June 7, for which both sides blame each other, poses a danger to the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) and endangers 14 settlements and 22,000 residents; may create irrigation and water feed problems for Crimea and other southern Russian regions and poses a risk to the cooling system of the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), controlled by Russia. The Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant’s (HPP) dam was heavily hit by the AFU shelling, releasing a huge amount of water down the Dnepr River. The HPP is located five kilometers away from the city of Novaya Kakhovka in the Kherson region.

According to the report of Russian Defence Ministry, the purpose of this terror action is reportedly as follows: Having failed to succeed in the offensive operations, the enemy intends to redeploy the units and hardware from Kherson direction to its offensive area in order to strengthen its potential, significantly weakening its position in Kherson direction. The enemy has begun building defensive positions on the right bank of the Dnepr River, which indicates the intention to turn to defence there. In order to prevent Russia’s offensive actions in this section of the front, the Kiev regime has carried out a sabotage, which has resulted in the flooding of significant areas and will have serious and long-lasting environmental consequences. Kiev regime could not have been capable to make such a decision by themselves but some way or other they have got the final OK from Pentagon.

Some interesting info can be found in the following article:

https://southfront.org/kyiv-makes-overtures-for-any-real-gains/

and video https://s2.cdnstatic.space/wp-content/uploads/video/07.06.2023_IMR_Ukraine.mp4 .

The NORSAR seismic array of detectors (including one in Romania, 620 km from the dam), detected signals that NORSAR scientists interpreted as a weak seismic event from the direction of the dam at 02:35 Ukrainian summer time, and a stronger, magnitude 1–2 signal representing an explosion occurring at 02:54, as reported by the Guardian. An infrared heat signature, consistent with that of a major explosion, was detected by United States spy satellites at the dam shortly before it collapsed according to an anonymous US official, according to Washington Post. Russia’s permanent representative to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, accused the “Kiev regime” of carrying out a “terrorist plot.” He added that there were indications that the act of sabotage had been planned well in advance.

Western mainstream media has propagated that Russia detonated the Nova Kakhova Dam, which was and is under its control. It thereby allegedly cut of Crimea from its major water supply and endangered the cooling of the six reactors of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Bothe Crimea as well as the power plant are under firm Russian control. This incident seems to belong to the same series of Nord Stream sabotage, Kerch Bridge Detonation etc. While the Ukrainian counteroffensive on southern front lines has been recently failed in horrific way, the Kiev regime tries to turn into optics, fairy tales in media war. An interesting detailed analysis can be found here: SITREP 6/15/23: Kakhovka Powerplay Heats Up as AFU Readies For Round 2, Simplicius The Thinker, 16.6.2023

Statement of Anders Rasmussen

Former NATO Secretary General Anders Rasmussen said on June 7 that a group of NATO countries might take individual actions and deploy troops in Ukraine in the event of member states failing to provide security guarantees to Kiev at the NATO summit in Lithuania’s capital Vilnius in July. “If NATO cannot agree on a clear path forward for Ukraine, there is a clear possibility that some countries individually might take action. We know that Poland is very engaged in providing concrete assistance to Ukraine. And I wouldn’t exclude the possibility that Poland would engage even stronger in this context on a national basis and be followed by the Baltic states, maybe including the possibility of troops on the ground.”

Rasmussen said security guarantees need to cover intelligence sharing, joint Ukraine training, NATO interoperability, enhanced ammunition production and arms supply. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday he expected to receive security guarantees for Ukraine at the NATO summit in Vilnius, scheduled from July 11-12, and a clear invitation to join the alliance. He said the Ukrainian military was disappointed that Kiev had yet to receive a clear positive decision on the country’s accession to NATO and the European Union.

President Joe Biden

US President Joe Biden said at a press conference with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, on June 9: “Western countries have done their utmost to prepare Ukraine for its counteroffensive, so Washington is optimistic.” Meanwhile, US-based think tanks monitoring the conflict in Ukraine have tweeted that Kiev’s counteroffensive has begun and that “activity throughout Ukraine is consistent with a variety of indicators that Ukrainian counteroffensive operations are underway across the theater.” It seems that Kiev remains tight-lipped on its much-hyped counteroffensive because “instead of the victory that the Zelensky regime expected to see, they witnessed heavy casualties without any significant result.”

More situational reporting, per June 8-9, available here: Russian Spring | The Complete Defeat Of The Ukrainian-NATO Forces. Military Summary For 2023.06.09 . During next few days the picture of the counteroffensive has been unchanged, AFU’s negligible territorial gains have been achieved with extremely high costs, thousands of lost troops and hundreds of destroyed pieces of heavy western armament. In the Zaporozhye direction, the AFU are suffering heaviest losses, including in Western military equipment.

Many Western countries are seriously concerned about this, according to CNN. Almost half of the supply of German Leopard 2 tanks destroyed in 4-5 days, being 100% of those deployed. Now, even White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby is getting nervous and reluctant to discuss specifics on casualties. More info: Scott Ritter: Ukrainian Counteroffensive Runs Into Defensive Wall, June 10, 2023 .

President Vladimir Putin

On June 16, President Putin speaking with reporters during the plenary session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, announced that Ukraine has failed to reach any strategic objectives amid its ongoing counteroffensive, losing 186 tanks and 418 armored vehicles to date as losses continue to mount. “In some places Ukrainian forces manage to reach the first line of defense, in some places not. The key question is that they are using their so-called strategic reserves. Their losses are indeed very large, even more than ten to one compared to the Russian army.”

Russian Forces have also resumed their air strikes around Ukraine, the latest on June 17. Russian Ministry of Defense announced that it had particularly targeted decision-making centers in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev.

Some prominent Russian analysts assess that the accession of the Kharkiv region to the Russian Federation will be the next phase of the special military operation. It is the Kharkiv region, from where the armed Forces of Ukraine have been shelling Russia’s Belgorod. The return of the Kharkiv region to the Russian Federation will push the enemy back and help stabilize the situation in the Belgorod region and Russia’s other front-line cities.

Losses of AFU in last two weeks

AFU troop losses, since the start of counteroffensive (4-5.6.2023) have clearly exceeded 10,000 soldiers thus far. Rate of losses is definitely too high for any sustainable military performance and taking into account of troop losses in April and May, the total amount of AFU troop losses is closing the amount of 50,000 troops by the end of June.

The pieces of destroyed equipment (RMOD data): aircraft 12; helicopters 3; UAVs 213; air defense systems 2; tanks, IFVs and APCs 774 (incl. dozens of Leopards, Bradleys, Strikers etc); MLRS 13; artillery and mortars 153

More info of the failed AFU counteroffensive is available in these articles and videos:

On The Failure Of The Ukrainian Counterattack, Moon of Alabama, June 16, 2023

Russian Army ‘Wipes Out’ over 600 Ukrainian troops overnight; Zelensky admits ‘Counteroffensive Tough’, posted by INTEL-DROP June 16, 2023

Scott Ritter: Ukrainian Counteroffensive’s Second Week Ends in Failure, June 18, 2023

Pyatikhatki: The Bloodiest ‘Sun’ Powered ‘Meat Grinder’ of the Ukraine War, posted by INTEL-DROP June 18, 2023

Ukrainians Surrender En masse To Save Their Lives. Military Summary And Analysis For 2023.06.18: Insane Carnage!

Ukraine’s Biggest Loss. Russia Destroyed Massive Ukrainian Force In One Area.

posted by INTEL-DROP June 18, 2023

Ukrainian Advances End In Complete DISASTER , Weeb Union , June 18, 2023