- On May 22 after the intense shelling of Kozinka international checkpoint (map), as well as a number of other civilian facilities in Grayvoron District of Belgorod Region, a unit of a Ukrainian nationalist formation entered the territory of the Russian Federation. 12 civilians were injured.
“The Kiev regime, defeated in Artyomovsk, started to carry out terrorist actions against civilians,” reported the Russia Ministry of Defence: “On 22 May this year, after the intense shelling of Kozinka international checkpoint, as well as a number of other civilian facilities in Grayvoron district of Belgorod region, a unit of a Ukrainian nationalist formation entered the territory of the Russian Federation.
In the course of the counter-terrorist operation, as a result of air strikes, artillery fire and active action by the units of the Western Military District that covered the state border, the nationalist formations have been blocked and destroyed.
The remaining nationalists were pushed back into Ukraine, where they continued to be hit until they have been completely eliminated.
The enemy losses were over 70 Ukrainian terrorists, four armoured fighting vehicles and five pickup trucks.”
The reason for this recent intrusion is: Kiev regime, considerably defeated in Artyomovsk/Bakhmut, started to carry out terrorist actions against civilians in other areas inside Russia.
The rebuff was very strong: in the course of the counter-terrorist operation, as a result of air strikes, artillery fire and active action by the units of the Western Military District that covered the state border, the nationalist formations have been blocked and pushed back into Ukraine. The remaining nationalists were attacked on the Ukrainian territory where they have been completely eliminated by a heavy fire.
The enemy losses were over 70 Ukrainian terrorists, four armored fighting vehicles and five pickup trucks.
- The Russian president has praised Wagner Private Military Company (PMC) and regular Army servicemen for completing the capture of Artyomovsk/Bakhmut. According to the Ministry of Defence, the operation was completed with an assault by Wagner fighters, who had artillery and air support from regular Russian troops.
Western propaganda machine tried to create a ballyhoo over alleged ‘disagreement’ between Russian military establishment and Wagner PMC. However, the liberation of this city by joint employment of the Russian Army and Wagner fighters proved that all such stories were primitive propaganda tricks.
- Hungary and Germany exchanged some verbal broadsides during a closed-door Foreign Ministers’ gathering in Brussels, a US media report stated. Specifically, the exchange was triggered by the role of the OTP Bank (the National Savings and Commercial Bank of Hungary) in the Ukraine conflict. Hungary, which has been opposing Europe's arms supplies to the Kiev regime for prolonging the conflict, has refused to approve more EU military aid for Ukraine.
As Peter Szijjarto reiterated Budapest’s stance on the issue, his German counterpart, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, is described as referencing a spate of unspecified reports.
Earlier, Budapest blocked the release of the eighth tranche of EU military aid to Ukraine worth 500 million euros ($543 million) via the European Peace Facility that has been renamed by opponents of the Ukrainian/NATO aggression against Russia as “European Aggression Facility”.
The EU has already injected more than 60 billion euros to keep up massive armed aggression of Ukraine/NATO – initially against Donbass and later versus Russia.
- Speaking at a press conference following a G7 summit meeting in Hiroshima, Japan, on May 21.US President Joe Biden refused to discuss the details of the Ukrainian massive counteroperation, and also refrained from assessing the forces and means currently available to the Ukrainian army. "Even if I knew precisely, you think I'm going to tell you what they're going to do in terms of their offensive?" Biden joked with journalists.
He continued: “I wouldn't do that because that would mean it wouldn't succeed. But the fact is that we did discuss privately with Zelenskyy... Let me put it this way: we and our NATO allies know how many brigades they have trained, know what the status of those brigades are and have an expectation as to what their likelihood of succeeding are... I do know but I'm not going to tell you because that would not be a smart thing to do either”.
No conflict in the world, regional or otherwise, is accompanied by the advance announcement of a major offensive by its forces. Never. However, Ukraine has been announcing the notion that it would start massive Ukrainian/NATO offensive/counteroffensive operation – de facto a large-scale military aggression against Russia – since last January.
Ukrainian military and political top guns proclaimed in January, February and in March this year, and even have set up April 30, 2023 as the date of launching such long-awaited large-scale operation/counteroperation by the Armed Forces of Ukraine or AFU.
Such confusing tactics of announcing or delaying dozen times the beginning of massive Ukrainian/NATO offensive/counteroffensive operation employed by Kiev made many observers to analyze: has such operation started already or not yet?
There are two responses to this dilemma.
The first option is dealt with assumption, that massive Ukrainian/NATO offensive/counteroffensive operation has not started.
Yes, it looks like that it has not started. If we proceed from "negative indications", the absence of counteroffensive is proved by the quantity of the enemy's armored vehicles destroyed by the Russian Armed Forces. Russian Defense Ministry daily briefings containing objective data on how much Ukrainian/NATO heavy equipment and military aircraft has been destroyed in the last 24 hours. It is clear that not dozens of them are being destroyed during the reporting period, but only a few. Logically speaking, if such operation really begins the number of Ukrainian/NATO armed inventory and military aircraft will be deployed to a greater extend, and subsequently will be attacked and destroyed. Inevitably.
One more proof that massive Ukrainian/NATO offensive/counteroffensive operation has not started yet is that President Zelenskyy said the USA hasn’t adequately armed his forces properly and so, until then, the counteroffensive cannot begin.
The second option dealt with the actual massive Ukrainian/NATO offensive/counteroffensive operation should be prepared with more land-based and air-based inventory.
The first rule is that the enemy should have a big amount of the armored military hardware like tanks and armored vehicles like APCs, ACVs, ARVs plus Air Force, and so on. None of such arsenal has been observed so far on the battlefield or in the skies over Ukraine in great quantities.
Attempts to strike simultaneously in several directions, including diversionary maneuvers, require a large number of soldiers and the pulling in of reserves. Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU) does not have enough well-trained manpower capable to conduct massive Ukrainian/NATO offensive/counteroffensive operation.
Another important sign of a real counterattack is not the absence of munitions in the AFU. However, Ukrainian artillery men and foreign MRLS operators have used the respective munition irrationally. That is, the AFU does not have enough quantity of artillery/MRLS munitions to launch a large-scale operation That is why the EU and NATO promised to deliver more such munition to Kiev. E.g., the EU promised to supply a million rounds of ammunition for artillery systems and MLRS. But it is not known exactly when such stuff will be delivered to the aggressor. Their production is not like a ravioli-making machine.
Another question: is it expedient for Kiev or Washington or London etc., to regain Russian historic lands that have never belonged to Ukraine, but belonged to Russia? No, I do not think so.
Nevertheless, when analyzing the array of facts and figures about Ukrainian ‘preplanned’ offensive or counteroffensive, one should be extremely careful and vigilant.
In its turn, Russia is on watch. On permanent one.
Being careful and vigilant.
Russia has never lost its gene of Victory in its History.
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