2.24.22
Moscow’s ultimate goal in invading Ukraine is “decapitating the government” and installing a Russian-backed government in Kyiv, a senior U.S. Defense Department official said Thursday. In a multi-pronged assault that began just before dawn, Russian forces launched over 100 ballistic missiles at targets, including airfields and ammunition depots, across the country. Ground forces and aircraft have also breached Ukraine’s borders from the east near the city of Kharkiv, the south around Odessa, and the north from Belarus, an assault that included airstrikes and helicopter assaults. In response, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg on Thursday gave the authority for U.S. Gen. Tod Wolters, NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe, to call up the 40,000-strong NATO Response Force. In a speech in Brussels, Stoltenberg said the alliance had “decided to activate our defense plans, at the request of our top military commander, General Tod Wolters,” which would “enable us to deploy capabilities and forces, including the NATO Response Force, to where they are needed.”
Social media has been flooded since the early morning hours with videos of burning tanks and armored vehicles from both sides, as well as casualties and captured troops. The Ukrainian government has claimed to have shot down seven Russian aircraft, along with a number of helicopters. The Pentagon’s early assessment is that the Russian operation is still in its early stages, and not all Russian troops arrayed around Ukraine’s borders have moved in. The official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity in order to discuss a fluid situation, didn’t cut corners when laying out the larger picture. “We haven’t seen a conventional move like this, nation state to nation state, since World War II, certainly nothing on this size and scope and scale,” they said. It’s not clear if, or how, Western powers might be able to continue to supply military or humanitarian assistance to Ukraine, given the fighting around the Kyiv airport, and the heavy damage taken at other regional airstrips. The Ukrainian port at Odessa has also come under attack, potentially holding the Ukrainian navy in place, and the Russian overland assault from Belarus could effectively seal off the western part of the country, making land routes dangerous. The official said the U.S. is looking “to continue to find ways to provide them both lethal and non lethal assistance,” but admitted that “some of the methods [that you do] are going to have to change now.”
www.politico.com
