General Zaluzhny, Ukraine at a fork in the road (TRANSCRIPT and link to 40 minute YOUTUBE video, my notes)

YOUTUBE ^ | December 16, 2022 | The Duran

[ransomnote]

ransomnote: This 40 minute video is an analysis of an interview in The Economist which featured General Zaluzhny, Colonel Syrskyi, and Zelenksy.

I'll put some transcript hi-lights in Post #1.

Basically Zaluzhny and Syrskyi say that the Ukraine will lose unless NATO provides vast amounts of military hardware and troops. They say Putin has been successful in raising troops and can field 1.5 million additonal troops at a time when Zelensky has approx 700,000 troops but only 200,000 have combat training.

The video narrators note there is a weakening of support for Zelensky's continued requests for more money and arms, and going forward the request for support would logically have to include troops. They propose the real meaning of Zaluzhny and Syrskyi's statements to The Economist is to put NATO and others on notice, and to make the point that continuing the war would require unsustainable and increasing amounts of support.

The overall picture of Ukrainian defeat and propaganda falsely claiming they are winning supports multiple statements in Youtube videos made by Colonel MacGregor, several of which have been posted to FR.

General Zaluzhny, Ukraine at a fork in the road

The transcript below is computer generated (translated from audio to text) so it lacks punctuation likely contains phonetic and spelling errors, particularly with proper names of people and geographic locations.

I have added small amounts of punctuation and corrected some proper names.

Click to skip to bottom of this very long video transcript

TRANSCRIPT BEGINS:

All right Alexander we have got to do a Ukraine update we have uh this morning
we had a lot of missile attacks throughout Ukraine
uh they knocked out just about everything it seems even though I'm sure we're going to see the
Zelensky regime say that they shot down all the missiles

the fact of the matter is is that we're getting
reports of metros stopped uh more blackouts
one week on one week off this has become the same routine every week and we have the big uh Economist uh
story interview actually with the commander of the Ukraine our forces uh General Zaluzhny and that was an interesting uh interview that he gave with the Economist

and we have uh I would say Marika Bakhmut still ongoing I think the last I heard
80 percent of of this town has been uh has been taken by the Russians in Bakhmut
slow advancements but uh it looks like
even even though the collective West is saying this is not a significant city or town depending on what you want
to call it Zelensky is sure pouring everything he has into this insignificant town

anyway, that is I think a summary of everything that's going on

absolutely I think the most important
news is in fact this interview on the in The Economist and like we will you know
focus on that a little bit more but can I just say um there's been an interview with The
economist it was three people involved Zelensky himself he gave his own version
of events which is exactly the same as the one that he always gives another two military leaders uh (General) Zaluzhny, the
overall commander-in-chief and (Colonel) Syrskyi who is the commander of the Ukrainian
Army and as I said we'll come to that but let's just deal first with the um
you know overall situation another big missile attack I mean it's difficult
to say exactly how big it is but it looks big it comes after a big drone
attack of course zelenski will claim as he always does that 99 of the missiles
will shot down the other day he claimed that all the drones that were launched
at Kiev were shot down either the anybody outside the Ukrainian government
and some sections of the western media believe these claims I mean the facts
speak for themselves we see energy an energy crisis across Ukraine
we see you know the railways not working the metro and Kiev uh not working we see
problems all over the entire Energy System right across the country and the
impression we get is that with every missile attack the problems are getting
worse so a couple of weeks ago it was a third of the system was down then it was
40 then before this missile attack they were saying more than 50 percent of the
system was out of order and I suspect after this missile attack it'll be more
than that and gradually inexorably we're moving towards a situation where we
might not get a total collapse I suspect there'll always be some power somewhere
in Ukraine but the system will be so degraded that it isn't functioning effectively anymore and on the military
front the military situation well I think you've described it as very short but I mean it's the two big battles at
the moment of Bakhmut and Marinka

Marinka they're saying 80 under Russian
control they also say that the supply routes to Marinka have been cut that the
so the Ukrainian troops are presumably still fighting there if these reports are to be believed
um are not going to be able to keep fighting for very long because at some point they're going to run out of
supplies and in Bakhmut the fighting continues um again a Russian official has talked
about a pincer movement gradually tightening around the town um the Russians have broken uh through
many of the defense lines in the Eastern suburbs they're apparently now fighting the street fighting going on in the town
itself but again this vice is closing and I read a report yesterday about the
prediction being that the Ukrainian troops in Bakhmut who's still there
before very long unless they're pulled out now are going to find themselves in
the same position as the Ukrainian troops found themselves in in mariupole in other words totally cut off not just
from resupply and reinforcement but from any possible Retreat and facing the
prospect of either death or captivity so it's a bad situation in Bakhmut and
again as you absolutely rightly say always this talk about you know this is
an insignificant place that's far stronger defense lines further east why
in that case hold on in Bakhmut in this
way why accept all these enormous losses that now everybody accepts Ukraine is
suffering trying to cling on to back much why constantly send reinforcements
there when all that that does is that those reinforcements get chewed up but let's
turn to what I think is the most important news because as I said all these military leaders as I said
Zelenski um Zaluzhny uh Syrskyi the the two
military men and also by the way the defense minister Reznikov gave
interviews well the first three to The Economist Reznikov to another British
publication interesting they went for British Publications and if you read these things it all looks
like on the one hand on the surface you know the you know they've had a triumphant Autumn
they've won a whole load of Victories they've regained territory but it
doesn't take much reading below the surface to see
that these people at least the military people are very worried about the
situation they are in indeed and

so you have Zaluzhny,
first of all he says that he's got 700 000 men in uniform
but only 200 000 of those have combat training that's exactly what Douglas
McGregor said by the way a short time ago

Douglas McGregor said that the Ukrainian Army the actual part of it
that it can fight is down to 190 000 men

Zaluzhny has just confirmed it. Zaluzhny
also confirms that he's running short of ammunition he's running short of
equipment he says that he needs 300 tanks five or eight hundred or so
infantry fighting vehicles uh 500 fresh
guns that he can't carry out an offensive towards militar with the two
brigades which is all that he's got in the area he's talking about his army
bleeding, and that was an actual word he used

he said that the Russian mobilization had been successful he said
straightforwardly it has been a success he said that the Russian military is building up its strengths
um you know purposefully and effectively he says that the people who've been mobilized in Russia will undoubtedly
fight he said that the Russians can mobilize one and a half million men more
if they need to that's what he says he also said that he expects a big Russian
winter offensive he thinks apparently that it will happen in February

Resnikov
the defense minister who's a civilian talks about January um solution he admits he doesn't know
where this offensive might come from but he seems to think the most likely place
will be Belarus and that it will be focused towards Kiev but he accepts it
might be in all sorts of other places including what he calls the southern Direct and then he says what I thought was the
most interesting thing of all which is that he says that you know he's still fighting his forces are still fighting
it's not the moment yet to make to the Ukrainian Soldiers the
kind of address that General Mannheim the commander of the Finnish military
made to the Finnish troops in March 1940
after Finland was defeated by the Soviet Union in the winter War now you if you
read that speech by Mannheim the the text is actually quite interesting because Mannheim said that Finland had
been overwhelmed by the armies of a great power
and that they weren't able to keep up with the fact that the Russians had you know and were outgunning them or
outnumbering them all of those things and manaheim also said and this is back in March 1940 that Finland was unable to
resist because it wasn't getting the help from the West that it had been
promised so one wonders what Zaluzhny exactly is
thinking when he mentions these things but the very fact that he's talking about
manaheim's speech addressed to his uh soldiers back in March 1940 conceding
defeat to Russia to the Soviet Union as it then was well that is it seems to me
the first instance when a Ukrainian leader in and in this case we're talking about the commander of the Ukrainian
military is in effect admitting that it might eventually come to a situation
where is where he is forced to do the same as manaheim did and admits to the
Ukrainian military that all their sacrifices have been for nothing and that Ukraine is losing the war or has
lost the war

all right uh I I read the interview and
uh I I agree with you I I think the simple way the way that I that I saw the interview was was like
this uh we're at a fork in the road right now Ukraine in the collective West either
they go all in or it's over and

I think Zaluzhny was was saying look we're gonna lose if we continue like this so I need this list of stuff 500
attacks 300 this for I mean if you just puts a list down right so I need all these things and I think he really does believe that
if he gets all of these things which is a lot I mean we're not talking about one or two planes I mean he wants a whole he
wants all of NATO pretty much I want all of NATO

but he actually believes that if
he gets all of these things he says it I can win I can get Mariupol,  I can start firing on Crimea and and we can we
can get to the lines of February 23rd he said fair enough if I get all of these things we have a chance to to win so he says
that but he says the way we're going right now
we're not going to make it yes we can win it if we get NATO involved pretty much is what he's saying

but the way we're going right now we're not going to win that that's how I interpreted it we're at this point in
time where we're either you guys the West either you you you you back up all
your words with immense action immense action or you know it's it's not
going to to work out because Russia has 1.5 million men and they're gonna go through Kiev and all these things he
says all of the different possibilities that that could happen now
I think the most interesting part of this interview was to whom he gave the
interview to and that is The Economist which is the gold standard gold standard
of neocon uh Publications so it's to me it's kind of like the neocons
with the losing the end and let's get everybody else kind of saying look
we uh this is what we want as neocons and this is what we're going to push for
here we are in The Economist asking for it and as neocons we always we always get
what we want I mean that's the part that worries me is to
whom you gave the interview to because you're this is like this is the neocon saying this is this is the fork in the
road and it's time for Europe and the collective West to to start uh ramping things up because
here's the situation yeah this is exactly right I mean by the
way can I just say it's again like the situation in 1965 if you like in Vietnam
when the administration of that time Lyndon Johnson's was confronted with
exactly the same warnings and you know they weren't called neocons and those days they were called Hawks but they
basically said look we've got to go all in or we're going to lose in Vietnam and
of course they got half a million men American men sent to Vietnam shortly
afterwards and resolution and uh the Ukrainians are doing the same thing and this is clearly
a concerted lobbying effort I mean it is not a coincidence that all of these people
Zelensky, Zaluzhny uh um um what's his what's the name of the
other man, Bresnikov, are all giving these interviews and saying these things and you can also see something else
that they are trapped by their own propaganda of success if you like I mean
they've been telling everybody for weeks and months we're winning the war we we've had the successful offensive in
Karkov we've had the successful offensive in Kherson we've got the million man army and all that kind of
thing and now of course they have to backtrack because the realities are now catching up on them they have to accept
that in fact things are not looking good on the contrary far from winning they
are actually losing and this is clearly a concerted interview it's it's been
agreed with The Economist which as you said correctly is very very deep into
neocon thinking it's a neocon publication through and through it's an attempt to get away from the propaganda
of success finally admit some of these realities and tell Western policy makers and to
some extent the Western public that we are now actually at the Tipping Point that we're on the brink of losing the
war in Ukraine and the only way we can pull this together is by going all in

now if you go back to Vietnam they did go all in they sent in half a million troops They carried out Operation
Rolling Thunder the you know the bombing of North Vietnam they did all of those
things and they still lost.

Now why does anybody think that sending another 300 tanks 500 guns 800 infantry fighting Vehicles an already
impossible list of things I mean perhaps you could pull them together but if you
start doing it on that kind of scale you are going to deplete Western military
stocks which are already in a desperate position far more you're going to run
out of ammunition much more quickly you probably not going to have enough ammunition for the 500 guns or whatever
it was the resolution is asking for so you have to find some way of increasing
ammunition production you have to do all of those things but you know when he talks like that when Zaluzhny
talks like that I mean that's clearly what they're going to try to do they're now trying to get everybody in
Washington in London in Brussels and to some extent in Berlin and Paris
to mobilize to send everything NATO has got into Ukraine except when you're up
against an adversary that can effortlessly apparently call up one and
a half million men and has well they've just delivered 200 T90 tanks apparently
to donbursts the Russians can outmatch this escalation but of course the risk
is that it isn't just going to be weapon systems that people are going to send there's going to be more and more
demands to send troops to send actual fighting soldiers to prevent Ukraine's
defeat and to prevent this collapse this avert this collapse the solution he's
now talking about and he's giving if you like the neocons and their backers a
warning he says if you don't do this aren't going to be forced to do what
Manaheim did way back in 1940 until my troops to surrender because we can't
keep going by ourselves and Mannheim back in March 1940 specifically said
that one of the reasons why he was forced to do that was because the West Britain France in those days had not
acted on their promises and solution is implicitly telling the
West the same thing now yeah I mean
the simple the simple summary to this is either Ukraine loses or going to get a
massive escalation which as you said may may include him and most probably will
include NATO soldiers because even in that interviews you're losing he said we don't really need soldiers yes I agree
we have 700 000 or whatever we okay he talked about the amount of Ukraine soldiers but only 200 000 are fighting
but I think he also alludes to the fact that you know look we've we've got all of NATO too if you guys just go all in
and we've got all of the NATO forces as well that we can bring into this so it's not a Manpower issue for for him it's
it's a commitment issue is NATO going to pull the trigger and go to
to conflict with with Russia are you guys ready to do it that that's how I saw it I also saw a couple of other
things that which I think are interesting uh the fact that all of this is uh is being coordinated by UK publication
Boris Johnson a couple of days ago was also talking about emptying out everything that the UK has pretty much
and giving it to to Ukraine I think it just confirms how deep into this the UK
really is I would even say I'll go out on a limb and say the UK is even more deep into
this than or at least at an equal level with the United States I'm not saying I'm not saying money put
in all that I'm saying commitment and desire to go to war with Russia I think the UK is
is top of the list I mean they want this conflict bad I mean Boris Johnson was
foaming at the mouth to to pretty much just empty out all the all the stockpiles of of the UK military to go
to go to Ukraine so I think it's interesting you have this UK thread in all of this and I also think it's an
interesting PR ploy to uh to get to lose me to to give such an in-depth interview
because to me it shows it hints at the fact that even though Zelensky gave an interview
it was an interview that he gave with The Economist eight days ago and they just now published it
and I think the neocons they understand that a lot of people in the collective West are getting kind of a Zelensky
fatigue they're getting sick of it let's get constantly asking for money and weapons money and weapons and I think
they're saying you know let's get some other guys you know in on this to start asking for
for stuff because and it is true a lot of even even citizens that are in the
collective West that are pro-Ukraine are kind of getting sick of Zelensky every time he goes on the uh
on there every every time he shows up on their screens he's asking for another 10 billion I mean people are starting to
really just get tired of of seeing him and so you know you start to put the
commander of the forces in there to to deliver not the same message but but a
similar type of uh type of message absolutely I mean it's interesting again
that it's illusion is being built up in this way because I can't ever think actually that this is also not just an
attempt to find somebody who's got more credibility in the west than Zelenskybut again and we've talked
about this before it does look to me as if some people are starting to ask themselves whether
if we have to drop Zelensky under the bus you know Zelensky
credibility is exhausted who do we go to so we go to Zaluzhny who
does come across as a rather less uh shall we say rambling and uh eccentric
figure then Zelensky is I I think the fundamental point is this there is a
massive lobbying effort going on we had Boris Johnson we are making uh that
op-ed that you mentioned in the Wall Street Journal basically saying that the British and the Americans everybody
would give everything everything that Ukraine wants they must be given it even
if that depletes all our arsenals even if that puts us on a collision course with the Russians there's no doubt at
all there's also hardliners all over the now Washington is riddled with these
people who cannot contemplate the failure of their Ukrainian Adventure I
mean they're so invested in it that it will be disaster for them personally if it failed and it would be a disaster for
them ideologically if it failed the British absolutely I think that when you
said that they're even more in than the US is that is absolutely correct entirely my view I think that in the U.S
there is much more pushback and debate and criticism of this policy than you
will find in London I I'm in the U.S you find ex-military people ex-intelligence
people who write for Publications you write articles appearing in places like Newsweek in the New York Times wherever
which in all kinds of ways things are not going well this isn't a war that's going
uh well there is a real debate in this about this in the in the US there are
people who are critical of it in Congress Republicans Ron Paul Ron Paul
writes Rand Paul speaks all of that kind of thing you know there is nothing like
that in Britain in Britain the entire British establishment which has been
anti-Russian and anti-Putin for years is United behind this Ukrainian policy
there isn't a single British newspaper where you'll find any dissent of this approach that's been taken at all so of
course they are also extremely alarmed by the developments of the military situation they've organized these
interviews I'm I think Resnikov's interview which was not with The Economist was also with the British
publication and of course they are now engaging in a massive lobbying effort on
Ukraine's behalf in Washington and um amongst the other NATO allies
and of course there will be other people in the United States and wherever who are involved I'm going to say something
I think that in the end there's not going to be the political will in Washington just to cut Ukraine
off I think that going against the neocons is something that never happens in the
U.S but I also think that the more measured forces in the Pentagon you know
the military people there who must be worried increasingly worried about the depletion of the stocks the more um
politically Savvy people within the Democratic and indeed Republican parties
who must be worried about the risk of a popular backlash if this thing gets completely out of control they will push
back to some extent and they will be able to limit the degree of commitment
that he's made so we have the demand discern surface to where missiles to
Ukraine Patriot missile systems so we limit it to just one and we take it from
National Guard stocks we don't take it from actual Army stocks I'm not saying
that's what's going to happen but that's the rumor that's circulating so one battery not you know fleets of batteries
we're going to have some more tanks sent but it'll be tanks that you know we're
able to get in Morocco and artillery shells that we get in Sudan and of
course we'll find a couple more shells of our own descent to but again nowhere near the amount that the ukrainians are
demanding and I think over the next few weeks and months we're
going to see this this battle between these two forces playing out the neocons the British and I really do mean just
the British because as I said there are no dissenting voices about this here the bureaucracy in NATO stoltenberg and his
people the bureaucracy in the EU Ursula and her people and NATO and the EU by
the way the two bureaucracies have just United and issued a joint statement on Ukraine they will all be busy they will
all be lobbying they will all be pushing for more and more action taken on behalf
of Ukraine but there will be countervailing forces in Congress in the
Pentagon among some European governments uh Schultz to some extent maybe Maloney
perhaps a bit more people like that and they will be able to limit the extent to
which this commitment is made and in the end the outcome is going to be the same
and it's going to be the same whatever happens even if you send troops
there even if you send all the package of weapon systems that are being talked about because Victory against Russia on
this battlefield is impossible the more you commit the more the Russians will
escalate and the more united in support of that escalation Russians will be
because they will see a threat to themselves and they will respond accordingly it's what Obama warned
against all those years ago back in 2016 when he said this is an area where there
is escalatory dominance and I think some people in the west understand that
especially in the Pentagon but they're of course too afraid to come out and say
it publicly yeah we've almost come full circle in
this entire conflict because when this thing first started the goal was to get NATO involved
and uh solution and you know everyone else at these interviews they pretty
much now if come to come to the point where they're saying
NATO has to get involved the collective West has to absolutely or else we're going to lose so and

even
Adam Schiff by the way Adam Schiff gave an interview um I think to ABC or NBC News and he
said and there's Adam's shift he he was hinting at the fact that the best way to move forward is to manage the war
they're not fully committed with sending 500 000 American troops to Ukraine
they're they're hedging their bets and saying let's just try to manage this let's just manage this escalation manage
this conflict no well I mean how can you imagine having the exactly enough I mean it
doesn't work like but can I make some point and this is well exactly well exactly I mean and we come back though
to the original premise upon which this war was constructed the whole idea was
going all the way back to that Rand Corporation reporters I think it was 2019 you create all kinds of problems
around Russia's periphery and you drain Russian attention and weaken Russian
resources that and that of course was what Austin and Lincoln and all those people were
saying just a few months ago what's actually happening is that it's the
West's resources that are being drained it's the West's economies that are being
weakened and it is the worst that is being sucked into a conflict where of
course the risk it always faces now is that it will lose at any point I mean I
either they cut it off now and you know they will lose or they go in further and they will lose bigger but you can see
how once more a neocon plan has worked
out badly for the west and for the United States instead of the Russians
being you know distracted and weakened which maybe in some ways they have not
in others the people who are finding themselves trapped into a cycle of either defeat or
escalation endless escalation in which they can't in the end keep up are the
Western powers and you're starting to sense I think in Europe increasingly and I don't mean on on the levels of the
political class but you started to sense that some people are beginning to get nervous and
are looking for ways to jump off the right I mean Olaf Schultz has been giving these very interesting and
completely ridiculous in my opinion uh um articles about you know we must we mustn't end up
in a cold war we must find a way back somehow macron does exactly the same
we've seen political crisis now in Slovakia where the government has fallen
we see all of this sort of thing people are trying to find a way out out of a
trap that they've let the neocons lead them into but there it is that's always what
happens with the neocons they always start strong
and end catastrophically and it's looking increasingly as if this conflict
is going to be no different only the catastrophe is probably going to be bigger than with all the others
yeah they even had that I think it was either a New York Times a Washington Post article or Wall Street Journal I
forgot which one they're all the same uh which said that the US is telling the the Europeans that they're going to have
to start paying a lot more money to keep Ukraine afloat something like that did you catch that
article yeah absolutely I did catch that article and doesn't that tell you a great deal because did they say that
that they have to double like instead of like one or two billion you have to pay 4 billion a month or something like that
oh that was the US tell the Europeans look you guys gotta putty up more money
yeah and then in a few a few months it'll be you know eight billion a month and then 10 billion a month and then 20
billion a month and that is the way this now is fated to go because that that's
that's the only way you can and eventually the policy collapses under
its own weight which is what happened in Vietnam by the way the the fact was that the economic and Military
burdens of the conflict became so completely out of proportion to any conceivable gain which could not be
achieved anyway that eventually and this is the what actually happened with
Vietnam it was the more so we say level-headed part of the U.S
political military establishment which said enough but in the meantime until we get to that
point we're going to see enormous damage being done to the fabric of
the West to Europe NATO I suspect is going to come under increasing strain
Europe is going to come in under increasing strain I'm now starting to
see the first articles appearing which admit that oil prices Energy prices are
going to start rising in 2023 so we have a long way to go before the
penny finally drops and people draw the correct conclusion for what Zaluzhny and the others are
saying in these interviews, which is that victory in Ukraine is impossible whatever
Zaluzhny says because the resources are required to achieve it are beyond any
rational limit which is why you're getting a lot of
Articles just to wrap up the video a lot of Articles over the past couple of weeks which are resurfacing about regime
change in Russia and tribunals yeah absolutely they're still holding on
to this dream of some sort of regime change and some sort of tribunal where
you're going to have Vladimir Putin sitting at the Hague and it's going to be for all the world
to see uh absolutely penetrating judges in this the Netherlands is putting this
together Burrell said that he's trying to put a tribunal together with the U.N there
it's just hopium it's just false hope that they're trying to cling on to something
to uh to keep this thing going absolutely that's exactly what it is
it's also something else though and that is it's an attempt to intimidate some people in Moscow there is a very
interesting article today in the financial times which is furiously critical of uh Putin's economic team who
are assumed to be liberals and um they're saying you know that the fact that these people have stuck with
Putin's stuck with the Russian government puts them in a deeply compromised position and I noticed that
there was a specific reference to Helmer shart was Germany Central Banker in the 1930s
who continued who remained Germany's Central Banker after the
party than you know the German party that we all know came to power and of
course he ended up as one of the defendants of Nuremberg he was actually acquitted but he was he he
was actually a Defender he was actually a defendant and he was politically he
was discredited he was personally discredited and the attempt clearly is
being made to tell all of these people nabalina
um Graf or the all of those people look if you continue to support Putin in this
way if you don't help us with our regime change operations then you will end up
in the same tribunal as he now I don't think these people are going to pay any
attention I don't get the sense that they're intimidated by this sort of thing at all but you could see what is
being done you could see that you know all this war crimes tribunal thing is partly intended I think to try to create
tensions in Moscow this isn't going to work nobody in Moscow looks at all worried about it but it's not surprising
that you know when you are seeing everything else fail that as you say
they turn to that no that's their Hail Mary pass that's the Hail Mary pass that's the goal in
the in the 1889th minute you know it's we're not going to get the regime change from outside in
but maybe we can get someone inside the Kremlin to get something started that's why you're having the tribunals that's
why you have all of these uh parliaments uh labeling Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism the EU Parliament the Polish
Parliament that's why you had the EU Parliament yesterday say that the uh holodomor was uh was an act of genocide
they passed that as well all of these things in together are to are to
intimidate and scare people even the ninth sections package focuses a lot on entities and individuals they've come
full circle there as well individuals in the first packages and now they've come all the way back to to
saying we're going to sanction you your family your kids your grandkids everybody so they're looking for
they're poking around in the dark looking for someone anybody that can somehow get some sort of Palace coup
going yes which is which is good so as you write he said goes all the way back to the magnitsky act of uh 2013 or was
it 2012 which was in fact all about sanctioning individuals and they've gone
all the way back to that they're now sanctioning individuals again putting pressure on them threatening people with
war crimes tribunals all that kind of thing for exactly the reason you say because ultimately if they can't achieve
that regime change in Moscow two things one the whole object of the exercise
which was to achieve regime change in Moscow will have failed I mean you know
what was this war all about then and of course the second is without regime change they will lose the war
yeah all right we will uh end it there the duran.locals.com and we are also on
rockfin and go to the Durant shop 10 off use the code good day take care
[Music]

[UMCRevMom@aol.com]

Залужний говорить: найцікавіше з інтерв’ю The Economist
CC English
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcOXK8M7Xo8

[Cathi]

https://www.moonofalabama.org/2022/12/ukraine-what-its-military-leadership-says.html#more

All three men emphasised that the outcome of the war hinges on the next few months. They are convinced that Russia is readying another big offensive, to begin as soon as January.

The author writes that “Ukraine enjoyed a triumphant autumn.” One wonders how many thousand Ukrainian soldiers have died for that triumph that was in reality a well controlled Russian retreat to shorten its frontlines.

But neither General Zaluzhny nor General Syrsky sounds triumphant. One reason is the escalating air war. Russia has been pounding Ukraine’s power stations and grid with drones and missiles almost every week since October, causing long and frequent blackouts. Though Russia is running short of precision-guided missiles, in recent weeks it is thought to have offered Iran fighter jets and helicopters in exchange for thousands of drones and, perhaps, ballistic missiles.

Yes, we have known since March 2 that Russia is running out of precision-guided missiles. It has since used only 4,500 of those.

“It seems to me we are on the edge,” warns General Zaluzhny. More big attacks could completely disable the grid. “That is when soldiers’ wives and children start freezing,” he says. “What kind of mood will the fighters be in? Without water, light and heat, can we talk about preparing reserves to keep fighting?”

When it is cold and dark morale indeed becomes a problem. It is not the only one.

A second challenge is the fighting currently under way in Donbas, most notably around the town of Bakhmut. General Syrsky, who arrives at the interview in eastern Ukraine in fatigues, his face puffy from sleep deprivation, says that Russia’s tactics there have changed under the command of Sergei Surovikin, who took charge in October. The Wagner group, a mercenary outfit that is better equipped than Russia’s regular army, fights in the first echelon. Troops from the Russian republic of Chechnya and other regulars are in the rear. But whereas these forces once fought separately, today they co-operate in detachments of 900 soldiers or more, moving largely on foot.

Bakhmut is not an especially strategic location. Although it lies on the road to Slovyansk and Kramatorsk, two biggish cities (see map), Ukraine has several more defensive lines to fall back on in that direction. What is more, Russia lacks the manpower to exploit a breakthrough. The point of its relentless onslaught on Bakhmut, the generals believe, is to pin down or “fix” Ukrainian units so that they cannot be used to bolster offensives in Luhansk province to the north. “Now the enemy is trying to seize the initiative from us,” says General Syrsky. “He is trying to force us to go completely on the defensive.”

If Bakhmut is not a strategic location why is the Ukrainian army sending more and more troops into it? Russia is using Bakhmut not only to “fix” Ukrainian units. It is using it to eliminate them with up to 500 Ukrainian soldiers killed or wounded per day. The real fixing operation is happening elsewhere.

Ukraine also faces a renewed threat from Belarus, which began big military exercises in the summer and more recently updated its draft register. On December 3rd Sergei Shoigu, Russia’s defence minister, visited Minsk, the Belarusian capital, to discuss military co-operation. Western officials say that Belarus has probably given too much material support to Russian units to enter the fray itself, but the aim of this activity is probably to fix Ukrainian forces in the north, in case Kyiv is attacked again, and so prevent them from being used in any new offensive.

General Zaluzhny has a quite realistic view on what is coming:

“Russian mobilisation has worked,” says General Zaluzhny. “A tsar tells them to go to war, and they go to war.” General Syrsky agrees: “The enemy shouldn’t be discounted. They are not weak…and they have very great potential in terms of manpower.” He gives the example of how Russian recruits, equipped only with small arms, successfully slowed down Ukrainian attacks in Kreminna and Svatove in Luhansk province—though the autumn mud helped. Mobilisation has also allowed Russia to rotate its forces on and off the front lines more frequently, he says, allowing them to rest and recuperate. “In this regard, they have an advantage.”
But the main reason Russia has dragooned so many young men, the generals believe, is to go back on the offensive for the first time since its bid to overrun Donbas fizzled out in the summer. “Just as in [the second world war]…somewhere beyond the Urals they are preparing new resources,” says General Zaluzhny, referring to the Soviet decision to move the defence industry east, beyond the range of Nazi bombers. “They are 100% being prepared.” A major Russian attack could come “in February, at best in March and at worst at the end of January”, he says. And it could come anywhere, he warns: in Donbas, where Mr Putin is eager to capture the remainder of Donetsk province; in the south, towards the city of Dnipro; even towards Kyiv itself. In fact a fresh assault on the capital is inevitable, he reckons: “I have no doubt they will have another go at Kyiv.”

The general is building and holding back reserves which is problematic for the front lines:

The temptation is to send in reserves. A wiser strategy is to hold them back.
...
“May the soldiers in the trenches forgive me,” says General Zaluzhny. “It’s more important to focus on the accumulation of resources right now for the more protracted and heavier battles that may begin next year.”

Ukraine has enough men under arms—more than 700,000 in uniform, in one form or another, of whom more than 200,000 are trained for combat. But materiel is in short supply. Ammunition is crucial, says General Syrsky. “Artillery plays a decisive role in this war,” he notes. “Therefore, everything really depends on the amount of supplies, and this determines the success of the battle in many cases.” General Zaluzhny, who is raising a new army corps, reels off a wishlist. “I know that I can beat this enemy,” he says. “But I need resources. I need 300 tanks, 600-700 IFVs [infantry fighting vehicles], 500 Howitzers.” The incremental arsenal he is seeking is bigger than the total armoured forces of most European armies.

Does Zaluzhny really believe that he could get that force? I don’t think so.

The Economist points out that donors of weapons have run out of pretty much everything:

On December 6th America’s Congress agreed in principle to let the Pentagon buy 864,000 rounds of 155mm artillery shells, more than 12,000 GPS-guided Excalibur shells and 106,000 GPS-guided GMLRS rockets for HIMARS—theoretically enough to sustain Ukraine’s most intense rate of fire for five months non-stop. But this will be produced over a number of years, not in time for a spring offensive.
Russia has similar problems. It will run out of “fully serviceable” munitions early next year, says an American official, forcing it to use badly maintained stocks and suppliers like North Korea. Its shell shortages are “critical”, said Admiral Tony Radakin, Britain’s defence chief, on September 14th.

The last part is of course as valid as the claim that Russia is ‘running out of missiles’.

But even while lacking armored forces and ammunition Ukraine still dreams of big attacks:

“With this kind of resource I can’t conduct new big operations, even though we are working on one right now,” says General Zaluzhny.

The writer discusses various options where Ukraine could attack but finds that it does not really have a good one. The big victory over Russia will not be coming:

In private, however, Ukrainian and Western officials admit there may be other outcomes. “We can and should take a lot more territory,” General Zaluzhny insists. But he obliquely acknowledges the possibility that Russian advances might prove stronger than expected, or Ukrainian ones weaker, by saying, “It is not yet time to appeal to Ukrainian soldiers in the way that Mannerheim appealed to Finnish soldiers.” He is referring to a speech which Finland’s top general delivered to troops in 1940 after a harsh peace deal which ceded land to the Soviet Union.

So how many soldiers will still have to die before Zaluzhny is willing to give his Mannerheim speech (vid)? He does not say.

[ransomnote]

In the General/Chat forum, on a thread titled General Zaluzhny, Ukraine at a fork in the road (TRANSCRIPT and link to 40 minute YOUTUBE video, my notes), PIF wrote:

You Tube computer generated transcripts are horrible - they are literal to the sound, but not to the actual wording - very often words, important words are omitted, words which change the entire meaning of what is being said.

I know because I have been transcribing these transcripts since April.

Further the linked YouTube video has two people obviously biased to Putin and aniti-Ukraine: Alexander Mercouris and Alex Christoforou; the General does not appear in the video.

Beware, this is a full on Pootie Toot propaganda piece.

I listened to the entire video and then posted the transcript. I  didn't correct every word or punctuation, but read through the entire transcript to make sure it was not misleading relative to the content. I linked the video and all are free to satisfy themselves that the transcript is accurate. 

I can't bring myself to give world leaders engaged in war, which has teetered on the brink of WWIII because Zelensky lied, stupid names like "Pootie Toot," but knock yourself out.

[Timber Rattler]

The title and description of your dubious post are outright lies. General Zaluzhny has said no such thing. This is just idle talk and speculation by pro-Kremlin V-bloggers.

Garbage post and wall of incomprehensible text.

[Who is John Galt?]

"...victory in Ukraine is impossible whatever Zaluzhny says because the resources are required to achieve it are beyond any rational limit...."

Unfortunately, the American politicians (& their followers) who are pushing US involvement don't seem too concerned with "rational limit[s]". We'll probably borrow & spend $100-$200 billion supporting Ukraine, and then abandon them anyway. The only people benefitting will be the Democrat & RINO politicians getting laundered Ukrainian kickback "donations", a la FTX...

;^)

[Cathi]

https://t.me/Slavyangrad

Marinka - the main stronghold of the AFU has been captured by the DNR!

Tonight we received information that after weeks of fighting, the Donetsk People’s Republic’s Army attack aircraft were able to crush the enemy in the center of Marinka and were finally able to take control of the last (southern central) enemy stronghold in the high-rise area.

Given that at the same time, our troops are attacking Pobeda and are well entrenched in the northern parts of Marinka (opposite Krasnogorovka), there can be no enemy counterattack, which means that after mopping up the town, which may take several days, Marinka will be entirely under our troops’ control, after which it will be time to resume the offensive against Ugledar.

Because after taking control of the town of Pobeda, the Ugledar grouping of the enemy will find itself in an extremely difficult situation. And a strike on Kostyantynivka from the north could be fatal for it.

[crz]

“The Poles are trying to punch above their weight, as usual.”

This whole dang thing is nothing but a ethnic feud.

As far as the germans? They already started to switch sides.
Talking to a person in Austria and they are sick of this shit.

[Cathi]

https://t.me/i20028843

💥💥💥OK Commander Yug Kovalchuk said the Armed Forces of Ukraine are experiencing a shortage of shells for artillery. On the eastern front the situation is even more difficult for the Ukrainian army, where the ratio is 1 to 6, in Artemovsk it is 1 to 10, and there is no way to even the situation. The saturation of the front does not allow the Armed Forces of Ukraine to use tactics with light mobile groups💥💥💥

[UMCRevMom@aol.com]

Moon of Alabama blog is questionable source showing extreme bias consistently promoting propaganda & conspiracies without sourcing to credible information.

Moon of Alabama untrustworthy and should be fact-checked per-article. Fake News is a deliberate attempt to publish hoaxes or disinformation for profit or influence.

[Cathi]

https://t.me/i20028843

💥💥💥Hackers from the Anarchist Kombatant group intercepted data on the number of dead Ukrainian soldiers reported missing - 35,382 people.
🔻These are military personnel whose bodies were left on the battlefield and their families will not receive compensation because they are listed as “missing”.
🔻 A complete list of all military personnel who disappeared as of November 30, 2022 is attached to the letter.
🔻 Most of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine - 667 sheets with names, surnames and dates of birth. Followed by members of territorial defense units (546 lists), air assault troops (398), special forces (316) and representatives of the Navy (242)💥💥💥

[Cathi]

https://t.me/i20028843

🇷🇺IL RUSSO🇷🇺, [12/17/2022 5:33 AM]
💥💥💥In its commentary on yesterday’s missile strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure, the Russian Defense Ministry reported that decoys were used during the strike to deceive Ukrainian air defense. At the same time, positions were opened and four radar stations of the Ukrainian S-300 air defense systems in the Dnepropetrovsk and Zaporozhye regions were destroyed.

It is interesting that the destruction of four radar stations mentioned by the Russian defense department coincides with the data of the Ukrainian General Staff, which in its report yesterday indicated the use of four Kh-59 and Kh-31P aircraft missiles.

If the situation described by the military of both sides really took place, then we can make a bold assumption about the beginning of the process of suppression and destruction of Ukrainian air defense systems during long-range missile strikes on the territory of Ukraine.

We have repeatedly written about the prospects and the need for fire impact on the Ukrainian air defense system in our publications, recently Rybar spoke about this topic at length. We hope that with these strikes the beginning of this time-consuming and important process was nevertheless laid💥💥💥

🇷🇺IL RUSSO🇷🇺, [12/17/2022 5:43 AM]
💥💥💥Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation: On the eve of the military command and control systems, the military-industrial complex and energy facilities of Ukraine that supply them, faced a massive attack from high-precision long-range air and sea weapons based. The goal has been achieved. All assigned objects are hit.

As a result of the strike, the transfer of foreign-made weapons and ammunition was stopped, the advance of reserves in the areas of hostilities was blocked, and defense enterprises of Ukraine for the production and repair of weapons, military equipment and ammunition was stopped💥💥💥

[UMCRevMom@aol.com]

“General Zaluzhny has said no such thing. This is just idle talk and speculation by pro-Kremlin V-bloggers.”

Thank you for taking the time to call her out on this distortion of General Zaluzhny interview.

[Timber Rattler]

Moon of Alabama is actually an offshoot of the DailyKOS.

Billmon - remembering a great blogger

Billmon

About Moon Of Alabama

[PIF]

You better check you link again, Pootie troll

[ransomnote]

https://www.economist.com/zaluzhny-transcript

December 15 interview with General Zaluzhny, according to The Economist.

Interview hi-lights below. Zaluzhny says Russia is preparing a big offensive and then describes problems getting what the Ukraine needs for the 'heavier battles' to come.

SNIP

"Our second strategic task is to get ready for this war which can happen in February. To be able to wage a war with fresh forces and reserves. Our troops are all tied up in battles now, they are bleeding. They are bleeding and are being held together solely by courage, heroism and the ability of their commanders to keep the situation under control. "

SNIP

"I can calculate, based on the task at hand, what kind of resource is needed to build combat capability.

We are talking about the scale of World War One…that is what Antony Radakin [Britain’s top soldier] told me. When I told him that the British Army fired a million shells in World War One, I was told, “We will lose Europe. We will have nothing to live on if you fire that many shells.” When they say, “You get 50,000 shells”, the people who count the money faint. The biggest problem is that they really don’t have it.

With this kind of resources I can’t conduct new big operations, even though we are working on one right now. It is on the way, but you don’t see it yet. We use a lot fewer shells.

I know that I can beat this enemy. But I need resources. I need 300 tanks, 600-700 IFVs, 500 Howitzers. Then, I think it is completely realistic to get to the lines of February 23^rd. But I can’t do it with two brigades. I get what I get, but it is less than what I need. It is not yet time to appeal to Ukrainian soldiers in the way that Mannerheim appealed to Finnish soldiers. We can and should take a lot more territory."

SNIP

[RetiredTexasVet]

As Slow Joe would say: “When you come to a fork in the road - take it”.

[Cathi]

General Zaluzhny is an intelligent man and has spent much of the last 10 months futilely trying to talk Zelensky out of risky plans that threaten his troops and begging to be allowed to withdraw troops in peril. But, Zelensky needed “wins” to keep the West onboard.

General Z knows no one is sending him the weapons for an entire new army. They couldn’t even if they wanted to...and they don’t want to. His “partners” want out so bad they can taste it!

Scott Ritter believes that General Z brought the speech of the defeated Finnish commander up as an “excuse” for what it about to come. He WILL have to make that speech at some point and he is setting the foundation for blaming the west for not supplying him with what they promised...just like the Finnish commander did in 1940.

General Z is forming a new political party to challenge Zelensky’s re-election. He hopes to be the next Ukrainian president...the one who negotiates the final settlement with Putin.

Resident
The Economist confirms information from political telegram channels that the Office of the President is trying to replace Zaluzhny with Syrsky .

This is worrying senior Western military officials.

A senior foreign military officer said that at best, this petty rivalry is a red herring.

At worst, it could undermine Ukraine’s unity and weaken the West’s trust in its leaders.
Telegram
Resident
⚡️⚡️⚡️#Inside
Our source in the OP said that the Office of the President wants to give all the laurels of the winner to General Alexander Syrsky, whom Bankova plans to appoint to the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

https://t.me/resident_ua/14017

Separately, there is a call for a military coup, but so far softly ...

[Larry Lucido]

[delta7]

Exactly, the only “ fork” I see is: Ukraine is done.

Ukraine 1991-2023 RIP

[Widget Jr]

Before the war in Ukraine started, on this forum, would be more trustworthy? A disbarred lawyer and those on RT's payroll, or a country's top general about the threats his country faces? Before the war, the general would be more credible than the Duran and RT. Now the war in Ukraine is on, who do many Freepers trust? The disbarred lawyer and RT talking about about the General, not the General who's cleaned the Russian army military's collective clocks for ten months. SMH/CMTU.

I get it, lots of Americans are do not want us involved in Ukraine, do not want the risks or costs. Lots of us do not trust our government or the news anymore. Not trusting our our government, news or experts make any other truthful. My issue is, those against US involvement on the conservative side are turning to the least credible so called experts, overrated has beens, and never-were's they can find. That does not help the anti-war case at all.