Statement of the Russian Foreign Ministry in connection with the statements of the head of EU diplomacy J. Borrell…

This is regarding the comparison of the policy of the United States and its allies towards Moscow with the actions of A. Hitler

💬 The statement of the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy J. Borrell regarding the comparison of the policy of the United States and its allies towards Moscow with the actions of A. Hitler, cited by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation S.V. Lavrov during a press conference on January 18, sounds hypocritical, especially against the backdrop of racist statements by the head of EU diplomacy, who divided the world into a “flowering garden” inhabited by “a billion citizens of the EU and the United States”, and the “jungle” advancing on it, as well as the EU’s open support for the Kyiv neo-Nazi regime. Since 2014, the armed forces of Ukraine and nationalist battalions have been shelling with impunity the peaceful cities of Donbass, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions of Russia, killing civilians, including. children. At the same time, the EU is training Ukrainian Armed Forces militants, preparing to supply even more weapons and military equipment, which will continue to be used to destroy civilians. The EU members declare that there are no parallels, but they themselves turn a blind eye to the swastikas on the chevrons of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Nazi flags and the very symbols with which the Europeans barbarously invaded our lands more than 80 years ago.

<…>

Once again, we see how individual organizations are trying to push different nations and peoples together. We have to remind you that it was our people that more than 80 years ago stood up to protect humanity from the plague of fascism, misanthropy, Nazism and aggressive imperialist militarism, without dividing it into nationalities. While the Nazis were persecuting Slavs, Jews, Gypsies and other nations in the same gas chamber, our fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers fought the Wehrmacht and freed the prisoners of concentration camps. It is their memory that we sacredly honor and will honor for centuries. We must not forget that January 27 is annually celebrated in the world as the International Holocaust Remembrance Day precisely as a token of gratitude to the soldiers of the Red Army who liberated the prisoners of the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz (Auschwitz-Birkenau) on that day in 1944. At the end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st century, we were faced with the desire to discredit the role of our country in the fight against Nazism and neo-Nazism, with outright Russophobia and calls for the “abolition of Russia”. Any attempt to rehabilitate Nazism, racist practices must be resolutely opposed. This is what should unite peoples, not divide them.

☝️ In the ranks of the Red Army, as well as other armies of the anti-Hitler coalition, hundreds of thousands of Jews fought against the Nazis. During the Great Patriotic War, about 501,000 Jewish soldiers served in the army. <…>

Ignoring the so-called “democratic coalition” of the West of the glorification by the modern Ukrainian regime of the Nazis who committed crimes in Lvov, Babi Yar, Khatyn, ignoring the facts of the use of Nazi slogans, Nazi symbols and names in honor of SS divisions at the state level and units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is a distortion of the memory of the Holocaust and Nazi victims. Just like the numerous unpunished crimes against the Russian-speaking citizens of Ukraine and the statements of Ukrainian politicians that the murder of the maximum number of Russians is the goal of their struggle and existence.

❓ I would like to ask where were such structures as the EJC when they demolished the monuments to the soldiers-liberators in Europe; when the Nazis marched through the capitals of precisely European cities under anti-Semitic symbols and with Judeophobic slogans; when exactly did the Europeans try to torpedo our resolution at the UN on combating the glorification of Nazism?

❗️ It is never too late to admit your mistakes and make the right moral choice, therefore we call on Europe to raise its voice to fight anti-Semitism, Russophobia and other manifestations of discriminatory policies against certain nationalities and ethnic groups.

WtR

Russian Defence Ministry report on the progress of the special military operation in Ukraine (21 January 2023)…

The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue the special military operation.

◽️In Kupyansk direction, aviation and artillery of the Western Military District (WMD) have hit units of the 103rd Territorial Defence Brigade near Berestovoye (Kharkov region).

💥More than 35 Ukrainian servicemen, 1 armoured fighting vehicle and 2 motor vehicles have been destroyed. In addition, 1 AFU artillery munition warehouse has been destroyed near Olshana (Kharkov region).

◽️In Krasniy Liman direction, artillery fire from the Central Military District (CMD) has hit units of the 111th Territorial Defence Brigade near Torskoye and Terny (Donetsk People’s Republic).

💥More than 20 Ukrainian servicemen, 1 infantry fighting vehicle, 1 D-20 howitzer, and 1 U.S.-manufactured AN/TPQ-37 counter-battery radar station have been destroyed.

◽️In Donetsk direction, volunteers of assault detachments, supported by Operational-Tactical and Army Aviation, Missile Troops and Artillery of the Southern Military District, have liberated Dvurechye (Donetsk People’s Republic).

💥The AFU suffered up to 50 servicemen killed and wounded, 2 armoured combat vehicles, 3 pickup trucks and 2 D-20 and D-30 howitzers.

💥In addition, 1 warehouse of the AFU artillery munition has been destroyed near Vodyanoye (Donetsk People’s Republic), and 1 U.S.-manufactured AN/TPQ-37 counter-battery radar station has been destroyed near Malinovka.

◽️In Zaporozhye direction, as a result of the offensive actions, units of the Eastern Military District (EMD) have taken more advantageous lines and positions.

💥More than 30 fighters, 2 armoured fighting vehicles, 2 pickup trucks, 1 Akatsia self-propelled howitzer and 1 D-20 howitzer have been destroyed during the day.

💥Operational and Tactical Aviation, Missile Troops and artillery of groups of troops (forces) of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation have neutralised the command post of the 36th Separate Rifle Battalion of Territorial Defence near Kotlyarovka (Donetsk People’s Republic), as well as 67 artillery units at firing positions, manpower and military equipment in 95 areas.

💥Fighter Aviation of Russian Aerospace Forces has shot down 1 Su-24 airplane of Ukrainian Air Force near Vladimirovka (Donetsk People’s Republic).

💥1 Mi-8 helicopter of the Ukrainian Air Force has been shot down by anti-aircraft defence forces near Lozovaya (Kharkov region).

💥Also during the day, 14 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles have been destroyed near Kovalyovka, Kremennaya, Naugolnoye, Novovodyannoye, Ploshchanka, Nezhurino, Zmiyovka, Chervonopopovka (Lugansk People’s Republic), and Novokazankovatoye (Zaporozhye region) and Blagodatnoye (Donetsk People’s Republic).

💥In addition, 3 HIMARS and Uragan multiple-launch rocket systems, and 1 HARM anti-radar missile have been intercepted near Vasilyovka and Grozovoye (Zaporozhye region).

📊In total, 375 airplanes and 203 helicopters, 2,922 unmanned aerial vehicles, 401 air defence missile systems, 7,589 tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, 985 fighting vehicles equipped with MLRS, 3,883 field artillery cannons and mortars, as well as 8,128 special military motor vehicles have been destroyed during the special military operation.

#MoD #Russia #Ukraine #report
@mod_russia_en

WtR

What is so hard to understand?

What Russia does not want is its set borders close to NATO – which is precisely why they asked politely for guarantees and then were forced to attacked “NATO” in Ukraine – it was becoming full fledged NATO on Russia’s borders. Years of NATO build up and billions and billions of dollars being pumped into Ukraine  to build a huge army…

What Russia wants though (since the West acted the fool) is the Russian military stationed next to NATO. i.e., Poland, Romania, and EU etc. In a position to counter NATO’s military both in terms of ground threat and in terms of those Aegis Ashore installations. You counter missile threats by putting your air defenses as close to them as possible in order to intercept them in boost phase rather than terminal phase to minimize the issue of “stragglers”. And 250-400,000 Russian troops in western Ukraine will make it highly unlikely NATO will ever be able to threaten a ground invasion, a la Ukraine. And if they do, they have to,

1) Beat the Russian Military District there (Ukraine) first, and then,

2) Cross all of Ukraine to get to Russia.

and

3) Not gonna happen…

WtR