Reporting on the Ukraine War, the Associated Press [AP] spreads its false narrative that the Russian Federation has been thwarted in their effort to control the Donbas region, especially the coastline in Southeastern Ukraine. With Mariupol falling into Russian President Vladimir Putin’s hands, it’s more bad news for Ukraine, not a silver lining that the northern city of Kharkiv has somehow escaped more Russian bombardments. From the outset of the war Feb. 24, the Western press insists that Putin failed to conquer Kiev, something not in the cards for the Russian Federation. Putin could have leveled Ukraine’s capital but chose instead to liberate Russian speaking areas of Donetsk and Luhansk. Yet if you listened to Ukraine’s 44-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky or 79-year-old President Joe Biden, the Ukraine army beat back the Russian military from taking Kiev.
All the Western press reports are war propaganda from the U.S. and Kiev, highlighting Russian troop and equipment losses but never admitting the obvious. Retired four-star Gen. Jack Keane, 79, head of Washington-based Institute for the Study of War, claims Ukraine should continue fighting to wear down the Russian military. Keane doesn’t refer to his own maps from the Institute for the Study of War to see that Ukraine has nearly lost the entire Black Sea coastline to the Russian Federation. Yet if you listen to Keane or the Western press Putin is on the ropes with his arms vastly depleted in terms of weapons and morale. How cynical does it get for the Western press to spew twisted war propaganda showing that Ukraine pushed back the Russian Federation from conquering Kiev and Kharkiv in the north. Keane knows but refuses to admit that Ukraine has lost its Black Sea coastline to Putin.
When it comes to fake war propaganda none it better than the Western press, reporting on nothing factual going on in the war. It’s no victory for Ukraine that Putin let Kiev remain in tact or chooses to pivot away from Kharkiv to focus on the conquering the Ukraine coastline. There’s no silver lining, except to the Western press that Ukraine soldiers held off Russian forces for two months at the Asovstal Steel Plant in Mariupol. What kind of heroism does it show to let Ukrainian troops and civilians sustain months of starvation and bombing, only admitting that Mariuopl is now lost to the Russian Federation. Keane won’t use his own maps to show the real progress in the Ukraine War, with the Russian Federation taking over the Black Sea coastline. White House, Kiev and the Western press can’t admit that Putin has already achieved all his objectives in the Ukraine War, controlling the Black Sea coast.
When you listen to pro-Western analysis it’s ludicrous how the propaganda shows Ukraine winning the war. “Time is definitely working against the Russians. They’re running out of equipment. They’re running out of particularly advanced missiles. And, of course the Ukrainians are getting stronger almost every day,” said Konrad Muzyka, director of Poland’s Rochan consultancy. Murkyza has looked at the maps of Russian-controlled territory and only finds a silver lining in the U.S. continuing to supply Ukraine with more lethal weapons. While it’s true that Ukraine has all the lethal weapons, what they don’t have is the Black Sea coastline. Where’s the silver lining knowing that if the war eventually ends, Ukraine will have to negotiate to return its coastline to the Kiev government. “Everything is going to plan . . .” said Kremlin Spokeman Dmitry Peskov.
Western press continues to repeat the same talking points that Putin lost because he didn’t capture Kiev in the first four days of the war. That’s the White House and Kiev narrative to save face when, in fact, Ukraine has lost its Black Sea coastline, only retaining Odessa at the moment, because it’s not worth the Kremlin’s fight. Putin has a safe military corridor from Russia through Mariupol and Kherson to the Crimean Peninsula. Ukraine’s only way to drive Russia out of the captured Black Sea coastline is to go to the Istanbul peace table and cut a deal. Ukraine doesn’t have enough troops to liberate the massive amount of territory already lost to Moscow. “It’s going to be a hard fight. There’s going to be a hard fight and potentially a long fight. The Russian military hasn’t done well on the offensive, but it doesn’t rout of surrender easily,” said Michael Kofman, an expert with U.S.-based CNA.
All the optimistic forecasts by Western officials are lapped up in the press when they could give the public a real picture of the war by a simple map of Russian held territory. Gen. Keane wants to blow smoke on Fox News rather that use his organization’s current maps that show Russia controlling Ukraine’s Black Sea coast. “Don’t get me wrong, the Russian still enjoy overall artillery superiority in terms of numbers, but I’m no sure if the same goes for the quality now . . . This is an artillery war,” touting the M777 U.S. and Canadian howitzers. As long a Putin controls the skies, there’s little chance of Ukraine fighting a ground war to retake the wide swath of Donbas coastline already taken by Putin. Ukraine’s only way out is not war but sitting down in Istanbul to negotiating a return of Ukrainian territory. Fighting an endless war does no one any good.
