Tensions rise between the United States and Russia. The US Embassy in Moscow said: “US citizens who are currently in Russia should leave the country immediately.” The embassy noted that Russian authorities could deny recognition of dual citizenship to Americans in Russia, deny them access to US consular assistance, subject them to mobilization and prevent them from leaving the country.
“Elon Musk, he has a conscience,” his chief executive said afterward that the Starlink satellite network is needed for communications in Ukraine, but should not be used for an escalation that could lead to a Third World War.
According to Moscow: “The United States intends to send fighters to Russia and the CIS to carry out terrorist attacks against diplomats, government officials, security forces and the military” This was reported by the Russian foreign secret service. It would be 60 fighters trained in the Al-Tanf base, in the occupied region of southern Syria, to be transported to Russia. According to Moscow, the CIA has been training fighters at this base and in the border areas of Jordan for more than 6 years. One of these training grounds was hit by Russian airstrikes in 2016.
According to Moscow, Washington trained a group of Arab Islamists, thought to target natives of Russia and the former Soviet Union, many of whom remained in Syria after the defeat of the Caliphate and a succession of “Opposition” defeats. Having no real prospects in Syria, they would be becoming a consumable item in the process of international terrorism by US intelligence agencies.
Corruption investigations continue in Ukraine according to the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine there is a scheme to smuggle tax evaders abroad through a charitable foundation. Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Olga Stefanyshina believes that EU accession talks will start in 2023 and those with NATO will also be swift.
And speaking of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg said that the ammunition supplies of NATO countries to Ukraine many times exceed their production capacity, the alliance must expand production. And again NATO will create a virtual network linking civilian and military satellite data for intelligence needs because NATO considers the current phase of the conflict in Ukraine a “logistic war” and deems it necessary to send equipment and ammunition to Kiev faster. NATO expects the issue of supplies of military aircraft to Ukraine to be raised at the February 14-15 meeting of defense ministers of the Alliance
The Bundeswehr has started training the Ukrainian army in the use of Leopard 2 tanks, a defense ministry spokeswoman said. As Der Spiegel magazine noted, the courses will be accelerated and will last just six to eight weeks. Training usually lasts several years. If all goes according to plan, the first Ukrainian servicemen will go into the combat zone with Leopard 2s as early as the end of March, the magazine reads.
From Moscow they deny the rumors circulated in recent days about a new partial mobilization. Dimitri Peskov, spokesman for President Vladimir Putin when asked if there is any data on the likelihood of a second wave of partial mobilization said curtly: “no”. News also confirmed by the State Duma: “a second wave of partial mobilization is not being considered by the State Duma”, said the deputy head of the Duma’s defense commission Yury Shvytkin. Unlike in Ukraine where the mobilization “proceeds normally” according to Oleksiy Danilov, of the Ukrainian Security Council.
Meanwhile new flights from Iran are expected, an Iranian military transport IL-76 is preparing for another flight to Russia with cargo. Planes from the airline affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps fly regularly to Russia.
Also in Germany a ship from the United States full of military equipment for the Armed Forces of Ukraine has arrived in a German port. The ship is reportedly carrying a Bradley BMP and an Avenger SAM system. The ship left the United States a week ago and will be handed over to the Ukrainian army after unloading its military equipment
And now a look at the front between 12 and 13 February. On February 12, the situation at the front was as follows.
In the Kupyansk direction, units of the 14th and 92nd Ukrainian mechanized brigades were hit in the Kharkiv region; 80 servicemen would have been killed, 6 vehicles and a D-20 howitzer destroyed;
In the Krasnolimansky direction, they were destroyed by Russian forces, infantry fighting vehicles, 5 armored fighting vehicles and one Akatsiya self-propelled howitzer; moreover, the crews and troops following would have been hit, there is talk of about 100 men.
In the direction of Donetsk, during the clashes, according to Russian social media sources, more than 250 Ukrainian soldiers were killed, and 2 US M777 cannons, an American M109 “Paladin” self-propelled howitzer, some infantry fighting vehicles, 4 armored vehicles, one “Hyacinth” towed gun and 2 ” Rapira” anti-tank guns
South of Donetsk, Russian aviation and artillery struck Pavlovka and Ugledar (DPR).
In the Kherson direction of the Kuibyshevo region, a US-made AN / TPQ-50 counterbattery station was destroyed;
The next day, February 13, in the direction of Donetsk, the settlement of Krasnaya Gora was taken by the Russians after an artillery and missile barrage, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. Other details come from social networks to take the area would have been the shock troops after an intense artillery barrage. The losses would be heavy, especially on the Ukrainian side: talk about 150 dead.
In the Kupyansk direction, Russian artillery hits the Ukrainian lines as well as in the Krasnolimansky direction;
In the South-Donetsk direction, weapons depots and military barracks in the Prechistovka and Vugledar area were inflicted hit.
In the Kherson direction, Russian artillery allegedly destroyed two Grad multiple missile launch systems and two Gvozdika self-propelled howitzers;
In the Slovyansk area, a repair and restoration point for weapons and military equipment of a Ukrainian brigade stationed there was hit;
Russian anti-aircraft guns shot down six HIMARS missiles and destroyed nine Ukrainian UAVs.
As for the situation in Bakhmut, in the afternoon of February 13, units of PMC “Wagner” entered another Bakhmut area – Budenovka in the south-west of the city.
As for the Zaporozhye direction, the headquarters of the Ukrainian group reports intense activity of Russian troops. The Ukrainian armed forces therefore expect the resumption of the offensive in the Zaporozhye region.
As part of the preparations for strengthening the line, additional firing points and strong points were equipped on the Belogorye-Charivnoye line, as well as at Komsomolsky and Lyubitsky. The personnel of the 253rd battalion of the 129th brigade was brought into full combat readiness. Reinforcements arrived in Uspenovka and Lugovskoye, formed from detachments of the mobilized. Several crews of SPG-9 anti-tank grenade launchers prepared at Omelnik were deployed on the front lines.
The location area of the brigade-artillery group of the 128th mountain assault brigade of the DShV of Ukraine is located in Tavriysky, this is a unit that has received artillery systems of Western production.
The Ukrainian command was gradually increasing its grouping in Zaporozhye. In Kiev, they plan to conduct a counteroffensive in late spring and early summer. In the training camps near the administrative center of the region, intensive training of the mobilized takes place.
The operation to hit the Crimea and the Sea of Azov will be preceded by a massive artillery and fire preparation, also with the help of the HIMARS MLRS deployed along the front.
Rocket strikes will be carried out on all major cities of Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, as well as Armyansk and Dzhankoy. The main task of the Ukrainian command is access to Genichesk and the Crimean peninsula to cut off land communications.
Graziella Giangiulio e Antonio Albanese
