Russian troops in the final stages of readiness add to concerns for Ukraine - War could breakout at any-point in the coming days

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Russian troops in the final stages of readiness add to concerns for Ukraine​

Published 19 seconds ago on
February 4, 2022

KYIV, Ukraine While the Russian military is not yet capable of carrying out a total invasion of Ukraine, part of its army has reached full combat power and appears to be in the final stages of readiness for military action if the Kremlin orders it, according to an assessment by the top command of the Ukrainian army.

A particular concern for Ukrainian officials is the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia captured from Ukraine in 2014. In the past two weeks, Russia has deployed 10,000 additional troops to the region, including infantry and air force; Worst of all, it has placed some commands at the highest level of readiness, according to the military.
Along with recent efforts to strengthen forces near two Kremlin-backed separatist enclaves in Ukraine, the deployment means Russia may soon be fully prepared to launch military action along the about 800 miles from the eastern and southern borders of Ukraine, according to estimates.
The assessment was described in general terms by a senior Ukrainian military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to uncover confidential intelligence findings. It is broadly consistent with newly released satellite images showing a significant military rise in Crimea in recent weeks.
But it is not just the Crimea. Along most of the border with Ukraine, analysts are seeing what they describe as a practical example of a modern army making final preparations for war. They cited the advent of logistical infrastructure such as hospitals and communications units, elements of electronic warfare intended to disrupt enemy communications, the air force and additional troops to manage equipment that had previously been deployed.

What worries me is how methodically they are going through this, said Dara Massicot, a senior policy researcher at RAND Corporation. It’s from the book. You know what will come next and it shows up.

The Kremlin’s ultimate goal remained unclear, the Ukrainian official said, echoing the determination of US officials who say Russian President Vladimir V. Putin has not yet decided whether to attack.

Russia has about 130,000 troops stationed near the border with Ukraine, US and Ukrainian officials say. The Kremlin has repeatedly said it has no plans to attack, and Mr. Putin, while claiming the United States was trying to push Russia into war, was less harsh in his language in a speech this week, leaving the door open. for future diplomacy.

The Ukrainian military’s assessment of Russian capabilities differs from the one the Pentagon gave last week, which said Moscow had deployed enough troops and military equipment to go beyond a limited incursion into border regions only. But that brought Ukraine’s military leadership closer to the US position.
And painted a horrific picture of Russian combat readiness in Crimea, an area that has attracted less attention; for months the whole focus has been on the gathering of Russian troops in the east and, most recently, its movement of forces in Belarus on the northern border of Ukraine.
At the head of tens of thousands of troops already stationed in Crimea, Russia has recently deployed two tactical groups of additional battalions, battle-ready forces of up to 1,000 troops plus tanks, armor and artillery. This includes a group of air troops and another that arrived with 10 trains with equipment and armor, said the senior Ukrainian official.
Ukrainian military officials estimate that additional forces are on the way, including a subdivision of national guard troops, which could be deployed to hold the territory in the event of an invasion.
Moreover, some units deployed in Crimea have been placed on the highest state of military readiness of the Russian army, the official said, including naval forces based near the Kerch Strait, which separates mainland Russia from Crimea, and at the fleet headquarters. Russian Black Sea in Sevastopol. Troops at other locations have been placed at the second highest level of readiness, the official said.
Satellite images released by Maxar, a space technology company, confirm this week a gathering of forces in Crimea. They show the addition of numerous tent camps in areas close to military equipment, an indication that troops had arrived or were on the road.
The senior Ukrainian official said any incursion could start with localized action and that, if successful, could push the Russians to expand the conflict zone. For now, they are doing everything they can to panic us and panic the West, the official said, calling it a real poker game.







KYIV, Ukraine While the Russian military is not yet capable of carrying out a total invasion of Ukraine, part of its army has reached full combat power and appears to be in the final stages of readiness for military action if the Kremlin orders it, according to an assessment by the top command of the Ukrainian army.

A particular concern for Ukrainian officials is the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia captured from Ukraine in 2014. In the past two weeks, Russia has deployed 10,000 additional troops to the region, including infantry and air force; Worst of all, it has placed some commands at the highest level of readiness, according to the military.
Along with recent efforts to strengthen forces near two Kremlin-backed separatist enclaves in Ukraine, the deployment means Russia may soon be fully prepared to launch military action along the about 800 miles from the eastern and southern borders of Ukraine, according to estimates.
The assessment was described in general terms by a senior Ukrainian military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to uncover confidential intelligence findings. It is broadly consistent with newly released satellite images showing a significant military rise in Crimea in recent weeks.
But it is not just the Crimea. Along most of the border with Ukraine, analysts are seeing what they describe as a practical example of a modern army making final preparations for war. They cited the advent of logistical infrastructure such as hospitals and communications units, elements of electronic warfare intended to disrupt enemy communications, the air force and additional troops to manage equipment that had previously been deployed.

What worries me is how methodically they are going through this, said Dara Massicot, a senior policy researcher at RAND Corporation. It’s from the book. You know what will come next and it shows up.

The Kremlin’s ultimate goal remained unclear, the Ukrainian official said, echoing the determination of US officials who say Russian President Vladimir V. Putin has not yet decided whether to attack.
Russia has about 130,000 troops stationed near the border with Ukraine, US and Ukrainian officials say. The Kremlin has repeatedly said it has no plans to attack, and Mr. Putin, while claiming the United States was trying to push Russia into war, was less harsh in his language in a speech this week, leaving the door open. for future diplomacy.

The Ukrainian military’s assessment of Russian capabilities differs from the one the Pentagon gave last week, which said Moscow had deployed enough troops and military equipment to go beyond a limited incursion into border regions only. But that brought Ukraine’s military leadership closer to the US position.
And painted a horrific picture of Russian combat readiness in Crimea, an area that has attracted less attention; for months the whole focus has been on the gathering of Russian troops in the east and, most recently, its movement of forces in Belarus on the northern border of Ukraine.
At the head of tens of thousands of troops already stationed in Crimea, Russia has recently deployed two tactical groups of additional battalions, battle-ready forces of up to 1,000 troops plus tanks, armor and artillery. This includes a group of air troops and another that arrived with 10 trains with equipment and armor, said the senior Ukrainian official.
Ukrainian military officials estimate that additional forces are on the way, including a subdivision of national guard troops, which could be deployed to hold the territory in the event of an invasion.
Moreover, some units deployed in Crimea have been placed on the highest state of military readiness of the Russian army, the official said, including naval forces based near the Kerch Strait, which separates mainland Russia from Crimea, and at the fleet headquarters. Russian Black Sea in Sevastopol. Troops at other locations have been placed at the second highest level of readiness, the official said.
Satellite images released by Maxar, a space technology company, confirm this week a gathering of forces in Crimea. They show the addition of numerous tent camps in areas close to military equipment, an indication that troops had arrived or were on the road.
The senior Ukrainian official said any incursion could start with localized action and that, if successful, could push the Russians to expand the conflict zone. For now, they are doing everything they can to panic us and panic the West, the official said, calling it a real poker game.
Updated

May 3, 2022, 2:31 pm ET

Crimean troops have been augmented by Russian naval forces stationed in the Black Sea and Azov Sea, a small strategic water body on which Ukrainian and Russian forces have clashed continuously in recent years. Last April, Russia sent its Caspian fleet into the waters around Ukraine for training and left behind several large landing craft.
Ukrainian officials are now monitoring the movements of six Russian landing craft capable of deploying tanks and thousands of troops that Russia has sent from its Baltic and Northern Fleets for training in the Mediterranean at any sign that they may continue in the Black Sea.
It is a large group of attacks, said Ihor Kabanenko, a retired Ukrainian Navy admiral. We do not have sufficient capacity at sea to adequately respond to such a Russian deployment.
Beyond Crimea, military analysts say it may be just weeks before the crescent of troops stationed along Ukraine’s northern, eastern and southern borders is ready for action.
So far, such forces may have looked extremely large, but they lacked the supply lines and other logistical infrastructure needed to fight.
Satellite imagery showing row after row of tanks appearing regularly in newspapers is likely to be intended to send a message and force a conversation, said General Philip M. Breedlove, a former NATO commander-in-chief. .
You have seen photos of the trucks lined up, said General Breedlove. He is not in a tactical or attacking formation. This is a lineup for shows.

Russian troops in the final stages of readiness add to concerns for Ukraine

KYIV, Ukraine While the Russian military is not yet capable of carrying out a total invasion of Ukraine, part of its army has reached full combat power and appears to be in the final stages of readiness for military action if the Kremlin orders it, according to an assessment by the top command...

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‘We will defend our country’: Ukraine’s border guards brace for Russian assault

While some locals at Belarusian border see no cause for concern, troops and tanks are ready to swing into action
by Luke Harding in Novi Yarylovychi

Thu 3 Feb 2022 16.10 GMT




Standing next to the snowy Belarusian border, Vladyslav Gorban showed off Ukraine’s latest defences against Russian attack. New wooden posts topped with coils of gleaming razor wire ran alongside a slush-covered road. There was a shallow defensive ditch, dug some time ago, and a yellow and blue customs post. Plus a dog, used to sniff out narcotics.
Gorban, a border guard, admitted Russian tanks would be able to smash through this flimsy ensemble of barricades and continue towards Kyiv, 140 miles away. But he had a warning. “If the Russians come, they can expect a nasty surprise,” he said, hinting at the new portable anti-tank weapons sent by the UK to Ukraine’s embattled pro-western government.

Vladislav Gorban, a Ukrainian border guard, at the border with Belarus. Photograph: Volodymyr Yurchenko/The Guardian
He and his colleagues would try to hold off any attack using light arms, he said. They would summon help from operative reserves located in bases nearby. “We are all military-trained. We have enough weapons. Morale is high. We will defend our country,” Gorban said as a waiting truck driver stretched his legs in the cold.

An arrow-straight road leads south from the border village of Novi Yarylovychi to the capital. It goes through dense pine forest. There are deer, elk and wild boar. The route offers perfect cover for the Ukrainian army to ambush and harry any trundling military columns.

New razor wire that has been installed along the border. Photograph: Volodymyr Yurchenko/The Guardian

In Belarus, the Kremlin has brought together the largest concentration of soldiers and modern weapons since the cold war. According to the Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, Russia has deployed 30,000 combat troops, elite Spetsnaz units, Su-35 fighter jets and S-400 missile defence systems.

It is a formidable force. The soldiers have been moved to Belarus ahead of military exercises due to begin on 10 February and to finish on 20 February. Russia’s hawkish defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, a close ally of Vladimir Putin, arrived in Belarus on Thursday.

In total there are now 135,000 Russian troops on Ukraine’s border. Experts believe these are not sufficient numbers for a full-scale invasion. But the Ukrainians worry about an operation to encircle and then overwhelm Kyiv, possibly beginning when the Russian exercises and the Beijing Winter Olympics finish in 17 days’ time.

But what about the weather? Could armoured vehicles operate in the muddy conditions of spring? “This isn’t the first world war,” Gorban said, swatting aside claims by some pundits that the Russian army needs frozen ground. “The weather doesn’t make much difference. It isn’t a problem for any 21st-century tank.”

A truck heading south into Ukraine. Photograph: Volodymyr Yurchenko/The Guardian

Putin insists he won’t invade Ukraine. At the same time, Russia’s president has made a series of unrealistic and maximal security demands: that Nato rules out Ukrainian membership for ever and pulls out of eastern Europe. The west’s refusal to agree to these terms gives Putin a pretext for offensive military operations, couched as self-defence.

In response to the unprecedented Russian military buildup, the Biden administration has decided to send more than 3,000 troops to Germany, Poland and Romania. Moscow has condemned the move as a “destructive step”.

Tensions between Ukraine and Belarus are growing, too. On Thursday the Belarusian foreign ministry summoned Ukraine’s ambassador to protest at what it said was Kyiv’s use of a drone to spy on a military training facility across the border. Ukraine dismissed the accusation, widely reported by Russian state media, as provocative and false.

Those who live in the crumbling village of Novi Yarylovychi, seem indifferent to what Boris Johnson, visiting Kyiv this week, called “a clear and present danger” posed by Russia. One shopkeeper said he saw nothing wrong with Moscow’s military exercises. “Nato does the same thing in the Baltics,” he said.

Another owner of a general store, Natasha, said she wasn’t worried. “War won’t happen,” she predicted. “Why would Russia attack us”? Natasha said her sister lived across the border in Gomel, Belarus’s second city, about 25 miles up the road. “It’s a big place, very clean, with lots of monuments. Everyone there has a car,” she said.

Natasha, the owner of a general store in Novi Yarylovychi. Photograph: Volodymyr Yurchenko/The Guardian
Natasha said her brother-in-law worked in Belarus’s security services. Her sister’s family lived better than she did, she said. She pointed to her clunky Ukrainian-made Stork bike, rusting and with a ponderous frame, propped up against the window. “That’s my Mercedes,” she joked. “We don’t have work here. My pension is small. In Belarus they have collective farms.”

In the event of an invasion, Russian tanks would advance through Polissya, a primordial natural area of swamps, forests, grasses and lakes. It includes Chernobyl, an exclusion zone after the 1986 nuclear disaster. Forty miles south of Novi Yarylovychi is Chernihiv, an ancient city that was once part of the original Slavic dynasty known as Kievan Rus’.
History is never far away. Novi Yarylovychi’s war memorial features a gold-painted Soviet soldier holding a helmet in one hand and a laurel crown in the other. Below him is a tablet with the names of those who died in the second world war. Side by side in Russian and Ukrainian are the words “never forget” and a hammer and sickle medallion.
If Russia attacks from the north, Ukraine’s first tank brigade would swing into action. It is located in a former Soviet barracks close to the Belarus border and within the Mizhrichynskyi landscape park. It has a crisscross of forest tracks used for training, as well as a shooting range and box-like accommodation blocks, visible from the road.
The Guardian’s scheduled visit to the base was cancelled because of a local outbreak of Covid. Security sources in Kyiv believe a similar epidemic has swept through the Russian soldiers and conscripts due to participate in next week’s Belarus exercises. It is one more variable that may affect Putin’s thinking on when – if at all – to attack.
The same officials suggest that while the world has been looking anxiously at Ukraine, the Kremlin has in effect militarised and taken over Belarus. After Moscow annexed Crimea in 2014, Belarus’s dictator, Alexander Lukashenko, rejected the idea of giving up his country’s sovereignty in exchange for a closer union with Russia.

The main border crossing building. Photograph: Volodymyr Yurchenko/The Guardian

The arrival lane at the border complex. Photograph: Volodymyr Yurchenko/The Guardian

His calculation changed in the summer of 2020 when there were massive street protests after a rigged presidential election. Moscow offered him political support and helped to quell the demonstrations. But there was a price: the seemingly permanent occupation of Belarus by Russia’s armed forces.
Lukashenko has sided with Moscow in its fight with Kyiv. He recently agreed to give Russia nearly unlimited use of four airbases, a surface-to-air missile base, and approximately 30 storage sites on Belarusian territory. Russian forces now face off against Nato on a new eastern European front, encompassing the states of Poland, Latvia and Lithuania.
Few believe Russia will remove its troops from Belarus once this month’s exercises are over. They look to be a permanent presence along the 600-mile border with Ukraine and a new potential attack vector. Russian forces are also stationed in Crimea, in the breakaway republic of Transnistria next to Moldova, and – covertly, Kyiv says – in separatist-held territories in the east.
Back in Novi Yarylovychi, Gorban said traffic had fallen dramatically since the start of the pandemic. About 1,000 people a day used the crossing, he said, compared with 10,000 a day in the pre-Covid era. For now, the vehicles that cross drag building materials and logs rather than missiles and artillery pieces.
“Putin is wrong. Ukraine and Russia are separate countries,” Gorban said, surveying a scene, for now, of calm. He added: “We were founded first. It was a Kyiv prince who went to Russia and established Moscow. Back then it was just a few bogs.”

‘We will defend our country’: Ukraine’s border guards brace for Russian assault

While some locals at Belarusian border see no cause for concern, troops and tanks are ready to swing into action

www.theguardian.com

 

[aziqbal]

Russian Troops in Final Stages of Readiness Add to Worries for Ukraine​

Though the Kremlin’s intentions are unclear, Ukrainian officials are newly worried about the Crimean Peninsula, where Russia has deployed 10,000 additional troops, they said.

A satellite image released this month by Maxar shows Russian battle groups and tents in Bakhchysarai, Crimea.Credit...Maxar

KYIV, Ukraine — While Russia is not yet capable of mounting a total invasion of Ukraine, portions of its army have reached full combat strength and appear to be in the final stages of readiness for military action should the Kremlin order it, according to an assessment by the Ukrainian military’s high command.

Of particular concern to Ukrainian officials is the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia seized from Ukraine in 2014. In the last two weeks, Russia has deployed an additional 10,000 troops to the region, including infantry and airborne forces; more ominously, it has put some commands on the highest level of readiness, according to the military’s assessment.

Along with recent efforts to strengthen forces near two Kremlin-backed separatist enclaves in Ukraine, the deployments mean that Russia could soon be fully prepared to begin military actions along about 800 miles of Ukraine’s eastern and southern borders, according to the assessment.

The assessment was described in general terms by a senior Ukrainian military official who spoke on condition of anonymity to disclose confidential intelligence findings. It broadly aligns with newly released satellite images showing a significant military buildup in Crimea over the last few weeks.

But it is not just Crimea. Along much of Ukraine’s border, analysts are seeing what they describe as a near textbook example of a modern military making final preparations for war. They cited the arrival of logistical infrastructure like hospital and communications units, electronic equipment meant for disrupting enemy communications, air power and additional troops to man equipment that was deployed earlier.

“What unnerves me is how methodically they’re going through this,” said Dara Massicot, a senior policy researcher at the RAND Corporation. “It’s by the book. You know what’s coming next and it shows up.”

Ukrainian soldiers in an observation point at a front line position on Friday in Novotoshkivske, in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine.Credit...Tyler Hicks/The New York Times

The Kremlin’s ultimate intentions remained unclear, the Ukrainian official said, echoing the determination of American officials who say that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has yet to decide whether to attack.

Russia has roughly 130,000 troops massed near Ukraine’s border, U.S. and Ukrainian officials say. The Kremlin has said repeatedly it has no plans to attack, and Mr. Putin — while claiming that the United States was trying to goad Russia into war — was less strident in his language in an appearance this week, leaving the door open for future diplomacy.
The Ukrainian military’s assessment of Russian capabilities diverges from one the Pentagon provided last week, which said that Moscow had deployed sufficient troops and military hardware to mount a full invasion. But it moved Ukraine’s military leadership closer to the American position.
And the assessment painted a dire picture of Russian combat readiness in Crimea, an area that has drawn less attention than the Russian troop buildup in the east and, more recently, its moving of forces into Belarus on Ukraine’s northern border.

A satellite image released by Maxar showing Russian troop tents in Baronovichi, Belarus.Credit...Maxar

On top of the tens of thousands of troops already stationed in Crimea, Russia has recently deployed two additional battalion tactical groups — battle ready forces of up to 1,000 troops plus tanks, armor and artillery. This includes one group of airborne troops and another that arrived with 10 trains’ worth of equipment and armor, the senior Ukrainian official said.
Ukrainian military officials assess that additional forces are on the way, including a subdivision of national guard troops, which could be deployed to hold territory in the event of an invasion.
Moreover, several units deployed to Crimea have been put on the Russian military’s highest state of military readiness, the official said, including marine forces based near the Kerch Strait, which separates mainland Russia from Crimea, and at the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol. Troops in other locations have been put on the second highest level of alert, the official said.

Satellite images released by Maxar, a space technology company, this week confirm a buildup of forces in Crimea. They show the addition of numerous tent camps in areas close to military equipment, an indication that troops had arrived or were on the way.
The senior Ukrainian official said any incursion could start with localized action and that, if successful, could prompt the Russians to expand the conflict zone. “For now, they’re doing everything they can to panic us and panic the West,’’ the official said, calling it “a real game of poker.”
The Crimea troops are augmented by Russian naval forces deployed to the Black Sea and Sea of Azov, a small strategic body of water over which Ukrainian and Russian forces have clashed repeatedly in recent years. Last April, Russia dispatched its Caspian Flotilla to the waters around Ukraine for exercises and left behind several large landing craft.

The Sea of Azov as seen from Mariupol, Ukraine.Credit...Brendan Hoffman for The New York Times

Ukrainian officials are now watching the movements of six Russian landing vessels capable of deploying tanks and thousands of troops that Russia has sent from its Baltic and Northern Fleets for exercises in the Mediterranean for any signs that they may continue into the Black Sea.
“It’s a huge assault grouping,” Ihor Kabanenko, a retired admiral with the Ukrainian Navy, said. “We have not enough capabilities at sea to adequately respond to such a Russian deployment.”
Beyond Crimea, military analysts say it may only be a matter of weeks before the crescent of troops deployed along Ukraine’s northern, eastern and southern border is ready for action.

Until now, such forces might have looked menacingly large, but they lacked the supply lines and other logistical infrastructure needed to fight.
The satellite images showing row upon row of tanks that have appeared regularly in newspapers were most likely meant to send a message and force a conversation, said General Philip M. Breedlove, who was formerly the supreme allied commander of NATO.

“You’ve seen the pictures of the trucks lined up,” Gen. Breedlove said. “That is not in tactical or offensive formation. That’s a formation for show.”

All that has started to change in recent weeks with the arrival of Iskandar-M cruise missiles, fighter jets and helicopters, according to satellite imagery, Ukrainian and western intelligence assessments and Russia’s own military announcements.

A satellite image released by Maxar showing Russian Iskander missile batteries deployed to Belarus.Credit...Maxar

In some areas where Russia still does not have enough personnel to man equipment, more troops appear to be arriving daily, officials and analysts say. And there is still a question of whether the Russian military has been able to muster sufficient reserve forces for any prolonged military campaign.
In the coming weeks, Russia will likely conduct a series of military drills meant to test the preparedness of its forces, said Michael Kofman, the director of Russia studies at CNA, a research institute based in Arlington, Va. After that, the troops need only to get in their vehicles and head for the Ukrainian border, he said.

What a military operation might look at this point is hotly debated.
In late January, Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III and Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that Russia had deployed enough forces to invade all of Ukraine, and suggested that fighting could even extend to the streets of Kyiv, the capital, something Mr. Kofman agrees with.
“The Russian military is positioning itself to be able to conduct a large scale military operation against Ukraine, and its force posture indicates that if given the order they’re going to conduct a multi-axis attack,” Mr. Kofman said.

A convoy of Russian armored vehicles moving along a highway in Crimea last month.Credit...Associated Press

Under Ukraine’s assessment, Russia would be unable to sustain an invasion across different points of attack for more than a week because of a lack of supplies including ammunition, food and fuel deployed to front line positions, nor does it have sufficient reserve forces.
In most areas there are enough forces available for smaller, localized assaults that could be used as a diversion from a main attack coming from the east or south where forces are stronger, according to the assessment.
For weeks, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, has attempted to play down the severity of the Russian threat, though even he now appears to be growing more concerned.
“This is not going to be a war of Ukraine and Russia,” should diplomatic efforts still underway fail, Mr. Zelenksy said last week. “This is going to be a European war, a full-fledged war.”

Russian Troops in Final Stages of Readiness Add to Worries for Ukraine (Published 2022)

Though the Kremlin’s intentions are unclear, Ukrainian officials are newly worried about the Crimean Peninsula, where Russia has deployed 10,000 additional troops, they said.

www.nytimes.com

 

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Ukrainian sniper with 10 confirmed 'kills' on frontline ready to take on Russian troops

EXCLUSIVE:

Ukrainian sniper with 10 confirmed 'kills' on frontline ready to take on Russian troops​

Olena Bilozerska, 42, has fought in the blown-up buildings and trenches of contested Donbas, east Ukraine and says she will do it again if Russian troops invade


A battle-hardened female Ukrainian sniper who notched up ten confirmed kills fighting pro-Russian separatists has vowed to battle Moscow’s troops if they invade.

Outspoken war veteran Olena Bilozerska, 42, has fought in the blown-up buildings and trenches of contested Donbas, east Ukraine and says she will do it again.

She was made famous in an online video in which she is heard commentating on the “bastards” she kills as she coldly picks them off back in 2017.

Markswoman Olena was just 200m away from her enemy targets when she suddenly spotted two of them crawling from their trench spot.

She is heard saying: “Ah he got out. Look, look, look, crawling bastard.”

Battle-hardened female Ukrainian sniper Olena Bilozerska (
Image:
YouTube)
The shape of the first man is seen in her thermal imaging sniper sights and then in the crosshairs of her high-powered rifle.

Seconds later the image become more focused and she calmly fires three shots into the man’s body.

Soon another man is seen crawling near his now dead or dying comrade and she opens fire again, killing him.

And then a third man is seen and she shoots him too, his lifeless body falling backwards into his trench.

She believes she notched up two kills and one wounded that night, but remains resolute that she did the right thing to protect the country she loves.

Now back in Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, she recalls: “It was the night of Ukrainian Independence Day anniversary in August 2017.

Olena at a sniper position Vodyane near Mariupol (
Image:
Andy Commins / Daily Mirror)
“And these Cossacks must have assumed we were lying drunk in our trenches celebrating.

“I felt something interesting was going to happen when they started getting out of a trench and passing weapons to each other.

“‘I shot three of them that night.

“Two of them were what we call “cargo 200” [an old Soviet military term for dead, referring to the labels put on coffins] and the third was “cargo 300” [wounded].”

Olena was a volunteer fighter, but later joined the Ukrainian Marine Corps.

Now she says: “I felt excited, because that night, a unit of six people came out of their trenches for the two of us - it doesn’t happen every day.

“Moral anguish about the "murder of a human" was invented by people far from the war. An armed enemy is not a person, but a target.

Olena was made famous in an online video from 2017 in which she is seen picking off targets with her rifle (
Image:
YouTube)
“You take up a weapon against my country - that's it, you're a target. If you don’t take him out in time, he might kill you or one of your comrades.

“If I didn't shoot in time and the target hid, that's when I feel angry at myself for missing my chance. And if the target is hit, I feel the pleasure of a job well done.”

She does not care about the lives of those she killed and she vows she would do it again.

She says: “When the enemy crawls towards our position to kill me, does he think if I have a husband, parents, or kids?

“‘Of course not. And I don't bother myself with stupid things either. That stuff is for books and movies.

“In real life, anyone who thinks along those lines in battle is already as good as dead.”

In the infamous clip she is heard saying: “Ah he got out. Look, look, look, crawling bastard.” (
Image:
YouTube)

She cheated death one night when a machine gun tracer bullet grazed her cheek, searing her flesh.

She says: “Maybe someone was looking after me that night.

“But we all have our share of luck, I guess.”

She loathes the film world’s portrayal of snipers and says:

“‘In the movies, it looks as if a sniper sees the eyes of a living human. But you cannot see the eyes. It's hard to tell if the person is large or small.

“You just see a silhouette of an armed person and you fire at it. That's all… if you miss, you will feel as if you've lost.”

Olena, from Kyiv, is a celebrity in Ukraine, having written a best-selling book (
Image:
YouTube)
After the Independence Day incident, her husband Valeriy Voronov, a regular soldier who was beside her in the trench, collected up the cartridge casings and, following an old sniper tradition from WWI.

The couple do not have children.

He gave her a silver ring in which the bottom of cartridge case case of the bullet she used was inserted.

Olena, from Kyiv, is a celebrity in Ukraine, having written a best-selling book called “Diary of an Illegal Soldier.”’

She was well-known even before the war as her writing found her under threat of jail by the regime of Viktor Yanukovych, who was deposed in the 2014 Maidan Revolution.

She says: “A creative nature requires perfectionism in everything, and this helps a lot in my work. Of course I don’t write now though.”

Olena with her husband Valeriy Voronov, a retired soldier (
Image:
Andy Commins / Daily Mirror)
Although she was demobilised from the marines in 2020, she and her husband are both members of Ukraine’s Territorial Defence Services, and, along with thousands of other reservists, are ready to fight.

She believes Putin will not order an invasion and his troop build-up is merely “intimidation.”

But along with many other Ukrainians, she is thankful for the support that Boris Johnsonand the UK has given her nation in the shape of at least 2,000 NLAW anti-tank weapons plus training from UK troops.

She says: “Ukrainians are now very grateful to Britain for military assistance.

“And I’ve seen lots of people writing on social networks "God save the Queen"’

She still keeps up her marksmanship with regular practice with “Halia” - a Ukrainian name she gave to her Zbroyar Z-10 rifle.

She says: “A weapon is a living thing -- It has a soul.

“There is a Ukrainian story about “Spoilt Halia”, which is why I chose that name – the rifle is always being cleaned and adjusted and looked after like a spoilt child.

“But she does what I ask her to do, and if the Russians decide to come, I’ll be only too happy to introduce them to Halia.”

Ukrainian sniper with 10 confirmed 'kills' ready to take on Russian troops

Olena Bilozerska, 42, has fought in the blown-up buildings and trenches of contested Donbas, east Ukraine and says she will do it again if Russian troops invade

www.mirror.co.uk

 

[lastofthepatriots]

Not to take anything away from this woman, but what happened to those Kurdish women fighting isis comes to mind. Western world always uses this women’s empowerment propaganda angle to recruit people as fodder.

 

[Dalit]

They love using women as their propaganda character. We have seen this old trick so many times before. They were doing it with the Kurds and they did the same in Afghanistan.

In all honesty, what can Ukraine do to Russia? It is like the US invading Iraq. There is absolutely no contest.

I think the Russians don't want to invade Ukraine. Russia already has what it wanted. Crimea is Russian land. The most Russia would want at this moment is for Ukraine not to become a NATO member. This is US Western hysteria and why now is anyone's guess.

 

[jamal18]

Not to take anything away from this woman, but what happened to those Kurdish women fighting isis comes to mind. Western world always uses this women’s empowerment propaganda angle to recruit people as fodder.

They will always promote the Western women agenda.

 

[Zhukov]

The stupidity of Lenin redrawing Russian Empire into various states just to gain as much support as possible for communism will haunt the Slavs for ever.
Soviet Union was really the worst thing to happen to the hundreds of years old Russian State.

 

[aziqbal]

Not to take anything away from this woman, but what happened to those Kurdish women fighting isis comes to mind. Western world always uses this women’s empowerment propaganda angle to recruit people as fodder.

yes bit like the Communists who continue to say they are 100% indigenous and no longer need Western imports

yet are first in line for UK visa when they are being issued

there maybe a element of propaganda hardly as bad as Ughur opening the COVID games

 

[aziqbal]

Ukraine tensions: Russia invasion could begin any day, US warns​

Ukraine tensions: Russia invasion could begin any day, US warns​

Published2 days ago
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• Ukraine conflict

Media caption,
Russia is in a position to "mount a major military action" says US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan
Russia could invade Ukraine "at any time" and American citizens should leave immediately, the US has warned.
An invasion could start with aerial bombing that would make departures difficult and endanger civilians, the White House said on Friday.
Moscow has repeatedly denied any plans to invade Ukraine despite massing more than 100,000 troops near the border.
The US statement prompted countries around the world to issue fresh warnings to nationals in Ukraine.
Non-essential staff have been ordered to leave the US Embassy in Kyiv, the State Department announced in a release. Consular services will be suspended from Sunday, although the US "will maintain a small consular presence" in the western city of Lviv "to handle emergencies".
UK ambassador to Ukraine Melinda Simmons has tweeted that she and a core team are staying in Kyiv.
Meanwhile, Russia said it has decided to "optimise" its diplomatic staff numbers in Ukraine. A foreign ministry spokeswoman cited fears of "provocations" by Kyiv or other parties.
Attempts to de-escalate tensions through diplomacy are set to continue on Saturday, with both US President Joe Biden and France's President Emmanuel Macron due to speak to Russia's Vladimir Putin by phone.
Moscow has accused Western countries of stirring up hysteria.

• Five ways out of Ukraine conflict
• Is Russia preparing to invade Ukraine?
• Ukraine: How big is Russia's military build-up?

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Russian forces were now "in a position to be able to mount a major military action" in remarks seen as a clear escalation in the urgency of warnings from US officials.
"We obviously cannot predict the future, we don't know exactly what is going to happen, but the risk is now high enough and the threat is now immediate enough that [leaving] is prudent," he said.

Media caption,
I’m staying in Ukraine, for now: Watch US citizen and English teacher Juan Tec explain why
Mr Sullivan added that the administration did not know if Russian President Vladimir Putin had made a final decision to invade, but said that the Kremlin was looking for a pretext to justify military action, which he said could start with intense aerial bombardment.
His comments came as US officials warned of a further build-up of Russian troops at Ukraine's borders over the past week and planned Russian military exercises in the Black Sea in the coming days.
President Biden has said that he would not send troops to rescue any citizens left stranded in the event of Russian action.
On Friday, the US president hosted a video call with transatlantic leaders in which they agreed on co-ordinated action to inflict severe economic consequences on Russia if it invaded Ukraine.
The US also said it was deploying a further 3,000 troops from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to Poland, and that they were expected to arrive there next week. The troops will not fight in Ukraine, but will ensure the defence of US allies.

The US has been out in front of its European allies with warnings about the possibility of a Russian attack on Ukraine. But this was a notable increase in urgency.
The Americans are worried by the continued build-up of Russian troops, the way they are positioned, and the beginning of military exercises that could serve as a rolling start to an invasion.
The latest intelligence assessments prompted President Biden to convene close allies on Friday to tell them he believed President Putin may well soon give a final "go order," according to US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.
Mr Biden's top military adviser, Gen Mark Milley, made an unusual number of phone calls in rapid succession - to his counterparts in Russia, Canada, the UK and Europe.
The administration has been accused by some of contributing to the escalation with its rhetoric. But it has decided to be "as transparent as possible" with the sharing of information, Mr Sullivan said, clearly calculating this to be part of its deterrent strategy.

Russian naval drills took place in Crimea on Friday, while 10 days of military exercises continued in Belarus, to the north of Ukraine. Ukraine has accused Russia of blocking its access to the sea.
There are fears that if Russia tries to invade Ukraine, the exercises put the Russian military close to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, making an attack on the city easier. Russia says its troops will return to their permanent bases after the drills end.
The current tensions come eight years after Russia annexed Ukraine's southern Crimea peninsula. Since then, Ukraine's military has been locked in a war with Russian-backed rebels in eastern areas near Russia's borders.
The Kremlin says it wants to enforce "red lines" to make sure that its former Soviet neighbour does not join Nato.
Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the bloc was "united and prepared for any scenario".

Ukraine tensions: Russia invasion could begin any day, US warns

President Biden and Vladimir Putin to talk as the US says Russia could invade Ukraine "at any time".

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[PakFactor]

@Abid123 @SecularNationalist

Lo vapas ghar agaya

 

[SecularNationalist]

@aziqbal how was your trip to Buckingham palace ?
Are you going to Ukraine to fight shoulder to shoulder with your English brothers ?

 

[srshkmr]

@aziqbal how was your trip to Buckingham palace ?
Are you going to Ukraine to fight shoulder to shoulder with your English brothers ?

He will be fighting shoulder to shoulder, finger to finger using his keyboard and his imagination.