(John Ransom, Headline USA) Attempts by Russia forces to enter Kyiv have been repulsed overnight, said officials from the Ukraine government, as Russia has lost control over Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, in fierce fighting that has Russian President Vladimir Putin putting his nuclear rocket forces on alert, reported the Daily Mail.
“The Russian leader is ‘potentially putting in play forces that, if there’s a miscalculation, could make things much, much more dangerous,’ said a senior U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss rapidly unfolding military operations, according to the Associated Press.
Ukraine is inflicting disastrous losses on the enemy.
The overall Russian losses in these 3,5 days ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/LR5Jb3dZMK
— MFA of Ukraine 🇺🇦 (@MFA_Ukraine) February 27, 2022
Still, Ukraine and Russia have agreed to hold joint talks in Belarus about ending the conflict, even as Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he sees small chance for the success of the talks.
He agreed to engage in the talks “so that no citizen of Ukraine would have any doubt that I, as president, did not try to stop the war when there was a small chance,” reported NBC News.
US officials are claiming that Belarus is intent on joining the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which may be another reason why Ukraine has agreed to the talks in order to forestall the invasion.
“Republic of Belarus is highly likely to join the Russian war against Ukraine on Russian side,” according to the Guardian.
“There is an information about airborne troopers from Republic of Belarus loaded on the planes to enter Ukraine,” said Andriy Zagorodnyuk, Ukraine’s former defense minister.
The Guardian said that Russian conventional rocket forces have been hosted in Belarus and Russian troops have been staging from there.
“Now there is a lot of talk against the banking sector, gas, oil, Swift. It’s worse than war,” said Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko in support of Russia, according to the Independent.
“This is pushing Russia into a Third World War. We need to be restrained here so as not to get into trouble. Because nuclear war is the end of everything.”
On the Russian side, while it’s likely that they will prevail if they fight long enough and are willing to accept heavy losses, Russian forces have suffered staggering losses for a four-day old war, according to figures put out by Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Twitter account– including 4,300 dead or wounded, 200 POWs, 46 downed aircraft, 26 helicopters, 146 tanks and 706 armored vehicles.
By contrast, 220 US service personnel died per day, or 6,600 per month, for the 1,364 days that America fought in World War II, according to figures provided by the Atlanta Journal Constitution, while the Soviet Union suffered 14,000-18,000 per day, which includes civilian casualties—although exact Russian losses are difficult to estimate.
Critics have panned President Joe Biden for doing virtually nothing as the world hails the effort by Ukraine, especially Zelenskyy, who chastised American officials for offer him a “ride” out of Kyiv when he really needs ammunition according to the AP.
“So, what have you guys done throughout this slow-moving Russia crisis that has worked?” asked Fox’s Peter Doocy of White House press secretary Jen Psaki, while noting that the month the White House estimates it will take for sanctions to hit Russia, might be too long for Ukraine to hold out.
“The President is doing nearly everything in his power to lead the world and stand up against the actions of President Putin,” Psaki said. “What he will not do is send U.S. troops to fight in Ukraine, because he is not going to put the American public, the American people, or the United States in a position of fighting a war with Russia.”
Abandon Kyiv now, institute sanctions that will take a month, but give Zelenskyy no ammunition today is apparently the the White House policy on stopping Putin from seizing Ukraine.
