Chethana Janith, Jadetimes Staff
C. Janith is a Jadetimes news reporter covering science and geopolitics.
For some time, it has been an open secret that NATO has been, as the military says, “Effing around” in Ukraine, particularly in the form of on-site training, as well as involvement in operational planning.
Until recently, the Russians have shown remarkable restraint in targeting these “helpful people”, though it appears that strikes on Ukrainian command centers have accounted for some, with “mysterious” deaths occurring from time to time, like that of Maj. Gen. William F Mullen III, who was “found dead” in building 1651 of the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, Twenty-nine Palms, California on Saturday 29th June, and was recently reviewing military training in Ukraine with a view to improving it. His death, however, comes suspiciously close to a Russian missile strike that devastated the Ukrainian Southern Command bunker on May 1st.
However, it seems that the Russian warnings of retaliation for the western planned and supported invasion of Kursk by Ukrainian troops are fast coming to fruition. Of particular note is the admission that the US and UK provided satellite imagery that was instrumental in the planning and execution of the invasion.
Russia seldom reacts in haste, one of the hallmarks of both Russian political and military action is taking your time and acting with deliberation, rather than the more usual knee-jerk reaction we see from the US and NATO.
Therefore, we can be sure that the strike on Poltava on 3rd September, at the Military Institute of Communications, also known as the 179th Joint Training Center of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, was quite deliberate and that it was intended to send a very strong message.
The attack, made by two Iskander-M ballistic missiles, was swift and deadly, with survivors reporting that the sirens had barely begun to sound before the missiles hit. Casualty estimates range from 200 killed and wounded to over 500, and it is believed that a number of foreign instructors were among those killed and seriously wounded. One possible cause of the excessively high casualties is that it was reported that that strike targeted a military ceremony, possibly a graduation or passing out parade.
Video footage of grievously wounded survivors shoes the incredible power of the strike, and the wounds shown imply the majority of casualties will be total combat losses, with those surviving highly unlikely to return to service.
Of interest are the reports of the deaths of a number of Swedish instructors, who were apparently at the center to train future crews of the latest ASC 890 airborne early warning aircraft.
Also of note, was the unexpected resignation of the Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström, a virulent Russophobe and major supporter of the provision of Swedish weapons to Ukraine. His shock announcement on Wednesday 4th September 2024 may not be linked to the Russian strike on Poltava, but it certainly looks like it could be. It is also interesting to note that Poltava holds a special place in the history of conflict between Sweden and Russia, being the place, on 8th July 1709, that a Russian army under Tsar Peter the Great, defeated the Swedish army led by Carl Gustaf Rehnskiöld, which forever put an end to Swedish imperial expansion and their status as a great power.
Coincidence? I suspect not. The Russian government is definitely sending a message to NATO in general, and Sweden in particular.
A further suspicious death that may be related to the strike is that of Lt. Col. Joshua Camara, who was officially stationed at Camp Kościuszko, home of V Corps’ forward headquarters in the city of Poznan, who was reported to have died on the same day as the Russian strike on Poltava. It goes without saying that US investigators have ruled out “foul play” but the timing is suspicious to say the least.
Needless to say, the Ukrainians tried to spin the strike, claiming that the Russians targeted “an Educational facility and hospital” ignoring the fact that it was a military educational facility, and therefore a legitimate target, and completely failing to provide any evidence of a hospital being hit.
Part of this deliberate falsehood was to allow for a handwringing plea for more air defences. At the Ukraine Defense Contact Group held at USAF base Ramstein in Germany on 6th September 2024, Zelensky both begged for additional air defense systems, and also complained that not all previously promised systems were delivered by his allies in Europe:
“I will not speak openly now about the number of systems they have received - thank you so much again - but the number of air defense systems that have not yet been delivered is significant,” Zelensky said.
“This is what was agreed upon, and this is what has not been fully implemented. The world has enough air defense systems to ensure that Russian terror does not have results, and I urge you to be more active in this war with us in air defense.”
It looks like Zelensky would like to strip the rest of the world of its defenses, just so the Russians can bomb them in Ukraine too. It’s basically the definition of insanity, repeating the same actions and expecting a different result. But only to be expected from the Narcofuhrer of Ukraine, not to mention his increasingly desperate backers.
At the same meeting, Zelensky also begged for the lifting of restrictions on the use of long-range weapons against targets in Russia. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin swiftly squashed any hope of such permission from the US, although it has been received from such military giants as the Baltic republics, Finland, and Holland. Austin pointed out that any such deep strikes would not be a “game changer” as the Russians already base the aircraft responsible for launching cruise missiles and the deadly glide bombs well outside the range of US supplied weapons.
Austin, seemingly more realistic than previously, also commented “There’s no one capability that will in and of itself be decisive in this campaign”
Instead, the US announced another US$250,000,000 weapons package, which will only further deplete US weapons stocks as Israel moves further and further into dragging the Americans into a war in the Middle East.
Once could almost feel sorry for Zelensky, as he threw away a very beneficial peace agreement in 2022 under the illusion that western support would help him win the war. Now, with his elite forces bogged down (and dying in droves) in Kursk, and not expected to remain there more than a couple of months, the rest of his army in Donbass crumbling rapidly, his country facing a bleak winter without power, and his allies running out of weapons, money, or both, it seems the writing is on the wall for his regime.
The slow motion collapse of Ukraine is sure to have repercussions well outside the immediate conflict zone. The US, UK, and EU, through NATO, have invested immense political and military capital in a “Ukrainian victory” that exists only in western propaganda.
I said earlier that the choice of striking in Poltava may have also been intended as a reminder to the Swedes of the battle that forever destroyed their status as a great power. It may be that the strike on 3rd September will be associated with the collapse of NATO as the great power of our time.
History does not always repeat, but it sure as hell rhymes.
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