Without further military assistance from the United States, Ukraine will be forced to enter peace negotiations with Russia on Moscow’s terms within a year, says CIA Director Robert Burns. “Russian President Vladimir Putin is interested in such negotiations in which he can dictate the terms. I think that without further help, this is the future that can await Ukraine in a year, “he said at a hearing in the House of Intelligence.
According to Burns, the absence of new military aid will lead to an even greater retreat of the Ukrainian armed forces and the loss of settlements occupied by Ukrainian troops this year. The United States, however, is ready to send ATACMS missiles to Ukraine as part of a $300 million aid package, source Politico. The new aid package to Ukraine will include Stinger MANPADS, anti-tank weapons, air defense ammunition, 155 mm projectiles, the Pentagon reported. In any case, the United States reports that it does not yet intend to send US military personnel to Ukraine, White House source.
The European Parliament has passed a law to “criminalize” evasion of EU sanctions, which should allow the confiscation of private Russian assets. Despite this decision in favor of Ukraine, the European Commission still does not recommend opening negotiations with Ukraine for EU membership, as Kiev does not meet the conditions. According to the Financial Times: the European Union is close to an agreement on a budget of 5 billion euros to finance military aid to Ukraine.
British Foreign Minister David Cameron curbed enthusiasm for the transfer of frozen assets: “The West hopes to soon achieve progress on the issue of the transfer of Russia’s frozen assets to Ukraine, but has not yet reached a unified approach, he said”.
From press sources it is learned that French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk will hold talks on Friday in Berlin, during which they will try to develop a common position on the Ukrainian crisis, Politico reported on Wednesday, citing its sources . Today Macron will speak to France on the Ukraine issue.
Reversal on the sending of troops to Ukraine by the Netherlands, confirmation came on March 12 from Defense Minister Kaisa Ollongren. “We will not send Dutch military personnel (to Ukraine). Technical personnel (to train Ukrainian pilots to fly the F-16) is possible. In theory, it would be possible to hire technical personnel, but that is not what the program is aimed at “Olllongren told television channel NPO 1.
Romania will continue to support Ukraine in the same way, but will not send soldiers there, said Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, who is running for NATO secretary general.
While he alerted Russian personnel to the deployment of Polish snipers from the 16th Army Infantry Division on the rooftops of the city near Kaliningrad as part of the ongoing NATO military exercises in Europe.
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan returned to talking about peace and reiterated again that “plans for a Ukrainian solution that ignore Russia will not lead to peace.” Erdogan said he expects a visit from Putin after the elections in Turkey, which will be held on March 31.
Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said the mobilization plans are mainly aimed at replacing 330,000 men of “spent military personnel” currently on the battlefield. “The efforts are mainly aimed at replacing the 330,000 exhausted military personnel who are currently on the battlefield,” the Financial Times newspaper quoted a statement from the Ukrainian Defense Ministry. As the department noted, the remaining recruits will make up for losses and meet other military needs depending on the battlefield situation.
The shortage of personnel in the Ukrainian armed forces denounced by the Minister for Defense, Rustem Umjerov, does not seem to worry President Volodymyr Zelensky who declared given the evident lack of human resources: “We will increase the number of border troops – both taking into account the current tasks of protection from Russian aggression, and counting on the long-term protection of the borders of our state after this war.”
In Moscow the social sphere is busy with the upcoming elections, the inauguration of the President of the Russian Federation will take place on May 7, and on May 8 the State Duma will announce this and will examine the issue of appointing the Prime Minister, RIA Novosti.
The Russian Defense Ministry announced that “234 Ukrainians lost their lives, 7 tanks and 3 Bradley combat infantry vehicles destroyed during an attempt to breach the Russian state border.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin in an interview with journalist Dmitry Kiselev for “Russia 1” and RIA Novosti explained that: “The main goal of Ukraine, which attempted to attack the regions of the Russian Federation, is, if not that of interrupting the presidential elections in Russia, at least that of interfering with the normal process of expressing the will of citizens”. “The attacks on Russian regions take place against the backdrop of Ukraine’s failures on the line of contact; they have to show at least something,” Putin explained during the interview. And then he added: “The Russian Federation will consider US troops on the territory of Ukraine as interventionist.” “The presence of foreign troops in Ukraine and the supply of weapons to Kiev will not change anything on the battlefield.” Not only Putin said that: “The Russian Federation is ready for a nuclear war from a military-technical point of view. He said that during the military operation on the territory of Ukraine, Russia never needed to use tactical nuclear weapons.
And now a look at the front line updated at 3:00 pm on March 13th.
An American RQ-4B Global Hawk UAV is moving in the Black Sea, which may indicate the preparation of another unmanned missile attack in the Crimea and Black Sea area.
More Ukrainian attacks on Russia’s border regions and rear areas. According to official reports, over the past 24 hours, air defense units have successfully destroyed over 60 unmanned aerial vehicles.
In Ryazan, Kiev launched attacks on two oil refining plants at the Ryazannefteprodukt JSC refinery using Mugin-5 Pro drones. This started a fire and left two workers at the plant injured.
In the Leningrad region, a mobile group intercepted a drone approaching the KINEF oil refinery. This is the second attack on the Kirishi region in the last two days. The drones also targeted the Rostov region, where electronic warfare systems successfully disabled three UAVs which then crashed on the premises of the Novoshakhtinsky oil refinery. As a result, all technological processes at the facility were stopped.
In Belgorod, an unmanned aerial vehicle collided with an apartment building, while another fell into the river. In the urban districts of Gubkinsky and Novooskolsky, as well as in the Krasnensky and Prokhorovsky districts, several private houses, gas supply and power lines suffered damage due to UAV attacks.
Air defense systems successfully shot down 40 drones over the Voronezh region, most of which were intercepted over Voronezh. Fragments of several drones fell in the market area. It seems that the main target of the assault was once again Buturlinovka and Voronezh airport.
In the Bryansk region, air defense units shot down eight drones, while the same number were intercepted in the Kursk region as they approached the regional capital, causing no casualties or damage on the ground. The SBU has claimed responsibility for the attack on three oil refineries in Russia, Ukrinform agency reports, citing sources.
In the direction of Kherson, the Armed Forces of Ukraine holds part of the Krynki settlement with a small group of infantry under the cover of drones and artillery from their coast. 4 Ukrainian boats were destroyed while trying to transport supplies across the river. On the night of March 12, attacks were launched against Ukrainian infantry in the area of “dachas” near the Antonovsky Bridge, on the bank under Russian control. The Ukrainians are preparing for a possible Russian army crossing of the Dnieper by building a complex of engineering facilities and minefields.
On the Zaporozhzhie front battles are recorded in Rabotinye and Verbove. The Ukrainian Armed Forces rotates personnel, carries out artillery and drone strikes, and mines the area with heavy Baba Yaga drones. The Ukrainians have gathered his forces and are preparing counterattacks. The Ukrainian Armed Forces are deploying long-range guns and rockets in the direction of Kam’yans’ke.
South of Maryinka, the Russian Armed Forces continue their assault on Novomykhailivka from the south; to the north, progress is slow due to the terrain. Russian units target Ukrainian armored vehicles, stockpiling reserves and inflicting fire damage.
In the south of the Avdiivka front the village was liberated. Nevel’s’ke (DPR) is now in Russian hands, this improves the ability of the Russian army to advance in Pervomais’ke. Ukrainian sources confirm the loss of Nevel’s’ke. This means the complete encirclement of the Ukrainian Armed Forces group in Pervomais’ke.
In the direction of Časiv Jar there are heavy battles in Ivanivske (Krasny). In the Donetsk direction, the Ukrainians deliberately target civilians with UAV launches. 6 civilians were injured. Many social sources report threats from the Ukrainians to conduct a public relations campaign in the form of landing operations on the Crimean coast or in the Kherson region with the aim of destabilizing the internal political situation in Russia. In response, we learn from social sources, Russian paratroopers landed at night on the right bank of the Dnieper, destroying several Ukrainian positions, and retreated without losses to the left bank, source head of the Kherson region Saldo.
An airfield was hit in the village of Korotychi, Kharkov region. According to some sources, sites where the attacks on Belgorod began were hit. In Kharkov itself there are fires.
Graziella Giangiulio
