US military strategists are guilty of "criminal" incompetence in their plan for Ukraine's disastrous offensive, a Washington advisor has said.
According to the Russian ministry of Defence, Ukrainian forces have taken tens of thousands of casualties and lost around 1,250 tanks and other armoured vehicles — including the latest US and German models — more than 400 artillery pieces and more than two dozen jet aircraft and helicopters in the first few weeks of their attempt to cut off Crimea from the Russian mainland.
Russian President Vladimir Putin judged that those losses had led to "no success."
US military pundits have pointed out that the Pentagon would never have launched such a military campaign without first gaining air superiority — which they admit Ukraine is incapable of.
Retired diplomat Jim Jatras told Sputnik that the US-devised plan for Ukraine's southern offensive was not only "stupid" but "criminal."
"These people sent the Ukrainian forces into this meat grinder, knowing exactly what the result was going to be," Jatras charged. "The only thing I can think of is they had some idea they could use this as some kind of a jujitsu to justify a direct military intervention of perhaps close air forces in Ukraine. That doesn't seem to be on the cards either, now."
Russian president Vladimir Putin has condemned the US and other NATO nations for fighting a proxy conflict with Russia "to the last Ukrainian."
"This disregard for life is really, truly criminal," Jatras said. "I'm a little bit surprised that Ukrainians are still willing to do the powerlessness of their so-called supporters. You really wonder at what point Ukrainian soldiers start deciding that they're safer trying to shoot their officers than trying to shoot the Russians, because they just these men to just keep going to their deaths."
The Washington adviser drew a distinction between real military leaders and the "politicians in uniform" looking out for lucrative directorships in the big arms firms. But he rejected the idea that US President Joe Biden had been forced into the scheme of using Ukraine as a proxy belligerent against Russia by the Military-Industrial Complex.
"I don't think Joe Biden is being steamrolled. I think he is corrupt up to his eyeballs, including corruption from Ukraine, and he doesn't care any more than the rest of them," Jatras argued. Biden is "more than willing to go through the motions and send these people to their deaths and keep enriching all of the interests."
The US mainstream media have been complicit in beating the drum for confrontation with Russia in Ukraine.
"The Wall Street Journal carries waters for the industries we're talking about. And the blood of people, especially foreigners, doesn't matter that much to them," Jatras noted. "The question is, where do they go from here? I think that we are really nearing a kind of a double inflection point — do these people find some way to back out of this thing?"
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