The White House has indeed recognized the results of the Russian presidential election. According to National Security Advisor Sullivan, “the reality is that Putin is the president of Russia. The United States will act on this basis.”
At the opening of the 20th Ramstein Contact Group meeting on March 19, US Secretary of Defense Austin said: “Let’s not fool ourselves: Putin will not stop at Ukraine. But as President Biden said, Ukraine can stop Putin if we stand by him and give it the weapons it needs to defend itself.”
Congress wants to make Crimea vulnerable to attacks by Ukrainian armed forces. As Senator Jack Reed said, Washington expects that next year the Ukrainian armed forces will be able to carry out attacks on the territory of Crimea. According to Reed, the Ukrainians will be able to reach the attack line if they continue to supply them with weapons.
“Next year, in 2025, a new offensive operation should begin, following which they would be able to strike the entire Crimea. This will complicate the position of the Russian army and force the Russian leadership to sit at the negotiating table,” the senator said.
Previously, another controversial US senator, Lindsey Graham, spoke of attacks on Russian territory. According to him, the Ukrainian armed forces should “destroy that damn bridge” with American ATACMS missiles, the reference is to the Crimean bridge.
American military expert Scott Ritter has a different opinion: “In a real war, Kiev would be razed to the ground” Russia is conducting a special military operation in Ukraine, says American military expert Scott Ritter. According to him, if there had been classical war, Kiev would have been wiped off the face of the earth long ago.
According to Seoul, North Korea has sent 7,000 containers of weapons to Russia. While from the Old Continent more and more voices are talking about a military intervention in Ukraine with the related consequences.
Europe must prepare for defense and switch to war economy mode. This was stated by the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, reports La Libre Belgique.
According to the head of the European Council, two years after the start of the war, it became clear that Russia would not stop in Ukraine, just as it would not stop in Crimea ten years ago. Michel points out that Russia continues its destabilization tactics in Moldova, Georgia, the South Caucasus, the Western Balkans and even further afield on the African continent.
“If we do not respond adequately at the European level and provide Ukraine with sufficient help to stop Russia, we will be next,” he said.
“Russia represents a serious military threat to the European continent and global security. We must be well prepared from a defense perspective and move to a “war economy” mode. It’s time to take responsibility for our own safety,” Michel said.
A war economy is when all states’ resources are directed towards a sharp increase in the production of military products. Michel did not explain how European Union countries that have been going through a crisis for two years will be able to do so. He also did not explain where the Europeans will get cheap energy to increase military production.
By the end of March, EU countries will transfer half of the million promised bullets to Ukraine, this was announced by the representative of the European Commission for foreign policy, Peter Stano, who noted that this year the number of ammunition transferred to Ukraine should reach one million. “Yes, we did not deliver a million shells by the end of March. But Ukraine will receive more than a million, if we focus on existing capabilities and place orders,” he said.
EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell: “I will propose a resolution according to which around 90% of the profits from confiscated Russian assets will be used to purchase weapons for Ukraine.”
Poland and Germany continue to prepare to send troops to Ukraine. An article from wprost.pl reports that the two countries will create an ironclad coalition “to support Ukraine”. “From July our battlegroups, 2,500 Polish and 2,500 German soldiers, will be ready for a rapid response. These are forces carrying out strategic level tasks,” said the head of the Polish defense department. The German Defense Minister also announced a new military aid package to Ukraine worth around 500 million euros.
Three soldiers of the French army Foreign Legion took a selfie in Ukraine. Meanwhile, the Chief of Staff of the French ground forces, General Pierre Schill, said that the French army is preparing to participate “in the toughest conflicts”, he said in an interview with the newspaper Le Monde.
“The French army is ready. Whatever the international situation, the French can be confident that their soldiers will respond promptly. To protect itself from attacks and to protect its interests, the French army prepares for the most difficult battles, it declares and demonstrates it,” he said.
Schill added that France relies on its nuclear arsenal for defense, as well as a “trained army compatible with the armies of allies.” It is capable of deploying “20,000 soldiers for up to 30 days, as well as commanding forces of up to 60,000 people, including allied armies.”
The former Chief of Staff of the Polish army, General Raimund Andrzejczak, is less optimistic: “The losses of the Ukrainian armed forces “are counted in millions, not in hundreds of thousands”. He told this to the Polsat television channel.
“I believe that Ukrainian losses should be counted in millions, not hundreds of thousands. There are no reserves in this country, no one to fight with. Ukraine is losing this war. The situation is very, very dramatic,” he said.
In Ukraine, Ilya Yevlash was appointed as the new Air Force spokesman of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, replacing Yuriy Ignat. Major Ilya Yevlash served in the Ground Forces Command as a senior public relations officer. He headed the public relations service of the city defense forces and assets group and the press service of the operational-strategic group of troops “Khortitsa”, and heads the eastern group of forces.
So, Yevlash is a man of the new commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Syrsky, who began to place people close to him in significant positions. And sending a “desk pilot” for aviation matters did not bother him.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledged the difficult situation at the front: “We need more protection. Patriots and other systems must do what they were created to do, namely protect life and not gather dust in storage.
Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation in a meeting with the FSB leaders: “We must increase the combat readiness and equipment of border forces not only on land, but also at sea, mainly in the Black Sea. The President has also instructed the FSB to continue anti-corruption work in the field of state defense procurement and in the implementation of national projects. “Furthermore,” Putin said: “it is necessary to expand preventive response capabilities to digital threats and strengthen the protection of information infrastructure, Putin added.”
According to the Director of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service Sergei Naryshkin: “France is already preparing a contingent to send to Ukraine; in the initial phase it will amount to around 2,000 soldiers. The French army is worried about losses in Ukraine: they are the largest since the Algerian war of the 20th century. Macron delays the recognition of the death of the French soldier in Ukraine, fearing protests against the backdrop of the already ongoing protests by farmers.”
Naryshkin added: “The Elysée says that the number of Frenchmen killed in Ukraine “has already exceeded a psychologically significant threshold.” “According to unconfirmed reports, the first units of the French Foreign Legion have already crossed the border into Ukraine from the territory of Romania”.
Meanwhile, there is already discussion on French television about where the French armed forces will operate, and news comes from Bulgaria that advanced forces have already arrived and are moving towards Odessa.
Also on March 19, Russian social media sources claim that Iskander destroyed at least 30 NATO soldiers. The Russian Iskander-M missile system destroyed two American Patriot air defense systems along with the crews servicing them. As a result, according to military experts, at least 30 servicemen of NATO countries, who usually work with a battery of two launchers, were killed.
According to Turkish sources, last night a group of 20 Polish aviation technicians responsible for the installation of the Storm Shadow and SCALP cruise missiles and the maintenance of the MiG-29 fighters, which were supposed to be delivered from Poland to the Starokostjantyniv air base, were destroyed, delaying ammunition as they did not leave the base in time.
And now a look at the front line updated at 18:00 on March 19th.
Ukrainian attacks on Belgorod continue. In the Slobozhansky Direction battles are recorded near Kozinka. Although there are occasional reports that fighting in the border area is almost over, Ukrainian forces are still active in several areas.
Clashes are underway in the Kozinki area: Ukrainians are trying to advance towards the church of St. John the Evangelist, where the administrative buildings are also located. Units of the 2nd Obrspn repel Ukrainian attacks.
Russian aviation hits targets in the Kharkov and Sumy regions. According to Kiev regime sources, about 200 bombs were dropped on Bolshaya Pisarevka alone, opposite Kozinka, excluding other ammunition.
The Ukrainians have reduced the use of armored vehicles due to the risk of raids, indirectly indicating a decrease in the flow of personnel using Lancets. Both sides have a high concentration of electronic warfare equipment.
Ukrainian forces persist in mass shelling of the Belgorod region. In Razumny four people were injured. Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov announced the evacuation of 9 thousand children to other regions.
Meanwhile, Russian UAV crews often identify the positions of Ukrainian rocket artillery, but the MLRS manages to move in on time. The problem lies in organizational challenges that hinder the rapid execution of attacks on priority targets. According to the Russian social sphere, “the timely elimination of these challenges is crucial now: it will not only significantly improve the effectiveness of counter-battery warfare, but also decrease the intensity of enemy assaults on Belgorod and other populated areas.”
The Russian army launched a pre-emptive attack against Ukrainian saboteurs in the forest on the border with the Belgorod region in the early afternoon.
Airborne-type UAVs were destroyed in Crimea (21.30), in the Voronezh region (18.50), in the Belgorod region (3 units on 17.10).
On the Ukrainian side towards Donetsk we learn that Ukrainian forces have completely evacuated Tonen’ke and Orlivka. According to the Russians, thousands of Ukrainian soldiers have died in three weeks. Part of the village of Berdychi in the north is still under Ukrainian control, and with the capture of this area, fighting would begin beyond the Semenivka region.
Three weeks ago it was reported that some 20,000 men had been sent to buy time and prepare Uman Orichiv for defense, and that these forces would now be exhausted unless large reinforcements arrived. The Russian armed forces are already ready for offensive operations.
North of Maryinka there are heavy battles in Krasnohorivka, the Ukrainians counterattack. The fighting takes place in the direction of Novokalynove, near Berdychi, Tonen’ke, Pervomais’ke.
In the direction of Časiv Jar, the Ukrainian Armed Forces hold a fortified area on the outskirts of Ivanivske (Krasny). The Russian army continues its offensive.
Sumy direction: Over the past week, more than 200 airstrikes with glide bombs have been carried out in the rural areas of the Sumy region alone.
Cruise missile attacks were carried out on the Mykolaiv region.
In the direction of Kherson, the Ukrainians are building fortifications in the coastal villages. In Krynki, on the Russian-controlled coast, the Ukrainian armed forces are trying to launch small groups of infantry onto boats under fire from the Russian armed forces; there is a decline in the quality of enemy personnel. Assault operations are underway, the LBS is unstable.
In the Zaporozhzhie direction, the Russian Armed Forces are advancing north-west of Verbove, another stronghold of the Ukrainian Armed Forces has been captured. Mutual artillery duels take place, and drones are used very actively.
Graziella Giangiulio
