| strength1 = 350,000<ref>265,200 on February 24, 2022.</ref>
| strength2 = 140,000<ref>Typically, when looking at Russian troop strength numbers, only half are actual combat forces. The other half are logisital support.</ref>
| casualties1 = Possibly 200157,000KIA,<br> casualties and deserters<ref>A portion https://hurseda.net/gundem/246987-iddia-mossad-a-gore-ukrayna-ve-rusya-kayiplari.html</ref><ref>[https://www.bitchute.com/video/6yI8oWL4gRTY/ UKRAINIAN VS. RUSSIAN LOSS RATIO], February 1st, 2023. "According to unofficial data circulating online, AFU Chief Valery Zaluzhny reported to the Pentagon and NATO on the number of losses of Ukrainian servicemen. According to the Ukrainian command, the AFU has lost a total of 232,000 killed since the start of the special operation." Stratfor goes for 305,000 killed.</ref><ref>https://news.yahoo.com/von-der-leyen-statement-death-163600213.html</ref><ref>earlier estimates varied between 51,000-54,000 MIA. Official MIA listings can be used by the Kyiv regime to avoid paying death benefits to family survivors.</ref><ref>https://s2.cdnstatic.space/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/AFU-1-768x432.jpg</ref><ref>https://imetatronink.substack.com/p/ride-across-the-river</ref><ref>https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2023/03/the_uss_march_of_folly_in_ukraine.html</ref> <br>244,500 injured;<br><ref>data collected from Moonofalabama 04-02-23</ref><ref>NetEase of China estimates 110,000 KIA and 500,000-680,000 casualties as of January 18, 2023. https://avia.pro/news/poteri-ukrainy-v-konflikte-s-rossiey-dostigli-680-tysyach-chelovek</ref><ref>200,000 may never have existed. Some may have been exaggerated or fake numbers on paper in order to scam the United States and NATO out of money for aid. https://www.vikendi.net/2022/06/08/us-general-surprised-200000-ukrainian-soldiers-disappeared/</ref><ref>https://reseauinternational.net/fuites-de-donnees-sur-larmee-ukrainienne-plus-de-191-000-tues-et-blesses-et-20-000-disparus/</ref><ref>[https://www.bitchute.com/video/EC4lFWqC5sBq/ General of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Serhiy Krivonos announced on a live broadcast that Ukraine is suffering monstrous losses, numbering in the hundreds of thousands.];<br> including 4660,000 - 100,000+ KIAestimated as of Sept. 17, 2022;<refbr>estimates 76,600 KIA as of July 1, 2022 according to the Russian MOD. [https://youtu.be/BU8nXCJoPFM?t=240];<br>Other estimates, using the mercenary casualty rate of 28% since Feb. 24, 2022, range as high as 62,500+;<br>MOD estimate 62,000 as of Sept. 20, 2022.</ref> 51<br>234 NATO instructors KIA<br>(US and UK),000<br>2,458 NATO soldiers KIA (Germany, Lithuania, etc.,<br>of which 1,200 KIA [[Polish]] and 3,600 Polish casualties),<ref>https://dziennik-54polityczny.com/2022/11/23/niechlubny-koniec-najemnicy-ktorzy-zgineli-na-ukrainie-zostana-pochowani-w-amerykanskich-grobach/</ref><br>5,000 MIA;360 NATO/Ukraine mercenaries.<br> 17,230 POWs.<ref>as of 04-02-23; at least 6,500 POWs in Russian custody;<br> and 2,500 POWs in DPR & LPR custodyin early 2023 before POW exchanges.</ref>| casualties2 = 2018,000+ injured480 KIA (incl LPR, DPR and Wagner group); possibly 5<ref>11970 deaths from the Russian Federation between February 24,000-72022 to December 31,000 KIA;2022 not counting Wagner group, LPR and DNR. https://youtu.be/EJ8i6Jix5uw?t=567</ref><ref>https://youtu.be/B4M581RgpKc</ref><ref>does not include DNR, LPR, and Wagner Group which have borne the brunt of the fighting.</ref><br> 300 44,500 injured est; 323 POWs<ref>[https://www.moonofalabama.org/2023/02/ukraine-open-thread-2023-31.html?cid=6a00d8341c640e53ef02b68524e2a3200b#comment-6a00d8341c640e53ef02b68524e2a3200b MoA], 04-02-23</ref>}}
On February 23, 2022, Russian President [[Vladimir Putin]] ordered troops into Greater Ukraine in a '''Special Military Operation''' or '''SMO''' (''Russ'': '''SVO''') to demilitarize and denazify the territory.<ref>https://tass.ru/politika/13825671</ref> The Special Military Operation came to an end with the treaties of accession to the [[Russian Federation]] of four new Republics previously occupied by the Western puppet [[Kyiv regime]]. The four Russian Republics came under the defense and nuclear umbrella of the Russian Federation.
*removal of all street names and destruction of monuments glorifying Nazi collaborators during the [[Second World War]] ([[Stepan Bandera]], etc.),
*laying down of weapons.
Traditionally, the Ukrainian army was trained according to Russian/Soviet standards. Which meant, that the officers leading their troops from the front. This had not been applied. The West took full control of Ukrainian command and control and controlled it through communication, established by Starlink. The Ukrainian officers were not allowed to lead from the front, which irritated most of the Ukrainian troops. They searched for their officers in the field and found very few.
In city after city as the Russians advanced, the Kyiv regime refused to order evacuations of civilians, using civilians as [[human shields]] while hiding troops and heavy weapons among the population exposing them to risk in violation of the rules of war. During a ceasefire<ref>"regime of silence" is the literal translation from Russian and Ukranian for "ceasefire".</ref> negotiation on a Russian proposal to create humanitarian corridors for civilians to escape, Ukrainian Security forces murdered a top Ukrainian negotiator trying to avert a humanitarian crisis.<ref>https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/member-of-ukrainian-peace-negotiation-team-dead-report</ref>
===Azovstal===
{{See also|Azovstal}}
===Zaporozhye line===
On May 16, 2022, the Ukraine General Staff requested a counter-attack along the Zaporozhye line no matter what the cost. They launched a counterattack with of battalion strength in an attempt to push back the Russian attack. However, the Ukrainians were not prepared. Even worse, on open ground. Ukrainian forces lost two MLRS systems, 40 vehicles, 26 tanks, 12 IFVS destroyed and 300 Ukrainian casualties. One of the Ukrainian tanks destroyed was a Polish built T-72M recently sent to Ukraine.<ref>https://youtu.be/laXpEgGlEsM</ref>
In early June 2022 thousands of people began lining up in the city of Melitopol to apply for Russian passports which essentially grants Russian citizenship. One citizen remarked, “We got in line in 1991. But it got to us only now. Since 1991, we felt like this had to happen at some point. Of course, it took 30 years. But that’s OK, we know how to wait."<ref>https://thedreizinreport.com/2022/06/03/please-help-me-wipe-up-pieces-of-my-exploded-head-off-the-computer-screen/</ref>
On June 13, 2022, Ukrainian shelling of Melitopol killed 3 civilians.
[[File:Zaporozhye line October 19 2022.PNG|right|400px|thumb|Zaporozhye line, October 19, 2022.]]
On June 14, 2022, Russian Ministry of Defense (MOD) spokesman Lt. Gen. Igor Konashenkov reported 32 Ukrainian servicemen of the 25th battalion of the 54th mechanized brigade in the area of Novomikhailovka turned on the radio to the Russian command, asked for a cease fire and to provide a corridor for their surrender. As the ADU units with white flags began to advance towards the Russian positions, "a detachment of Ukrainian nationalists, who arrived at the stronghold on armored vehicles, opened crossfire at the servicemen of the 54th brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the back. As a result of this shooting, 32 Ukrainian servicemen were fatally wounded and killed.” Konashenkov noted such incidents have become more frequent.<ref>https://english.pravda.ru/news/world/152311-surrender/</ref>
On June 16, 2022, the Russian MOD announced the elimination 280 Ukrainian fighters in the Razdolovka region.
On October 10, 2022, unified Russian forces destroyed 5,000 NATO Polish troops in the city of Zaporozhye who were set for an invasion of Russia.
On October 29, 2022, the Russians began a major push against Ugledar. By October 31, Ugldar was cut off from its major supply routes.
On November 4, 2022, Ukrainian terrorists blew up a television station in Melitopol.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqJMDXbiArc</ref>
On January 20, 2023, the Russians made an assault all along the Zaporozhye line.
By January 27, 2023 Russian forces had entered portions of Ugledar.
{{Anchor|Kherson}}
==June 2022==
By the end of July 2022 nearly the entire stock of Soviet-era weapons that Ukraine possessed at the start of the Special Military Operation had been destroyed, and Ukraine had to rely on a reconstituted force of armoured vehicles, artillery, ammunition and other supplies from NATO for its continued operations and autumn counteroffensive. Ukrainian forces were not trained on the use of NATO equipment, so Western trainers accompanied the new supply of weapons.
Many Russian soldiers signed up for a certain period, typically 6 months. Due to the necessity of secrecy, most soldiers didn’t know for certain, that there would be war and that they would participate in this war. A not insignificant part of the Russian professional invasion army contracts expired at the end of July 2022. Far more soldiers left the army, due to expiring contracts, than new troops could be brought in. In August 2022 the size of the Russian forces in Ukraine decreased significantly.
===Kherson front===
When the Russians initially entered [[Kherson]] (''Russ: XEPCOH'') city (pop. 280,000), they did not take down Ukrainian flags, replace the mayor, or interfere with the running of city government. The Kyiv regime issued nationwide decrees that any cooperation with the Russian military (including accepting humanitarian aid) was collaboration and treasonous activity. The SBU committeds reprisal actions against Ukrainian citizens in areas that the Russian military vacated. The Russian military restored the World War II war memorial in Kherson and introduced the Rubel to replace Ukrainian currency.
On July 11, 2022, Ukraine and its NATO allies launched a missile attack with HIMARS on the automobile and railway bridge crossing the Nova Kakhovka dam.
On July 17, 2022, a member of the council of the administration of the Zaporozhye region, Vladimir Rogov, called on the Kiev regime to stop the occupation of the regional center and withdraw their troops. Approximately 70 per cent of the region was under the control of allied forces. At the same time, in the regional center - the city of Zaporozhye - there was a Ukrainian army. Rogov said, "Zaporizhzhya will be liberated. ... A plan is being developed to ensure that the liberation of the city takes place with minimal destruction of infrastructure, despite the fact that Zelensky's militants mined bridges and other facilities. We urge Zelensky to give the order to withdraw his troops and end the occupation of the city," Rogov told RIA Novosti.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20220717140732/https://ria.ru/20220717/zaporozhe-1803000920.html</ref> According to him, the population of the remaining part of the region "is waiting for liberation and asks to be saved from the occupation of Ukrainian nationalists." Rogov claimed that militants, "policemen" and the SBU were conducting "mass raids" in the city:
[[File:Antonovsky Bridge.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Effect of precision-guided HIMAR missile attack on the Antonovsky Bridge.]]
{{quotebox-float|"I urge the residents of the city to be careful. Do not receive [[subpoena]]s, do not be at the registration address, where you can be easily found. If possible, leave the city for the liberated territory. If such an opportunity is no longer available, stock up on food and water, and also find the safest place in the conditions of urban battles, to which Zelensky terrorists who took hostage the civilian population of the city are leading Zaporozhye."}}
In addition to the partisan terrorist activity, in late July 2022 Ukraine and its NATO allies began what Western media called a "counteroffensive" to interfere with the democratic process of a [[referendum]] scheduled for September.
On July 19 and 20, 2922 the Ukrainians and their NATO allies attacked the Antonovsky Bridge, a major supply route between the city of Kherson and Russian forces on the west side of the Dneipr River bridgehead. The attack was carried out with precision-guided HIMAR missiles
On July 20, 2022, the Ukrainians launched 12 HIMAR missiles attempting to knock out the Nova Kakhovka Dam railway bridge. Russian S-400 missile defense system went 12 for 12 in knocking out the missiles fired by the American built ''[[Wunderwaffe]]''.
On August 22, 2022, Ukrainian forces continued bombing attacks on the Antonovsky bridge and Nova Kakhovka dam. Ukrainian forces were thrown back across the Ingulets River with heavy losses.
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov reported the destruction of 200 Nazis, including [[American]] and Polish mercenaries on November 23, 2022.
Artillery duels across the river persisted for months after the Russian withdrawal from the city of Kherson. On March 1, 2023 the Russian MOD reported 85 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed and 16 armored vehicles destroyed.
==August 2022==
By September 23, 2022, Ukrainian and NATO forces lost an additional 3,000 troops in its assault on Liman.
====Autumn Zelensky Offensive====
[[File:Zelensky Offensive, Fall 2022.PNG|left|300px|thumb|Zelensky Offensive, Autumn 2022]]
Ukraine's much ballyhooed "August counteroffensive" commenced on Volodymyr Zelensky's personal orders in the early morning hours of August 29, 2022. Approximately 36,000 Ukrainians advanced along the 183 km Kherson front, with the loss of 26 tanks, 23 amphibious vehicles, 9 armored vehicles, 2 SU-25 fighter aircraft, and 560 killed in action. The Russians lost 1 tank, 1 Uragan rocket launcher, 1 Pantsir missile system, 2 drones, 9 ammo storage locations and 41 casualties.
On the Ukrainian side of the line of contact, requests went out to the general public for [[blood]] donors. By Day 3, more than 1,700 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed. By Day 4, the counteroffensive stalled and withdrew, with over 2,000 dead.
The Zelensky Offensive was four months in the planning since April 2022. Western powers demanded to see action and results for all the money and weapons pumped into Ukraine since 2014.<ref>https://youtu.be/KF6rUGtSIGg</ref> Military strategists argued the plan to send human wave [[infantry]] attacks across flat land with no artillery or air support was doomed to fail from the start. Zelensky ordered the attack anyway on the morning August 29, 2022 to please his Western masters and keep the flood of cash and weapons flowing. Within three days the attack accomplished nothing other than killing thousands more of Ukrainian troops.
Because of the high number of untrained and unmotivated conscripts serving on the front line, the Ukrainian High Command abandoned the NATO tactic of keeping officers behind the line and away from the battle and having the attack led by sergeants. Ukraine reverted to the Soviet school of having officers and commanders lead the attacks on the frontline.
By Day 5 of the Zelensky Offensive, Ukraine lost 3,000 troops killed and 7,000 wounded who could not return to combat, or roughly one whole Division. ''The Washington Post'' reported,
[[File:Zelensky Offensive Kherson.PNG|right|400px|thumb|Nearly 2,000 Ukrainians killed in the long-awaited first 2 days of the Zelensky Offensive.<br>''Credit: History Legends'']]
{{quotebox-float|"In dimly lit hospital rooms in southern Ukraine, soldiers with severed limbs, shrapnel wounds, mangled hands and shattered joints recounted the lopsided disadvantages their units faced in the early days of a new offensive to expel Russian forces from the strategic city of Kherson...The soldiers said they lacked the artillery needed to dislodge Russia’s entrenched forces and described a yawning technology gap with their better-equipped adversaries...The interviews provided some of the first direct accounts of a push to retake captured territory that is so sensitive, Ukrainian military commanders have barred reporters from visiting the front lines”.<ref>https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/07/ukraine-kherson-offensive-casualties-ammunition/</ref>}}
On the night of September 17, 2022 Ukrainian saboteurs in the city center of Kherson were eliminated.<ref>https://youtu.be/U-pTz0ZYbKA</ref>
On September 25, 2022, during the referendums, the Kyiv proxy regime and NATO attacked a hotel in downtown Kherson, killing a [[journalist]] and Alexey Zhuravk, a former member of the Ukrainian parliament.<ref>https://youtu.be/HqIS5Ti9N2A</ref> Russian paratroopers destroyed a column of NATO armored vehicles.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=or7bhCNncpk</ref>
October 14, 2022 Russia began evacuation of civilians from the city of Kherson as Ukrainian sources reported that NATO had gathered a force of 60,000 outside the city. Fears of reprisals against Russian "collaborators" and murder of citizens swept throughout the city should NATO/Ukraine take the city. Another Ukrainian offensive in the region was halted by Russian forces on October 16, 2022.
On October 18, 2022, the AFU/NATO launched a US-made High-speed Anti-Radiation Missile (HARM) and hit the Energia stadium in Nova Kakhovka, Kherson region, killing two civilians and injuring others. In a late-night TV address a Kherson official called for people to "evacuate the city as quickly as possible" and said Ukraine "will begin an offensive on the city of Kherson very soon."<ref>https://youtu.be/frn2NqZHzbE</ref> Approximately 50,000-60,000 civilians were being ferried across the Dnieper river. Russian Commander of the Integrated Group of Forces in Ukraine Army General Sergey Surovikin told reporters,
{{quotebox-float|"The NATO command of the armed forces of Ukraine has long been demanding offensive operations in the Kherson direction from the Kiev regime, regardless of any casualties – both in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and among the civilian population.
The Russian military is aware of Kiev’s plans to use “prohibited” means of waging war in the Kherson area, and Ukraine is preparing a massive strike on the Kakhovka hydroelectric plant, located on the Dnieper River, as well as launching massive rocket and artillery attacks on Kherson itself.
These actions can lead to the destruction of the infrastructure of this large industrial center and massive casualties among the civilian population.
In the ongoing effort to dislodge the Russian military from its positions, Kiev is pouring its reserves ''en masse'' into the frontline.
The vast majority of those reserves are [[territorial defense]] units, who have not been properly trained. Such troops have low morale, thus they are propped up by “barrier squads” composed of hardline nationalists who shoot anyone trying to leave the battlefield.
The enemy’s losses amount to 600 to 1,000 casualties daily.
We have a different strategy. We are not aiming at fast-paced offensives, we spare every soldier and methodically grind the enemy’s attacking forces. This not only minimizes our own losses, but also significantly reduces the amount of victims among the civilian population.
The enemy is the criminal regime that pushes Ukrainian citizens towards death.
We are one people with Ukrainians and only wish for Ukraine to be a state independent from the West and NATO and friendly towards Russia."<ref>https://youtu.be/JjUe14xCZ3U</ref>}}
On the morning of October 19, 2022 the Ukrainian military launched another large-scale offensive with at least two battalions of the 128th Mountain Assault Brigade of the AFU, reinforced by a tank battalion of the 17th Brigade. A total of about 50 armored vehicles were reportedly deployed by the AFU in their offensive. By noon, the AFU transferred reserves to the battlefield. They included two companies of the 28th brigade and a tank company of the 56th motorized Infantry Brigade. At least two battalions of the 60th Separate Infantry Brigade, which are reinforced by foreign militants from the [[USA]], France, [[Belgium]] and [[Canada]] also took part in the offensive. According to the Russian MOD, all attacks were repelled with large losses on the NATO/Ukraine side.
==September 2022==
===Zelensky Offensive===
In the first 6 weeks of the Zelensky Offensive on the Kharkov and Kherson fronts, NATO/Ukraine lost about 18,000 troops killed, and likely twice that number injured. The offensive was not guided by military and strategic considerations, but largely political in nature, with the looming [[2022 Midterm elections|U.S. midterm elections]] on November 8 and nothing to show for the $65 billion in aid given to Zelensky since February 2022. On October 11, 2022, NATO boss Jens Stoltenberg told the bloc's defense ministers: “It is important for all of us, that Ukraine wins the battle…Because if Putin wins, that is not only a big defeat for Ukrainians, but it will be a defeat and dangerous for all of us."<ref>https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/opinions_208037.htm</ref> Russian Security Council deputy chair Dmitry Medvedev responded, “The comment is an open confirmation of NATO’s participation in the war against our country – an unwise, but pure-hearted remark...The honest Norwegian fellow has finally admitted it”.<ref>https://mobile.twitter.com/MedvedevRussiaE/status/1579878722668490753</ref>
===Zaporozhye counteroffensive===
By September 11, 2022, Ukrainian and NATO forces began de-mining operations of their own mines along the Zaporozhye line in preparation for an advance in the Mariupol direction.
On September 14, 2022, chairman of the regional administration Vladimir Rogov said, "I can say for sure that on the Zaporozhye line of combat contact at the moment there are English-speaking people, there are people using the Polish language." Rogov earlier warned, "Our situation is not easy, but it is under control. Today the whole day was the transfer of Ukrainian troops. The amount of equipment that is being transferred is also impressive. The accumulation of forces is simply colossal, there has not been such a large number of army, weapons, Militants of Zelensky since the beginning of the special operation on the line of combat contact in the Zaporozhya region."<ref>https://eadaily.com/ru/news/2022/09/14/na-zaporozhskom-napravlenii-skopilos-rekordnoe-chislo-britanskih-i-polskih-naemnikov</ref>
On September 24, 2022, during the referendum, a group of Ukrainian commandos penetrated the Russian line wearing Russian uniforms, was spotted and destroyed.
On November 6, 2022, horrendous losses on both sides were reported at Pavlovka (pop. 5,000). On November 11 the Russians captured the town.<ref>https://youtu.be/8ktgGelaTAY</ref> 1,400 soldiers and mercenaries of Ukraine were reported as eliminated in Pavlovka on November 14, according to the RF MOD.<ref>https://youtu.be/Hfmgq4LG698</ref>
===Seversky-Donets front===
By February 16, 2023 reports appeared that the Russian Federation had prepared 1,800 tanks, 3,950 armored vehicles, 2,700 artillery systems, 810 Soviet-era self-propelled guns, such as Grad and Smerch, 400 fighter jets, and 300 helicopters for the upcoming massive attack on Ukraine.
On February 19, 2023 a sudden orchestrated series of announcements that newly-elected Moldovan president after the country’s entire government collapsed in late 2022 is now pressing for the expulsion of Russian forces from ‘its territory’, and the complete ‘demilitarization’ of Transnistria. Newly appointed Prime Minister Dorin Rechan said that Russian troops should leave Transnistria, the region itself should be demilitarized, and its population should be economically and socially integrated, which means the deployment of the Moldovan military there. Then this sudden announcement: "The Ministry of Defense of Moldova from February 21 to 23 will hold tactical exercises at the northern training ground of the country, the military will practice shooting skills at night and daytime, the ministry said." Once again there were rumblings about Ukraine’s flagging ammunition supplies, and how that might spur them to seek a desperate requisition of the ammo in Russia’s Transnistrian garrison, which is a notoriously enormous depot known as Europe’s largest ammo dump.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20221005224852/https://en.topcor.ru/25315-vsu-vynashivajut-plan-zahvata-krupnejshego-v-evrope-sklada-boepripasov-v-pridnestrove.html</ref>
On February 20, 2023 head of the Russian Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin reported that the mutilated bodies of Polish mercenaries were found by Russian forces with their heads and hands cut off to thwart identification.<ref>https://www.theinteldrop.org/2023/02/20/mass-beheadings-russia-details-claims-of-mutilations-by-ukrainian-forces/</ref><ref>https://www.bitchute.com/video/WbX3UNN7pg8H/</ref>
On February 24, 2023 the Russian Ministry of Defense reported that the Ukrainians lost 15 armored vehicles including 2 tanks. On February 25 the Ukrainians lost 3 armored vehicles. On February 26 the Ukrainian's lost 6 armored vehicles. On February 27 the Ukrainians lost 11 armored vehicles including 2 tanks. On February 28 Ukrainian forces lost 350 fighters and 16 armored vehicles. On March 1, 2023 the MOD reported 190 Ukrainian troops killed, and loss of 18 armored and 16 light vehicles.
By February 24, 2023, the anniversary of the incursion into Ukraine, not only did Russia withstand the economic assault, but the sanctions boomeranged — hitting the very countries that imposed them.<ref>https://consortiumnews.com/2023/02/23/winning-losing-the-economic-war-over-ukraine/</ref> Joe Biden predicted that the U.S. would see that “the ruble will be reduced to rubble.” And that “the most stringent sanctions regime in history” was going to “weaken” Russia, perhaps even leading to Putin’s overthrow. In 2022 the ruble reached its highest exchange rate in history. Russia’s 2022 trade surplus of $227 billion was up 86 percent from 2021. The U.S.’ trade deficit over the same period rose 12.2 percent, and is approaching $1 trillion..<ref>[https://consortiumnews.com/2023/02/28/ukraine-the-tunnel-at-the-end-of-the-light/ Ukraine: The Tunnel at the End of the Light], Robert Freeman, February 28, 2023 ''Consortium News''.</ref>
In a two hour telephone conversation in late February 2023, Biden attempted to cajole President Xi Jinping to help end the war that the United States instigated by sanctioning Russia. ''New York Times'' diplomatic correspondent Edward Wong reported, "Xi didn't suggest a role China could play in ending the war…And he used a favorite phrase of his to cast blame on the US: 'Let he who tied the bell on the tiger’s neck take it off?'.”<ref>https://twitter.com/ewong/status/1504853536273797120</ref>
In late February 2023, [[NED]] and NATO-supported anti-government activists claimed responsibility for an attack on a Russian Beriev A-50 AEW&C (Airborne Early Warning and Control System) aircraft at the Machulishchy military airfield 12 km or 7.5 miles from the capital Minsk. In early March 2023 [[President Lukashenko]] announced the detention of the terror suspect, a native of Kryvyi Rih, a resident of the Crimea. There he received Russian citizenship while retaining a Ukrainian passport. In 2014 he was recruited by the SBU and trained by the CIA and Ukrainian security services near Kiev where he learned how to produce explosive devices.<ref>https://youtu.be/BLq3GtxySVA</ref> He was able to enter Belarus through Russia with his Russian passport.<ref>https://t.me/s/pul_1</ref><ref>https://www.bitchute.com/video/A0VgWPpBUhgC/</ref> Several other terror accomplices were arrested, and the hunt for more was ongoing.
==March 2023==
[[File:UK depleted uranium.PNG|right|300px|thumb|On March 21, 2023 it was announced the UK was supplying nuclear weapons to Ukraine.<ref>https://declassifieduk.org/britain-supplying-depleted-uranium-rounds-to-ukraine/</ref>]]
As the encirclement closed in an [[AFU]] forces in early March 2023, the Russian forces allowed untrained, conscripted 16-year-olds and elderly men pressed into service by the [[Zelensky regime]] to escape without being killed or captured via the last remaining escape route out of Bakhmut.<ref>https://youtu.be/NmzuuWMsm1k</ref> 10,000 Ukrainian troops were said to be trapped in the cauldron.<ref>[https://youtu.be/zg6HpuW8OYU Russia Claims Bakhmut Cauldron 10k Troops Trapped; West Media Admits Ukraine Losses, Blames Zelensky], Alexander Mercouris, March 6, 2023.</ref> On March 7, 2023 Prigozhin estimated the number at between 12,000 and 20,000.
By March 1, 2023 Transnistria began a partial mobilization, offering training and salaries to anyone who wanted to participate.
On March 1, 2023 the Russian MOD reported that the Ukrainians lost 80 soldiers. In [[Bakhmut]], the MOD reported 190 Ukrainian troops killed, and loss of 18 armored and 16 light vehicles.
On March 10, 2023 reports indicate two Kinzhal missiles hit NATO’s Western Command Center near [[Lvov]] 80 meters underground, killing 40 high ranking foreign specialists. The bunker was a NATO strategic command point used to control anti-aircraft systems.<ref>https://www.theinteldrop.org/2023/03/09/2nd-kinzhal-attack-hits-natos-western-command-center-400-feet-underground-40-killed/</ref> Immediately following that, on March 12 the US sent an extremely provocative message by simulating a [[nuclear bomb]]ing run on [[St. Petersburg]] when they sent a [[B-52]] bomber directly towards the city in an unprecedented maneuver.<ref>[https://en.topwar.ru/212662-amerikanskij-strategicheskij-bombardirovschik-b-52h-stratofortress-otrabotal-nanesenie-raketnogo-udara-po-sankt-peterburgu.html American strategic bomber B-52H Stratofortress worked out the possibility of launching a missile attack on St. Petersburg], March 12 2023.</ref> On March 23, 2023, [[S-400]] were reported to have been deployed in Kaliningrad.<ref>https://youtu.be/5L6eGOgDr_A</ref>
By mid-March 2023 the city was in operational encirclement; on March 23, 2023 reports indicated NATO/Ukraine had accumulated a force of 80,000 in attempt to unblock the encirclement.
==References==