THE EDGE OF COLLAPSE: Ukrainian Troops Say Russia Will Take Donbas Region by October, Complain ‘NO ONE Wants To Fight for Kiev’

THE EDGE OF COLLAPSE: Ukrainian Troops Say Russia Will Take Donbas Region by October, Complain ‘NO ONE Wants To Fight for Kiev’ – MSM Adjusts Coverage in Anticipation of Defeat (VIDEOS)

Paul Serran

I have been trying to offer short and focused updates on the war in Ukraine, but now it seems impossible, since the amount of activity in so many parts of the 600-mile long frontline is simply dizzying.

So I will try here to pack as much information as possible to show just how close to collapse are Kiev’s defenses in Donetsk region.

Report by the New York Times says Russian Federation troops liberated 12 settlements in just the last week of offensive in the Donbas.

Much like Ukrainian forces are retreating and taking up new defensive lines, so does the MSM, that is abandoning some propaganda narratives and taking up others further behind in their fake triumphalism.

Some of the media reports now hear ‘military bloggers on both sides’, and not just the ‘Ukrainian Military PR lie machine’.

And much of the distressing news for Kiev is coming from their own forces on the ground, tired of pretending.

For instance, Swiss paper Blick (behind a paywall) brings the unvarnished opinions of frontline Ukrainian officers:

“’The Russians will capture Donbass by October, then the conflict will freeze, and we will have to negotiate with Putin’, predicts Sergei, an officer of the brigade located in Chasov Yar.”

They point out three reasons: lack of people, and new US aid ‘arrives too late’.

“The third reason is the leadership style of Commander-in-Chief Syrsky, which the publication calls ‘the paralyzing effect of the Butcher’.

Syrsky’s appointment “caused a bad mood in many places at the front, as they were sent on combat missions with no ammunition, with too few people.

The Guardian reported:

“Russia has consolidated recent battlefield gains in the east of Ukraine, and is attempting to break through Ukrainian defensive lines before a long-awaited package of US military assistance arrives at the frontline.”

Russians have expanded a narrow corridor around the rural settlement of Ocheretyne. The fighting there followed a rare surprise Russian attack, because with the present-day ISR capabilities one side is always able to know the other’s movements.

“According to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), the Kremlin is seeking to exploit a window of opportunity before US assistance is delivered. Moscow has been bringing in reinforcements and has a threefold advantage in some sectors. Its recent tactical gains suggest an ambitious plan to encircle the Ukrainian garrison cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk in a summer offensive. Whether it will succeed is unclear. Russia is unlikely to overwhelm Ukrainian defences, the ISW said last week.”

Ukrainian service personnel complain that they are completely outgunned. Russian warplanes able to operate freely close to the frontline. Ukraine has fewer tanks and armored vehicles.

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