The Duran Podcast - UK Telegraph; Ukraine running out of men. NATO, all resources towards Melitopol

Episode Date: August 27, 2023

UK Telegraph; Ukraine running out of men. NATO, all resources towards Melitopol The Duran: Episode 1680

All right, Alexander, let's do an update as to what is happening in Ukraine. We have the Kupianz direction. We have the south, Zaporosia, Rappatino direction. We have Alensky giving a press conference and admitting that the counteroffensive is difficult. That's his way of saying that it's failed. He says it's difficult, but they're making small progress. That's his way of saying that they have failed. he admitted that a big mobilization may take place, or at least he's getting pressured

for some sort of big mobilization by the military. That's a pretty alarming statement. And I actually read an article in the Telegraph of all places, which talked about how Ukraine is running out of men. Actually, I think that was the title from the Telegraph article, which was just basically the numbers are showing that Ukraine is running out of men and won't make it in this conflict. So we're starting to see the European or the UK media now coming out with articles talking about the catastrophic situation in the big counter-offensive and in Ukraine in general. So where should we begin on the front lines or with the media angle?

Yeah, well, I'll just start with the British media quickly because, of course, that is important because the British media has been the last place to admit that there are problems with the offensive. And you're absolutely right. The Daily Telegraph article by Robert Clark not only said that Ukraine is running out of men, but it also said that Russia has victory in its sights. In other words, they are now close to the point

where Ukraine is going to reach the point of no return and that there is nothing that the West can do. to reverse the situation. So that's a pretty stark admission coming out of the British media. And there's been a similar report on the BBC, which you covered, I think, in one of your broadcasts.

So we've had lots of things, we're having things like that in, even in Britain. Let's just deal first, however, with the situation on the battlefronts. And there are two stories there. One is Kupiansk, where there's a successful Russian offensive. And what's now happening, and it's pretty clear, is that the Russians are rolling up all the various Ukrainian fortified positions around Kupyansk.

They've apparently destroyed some of the bridges across the Oswald River into eastern Kupiansk. They seem to be preparing for a strike to capture eastern Kupiansk. And that would then be the springboard, presumably, for a four. further offensive, deeper into Kharkov region, that would reverse the outcome of last autumn's offensive, where Ukraine regained

ground in Kharkov region. The psychological and military effect of that simply cannot be overstated. Now, Zelensky, when he did that press conference, I'm pretty sure that what he was hoping to do

was to announce the capture of this village of Rabotino in Zaporosia. And the Ukrainians made a massive attempt over the last three days to capture Rabatino. This is a little village north of the big Russian fortified lines. The Ukrainians have been trying to capture it since the second week of June.

We've now two and a half months they've been trying to capture this little village. They haven't been able to. They made a big effort. At one point, apparently, yesterday in the morning, they were in control of around 70% of it. They raised their flag over the local government building in this village.

The Russians then counter-attacked. They pushed them back. Very last report I've seen is that the Ukrainians have been pushed out of Rabatino completely. That I should stress is a fluid situation. It might not be the case. Today is Ukraine's Independence Day. It seems that Ukraine was trying to capture Rabotino to celebrate, you know, to have a victory to celebrate.

They finally captured this village. It seems that the Russians have acted to prevent that. And it left Zelensky looking, I thought, rather deflated over the course of that news conference. So he's not really got his F-16s. They're not coming, you know, for months, probably only a few next year, none, before the summer. He's not got his grippins. He's not got Rabatino either. And we've had admissions from the British that Ukraine's running out of men. And we've now had statements from Zelensky himself would say in effect the same thing, that the Ukrainian military

now are worried that they're running out of men. Their losses are so high that they want general mobilisation. And that's a pretty grim situation for Ukraine to be in. Now, there's been another development, and which is that we've had an article in the New York Times, which is all about a conference, a video conference, which brought together Mark Millie, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He's still chairman. He's not going to be that for very much longer, but he's still there. There was Cavalier, who was the commander-in-chief of NATO, American General.

He's the commander-in-chief of NATO in Europe. There was Radican, who is actually an admiral. He was the British chief of staff. So the British were also involved. And there was Zolluzni involved as well. And according to the New York Times, the Western leaders, Millie, Cavalry and Radican, they all told

Zalusely stop your offensive in Bachman give up on Bachmut this is a distraction you're not getting any kind of progress there at all pull back go on the defensive

in Bachman reassign all your remaining men from Bachm to Zaporosia and launch your attack there throw everything you've got left despite all the losses you've suffered on one last big throw to break through to Milo Topol

with all the remaining men that you have, you know, you've had at Bachman. So basically right off Bachmann, perhaps also places like Charles of Yard and nearby, focus instead on everything you can do to try to break this land bridge. Zaluzni is said to have agreed, but of course the final decision is not his. Up to this point, we've had lots of reports that Zaluzziad himself has not been happy with the Bahmert. Counter-attack, but we can see that the pressure is now on, that they're now really putting all their chips on one number, hoping that the next spin of the dice will enable them to at least achieve something

before Ukraine finally runs out of men, ammunition, and the rains close in. Yeah, but my question with this Melito Pol strategy, first of all, I find it very interesting that so many publications are now talking about Melitopol. This really wasn't talked about much a month ago, the city of Melitopo. And this is what we're talking about. We're not talking about a small village of, you know, 50 people. This is a small city, Melitopol. So my question is why all of a sudden are we talking about Melita Pole?

Melita Pole still doesn't get you to the Sea of Azov, which was the main objective. You have another city, I believe, Tokmach, that you have to get through before you get to Milito Pole. And if you're going to throw everything you have now in this direction, even if we give the Ukraine military the benefit of the doubt, and we say they break through the same. security zone. They get to Tokamak, break through there, and they eventually get to Militopol. What is the calculation from Millie and these collective West generals that they'll be able to take over Melito Pole in a week? I mean, is that really realistic? I mean, we're about to head

into winter in two months. I mean, this sounds so, I mean, I thought these guys were generals. I thought these guys were military professionals. It sounds like they really don't care. That's what it sounds like to me. It sounds like, you know, Millie's sitting there saying, you know, just Zelensky's illusion is, just how many men you have in Bakhmut? Whatever, just throw them in the South and just buy us some time. I mean, that's the impression that I'm getting. Does it make sense, even if they did make a breakthrough?

How do you hold these areas when you've lost all your men? Yes. I mean, how does that work? You're absolutely correct. And I think there's a lot of things to say about this. The first is this. And I think this is an important point. This is supposed to be a war, a war in which the West is supporting Ukraine.

They're not supporting Ukraine. They're trying to micromanage Ukraine's war. They are trying to make decisions. They're destroying Ukraine. Exactly. But they are forcing Ukraine to adopt their strategy. Now, you know, it may be. I mean, I personally don't understand what Ukraine's been doing in Bachmann myself.

We've been talking about this for months. But, I mean, at least that was Ukraine's decision. Now we see that not only does all this Western military aid come with strings attached, but it gives the Western powers, the United States, Britain, think that it gives them the right to give orders to give orders to, Ukraine. Now, we're not naive people. I mean, the last thing anybody would say about the Davis is that we're naive people. We've known this all along. But look how completely the mask has fallen now. Until a few months ago, Zellugni makes this decision. Sierski makes this decision.

Zelenskyy makes this decision. Zeluzni was Napoleon, if you remember. Siersky was Caesar. Zelensky was Churchill. And this article in the New York Times basically is telling us they're actually really puppets on an American stream. It's the Americans who make these decisions. What is supposed to be a war to preserve Ukraine as an independent country, we see that it has no independent, no capacity to make independent decisions because it is the United States that makes those decisions for it. That's one thing. The second is the utter callousness.

of what is being asked of Ukraine. Because, again, the New York Times accepts that this attack towards Militopol, Melitopol, will incur enormous losses for Ukraine. Just go ahead, carry out these losses, be less risk-averse, throw away thousands more lives in battle. The Ukrainians are being criticized, wrongly as it happens, for trying to conserve lives. They're not actually, I mean, you know,

If you read Russian accounts, they think that the Ukrainians have been profligate with the lives of their men. If you read Ukrainian accounts increasingly, they think the same. But as far as the West is concerned, as far as the United States is concerned, they're not being profligate enough. They should be sacrificing even more lives to achieve objectives decided for them. by the Americans. The third is, it's absolutely clear that the Americans, the United States, all along, has been obsessed with Crimea and the control of the Black Sea. Now, to my mind, this is what this whole, a large part of what this conflict in Ukraine has been about, all the way back, going all the way back to 2004. They want to somehow reach, if they can't reach the Sea of Azov, at least to cut the land bridge by getting Militopol, melitopol, shelling Crimea as well. They want ultimately to get control of Crimea.

It's a US objective, even more than it is a Ukrainian one. And the Ukrainians are being sacrificed so that the US can achieve it. the US is prepared to give up Ukrainian ground in the Dombas, in Bahmert, in Kramatostk, in Slaviansk, in all of these places, so that you can hope perhaps to gain access to the Black Sea. And that's a startling thing. And the last is exactly what you said, that these are not really generals. These are political officials. Millie, Radican,

Caroli, they must all know that what has been demanded of Ukraine is militarily impossible. They've only got a few weeks to do it. They're not going to be able

to reach, capture Millie to follow. Even Topmac. US intelligence has already, US intelligence has already said as much. And yet, they're pushing Ukraine to do that because their political masters in the White House,

in the National Security Council, in the State Department, in the Pentagon as well, are telling them to do that as well. So these are not properly speaking generals. They are simply messenger boys acting for the neocons, civilians, or without exception, who are the people who are really in charge. Yeah, I wonder how much of this obsession with Crimea actually

does originate from the United States or if this is the UK whispering in the US's ears about. That's a very good question. That is a very good question. You know, there's history and emotion wrapped up to all of this. I don't know. Absolutely. I mean, you know, Jeffrey Sachs, who we've done programmes with, talks about the British waging the second crime in war. And this is what increasingly this is starting to look at. If so, I mean, and bear in mind, we have a British Admiral participating in this video conference. I mean, What is he even doing there? I mean, but he was there.

And, you know, this is an admiral. So he's interested in establishing a base, a British base in the Black Sea. I mean, it's astonishing stuff and utterly delusional stuff. But we could see that this is now apparently shaping US policy. The near can't see to be fully in on all of this. And they're bullying Ukraine. to pursue this, to pursue this strategy, even as they admit that it will throw away the lives

of thousands upon thousands of Ukrainian men. I have to say, I find this absolutely chilling, that one country or group of countries, the United States and Britain, are prepared to tell another country, Ukraine, to disregard the lives of the men in sacrificing. That's why Ukraine will not and can never win this war, because they're not fighting a war for Ukraine.

They're fighting a war for their masters in the West. Yes. And they're the ones that are taking their best interest to heart. They're not taking the best interest of Ukraine to heart as they fight this war. They're thinking about what they want and their best interests and their profits and their gains. That's why this is not going to work out. It never will work out. final question. DeVelt put an article out a couple of days ago talking about a three million man

mobilization. Now you have the comment from Zelensky saying that he's being pressured by the military. The military has given him some sort of indication of green light to mobilize a large amount of men to continue the conflict. Is this possible? Does Ukraine collapse if it moves forward with some sort of mass mobilization. We're talking a huge mobilization of millions of people. This is not like, you know, an overnight process. This is complicated stuff which is going to shake Ukrainian society across the board. I mean, you know, this is a society, I believe, that has been deprived of real information as to what is happening on the ground, in the conflict. A lot of people probably think they're winning this conflict in Ukraine.

What happens if the Zelensky regime that says, you know, puts out an announcement and says we're mobilizing three million men or a million men or two million men? That is a huge undertaking. And I imagine something like that is going to cause a lot of problems inside Ukraine and may even cause problems for the Zelensky government itself. I mean, what do you make of the mobilization angle of this? I think it potentially could collapse Ukraine. I mean, if any of these numbers, you know, million, three million, whatever it is, if anything like that happened, and the first thing it would do, and this is the first thing to say, is that it would be an admission

that Ukraine is losing the war, not just losing the war, but is about to be not just defeated but potentially destroyed. Because why else would you launch a mobilization on that scale. Now, a Ukrainian public that has been fed for a year and a half where the narrative of victory

is going to take that very badly. Now, we've already had articles in the Washington Post saying that morale in Ukraine is sagging, that people are beginning to despair as the news and the offensive

has, the good news has not come. I think if they're suddenly told, you know, they're all going to have to enlist, I mean, it's going to be a disaster. I mean, it will make morale collapse. And the logistics of this are impossible. I mean, calling up a million men, three million men, there isn't the time to train them.

There isn't the time to equip them. What do you equip them with anyway? I mean, the West is out of tanks to send. Ukraine. The F-16s, as we saw, aren't coming until next year, probably not before the summer of next year, and not in significant quantities. The artillery is running out of shells. The Russian army is getting stronger. There isn't the time to provide training. There isn't the time to provide organization. It would have a catastrophic impact on the Ukrainian economy, if all these people are called up, whatever is left of the Ukrainian economy, which isn't very much.

I mean, if all the men have been called up, who's going to, for example, grow the food in the Ukrainian fields? I mean, you know, that kind of thing. So not to mention the effect it will have on, you know, the women in Ukraine who lose their husbands, the children who lose their fathers. The whole thing is just, I mean, it's borderline insane to do something like this, at least on the kind of scale that people are talking about. And the mobilisation has already been unpopular in Ukraine. We're getting more and more reports about more and more people in Ukraine, knowing people who have been killed or wounded in the war.

Over 60% of Ukrainians know at least one person who's been killed. Most of them know more than one. As I said, Ukrainian society will collapse if it's expected to go through something like this. and the organisational and logistical and training challenges are impossible. And if you got through the point where all of that happened and were able to send a million men into battle, you could only send them presumably with light weapons, old Kalashnikovs, and that sort of thing.

Because the tanks and the artillery and the machines that they would need to fight against this increasingly powerful Russian army simply don't exist. It's a crazy idea. And to me, it looks like mass murder. The only thing that might make some sense is that allegedly there's 200,000 men in the active service Ukrainian army. Probably that has suffered huge numbers of losses by now. The Russians say 45,000 in the last two months killed. So, you know, call up another 100,000 to make up the numbers.

perhaps Ukraine could carry that out, perhaps the Ukrainian military could absorb it, but it would not change the realities on the battlefields. What Ukraine needs to do, to wrap up the video, they need to capitulate. Yes, you need to surrender, like yesterday. Yes, yes. But of course, they're doing the opposite.

They're passing a law, which says that it's illegal to even suggest territorial concessions to Russia. They're boxing themselves in even further. they are in effect playing the game of fighting this war to the last Ukrainian. And when you read that article in the New York Times, it seems that the Western powers are almost ready to do that. And when you look at what the Ukrainian leadership is doing, it seems that they're almost ready to do that as well.

This is turning into a tragedy on a biblical scale. All right, we'll leave it there at durand.locals.com. We are Rumbleaudi, seepitchu, Telegram, and Rock Finn. Go to Duran Shop, 10% off, use the code. Good day. Take care.