Could the war between Russia and Ukraine begin yesterday?
It seems that yesterday could be fatal for the Ukrainian authorities. If you believe the message of the American television channel CNN, “the Ukrainian military used ballistic missiles in battles with the militias. it weapon can kill a lot of people in just one application.
“Three sources in the government have confirmed to me that over the past 48 hours American intelligence has detected the use of short-range ballistic missiles from the territory controlled by the Ukrainian army in the direction of the areas controlled by the militias. This is a serious escalation of the conflict. The missiles in question hit about 80 kilometers and have warheads weighing up to a ton. That is, it is a weapon that can kill a lot of people in just one application, ”said journalist Barbara Starr.”
Pay attention - this is the message of the Russian "Vesti" with reference only to the Americans.
Here is the original CNN message:
Here is the exact translation:
“We begin our program with urgent news from Ukraine about what may indicate a significant military exacerbation of the Ukrainian crisis. As it became known to CNN, the Ukrainian military fired ballistic missiles at the rebels.
CNN correspondent at the Pentagon Barbara Starr with us in direct communication from Washington, military analyst at CNN, Major General "Spider" Marx is in touch with us by phone. Our senior international correspondent Nick Peyton Walsh will get in touch with us in Ukraine in a few moments.
BARBARA STARR, CNN correspondent: Good morning, Carol. Not so long ago, three US government officials confirmed in an interview with me that US intelligence over the past 2 days recorded the release of several short-range ballistic missiles from territory controlled by Ukrainian government forces in territory controlled by pro-Russian separatists. This would mean a significant aggravation of the situation. Ballistic missiles short range.
The range of these missiles, perhaps, is about 50 miles. But their warheads reach a thousand pounds. We are talking about the maximum lethal effect, about weapons that can kill dozens of people at a time if used. We do not have exact information about the launch point, there is no exact information about the place of impact.
Actually, this information is now available to the United States. The authorities still hold the information, because they are in an awkward position. After all, the so-called "good guys", the Ukrainian government troops, fired these ballistic missiles. Neither Kiev nor Moscow have yet responded.
The US is not yet quite sure whether they will ask Kiev not to use such weapons anymore. Because now they say that the Ukrainian government has the right to protect itself. But do not be mistaken. There is an aggravation of the military conflict on this battlefield at a time when everyone outside Ukraine or Russia, at least, wants the conflict to go out.
They want to deliver those observers and inspectors to the MH17 crash site, and now, it seems, military actions are only getting worse, as evidenced by this new information received now, today, that short-range ballistic missiles, thousand-pound warheads were launched. Carol?
Good. So, General Marx, just recently I was talking to the chief investigator. He said that he spoke with the Ukrainian people, with the Ukrainian government. They assured him that it would be safe to get to the crash site, and now we hear that!
JAMES "SPIDER" MARX, Lt.-Gen. US Army Retired: Yes, that's pretty surprising. But to be honest, Carol, I think we shouldn’t be very surprised. Of course, Ukrainian troops, as Barbara correctly noted, have the right to defend themselves and use these long-range surface-to-surface missiles, which are mainly used as offensive weapons. They are needed to prepare part of the territory where it is necessary to reduce enemy forces before the troops enter the area.
Undoubtedly, the US intelligence community knows where the shot was fired from and where this missile was aimed. They know the answers to these questions. And I am sure that these missiles were aimed in such a way that they could not touch the crash zone of the airliner, and that they know how to proceed further in this situation. But, of course, this complicates the situation. I repeat, Kiev has rights and powers to do so.
The problem, Carol, is that these missiles may not be high-precision complexes. And I hope that they use them against the areas where Russian separatists are located ... where, according to Kiev, they have the right to use them in an attempt to reduce enemy forces and means, and where they will not cause unintended losses among the local population of this part of the country, what we all fear. ”
(Translated by "RT". Date of broadcasting - 29 July 2014 of the year.)
The question arises: why the launch of Ukrainian ballistic missiles (most likely they were released by the Tochka-U missile system) was announced on American rather than on Ukrainian television? Why in the message of the Russian TV channel refer only to the American source? Why Russian journalists did not ask for comments to the Russian military? Why are there no reports of how much damage these missiles have caused? Why are there no messages about where they fell and where they were released from?
Information:
Tochka (GRAU index - 9K79, according to NATO classification SS-21 Scarab A (English Scarab), under the INF Treaty - OTR-21) - Soviet tactical missile system of the divisional level (from the end of 1980-x transferred to the army level [2]) the development of the Kolomna mechanical engineering design bureau under the leadership of Sergei Pavlovich the Invincible.
... 20 April 2000 from the Goncharovsky ground, located in 130 km north of Kiev, launched a rocket, which after launching deviated from the course and in 15: 07 got into a residential building in Brovary, breaking through the building from the ninth to the second floor. 3 died and 5 people were injured (according to other data there were also three injured). Fortunately, the rocket was equipped with an inert warhead, otherwise there would have been much more casualties. The cause of the tragic incident, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine called the failure of the missile control system. (Wikipedia)
Some facts may partly dispel the fog of misunderstanding.
Sergey Lavrov made a statement that he did not want to talk to J. Kerry. After this, the aforementioned CNN message goes on the air, the main thing in which Russia was not the target for the missiles. After that, on the initiative of the American side, Kerry and Lavrov had a telephone conversation.
After this conversation, US Secretary of State J. Kerry and Ukrainian Foreign Minister declare Kiev’s readiness for an immediate cease-fire.
It is possible that three Ukrainian missiles were shot down. Single launches of the Tochka-U missile system can be quite easily intercepted even by relatively obsolete C-300 complexes. And this could well happen. If the Russian air defense systems detected the launch of Ukrainian short-range ballistic missiles, which can carry nuclear warheads, moreover, close to the territory of Russia, then there can be only one reaction - to immediately bring them down. Please note that these missiles are guided throughout their flight. That is, if even the initial part of the rocket’s trajectory does not fly to us, then there is no guarantee that the head of the calculation of the tactical missile system “Tochka-U” will not correct the trajectory so that the rocket hits, say, the Russian frontier post or the neighboring Russian hamlet, not.
In short, if the CNN message is true, and this is most likely true, then Russia and Ukraine, on the fault of President Poroshenko and his overseas owners, were on the verge of war yesterday. Since the complete destruction of its settlement with hundreds, if not thousands of victims, Russia could only respond with a declaration of war, reciprocal missile and bombing attacks and an invasion of enemy territory with the aim of destroying the overreacted aggressor.
Therefore, the American TV channel and sticking out the thesis that the Ukrainian missiles were not aimed at Russian territory.
It seems that the Americans were closely watching the launch and the flight of Ukrainian missiles. And they may have been the initiators of this adventure.
In this case, we are dealing with a game on the verge of a foul, and speaking "out loud", a thermonuclear Armageddon.
Obsolete Barack Obama, speaking outright with the “Fulton” speech about new sanctions against Russia, clearly emphasized that the United States and Russia are still not in a state of cold war. That is, they are not ready to turn into thermonuclear ash.
No matter how you treat yesterday's events, one thing is certain: Ukraine launched ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads, and there are no reports of where these missiles fell. So the fact of balancing on the verge of a large-scale military conflict is obvious.
The silence of the Russian leadership is alarming. But from any comments about this, I still refrain. Too high rates in this situation - Armageddon after all.
Vladimir Prokhvatilov, President of the Real Politics Foundation (Realpolitik), expert of the Academy of Military Sciences.
Information