WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russia launches air raid on Kyiv 'exceptional' in intensity

Russia launched an exceptionally intense air attack on Kyiv in the early hours of Tuesday, using drones, cruise and probably ballistic missiles, city officials said, as the Ukrainian capital suffered its eighth air raid this month.

"It was exceptional in its density - the maximum number of attack missiles in the shortest period of time," Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv's city military administration, said in comments posted on the Telegram messaging app.

"According to preliminary information, the vast majority of enemy targets in the airspace of Kyiv were detected and destroyed!"

It was not immediately known how many objects were shot down over the city and if any of them managed to hit their target.

After a weeks-long hiatus, Russia in late April resumed its tactic of long-range missile strikes and has launched a flurry of attacks in recent days, often targeting Kyiv. Ukraine has been able to repel vast majority of the attacks so far.

On Tuesday, falling debris was reported in Kyiv's Obolonskyi, Shevchenkivskyi, Solomyanskyi and Darnytskyi districts, officials said.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said falling debris set several cars on fire and damaged a building in the Solomyanskyi district in the capital's west. Three people were injured.

Klitschko said that south of Boryspil, air defence systems were repelling a drone attack. Boryspil, a city just southeast of Kyiv, is home to the capital’s main passenger airport, which is now closed.

The damage in other districts was not significant and there was no immediate information on potential casualties there, the military administration said.

Air raid sirens blared across nearly all of Ukraine in the early hours of Tuesday, and were heard over Kyiv and its region for more than three hours.

** Kremlin Distances Itself From Mercenary Leader After Damning Report

The Kremlin on Monday attempted to downplay an explosive new report suggesting Wagner Group mercenary leader Yevegeny Prigozhin told a Ukrainian intelligence service that he would give them the positions of Russian troops in exchange for withdrawing from the besieged city of Bakhmut.

“It looks like another duck,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, employing a Russian idiom for a hoax or a media stunt, lamenting that a “respected news organization” would buy into it.

But, ultimately, he declined to comment on the substance of the report.

Peskov faced questions about the damning story in The Washington Post, based on recent U.S. intelligence assessments leaked through the online gaming platform Discord, that detailed Prigozhin’s machinations, apparently in an attempt to bolster his forces’ position around the strategic city in eastern Ukraine.

Several U.S. and Ukrainian officials confirmed to the Post on the condition of anonymity details of Prigozhin’s apparent offer but declined to say whether they believed the proposed trade was genuine. Prigozhin reportedly made the offer to Ukraine’s military intelligence directorate, with which he has maintained secret contact during the war, according to the documents. Intelligence services commonly maintain back-door contact with enemy forces during conflicts.

It remains unclear whether Prigozhin was, indeed, willing to trade the lives of uniformed soldiers for his own mercenary forces in their attempt to follow through on his pledges to seize Bakhmut before Russia’s Victory Day last Tuesday. Latest assessments indicate Russian forces control roughly 95% of the city, though Ukrainian troops have mounted surprising counterattacks in recent days.

But the latest report comes amid a growing feud between Prigozhin and the uniformed leaders of the Ministry of Defense – and with other top elements of Russia’s administration.

Monday’s exchange at the Kremlin represented only the latest time in recent days that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government has had to distance itself from the leader of the paramilitary force on which it has increasingly relied in Ukraine. Peskov similarly declined to comment late last week on several expletive-laden rants Prigozhin published on his Telegram channel insulting the Russian Ministry of Defense for not supplying him with sufficient ammunition and criticizing Putin himself as a “grandfather” who is part of the problems facing Russia in Ukraine.

Prigozhin issued several more critical rants through his Telegram channel on Monday morning. In response to questions from the Post, he openly acknowledged maintaining lines of communication with Ukrainian intelligence, saying, “Yes of course I can confirm this information, we have nothing to hide from the foreign special services.”

The growing rift and deepening dysfunction among Russia’s fighting forces comes at a critical time as international powers await a pending spring offensive from Ukraine in an attempt to break the battlefield deadlock there. Ukrainian officials have suggested it could begin in a matter of weeks, or even days.

Yet it remains unclear if Russia is ready to defend against it.

British intelligence over the weekend assessed that forces loyal to the Kremlin in Ukraine still comprise 200,000 personnel on the ground formed into 70 combat regiments – about the same size as the army that first invaded Ukraine.

“However, in February 2022 it consisted of professional soldiers; was largely equipped with reasonably modern vehicles; and had been regularly exercised, aspiring to complex, joint operations,” according to the U.K. military intelligence assessment on Sunday. “Now the force is mostly poorly trained mobilized reservists and increasingly reliant on antiquated equipment, many of its units severely under-strength.”

It has been relegated to “very simple, infantry-based operations,” the assessment adds, instead of the complex maneuvers involving all of its fighting power working in concert as a modern military would operate.

And it concludes that Russia is likely unable to “generate a large, capable, mobile reserve” to respond to new challenges it may face in Ukraine, or organize itself to launch a large-scale military counter operation along the roughly 750 miles of front lines that Ukraine is currently challenging.

** Germany's Scholz: Some nations see Western double standards on Russia

Influential countries such as India, Vietnam and South Africa balk at criticizing Russia's invasion of Ukraine because they believe international principles are not applied equally, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in a speech on Monday.

"When I talk to leaders from those countries, many assure me that they are not questioning the underlying principles of our international order. What they are struggling with is the unequal application of those principles," he said.

"What they expect is representation on equal terms, and an end to Western double standards."

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Wagner boss denies talking to Kiev about selling out Russian troops

Head of Russia's Wagner private military company, Evgeny Prigozhin, has claimed it would have been “physically impossible” for him to meet with Ukrainian military intelligence agents in Africa to make a treasonous proposal to them. The alleged contacts were reported by the Washington Post based on purported leaks from the Pentagon.

The outlet claimed on Sunday that classified US documents, which made their way to the public through a Discord server, claim there had been communication between Prigozhin and Ukrainian military intelligence (GUR). 

The Wagner head allegedly sought to have Ukrainian troops withdraw from the area around the bitterly contested city of Artyomovsk (known in Ukraine as Bakhmut) in order to ease the pressure on his own troops for a while, in exchange for information on Russian troop positions elsewhere. The alleged contacts were said to take place by phone and an in-person meeting in Africa, where the Wagner Group is also active.

Prigozhin dismissed the report as “speculation dumped by the Washington Post”and insisted he had not been to Africa since months before the hostilities in Ukraine broke out in February 2022. He suggested that the newspaper was overstating the supposed intel or had fallen victim to planted disinformation.

The Post said two Ukrainian officials confirmed the contacts between Prigozhin and the GUR, but when the newspaper asked Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky about them, he appeared to be angered and demanded to know who the sources in his government were.

“Who is talking about the activities of our intelligence? Because this is the most severe felony in our country,” he said, before accusing the newspaper of trying to help Russia. The Post later redacted this portion of the interview on its website.

In a statement, Prigozhin alluded to the apparent act of self-censorship, calling into question the Post’s reliability.

** US money for Ukraine running out – Politico

US aid for Ukraine could completely run out as early as mid-summer, Politico reported on Monday, citing sources familiar with the matter. That’s as Washington has already spent most of the $48 billion aid package approved by Congress in December.

According to the outlet, the US only has some $6 billion left to spend on arms and supplies for Kiev, meaning that American aid to Ukrainian forces could soon come to a halt.

Members of Congress are reportedly alarmed that the White House could soon be unable to quickly deliver military aid to Ukraine, especially as Kiev plans a much-hyped counteroffensive against Russia.

“It is critical that the administration provide Ukraine with what it needs in time to defend and take back its sovereign territory,” Susan Collins told Pentagon leaders last week.

Politico reports that the White House is now discussing a brand new aid package designed to keep supplies flowing to Ukraine, according to a senior administration official, who noted that it is unclear what Kiev’s needs might be during or after the counteroffensive. The source added that the administration of President Joe Biden is “fully committed” to supporting the government in Kiev “for the long haul.”

The Pentagon announced its latest aid package for Kiev last week, valued at some $1.2 billion, which is intended to go to the military industry to produce artillery and air-defense ammunition. US military officials said these munitions are meant to meet Ukraine’s “most urgent requirements” and provide “critical near-term capabilities.”

Discussions of a new aid package for Ukraine, however, are expected to spark fierce congressional debate in the coming months and will face resistance from Republicans who have called for cuts in government spending on Ukraine, citing looming domestic issues.

The Biden administration is already engaged in a standoff with the Republican-majority House of Representatives over raising the US debt ceiling. Washington is currently running a national debt estimated at over $31 trillion, risking a default.

Moscow, meanwhile, has repeatedly slammed the US and its Western allies for continuing to pump weapons into Ukraine. By Russian estimates, the West had supplied some $100 billion worth of weapons, ammunition and supplies to the Ukrainian military by the end of 2022. The US and its allies, however, have continued to insist that they are not directly involved in the conflict.

Reuters/USA Reports/RT