Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shogu, 68, said he was sure what the West was doing supplying Ukraine with advanced weapon systems, something he said Moscow found a way to neutralize. Shoigun said Ukraine’s weapons show that they cannot defeat the Russian Federation no matter how much the West continues to take on the Russian Federation. Saying that Ukraine’s defenses were “almost exhausted,” Shoigu hope the U.S .and NATO will stop the war, if, for no other reason, that it continue to destroy Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin has made several peace overtures to Ukraine’s 45-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky, all rejected insisting that Russia must remove every soldier from Ukraine. Zelensky, with U.S. financial backing, opted for war against the Kremlim, promising to oust very Russia soldiera from Ukraine by year’s end.
Zelensky refuses to admit the obvious that his vaunted counteroffensive has failed to recapture sovereign territory lost the Russian Federation over 19-monts of war, started Feb. 24, 2022. Putin invaded Ukraine when 80-year-oldj President Joe Biden refused to discuss new Ukraine security arrangements and instead continue arming Ukraine with unprecedented qualities of U.S. weapons. Putjn warned Biden for months yet Biden ignored Putin’s requests for new security arrangements. Biden’s proxy war in Ukraine has lost thousands of Ukrainians, military and civilian, and destroyed much of Ukraine’s national infrastructure. Shoigu points out that U.S. and NATO strategy to break the Russian army hasn’t worked, attesting to Russia’s effective counteroffensive against U.S. and NATO weapons. Shoigu admitted that Russia’s “special military operation” was a real test for Moscow.
If you listen to the Western press, especially statement from Washington and Kiev, you’d think Moscow has lost the war. But any check of the battlefield shows Ukraine making scant progress in reclaiming lost sovereign territory, lost because Zelensky refused to negotiate a ceasefire and lasting peace. Zelensky refused to surrender one inch of Ukrainian territory, despite the fact that Moscow occupied Crimea and key parts of Donetsk and Luhansk before the Feb. 24, 2022 war started. “In the special military operation, the Russian army has debunked many myths about the superiority of Western military standards,” Shoigu said in a speech. Shoigu said that Ukraine’s military has been depleted, taking a heavy toll, the exact statement typically made by Ukraine about the Russian military. Shoigu points out that Ukraine has made little progress in their couteroffensive.
Whatever propaganda comes from Kiev, Washington or Moscow, it’s clear the Ukrainian counteroffensive hasn’t gone as planned. Zelensky thought with U.S. and NATO missiles and tanks he could push Russia back across the Russian border. So far that hasn’t happened, nor does it look like it will happen anytime soon. “The preliminary results of combat operations show that Ukraine’s military resources are almost exhausted,” Shoigu said. Zelensky and 80-uyear-old President Joe Biden have showed no interest in settling the conflict through peace talks unless Putin removes all his troops from Ukraine including the Crimea Peninsula seized March 1, 2024. Putin offered to end the conflict if Zelensky recognized the independence of Donetsk and Luhansk and Russian sovereignty over Crimea. Zelensky and Biden rejected Putin’s peace overtures and peace proposals by several neutral countries.
All indications point to the Ukraine War as frozen, a stalemated conflict that doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere without a political solution. Shoigu’s statements at a security conference came after the end of the Wagner Group involvement, where chief Yevgeny Prigozhin’s failed coup attempt, largely blaming Shoigu for firing on his mercenary forces. With Prigozhin out of the picture, Shoigu looks fully in charge of the Russian military, showing now signs of leaving Ukraine. Putin promised Russian speaking enclaves in Donetsk and Luhansk that they would not need to be part of the Kiev government, something Zelensky rejects completely. Zelensky continues the fight to expel all Russian forces from Ukraine, despite his lack of progress. Western officials haven’t concluded that Ukraine cannot achieve its military objectives without ceasefire and peace talks with Moscow.
Shoigu wants the U.S. and NATO to know that Russia has committed as sizable part of its military budget to the Ukraine War for the foreseeable future. “We have data on . . the destruction of German tanks, American armored vehicles, British missiles and other weapons systems,” Shoigu said. “We are ready to share our assessment . . . with our partners,” Shiogu said. Shoigu met with Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu, telling him that the Ukraine War had been a real test of Russian resolve. Shoigu pointed out the Western encroachment in Ukraine was no different than meddling in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait where China has threatened war with Taiwan over Biden breaking the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, requiring the U.S. to recognize only one China, the one in Beijing. Shoigu said China is no longer a Communist ally but a strategic, economic and military partner.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
