Ukraine SitRep: Destruction Of Its Third Army – Issues To Negotiate

ER Editor: This is a follow-up to this piece (pieces, in fact) we published a couple of days ago, cataloguing the immense losses of Ukraine under the so-called spring counteroffensive —

Ukrainian army crushed, NATO’s best has failed

Larry Johnson had this to say yesterday:

I want to underscore a point I raised with the Judge — no matter what “progress” Ukraine is able to achieve in its offensive, it will not change the tactical and strategic reality on the ground in Russian controlled territory. Ukraine is utterly dependent on NATO for its supply of tanks, ammunition, artillery, armored vehicles and combat air craft. Ukraine no longer has the capability to produce those items in Ukraine, and NATO’s supplies of those weapon systems is being depleted with no immediate chance of replacing those items. That is an objective fact and no amount of spin will alter that reality for the foreseeable future.

Then there is the manpower issue. Ukraine does not have an unlimited supply of trained soldiers. Nope. A significant number of its most qualified soldiers, both officers and non-commissioned officers, are dead or suffering from disabling wounds that prevent them from returning to front line units. Even if the NATO countries scrounge up some tanks, artillery or planes, Ukraine does not have an ample number of trained personnel capable of operating those systems.

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Ukraine SitRep: Destruction Of Its Third Army – Issues To Negotiate

Another Ukrainian attack got bogged down in a minefield.

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Losses:

• 3 Finnish Leopard 2R with mine clearing equipment

• 1 German Bergepanzer III recovery tank (based on the Leopard 2 chassis) with mine clearing equipment

• 2 German Leopard 2M6

• 2 U.S. M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles

• 1 U.S. MaxxPro armored transport vehicle

• 1 U.S. HMMWV armored transport vehicle

• 1 unidentified vehicle

This follows other significant recent losses.

The total replacement cost of the above vehicles at present value is about $60-70 million.

During the spring and summer of 2022. the Russian forces destroyed the regular Ukrainian pre-war army. It was replaced with Soviet era material from east European states and Ukrainian draftees. By the beginning of this year that second army had also been destroyed.

What we are currently witnessing is the demilitarization of Ukraine’s third army.

As I detailed back in January:

The stocks of two complete armies have by now been destroyed in Ukraine. The resources for a smaller third one will be delivered in the next rounds of ‘western’ equipment deliveries during the next months. Russia will dully destroy Ukraine’s third army just as it has destroyed the first and second one. It is doubtful that the ‘West’ has enough material left to provide Ukraine with a fourth one. That then leaves only two options. Send in ‘western’ armies with the equipment they still have or declare victory and go home.

I do not sense any appetite in the U.S. or Europe to send their soldiers into Ukraine. It is quite obvious that their fates would be no different from the Ukrainian ones.

That leaves negotiations as the only option. There will be a lot of hesitation as the price Russia will ask for to stop the war will be high:

For starters, will Russia insist on securing the rights to all territory east of the Dnieper River and on a special status for Odessa? I think so. Odessa would no longer be ruled by Ukraine. I also would expect Russia to demand (non-negotiable) the arrest and prosecution of those responsible for the murder of 42 Russian speaking Ukrainians in 2014 who sought refuge in the Trade Unions House. I also would expect that Russia will demand the dismantling of NATO Aegis missile systems in Poland and Romania and a ban on U.S. or NATO troops being posted in countries that share a border with Ukraine. In light of Russia’s stated goal of de-nazification, I would not be surprised if Russia demands the laws of Ukraine be changed and that Nazi-affiliated parties and symbols be banned.

I believe that Russia will want all historic Russian regions, at least those which Lenin and Khrushchev for whatever reasons gave to Ukraine, back under Russian control. Russia will also demand the lifting of all sanctions against it.

The West is failing to grasp the reality that Russia believes it is winning the war in Ukraine and that it is not suffering economic or political damage at home. And, when you factor in the international arena, the war has proven to be a boon for Russia’s efforts to help create a new international financial/trade system that circumvents Washington’s control. In other words, Russia has little incentive to entertain negotiations that would require Russian concessions.

It will still need some time for the ‘western’ public to move from swallowing ‘Ukraine is wining’ propaganda towards acknowledging reality. It unfortunately will also still take more Ukrainian and Russian losses.

But I strongly believe, maybe too wishfully, that the end of the war is now coming into sight.

Source

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Published to The Liberty Beacon from EuropeReloaded.com

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