Ukraine finally launched its highly touted counteroffensive on August 29. But the whole world is already hailing it as a stunning success. Not least because, over the past 5 days alone, Ukrainian soldiers recaptured territory in eastern Ukraine that took Russian soldiers 5 months to capture.
Ukraine’s forces have continued to press their counterattack in Kharkiv, seeking to take control of almost all of the province, as Russia launched dozens of air and missile strikes on power plants and other locations in apparent retaliation for Kyiv’s success.
Ukraine’s troops headed north, reportedly recapturing towns all the way to the Russian border, and a video circulated of a Ukrainian soldier at the centre of the strategic city of Izium as the week-long counteroffensive in the north-east of the country continues. …
Social media videos showed tanks and other armoured vehicles abandoned in the Russian retreat.
(The Guardian, September 12, 2022)
But why are Russians fleeing instead of fighting?
The simple answer is that they are sensible. After all, the Ukrainians are advancing with American-made artillery and rockets; whereas it appears the Russians were defending with arms dusted off from use in May-Day parades from the old Soviet Union.
Russia’s weapons are ‘ineffective’ and ‘obsolete,’ with armoured vehicles and helicopters unable to withstand small arms fire and missiles that have only a 33 per cent chance of hitting their target, according to an internal Ukrainian government report.
The dossier compiled by the country’s Ministry of Defence and seen by The Times claims that Russian weapons recovered from the battlefield are unreliable and do not meet modern requirements.
(The London Times, August 10, 2022)
Putin on weapons buying spree
This clearly explains why Russian President Vladimir Putin subjected himself to public humiliation last July by going hat in hand to buy drones from Iran.
As it happens, I not only presaged the Ukrainian counteroffensive now underway but predicted it would play out like this in “Ukraine Is Taking Fight to Russia. But Crimea Is Still Ukraine,” August 12, 2022. Because it seemed obvious to me that, given the crippling sanctions Iran has been under for years, buying drones from Iran is tantamount to buying defibrillators on the black market.
But buying artillery shells and rockets from North Korea?
Nothing betrays the Potemkin military superpower Russia is turning out to be quite like reports about it buying weapons from North Korea.
Russia is buying millions of artillery shells and rockets from North Korea, according to newly declassified American intelligence, a sign that global sanctions have severely restricted its supply chains and forced Moscow to turn to pariah states for military supplies.
(The New York Times, September 5, 2022)
More to the point, though, Russian soldiers are already experiencing untenable fail rates with the third-rate drones it purchased from Iran. Therefore it would be beyond foolish, even for Russia’s shockingly inept military planners, to consider buying any armaments from North Korea.
I see the red hand of China
Instead, the feint afoot is just an ill-fated attempt for China to avoid Western sanctions. It will have China funneling its artillery shells and rockets through North Korea into Russia pursuant to the “friendship without limits” agreement China and Russia signed in February.
And, trust me, China is still sulking over the humiliation it suffered when US Speaker Nancy Pelosi famously called its bluff by visiting Taiwan. So China is highly motivated now to help Russia create as much mischief for the US and the West as possible…
More to the point, though, do you think it’s just a coincidence that Putin and Xi are meeting tomorrow for the first time since Putin launched his genocidal invasion into Ukraine?
I assure you, besides ways for China to suck every drop of oil out of Russia at fire-sale prices, they will be discussing ways for China to help not just Russia sustain its misadventure in Ukraine but Putin save his face at home.
But Putin’s genocidal bungling in Ukraine has become so plain for all to see that, instead of raving about the phantom neo-Nazis Putin is busy slaying on his “Special Military Operation”, his hired propagandists on Russian state TV are frantically blaming members of his inner circle for his blunders. But nothing betrays Putin’s need to save face quite like 30 municipal deputies joining the ranks Russians openly defying him by calling for his resignation…