As noted in January 30's post on NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg asking Korea and Japan for help in Ukraine: "Something's up".
With that profound insight here's the latest via The Hill, February 2:
Ukraine is warning that Moscow is re-grouping hundred of thousands of troops on the border for a massive new offensive, just weeks before the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday gave a stark message to the West when he forecast that the Kremlin was building up its forces to take “revenge.”
“Now Russia is concentrating its forces. We all know that. It is preparing to try to take revenge, not only against Ukraine, but against a free Europe and the free world,” Zelensky said at a press conference alongside EU chief Ursula von der Leyen, as reported by Agence France-Presse.
Ukrainian defense minister Oleksii Reznikov told French media on Wednesday that Russia had 500,000 troops ready for an attack to come in weeks. That number is far higher than the 300,000 newly enlisted soldiers Russian President Vladimir Putin called up this past autumn.
“Officially, they announced 300,000, but when we see the troops at the borders, according to our assessments it is much more,” Reznikov said.....
....MUCH MORE
Despite the whiff of desperation, I mean the head of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is panhandling in the North Pacific; following on January 28's "Turnabout Is Fair Play: The Time To Invade Canada Is Now! (apparently their tanks don't work very well)" we see this on Zelensky's recent meeting with Trudeau:
Ukraine begs Canada not to donate Canadian military tanks
KYIV – Ukrainian officials swiftly backtracked on requests for Canadian military aid after learning that Canada planned to send them tanks belonging to the Canadian Armed Forces.
Following repeated requests for additional military aid to help push back Russian offensives, Ukrainian officials are now begging Canada not to saddle them with the financial, logistical, and mechanical burdens of maintaining the barely-functioning tank fleet.
“When we made a request to the Canadian government for tanks, we definitely did not mean their tanks,” said Ukrainian Military Chief General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi.
“We were kind of hoping it would be more like the missile defence system where they would just buy us some sweet brand new tanks from the US and pick up the tab. We didn’t even know Canada had their own tanks to give,” added Zaluzhnyi.
“Much like the Russian’s fleet of soviet-era tanks, these Canadian tanks are old and have been neglected to the point of being inoperable,” says Queens University Military Historian Ian Jenkins. “In the heat of battle a Ukrainian conscript could easily mistake a broken Canadian tank for a broken Russian tank and fire on a friendly target by mistake.”
“I hope they have a good vacuum because those things still have sand in them from Kandahar,” said one Canadian soldier who spoke on condition of anonymity. “You know how when you get back from a trip and you just leave your suitcase in the corner for months instead of properly unpacking it and doing your laundry? That, but with a half-billion dollar fleet of literal tanks.”....
....MUCH MORE
Okay, ya got me. That's actually news from the Canadian satire site The Beaverton.
But as we learn from Jonathan Swift, satire can only spring from truth.
And the truth seems to be that Canadian tank owners have not adhered to the manufacturer's suggested maintenance schedule and as for Ukraine, something's up.
