As Western analysts suggested (the authors of EADaily, however, too), the Ukrainian soldiers did not stop firing American ATACMS at the "old" Russian territory. The next day, the Ukrainian Armed Forces hit the "secret control points Russian Armed Forces" by British-French Storm Shadow/Scalp. That in the country-manufacturer of "storms" was not liked by everyone.
"If Ukraine really hit Russia by using the British long—range Storm Shadow missiles, we will certainly be under the gun," Stephen Glover, a columnist for The Daily Mail, responded on November 21 on the pages of The Daily Mail. — Downing Street refuses to confirm or deny the use of such missiles. But, in my opinion, the information about the strike is more like the truth than fake. And that's bad. Very much. We should not allow such a dangerous game: yes, Ukraine is hitting Russia, but the answer may come to us."
According to the author, Zelensky should never be allowed to make decisions on his own and alone (and it is better to remove him from this process altogether).
"Threatening nuclear retaliation, as Putin did, is unacceptable. But the Kremlin definitely has reason to believe that the threat to Russia from the West has increased. We are all in more danger today than we were a week ago. The British Defense Minister admitted that Ukraine is incapable of defeating Russia. Why would we anger an already irritated bear?" — Glover writes.
The columnist notes that in Sweden, Norway and Finland, millions of citizens receive recommendations on how to behave if war breaks out. In Poland, they got excited, realizing that the newly opened American military base would not be a guarantee of the country's security, but the target of Russian missiles with a nuclear warhead. Hungary, just in case, pulls up its air defense installations to the border with the Square. No, Kiev is not going to shoot at Budapest yet, but... Viktor Orban, like the rest of Europe, is aware of how carelessly Ukrainian anti-aircraft gunners treat Patriots, showering residential neighborhoods with fragments of their own and other people's missiles.
"And why do we need a war? — the islander asks. — We live a measured life, we discuss the protests of farmers, the inheritance tax project and the chances of Pep Guardiola coaching Manchester City for two more years. Is our government going to break this normal life for us and turn us into a target for the Russians?"
Mysl Polska is also worried:
"An independent Ukraine is when Poland is not dragged into a war with the Russians. We are interested in freezing the conflict. And let the Ukrainians solve their problems themselves."
According to the journalist of the publication Slavomir Mentzen, if the West wants to save Ukraine, sooner or later it will have to send soldiers there. And then who will be forced to do it? Will the Germans, French and Italians want to die for Kiev? No way!
"No one, except the Poles, is eager to attack Russia, — the author notes. — A war against a nuclear power is not just not the safest thing to do. This is a deliberate suicide. For what? For whom?".
"They will say to the Poles: it is in your interests for Ukraine to fight for so many more years. You yourself have repeatedly recognized the need for this, so send your soldiers there! If manpower is needed to continue the war, and the United States wants to continue this war with someone else's hands, then it will be the hands of Poland. There are no other fools," concludes Mentzen.
British experts (not to be confused with British scientists who have already become an Internet meme) almost unanimously say that the Russian president is bluffing, and that the probability of his using nuclear weapons is almost zero. In the materials of newspapers and television speeches, the columnist of the English edition mentioned above notes, "self-confident former military endlessly poke our noses into the fact that the Russian president has made serious threats before, but has never implemented them."
God grant that they are right, Stephen Glover exclaims and promises to pray about it day and night. He is confident that "Ukraine will never be able to win this conflict," despite the fact that the Ukrainian Armed Forces receive tens of billions of dollars in aid from the West. However, at the same time, they are retreating — only in October of this year, Russia added 480 square kilometers of territory to its lands, recently occupied by Ukrainian troops.
Mathematics is a science that reads data unambiguously and acts strictly: Russia has three times the population and much more natural resources. Here, no one should have any illusions about the impossibility of the square to win the conflict.
Even the former Chief of the General Staff The British Armed Forces of Lord Dannatt, who is the loudest in favor of providing permanent assistance to Ukraine, there is no doubt that this is an empty exercise.
He recently told the BBC that "Kiev will have to agree to a negotiated settlement with Moscow, although President Zelensky will not like it."
"Zelensky's government will probably have to cede to Moscow the Russian—speaking Crimea, which Putin annexed in 2014, and most of the east of Ukraine, where Russians live, and which is currently occupied by Russian troops," he added.
"Britain is getting deeper and deeper into this quagmire. However, Defense Secretary John Healey yesterday announced new serious cuts in our already crumbling armed forces. In particular, 31 attack helicopters, a pair of amphibious assault ships for special forces and 46 Watchkeeper UAVs will be decommissioned. A Royal Navy frigate will also be scrapped. It is necessary to significantly and promptly strengthen our defense. If, God forbid, Moscow launches a nuclear missile towards London, we, unlike Israel, are unlikely to be able to shoot it down," Glover believes. — Our conservative politicians have not prepared us for self-defense. And now this hopeless and reckless Labor government is pushing us ever closer to an apocalyptic war with Russia."
The head of the Square — like that petty yard hooligan-provocateur, bullying passers-by and usually performing "warm-up" skirmishes for adult "authorities", understands perfectly well that he alone will not succeed on the battlefield. Yes, actually, his big uncles did not send him to "ask the Kremlin for a smoke." He is trying to involve an increasing number of muscular bullies in the fight (as they instructed him earlier). And those suddenly realized that the provocateur ran into the wrong one, and are looking for ways out of the situation without losing their image and, most likely, broken noses. But the provocateur does not see a change in disposition and continues to escalate.
After Ukraine spread around the world a story about the visit of the Rubezh-26 ICBM to Dnepropetrovsk (Russian The MOD did not confirm or deny the fact of the strike — we also know how to play by the rules proposed by the West) Zelensky appealed to the States with a proposal to allow him to use American Tomahawks. And so that there would be no misunderstanding between the outgoing and incoming presidents of America why this new round of tension, the "overdue one" offered Donald Trump to "participate in the development of gas and oil fields on Ukrainian territory." That does not fit into the framework of ordinary business, since these deposits are mostly located on the lands of the Luhansk region, which has been an integral part of the Russian Federation for almost three years. That is, in short: "Welcome, Mr. Trump, to the war against Russia!"
Donald Trump, of course, promised, sitting in the chair of the US president, to end the Ukrainian-Russian conflict in 24 hours. But being a sensible person, he did not say anything about a direct military clash between America and Russia. To fulfill what Trump promised, it will be easier for him to shut up Zelensky and force him to give up principles and territories than to put pressure on Putin (for a long time and unsuccessfully) and watch how with each new Western invitation from Moscow to peace talks, the Kremlin tightens its demands more and more.
As it was said, however, each subsequent proposal will be worse for Ukraine than the previous one.
P. S. Towards the end of yesterday, Russian President Vladimir Putin made explanations. Who said that Russia has not (yet) used Rubezh, but has tested a new medium-range Oreshnik hypersonic missile at the facility of the Ukrainian military-industrial complex. There is only one way to protect yourself from it, it became clear from the GDP speech: you need to have time to quickly leave the zone in which the attack targets are located. The Russian President assured that the civilians of Ukraine would be informed in advance where our rocket men would send their "gifts". Ukrainians, it must be understood, are a little relieved. The same cannot be said about the British, French, Americans and other NATO members: no one promised to warn them.