Tag: Donbas

US military veterans training Ukrainian frontline troops say NATO’s artillery and rocket launchers are essential for Ukraine to beat Russia

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)1 Comment

US military veterans training Ukrainian frontline troops say NATO’s artillery and rocket launchers are essential for Ukraine to beat Russia

The Mozart Group is a cadre of US military veterans helping train Ukrainian soldiers. Established at the start of the Ukraine war by Andrew Milburn, a Marine veteran, the group has been described as the Western counterpoint to Putin’s elite Wagner Group.

So they’re the equivalent of Blackwater?!

Related:

U.S. officials have described many of the suspected Al Qaeda and Taliban affiliates it holds at Guantanamo Bay as unlawful combatants either for taking part in hostilities against the United States or by supporting the hostilities while not part of a nation’s military.

By that standard, some of the private guards in Iraq and Afghanistan also could be seen as unlawful combatants, particularly if they have taken offensive action against unarmed civilians, experts said.

America’s own unlawful combatants? via Wikipedia

Andrew Milburn retired from the Marine Corps as a colonel in 2019 after a 31 year career. His last position in uniform was Deputy Commander of Special Operations Central (SOCCENT), and prior to that commanding officer of the Marine Raider Regiment and Combined Special Operations Task Force – Iraq.

Since retiring, he has written a critically acclaimed memoir: When the Tempest Gathers and has had articles published in The Atlantic , USA Today, JFQ, and War on the Rocks, in addition to the Military Times . He is on the Adjunct Faculty of the Joint Special Operations University and teaches classes on leadership, planning, ethics, command and control, mission command, risk, special operations and irregular warfare at US military schools. He is a co-host of the Modern War Institute’s Irregular War Podcast, and Irregular War Initiative.

Andrew Milburn, BIO

I’ve been to Ukraine, Niger, Somalia and Tunisia. I’m training people who will use what they’ve learned in the real world almost immediately.

Andrew Milburn, 02-2020

Who are the Mozart Group? Former U.S. Marine Training Ukrainians in War

Biden: U.S. will provide precision rockets to Ukraine

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Biden: U.S. will provide precision rockets to Ukraine

The U.S. will provide Ukraine with more advanced rocket systems and precision-guided munitions that will give them an edge on the battlefield, President Joe Biden wrote in an opinion article in the New York Times published Tuesday.

But Kyiv has given the United States assurances that the new weapons will be used in Ukraine and not against targets in Russia, senior administration officials told reporters after Biden’s op-ed was published.

…

The HIMARS and its munitions are part of a new $700 million aid package for Ukraine, which will be announced on Wednesday, the officials said. The package also includes counterfire radars, a number of air surveillance radars, additional Javelin anti-tank missiles, anti-armor weapons, additional artillery rounds, helicopters, additional tactical vehicles and spare parts, the second official said.

Related:

Kremlin does not trust Zelensky’s promises not to attack Russia with US-made rockets

Russia warns West against providing Ukraine long-range weaponry

War in Eastern Ukraine Looks a Lot Different in Person Than It Does on CNN + Ukrainian volunteer fighters in the east feel abandoned

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)1 Comment

I had just left the Lugansk People’s Republic, making my way to an interview in Moscow, when I saw a May 11 CNN story claiming Russia had targeted civilians in the Ukrainian city of Odessa. This was after the bombing of a hotel and shopping center there. When such structures are bombed, one assumes that they were filled with civilians.

Fact-finding trip to Donbass: A front-line shelter in Rubizhne

Related:

Ukrainian volunteer fighters in the east feel abandoned (archived):

In a rare interview, a Ukrainian military commander and his top lieutenant describe disillusionment, deprivations and a sense of certain death among their troops on the front lines in Donbas.

— Washington Post

Matthew VanDyke – Some 3 Letter Agency Dude With An Obsessive Compulsion For Publicity

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Matthew VanDyke – Some 3 Letter Agency Dude With An Obsessive Compulsion For Publicity

In 2004, VanDyke graduated from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service with a master’s degree in Security Studies with a Middle East concentration. Georgetown is known to be a major CIA recruiting ground. He has since been ‘filming’, ‘fighting with’ and ‘training’ U.S. aligned forces in Afghanistan, Libya, Syria and Iraq – all more or less in the Middle East. The Ukraine is thereby a curious geographic choice for new activities. Unless you probably work for some U.S. 3 letter agency.

Posting because Judge Napolitano just interviewed this guy and he denied that there were any NeoNazis! See the full interview, here, if you’d like.

‘Disinformation’ Label Serves to Marginalize Crucial Ukraine Facts

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

‘Disinformation’ Label Serves to Marginalize Crucial Ukraine Facts

In the wake of the far right–led and constitutionally dubious overthrow, Russia illegally annexed the Crimean Peninsula [*see below] and supported a secession movement in the eastern Donbass region, prompting a repressive response from Ukraine’s new US-backed government. Eight years later, the civil war has killed more than 14,000. Of those deaths, 3,400 were civilian casualties, which were disproportionately in separatist-controlled territories, UN data shows. Opinions on remaining in Ukraine vary within the Donbass.

*Related:

Stop Saying, “Putin Invaded Ukraine and Annexed Crimea”

The Obama Regime’s Plan to Seize the Russian Naval Base in Crimea

Crimea applies to be part of Russian Federation after vote to leave Ukraine [The Guardian]

Crimeans Keep Saying No to Ukraine [Quotes Forbes]

Euromaidan 2014 – Orange Revolution – Donbass

Ukraine – Congress Passes The Bucks, Realism Sneaks In, Poland Plans For More War

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Ukraine – Congress Passes The Bucks, Realism Sneaks In, Poland Plans For More War

After a lot of talk about defeating Russia in the Ukraine and an alleged lack of Russian fighting abilities Congress passed another $40 billion fund for weapons and economic support. That brings the total to some $53 billion for Ukraine.

Most of the money will go to the U.S. weapon industry, the CIA and to various Ukrainian oligarchs. Hardly anything will be received by those in need.

With that packet now passed reality is allowed to sneak into U.S. media reporting on the issue.

Ukraine – Congress Passes The Bucks, Realism Sneaks In, Poland Plans For More War

From Jordan to Japan: US invites 14 non-NATO nations to Ukraine defense summit

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

From Jordan to Japan: US invites 14 non-NATO nations to Ukraine defense summit

Interestingly, the inclusion of Kenya, Liberia, Morocco and Tunisia may be less about Russia and more about combating China’s growing influence on the continent, said Elizabeth Shackelford, a former State Department official who served in several East African countries.

“China has been a strategic partner to both Kenya and Liberia, but the US still holds greater sway in each. Kenya is an influential country on the continent, so getting it on board with the west is important,” said Shackelford, now with the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

“Inviting these countries to this meeting signals that their position on [Ukraine] matters, to the US and to the broader coalition,” including host Germany, a major economic power, she added. “This is a level of engagement that China’s transactional relationship doesn’t offer. Don’t forget, it’s an election year in Kenya. International engagement on major global issues at the invitation of the US is a good look.”

All of the African countries are part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative.