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Monday, 19 March 2018 09:40

RUSSIA PREPARES TO INVADE EUROPE — UKRAINE READIES THE DEFENCE WITH THE JOINT FORCES OPERATION

Michael MacKay, Radio Lemberg, 19.03.2018
 
Russia is preparing a rapid invasion of Ukraine. But the Ukrainian armed forces are mounting a Joint Forces Operation to defend the homeland that should make Putin think twice.
 
Russia is turning Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula into a heavily-armed fortress. In eastern Ukraine, Russian armed forces invading and occupying part of Donetsk region and part of Luhansk region are organized into two battle formations. In Donetsk the Russians have the 1st Army Corps, or so-called “Donetsk People’s Republic.” In Luhansk there is the 2nd Army Corps, or so-called “Luhansk People’s Republic.” The Russians give the names of Federal Security Service (FSB) created and led terrorist groups – “DPR” and “LPR” – to these formations, and Russian propaganda called them “pro-Russian separatists” or “rebels.” They are in fact formations of the Russian armed forces. The 1st and 2nd Army Corps are manned by Russian soldiers: contract soldiers; “Wagner Group” private military company soldiers; mercenaries; and regular soldiers of the Russian army who have removed or changed their insignia. The 1st and 2nd Army Corps are led by Russian officers, armed and supplied by Russia, paid by Russia, and when they die they are shipped as ‘Cargo 200’ back to Russia or buried without a name in Donbas.
 
The 1st and 2nd Army Corps of the Russian armed forces that are invading and occupying part of Donbas number about 35 thousand soldiers. Putin’s army in eastern Ukraine has 300 multiple launch rocket systems, 700 tanks, more than 1000 armoured vehicles, and more than 1000 artillery systems.
 
The Western Military District of the Russian Federation is across the eastern border of Ukraine. Since Russia invaded Ukraine on 20 February 2014, the Putin regime has reorganized and strengthened its military posture against Ukraine. The military build-up makes Russia capable of launching a rapid invasion of Ukraine, beyond the trench warfare that has been going on for well over three years in Donbas. President Poroshenko reported on the presence of new Russian motorized divisions deployed for invasion, and the readiness of Russia to strike from the north and the east of Ukraine.
 
President Poroshenko appointed Lieutenant-General Serhiy Nayev (on photo) to be the commander of the Joint Forces Operation. Gone is the “Anti-Terrorist Operation” which was started in 2014, but which was obsolete by the time of the intervention by regular forces of the Russian army at the Battle of Ilovaisk. It makes sense for an anti-terrorist operation to be under the command of the Security Services of Ukraine (SBU). But what’s happening in Donbas is an invasion by a foreign army from Russia, and under these circumstances the Armed Forces of Ukraine need to take charge. The Joint Forces Operation will command every aspect of the defence of Ukraine. Every unit now takes orders from Lt.-Gen. Nayev: the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the National Guard, the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, the SBU, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, and the National Police. The real benefit of the Joint Forces Operation is realism. The real enemy is the Russian army invading Donbas. “Pro-Russian separatists” do not exist.
 
Russia is preparing a rapid invasion of Ukraine. That doesn’t mean that Russia will expand its existing invasion of Ukraine in Crimea and Donbas anytime soon. The Ukrainian armed forces are in a state far better than the one they were in when Russia first invaded in 2014. The change from the Anti-Terrorist Operation to the Joint Forces Operation demonstrates that Ukraine is serious about the defence of the homeland – and indeed the defence of all Europe – from Russian invasion.
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