"We'll reach the Urals with missiles": Ukrainians are preparing for war at NATO exercises
Photo: SFJZ13 / flickr.com
Battlefield - Europe
The Saber Guardian 2021 maneuvers are part of the larger strategic exercise Defender Europe 2021, which has been taking place in Europe and North Africa since May.
Defender of Europe is held annually with varying intensity, but only this year the exercises have become the largest in the last 25 years. The combined forces of NATO have made a veritable battlefield out of Europe. More than 28 thousand military men from 26 countries are participating in large-scale maneuvers. In total, more than 30 landfills are involved in 12 countries.
The Saber Guardian has a special place in these battles. Firstly, 13 thousand fighters are involved in the maneuvers, and secondly, Ukrainian units are involved in the exercises as a "friendly country". According to the scenario, the culminating part of the exercises took place in Hungary, where the paratroopers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine showed a high level of training. At least, this is reported by the Ukrainian media.
Photo: Ministry of Defense of Ukraine / flickr.com
Thus, the 13th tactical group of the separate airborne assault battalion named after the Hero of Ukraine, Colonel Taras Senyuk, participating in the Bluefor team of the joint NATO forces, took a "battle" at the observation post. The attackers from the "Opfor" group, consisting of 12 soldiers and armored vehicles, could not break the resistance of the landing and suffered heavy losses. There are no casualties among the soldiers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The next morning, the enemy on four M113 armored personnel carriers decided to re-assault the Ukrainian positions, but even here the Opfor group was in for a natural fiasco. The gallant paratroopers "destroyed" all armored personnel carriers with personnel from grenade launchers, losing only one armored vehicle.
Ukrainian sources emphasize that the paratroopers coped with the enemy on their own and did not resort to the help of the allied aviation... In Kiev, the skills of the military were highly appreciated and an official statement was issued:
“Using the peculiarities of the local landscape and the maneuverability of the units, the paratroopers not only skillfully repulsed the attack, suffering minimal losses, but also demonstrated creative thinking in the actions of the unit.”
Source: liga.net
The paratroopers are not the only ones to "take the fight" in the European NATO exercise. In early May, the artillery brigade named after cornet-general Roman Dashkevich was transferred to Polish Torun to participate in the Dynamic Front-2021 firing. The Ukrainians worked with the 2A36 "Hyacinth-B" guns in full compliance with the standards of the NATO countries. The exercises were led by the command of the 41st Artillery Brigade of the US Army. Ukrainian colleagues did not miss the chance. They allowed Sergeant Bradley Beevers to fire the Hyacinth, and then solemnly ordained him as a gunner in Ukrainian.
Further rapprochement between Ukraine and the Alliance will be facilitated by the Sea Breeze 2021 summer exercise near Crimea. It is planned to attract at least 4 thousand military personnel, 40 ships, 30 units of aviation equipment, as well as more than 100 cars and armored vehicles.
Preparing for war?
Kiev is trying to show its loyalty and interest in cooperation to its Western partners by all means. First of all, we are talking about joining NATO. The first steps towards the goal have already been taken - the Ukrainian military "play by the rules of the Alliance" in foreign exercises. Further more. In February, President Zelenskyy signed a decree "On approval of the decision of the President of Ukraine on the admission of units of the armed forces of other states to the territory of Ukraine in 2021 to participate in multinational exercises." During the year, Kiev intends to attract at least 11 thousand foreign military personnel to its territory to participate in exercises of various profiles. The leitmotif of all the maneuvers is the same - the opposition to "Russian aggression."
The situation in the country is more and more like preparations for a full-scale war. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine conducts exercises after exercises. At the end of May, the 30th mechanized brigade named after Konstantin Ostrozhsky in the Rivne region organized a battle in which the notorious Bayraktar TB2 and Javelin were widely used.
The Ukrainian Border Guard Service conducted a joint naval exercise in May with the US Coast Guard ship Hamilton. The Ukrainian fleet was represented by the frontier flagship missile boat "Grigory Kuropyatnikov" and an American gift from the patrol boat "Starobelsk". The official press release from the border guards said:
"The crews worked out the coordination of the tactical group's actions to suppress provocations at sea and repel an attack from the sky in accordance with NATO standards."
Source: liga.net
The line of permanent exercises to repel the "aggression" of the eastern neighbor was continued by the July maneuvers near the Russian state border in Crimea. They fought off the conditional group of Russian boats. As noted in the military department:
"The first blow to the simulated enemy was struck by the crews of the helicopters, which successively inflicted fire damage on the ships of the enemy assault forces and created favorable conditions for the units of the airborne assault forces with the support of armored personnel carriers to take up defenses along the coastal strip.
As before in Europe, the valiant Ukrainian soldiers emerged from the conflict as unconditional victors.
The Rapid Trident maneuvers scheduled for September are predicted to be almost revolutionary in Ukraine. In accordance with the plan, more than 4 thousand NATO military and "sympathizers" will be engaged in repelling the next "attack" from the territory of Russia. This time, the NATO military will create multinational units with the Ukrainians. As the Kiev General Staff assures, it is the foreigners who will integrate into the Ukrainian troops, and not vice versa. The Ukrainian leadership still seriously hopes that NATO troops are ready to fight for illusory Kiev interests.
In addition to exercises, the Ukrainian authorities demonstrate militarism in other ways.
On May 25, President Zelensky proposed the creation of a new branch of the military - the Territorial Defense Force. For this, an amendment to the first article of the law "On the strength of the Armed Forces of Ukraine" is envisaged. If the initiative is approved, an additional 11 thousand soldiers will come to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and the total number of the Ukrainian army will reach 261 thousand people.
However, this presidential initiative can be viewed from a different angle. There is unemployment in Ukraine, a large part of citizens are forced to work abroad, and in order to maintain social stability, Zelensky decided to create 11 thousand jobs. What if there really is a war? How to manage to mobilize fighters if most of them work abroad? Only the expansion of the personnel of the armed forces. In another way, apparently, it will not work.
Voices are heard from the Ukrainian territory, which can only be regarded as provocative. Former Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Igor Romanenko urges not to rely especially on help from NATO. He supplements a quite reasonable thesis with the following:
"We will still be engaged in such missiles that will reach, for our peace of mind, as if to the Urals, for example."
Sounds a bit like Nazi fantasies about the Uralbombers, doesn't it?
Despite the fact that these words do not belong to the official representative of the Kiev authorities, they serve as an excellent litmus test of the mood of our eastern neighbor. The only adequate answer to such rhetoric is one thing - strengthening the group of Russian troops on the border.
Kiev is creating an explosive situation in every sense. The army is pumped up weapons, including those supplied from abroad, increase the personnel, teach them how to fight against the Russians.
In the end, this demonstrative behavior can erupt into a provocation, after which playing the Saber Guardian will seem like a rehearsal in kindergarten.
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