Matthew Chance, Kylie Atwood, Emmet Lyons and Ami Kaufman – CNN Jan 19, 2022
Ukraine has warned that Russia has “almost completed” its build-up of forces that could be used for an offensive against the country, compounding fears that Moscow could launch an invasion at any time.
According to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s latest intelligence assessment — shared exclusively Tuesday with CNN — Russia has now deployed more than 127,000 troops in the region.
“The full strength of RF AF (Russian Federation’s Armed Forces) land group at the Ukrainian direction — (is) over 106,000 personnel. Together with the sea and air component, the total number of personnel is over 127,000 servicemen,” the assessment said.
The assessment called the situation “difficult,” and said Ukraine believes Russia is “trying to split and weaken the European Union and NATO.”
Russia’s actions are also “aimed at limiting the capabilities of the United States,” the assessment said, “to ensure security on the European continent.”
The assessment comes after three rounds of diplomatic talks between Russia and the West aimed at de-escalating the crisis failed to produce a resolution last week.
US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said last Wednesday it was unclear whether Moscow intended to use the talks as a pretext to claim that diplomacy cannot work.
Ukrainian military intelligence said Russia has deployed troops from its central and eastern regions to its western border “on a permanent basis.” At the end of December and in January, Russia has been moving “stockpiles of ammunition, field hospitals and security services” to the border, it said, which according to Ukraine “confirms the preparation for offensive operations.”
The new assessment also said Russia supports more than 35,000 rebels in eastern Ukraine and has about 3,000 of its own military personnel based in rebel territory. Moscow denies having any forces in eastern Ukraine.
Russia’s intelligence activity against Ukraine has also intensified, the assessment said, with additional radio and satellite traffic units being deployed near the Ukrainian border and reconnaissance flights along the border having tripled since this time last year.
The Ukrainian military also said Russia could use medium-range missile weapons to “destroy vital objects,” noting “additional tactical groups of ‘Iskander’ operational-tactical missiles” have been transferred to the border.
As of mid-January, there are 36 Iskander launchers near Ukraine, according to the assessment.
Iskander missiles are capable of striking targets 500-700 km (approximately 310-430 miles) away and could now target areas including the capital, Kyiv, it said.
New front line
The Ukrainian document warned a new potential front line has now emerged along its northern border with Belarus, a key Kremlin ally.
“The territory of Belarus should be considered as a full-fledged theater of operations that Russia can use to expand aggression against Ukraine,” the Ukrainian military intelligence document said.
US State Department officials underlined those concerns Tuesday, saying Russia’s bolstered troop presence in Belarus has increased their capabilities along the Ukrainian border and led to heightened concerns about an invasion.
“What it represents is an increased capability for Russia to launch this attack. Increased opportunity, increased avenues, increased risk,” a senior US State Department official said, adding that the troops were moved into Belarus without sufficient notice.
In Belarus, Russia is “preying on (Belarusian leader Alexander) Lukashenko’s vulnerability and calling in some of those accumulated IOUs,” the official said.
“The timing is notable and of course raises concerns that Russia could intend to station troops in Belarus under the guise of joint military exercises in order potentially to attack Ukraine from the North,” the official said.
While the official would not speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s intent when it comes to moving troops into Belarus, the official described Putin as “an opportunist.”
“We’ve seen warning signs that the dynamics inside Belarus are enabling Russia to further prey on Lukashenko’s self-inflicted vulnerability,” the official said.
US officials have said a Russian invasion of Ukraine could happen at any point in the next month or two.
“Russian military plans to begin activities several weeks before a military invasion are something we’ve been watching closely and our assessment has been that could happen anytime between mid-January and mid-February,” a second senior State Department official explained.
The United States is looking closely at whether Lukashenko still has the levers of control in his country — or whether the decision-making has been largely passed over to Russia.
Belarus has become an “increasingly destabilizing actor in the region” the first State Department official said, pointing to a number of recent actions such as manufacturing a migrant crisis on the Poland-Belarus border, arresting activists and holding more than 900 political prisoners.
‘United against Putin’
Ukraine’s assessment comes as the country’s former President, Petro Poroshenko, told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Tuesday that “the whole world should be united against Putin,” and that Ukraine should be allowed to join NATO.
The billionaire led Ukraine from 2014 until 2019, taking power shortly after Russia invaded and subsequently annexed Crimea. He was defeated in the 2019 presidential election by incumbent Volodymyr Zelensky.
“It is absolutely necessary that there is international solidarity and unity” against Putin, Poroshenko said, adding that Western allies should not trust the Russian leader.
The 56-year-old also called for an increase in international sanctions against Russia. “We need to make Russia weaker, and to make Russia weaker, we can do that through the sanctions. We should make Ukraine stronger. And day by day, we should receive new effective defensive lethal weapons,” he said.
Poroshenko also said “nobody knows, including Putin” whether a Russian invasion will actually happen and a lot will depend on the introduction of sanctions. Calling a potential invasion a “crazy decision,” he said the international community should “increase significantly the price Putin should pay” if Russian forces cross the Ukrainian border.
When asked whether endemic corruption is a reason Ukraine has not been accepted as a member of NATO, Poroshenko pointed blame at his successor, Zelensky, for a “backslide” of corruption reforms.
Poroshenko returned to the capital, Kyiv, on Monday to face treason charges linked to the financing of Russian-backed separatist fighters through illegal coal sales in 2014 and 2015.
When pressed on the charges he faces, Poroshenko said the accusations were “politically motivated” and that prosecutors had “zero evidence.”
According to Reuters, critics say his return to Ukraine is serving as an badly timed distraction amid the political crisis with Russia.
Idiot Blinken rushes to meet Russian foreign minister, the man made the trip empty handed.
Russian demands, which at face value are reasonable, give the US no room to move, but backwards and this is the problem, if the US would indeed step backwards.
I don’t see the US backing off. The UK and Canada are in Ukraine, so it is effectively a NATO state.
Unless the situation changes dramatically, I believe Russia will invade & the Ukrainian military will run for their lives. Who knows what Western mercenaries will do, but as mercenaries, they have no rights in war, so Russia won’t want prisoners, so if captured, I’d expect executions. I mean, would Western countries agrees to prosecute and lock up their retired dogs of war for life, of course not. So yes, these chaps will get the bullet.
Petro Poroshenko is a thief and Christiane Amanpour is a slut.
You can learn a lot about a man from his enemies. Even if you have suspicions about Vlad, he’s better than those two zombies.
After the current African League of Nations Cup, there are no major sporting events over the next couple of months. The tabloids will entertain the masses not by fill-in World Cup charts or talk of 4-4-2 or 5-4-3-1 but instead fill their pages with battlefield layouts of NATO and Russian deployments. They will instead of dressing room interviews give visually appealing cross-sectional colour diagram of ships, tanks, and rockets.
The nukes will be no doubt incapacitated by covid. In event of the war going ahead, I predict a victory for Russia with some western nations sacking their managers and putting in Big Sam Allardyce or Jose Mourinho as caretaker PMs pending new elections.
One wonders how they worked out this upcoming war, doubtless many months ( or even years ) in planning. Putin and his Masonic partners in the West, are getting the masses softened up with the necessary propaganda. I’m sure Chinese comrades will be in on a pincer movement. Then after the carnage they can firmly establish a world government. And the masses will beg them for it, naturally. I very much doubt nuclear weapons will be used, as our overlords don’t want to inherit a radioactive tip.
Russia ‘invaded’ Crimea? How could it have invaded itself? Of course CNN doesn’t mention the fact of the 97% of voters favoring annexation/rejoining Russia.
Ukriane, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia. All are US/MI6 patsies. They will be used to irritate the Russians and then when the Russians are finally forced to respond (expect atrocities against Russian minorities in those countries), sacrificed.
If anyone was sane in the Ukraine they would fold their hand before the tanks roll. Bloodshed solves nothing. Lavrov should fly a delegation into Kiev and negotiate a surrender before any shot is fired, the government of Jew crazies can be replaced by a pro-Russian one.
Blinken and Biden are both completely insane to be provoking a hot war, and no doubt they are doing so to cover their own pathetic failures back home. Amerikan Zionist Ziowhore scumbags couldn’t care less who gets killed so long as they hold onto power.
Don’t worry about it–its all a scripted Zionist-Communist production–Zelensky, Putin, Johnson, Lukashenko, Biden are all on the same yarmulke team managed by Ratchild, Sassoon, Warburg Inc.
Since 1945 & the demise of Nazi Germany, you’ve been existing in a covert Jewish World State, without even knowing it. Eventually it will become overt.
@ LARRY
they can use mini neutron nukes
like in 9.11.,yemen,bali,beirut !
or DEW like tiayian + california
space laser .
Is Russia going to invade Ukraine? I say probably not. Reason? Putin knows he is being baited by twin morons Blinken and Biden.
I will be surprised if Russia does anything, Biden’s posturing is calculated that if Russia doesn’t invade then he will look strong, which counters his extremely weak image and F- opinion poll performance. In a recent poll Biden got an F- on his first year performance by 37% of the Amerikan sheeple. That’s pretty bad when 66.6% of the sheep are dumb as a bag of rocks.
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‘Weak’ Joe Biden gets ‘F’ grade from 37% of Americans, poll shows
A new poll has found that more than a third of Americans (37 percent) give President Biden’s first year in the White House a failing grade as his administration continues to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain issues and the ongoing border crisis a year after taking office.
Only 11 percent of registered voters gave the president an “A” grade, according to the survey conducted by Politico and Morning Consult. Twenty percent gave him a “B,” 18 percent graded him with a “C” and 12 percent gave him a “D.”
https://nypost.com/2022/01/19/joe-biden-gets-f-grade-from-37-of-americans-poll-shows/
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The United States is a fading empire, the Iraq War is it’s last big war, it has become the laughingstock of the world with it’s rainbow-fag-tranny-woke military. Amerika is a joke and in a death spiral. The collapse of Amerikan hegemony in Afghanistan is one for the history books, and a road sign before it augers in and is gone from the world stage.
Amerika can not fight Russia and everyone knows it. China is on the rise, building war ships like hotcakes coming off the griddle, so it is only a matter of time until Taiwan then Guam fall to Chinese interests. So what can the collapsing Communist state of Amerika do, it can turn it’s guns on it’s own people, freedom fighters are the new enemy.
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US Army Guerrilla Warfare Exercise To Target “Freedom Fighters”
“They could tell these soldiers they’re battling the Chinese, Russians, Iranians, North Koreans or other foreign enemies but instead they have them training to kill “freedom fighters” with “Liberty” flags,”
https://www.theburningplatform.com/2022/01/20/us-army-guerrilla-warfare-exercise-to-target-freedom-fighters/
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In the near future, when Amerika gets embroiled in a civil war of patriots vs. Jew communists expect the world to reorder itself while the beast flails at home against it’s own.
North and South Korea unify under control of NK and China.
Taiwan taken by China in 2 week war.
Russia takes Ukraine and Georgia from of Jew control.
Guam falls to China a decade after Taiwan seized.
Hawaii becomes the western edge of US imperial Navy influence.
China and Russia align with Syria and Iran, Greater Israel project ends
Jews decide to take full control of Amerika and make it a Jewish superstate after purging white people. Expect the next couple of decades to be a serious economic depression and interal war when the states reorganize into some new form of government. Amerika’s world hegemony is just about over.
I would say in 10-20 years we could living in a completely different world, big changes in nation states, Amerika could be broken into pieces. With insane Jews in charge you can bet your last shekel we are all completely screwed.
Trump is way ahead of everyone in the 2024 election polls, so if things get worse – which is a sure bet with loser Biden on the throne – the scared Amerikan sheeple will stampede to their savior Trump. But Trump is no savior like Hitler, he is in bed with the Jews, controlled opposition Ziowhore.
Trump who went bankrupt 6 times will surely bankrupt USA for a nice 7th bankruptcy. Trump is also a war rhetoric lunatic, so he might push Russia over the edge with his endless crazy talk.
Loser Biden + Big Mouth Trump = End of Amerika
@ Simon Smith
The Russians aren’t very good at football, despite hosting a magnificent world cup and performing very creditably in the tournament. We’d be more likely to end up with Steve McLaren as Prime Minister. That would give Putin a chuckle. Although the obvious choice for the job would be Matthew Le Tissier.
Your first paragraph disguises some very acute observations.
@ YUKON JACK
after taiwan china gives protectorat
over Rothschild mafia australia +NZ.
it is their retreat after elemination of
the goyim . rothschild + china will
stay as good friends together like in
last 80 years . also southamerica
belongs to them. destined as slaverace
+ organtransplant donors like africans .
Hello? I’m quite surprised to see Truthseeker UK becoming a mouthpiece for CNN!
From Jim Stone:
Imagine Putin looking at Biden
Imagine him knowing that “Biden” will be “in charge” if there is a war. By the way, Biden did not drive that truck in the recent photo op, it was set up like a drivers ed car and someone else was driving. Biden cannot drive.
Putin is watching this charade, no doubt wondering who he will really be going to war with. I think that worries him, EVERYONE HAS A FEAR OF THE UNKNOWN.