The Associated Press [HERE] and more importantly the U.S. Intel Community outlet, the Washington Post [HERE], are beginning to change direction in their narration of the war in Ukraine.
Both sources of information are starting to position Eastern Ukraine as a lost cause, with the Washington Post giving specific examples of conscripted Ukraine fighters who are abandoning the effort in the donbas region. As noted, “after three months of war, this company of 120 men is down to 54 because of deaths, injuries and desertions. The volunteers were civilians before Russia invaded on Feb. 24, and they never expected to be dispatched to one of the most dangerous front lines in eastern Ukraine.”
The Ukraine commander, Serhi Lapko and one of his lieutenants, Vitaliy Khrus, “retreated with members of their company this week to a hotel away from the front. There, both men spoke to The Washington Post on the record, knowing they could face a court-martial and time in military prison.” Together, Lapko and Khrus describe the essential elements of a fragmented Ukraine fighting force up against a committed Russian military advance.
Even the Washington Post admits the Ukraine central government is desperate to push morale boosting propaganda which seems constructed from the efforts of the U.S. State Dept, specifically the intelligence community within it. “Videos of assaults on Russian tanks or positions are posted daily on social media. Artists are creating patriotic posters, billboards and T-shirts. The postal service even released stamps commemorating the sinking of a Russian warship in the Black Sea.”
These examples are targeted toward a western audience and likely not being carried out by independent Ukraine government operation in Kyiv. Promoting the image of Ukraine is a construct of the U.S. state dept and U.S. intelligence.
The global impression of Ukraine must remain elevated to continue the U.S. proxy war against Russia. However, as noted, the WaPo is starting to shift the goal posts and expectations away from a Russian defeat in the donbas region.
Most notably within paragraphs like this you can see the purposeful shift. “Lapko and Khrus’s concerns were echoed recently by a platoon of the 115th Brigade 3rd Battalion, based nearby in the besieged city of Severodonetsk. In a video uploaded to Telegram on May 24, and confirmed as authentic by an aide to Haidai, volunteers said they will no longer fight because they lacked proper weapons, rear support and military leadership.”
[…] Ukraine’s military rebutted the volunteers’ claims in their own video posted online, saying the “deserters” had everything they needed to fight: “They thought they came for a vacation,” one service member said. “That’s why they left their positions.”
Hours after The Post interviewed Lapko and Khrus, members of Ukraine’s military security service arrived at their hotel and detained some of their men, accusing them of desertion. The men contend that they were the ones who were deserted. (read more)
The Associated Press story flows in a similar line to the WaPo narrative; however, the AP must maintain the Western Government slant:
[…] Russia has intensified efforts to capture the cities of Sievierodonetsk and nearby Lysychansk, which are the last major areas under Ukrainian control in Luhansk.
Luhansk Gov. Serhii Haidai reported that Ukrainian fighters repelled an assault on Sievierodonetsk but Russian troops still pushed to encircle them. He later said Russian forces had seized a hotel on the city’s outskirts, damaged 14 high-rise buildings and were fighting in the streets with Ukrainian forces.
[…] Mariupol’s port has reportedly resumed operations after Russian forces finished clearing mines in the Azov Sea. Russian state news agency Tass reported that a vessel bound for Rostov-on-Don in southern Russia entered the port early Saturday.
In the call with Macron and Scholz, the Kremlin said, Putin emphasized that Russia was working to “establish a peaceful life in Mariupol and other liberated cities in the Donbas.”
[…] Ukrainian authorities have reported that Kremlin-installed officials in seized cities have started airing Russian news broadcasts, introduced Russian area codes, imported Russian school curriculum and taken other steps to annex the areas.
Russian-held areas of the southern Kherson region have shifted to Moscow time and “will no longer switch to daylight saving time, as is customary in Ukraine,” Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti quoted Krill Stremousov, a Russian-installed local official, as saying Saturday. (read more)
Im not one to be rooting for Ukraine considering who is eager to support it and use vast sums of our money and resources doing it.
I do have compassion for the citizens and refugees caught up in death and destruction its government could have worked to avoid.
good point. a war between citizens and the Selections is worldwide.
no one, anywhere, supports the Selected Governments over them.
nine point majority of likely u.s. voters would rather see biden resign than putin. wonder what vlad’s reaction was to the news.
https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1606839/Shock-poll-Ukraine-Zelensky-Biden-lose-war-Russia-Putin-Democracy-Institute-news
This is very good.
Zelensky – Servant of the Corrupt
27 May 2022
https://im1776.com/2022/05/27/servant-of-the-corrupt/
…the portrait of the Ukraine President as a democratic paragon whitewashes the real Zelensky and conceals a vast web of corruption and international skullduggery of which Ukraine is situated in the centre. Understanding the real Zelensky, requires seeing him as a creation of Ukrainian oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky. He is, in truth, a puppet of intrigue.
It might be hard to believe now, but revelations from documents in the Pandora Papers — millions of files from offshore service providers leaked to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and shared with partners around the world — sent Zelensky reeling last year, threatening to end his political career. Though the actor-turned-politico campaigned as an anti-corruption reformer, the Pandora Papers showed him to be just as crooked as his predecessors.
Of more than 300 politicians and public officials, including several current and former national leaders, in more than 91 countries and territories to whom the documents were linked, Ukraine was home to more secret offshore holdings than any other, including Russia. The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), which contributed to the investigation, found that just before Zelensky was elected president, “he gifted his stake in a key offshore company, the British Virgin Islands-registered Maltex Multicapital Corp., to his business partner — soon to be his top presidential aide. And in spite of giving up his shares, the documents show that an arrangement was soon made that would allow the offshore to keep paying dividends to a company that now belongs to his wife.”
oh good. so glad no one from the u.s., canada, or israel was implicated. those politicians are true public servants. they don’t do it for corruptly acquired money, ask the obamas, the clintons, the bidens, the trudeaus, the netanyahus.
clean as whistles.
https://www.bing.com/search?q=trudeaus+corruption&form=APMCS1&PC=APMC
all the surrounding countries’ military posturing and talking as about getting a piece of the former ukraine. russia has won. NATO and the khazars have lost. that’s why the big green push. all or nothing for the communists now. they no longer have a centralized money-human-drug trafficking base in ukraine. prepare for the sycophant idolizer communist backlash; and the normmie meltdown and vexxed behavior.
More than that, maybe?
They initiated this conflict with Russia, because they percieved a Nationalist Putin run Russia, as an intrinsic threat to their globalist plan, hence their NEED to “take Putin out”.
So, FAILING to “take Putin out” is a major setback for Globalism. They wagered possibly nuclear war in provoking this war, and are failing to achieve their objective.
Something to celebrate.
Have you seen this?
“These big brave sofa warriors have been on social media demanding that Ukrainians keep fighting in this way until they’ve secured total victory over Russia and reclaimed Crimea and the Donbas, tweeting ‘Slava Ukraini’ with their little blue-and-yellow flag emojis during the commercial breaks of their favorite TV show in between mouthfuls of Funyuns.”
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2022/05/no_author/msm-offers-rare-glimpse-into-how-bad-things-are-really-going-for-ukrainian-forces/
Sobering:
“Many of the blue-and-yellow flag wavers are well-intentioned, and really do think they are advocating for Ukrainian freedom and sovereignty. But in reality all they’ve been cheering for is Ukrainian subservience and enslavement to the empire, Ukrainian death, Ukrainian suffering, and the continuation of a dangerous proxy war between nuclear superpowers that threatens the life of everyone on earth.”
It’s too bad none of the Ukie flag wavers has the guts to wave the proper one – you know, with the Swastika.
Good article.
In line with what I have been reading on askeptic.
No equipment,food or support from Zelensky.
That is what has been reported that those who surrendered in Mauripoul and those captured have been saying.
Question I have is whether or not the citizens in Ukraine..like Kiev know what is going on?
The Democrats and news media are simply helping White Orthodox Christian Ukrainians and White Orthodox Christian Russians kill each other. It doesn’t get more simple than that!
Interesting
The Ukrainian army in certain parts of the Donbas is taking a pounding from the Russians this week but it’s not throwing in the towel. The Russians are under pressure to make something happen soon – else they’ll end up staring into the barrels of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of more Ukrainian artillery pieces and tanks. Ukraine has to get more ordnance across the Dniepr River and up to the front line asap.
I would not sell the Ukrainians short.
Major Rage
Perhaps you were the guy on the U.S. Embassy roof in Saigon?
Doing your very best Baghdad Bob impression isn’t going to make things any better for Ukrainian troops, the best of which were the wannabee Nazis, who were crushed and now on their way to a well deserved vacation to a Siberian summer camp.
Your government lies, even when the truth would serve them better.
How does it feel playing video games and talking like it’s real life?
Like sock puppetry with blue and yellow fuzzies.
I reckon.
The Russians have committed less than 5% of their military. This is a real national Army, not a tin-pot Middle Eastern dictator. They are not set upon conquest. They will achieve their limited objectives more or less exactly as planned. Ukraine has no chance, even with Western toys.
Not quite. Russia has around 920,000 active military across all branches and about 280,000 active Army. For every one soldier fighting, there are approx four in support roles. So if Russia committed 100% of their Army (which they wouldn’t) they couldn’t have a fighting force of more than 70k.
I read a lot about Russian conscripts being the fighting force which does have merit since it’s pretty clear they’re not using their best tanks like the T14 Armata. I’m also seeing far more AK74 rifles than AK12, the latter being the newer.
“…they’re not using their best tanks like the T14 Armata.”
The few they have are being held in reserve against a counterattack from the city of Kharkiv.
“They are not set upon conquest.”
Then they won’t suffer much disappointment at being defeated.
“Ukraine has to get more ordnance across the Dniepr River and up to the front line asap.”
No. Give ground against the artillery barrage. Reform your defensive line-an arc with its terminal lines abutting the Dnieper River. Shorten your logistic chain.
Make the enemy lengthen his supply lines as he chases you to your next redoubt.
As he advances, be sure to greet him with your shiny new M777 howitzer and M270 multiple missile launch platform that are safely ensconced behind the Dnieper River.
If it weren’t for the brain washed leftist from all over getting involved with the nazi asov, this would be over already.
This is an internal war between state, cia, dod, et al where they use their media mouthpieces in a proxy war against each other.
I’ve sent CTH links to other bloggers that are commenting on the WAPO article but are missing the point.
The WAPO article isn’t an admission of the truth but a mortal shell into their enemies in the US government.
“They will still think us stupid, corrupt and inept”. It is because we are stupid, corrupt and inept. The whole thing is to protect and continue Ukraine the World’s leader’s money Laundromat.
Money laundering, weapons smuggling, drug running, human trafficking capital of the world. All the democrats’ favorite past times.
The Commie Democrats don’t care how many lives are lost, their goal is to steal more of our taxpayer dollars, through hook, or crook.
You r absolutely correct the money isn’t going to UKRAINE, ITS GOING IN THE DEMOCRATS BANK ACCOUNTS..
Lot of concern over defending Globalist/Dem money laundering. How about a treaty solution, with surrendering of facts re: money flow to US pols and shady labs.
In taking on Putin, they started something with someone they couldn’t control.
Perhaps some of the “deserters” from Western Ukraine that were fighting in the embattled East lost their eagerness to fight the brutal war and likely die after the country just received $50 Billion. They would probably have to have some level of connection with someone in the Zelenskyy admin however to actually receive a worthwhile benefit.
A significant amount of the debt expanding U.S. money will likely be transferred to Swiss or Caribbean Bank accounts and other “political supply chains” for connected grifter politicians in the Ukraine and in the USA.
What did Malachi Martin mean when he said that salvation would come from the East—specifically, Russia and Kiev? Will Russia defeat the CCP in a showdown in the not so distant future? Which nations will be annihilated…?
Why couldn’t John XXIII obey Our Lady of Fatima?
Prepare your souls accordingly. We are in for something unprecedented.
not much farther to transnistria, russian speaking breakaway province of moldova. ukraine then becomes landlocked.
Is it just me, or do those two women look absolutely ridiculous standing in front of that thing?
Frankly, women look absolutely ridiculous standing in front of anything besides a stove, a sink, or a bassinet.
If the current US government made such a mess in the Afghanistan withdrawal
why would one expect them to do much better in a much larger matter in Ukraine?
That “mess” was the goal, not a side effect. Those observant have already noted that the Ukrainian money from the US government is likely lining US government politicians pockets. Wouldn’t it then stand to reason that all the weaponry left in Afghanistan was secretly paid to the US powerful who forced the disastrous withdrawal in a similar way?
Luv the high heels girls.
The Youtube channel Military Summary gives great daily updates on the situation in Ukraine.
There is a lot at stake here. What will other dictators do? Invade, feed their power lust? Force the free states they invade to negotiate, thereby gaining something? World peace requires respecting sovereign nation’s boundaries. That is an absolute. Rolling over in front of Russia is a serious mistake.
The strong have always fed upon the weak.
Putin’s mistake was in thinking Ukraine would be a tasty snack with which to feed his imperial appetite.
I firmly believe he has bit off more than he can chew.
Don’t give up your day job as you have the strategic military acumen of Christopher Robin.
Ukraine has been the headquarters for Schwab and the WEF, Soroa, Gates, the Rothschilds and entire deep state since at least 2005. It is gone and they are in full panic mode.
I am not commenting on the article other than to say it reminds me of how Hitler was first seen as a “man of the people and a fair and just leader” by many in the world. Similarities with Zelensky? How many have died in Ukraine and how much of our money is being wasted when we should be using that money for our own, America First.
So I commented more than I wanted to. My biggest beef is that Gmail decided to “spam” TLR and most of my conservative emails. I need to find a different email provider (and did have an account with reagan.com at one time but they kept raising their subscription pricing, I first subscribed at $5 per year a while back) and have looked a little bit but if anyone has suggestions, please post.
Many thanks in advance.
Of course they waited until after Zelinsky got his grubby little hands on 40 billion tax payer dollars before shifting the narrative.
I’ve been saying from the beginning, there are no good guys in this conflict.
“ The Ukraine commander, Serhi Lapko and one of his lieutenants, Vitaliy Khrus, “retreated with members of their company this week to a hotel away from the front. There, both men spoke to The Washington Post on the record, knowing they could face a court-martial and time in military prison.”
The Sievierodonetsk salient is under intensive artillery barrage. Its defenders could conceivably hold out for a month but few survivors would remain.
It is better to stage a withdrawal to a better fortified position than lose combat veterans in a reckless bid to hold a narrow front where the enemy can concentrate all his forces.