The Queen Elizabeth was scheduled to take a leading role in Steadfast Defender, and will now be replaced by the UK's other (yes, they only have 2) carrier, HMS Prince of Wales, which itself broke down with propeller shaft problems in August 2022, only making it as far as the Isle of Wight in the English Channel, just a few miles from its home port of Portsmouth before having to be towed back to port for repairs that required almost a year before the Prince was again deemed sea-worthy.
If the Queen requires similar repairs to those the Prince underwent, HMS Queen Elizabeth and her arsenal of up to 36 F-35's and 4 helicopters will be unable to participate in the Steadfast Defender exercise nor in any other seagoing operations until this time next year. This timeline is, as the Brits often say, "Highly likely". The Queen is, as of now, unable to fulfill her duty in Steadfast Defender, as well as any upcoming Red Sea military operations, so, The Prince will have to take up the duty, barring any recurring problems with the Prince's own shaft, which if they occurred, would leave the entire UK carrier fleet under repair for the "biggest NATO exercise since the Cold War" and at a time of significant and escalation naval combat operations in the Red Sea and Persian Gulf. A rather inauspicious beginning to the NATO exercise and the kingdom that once "ruled the waves".
While the primarily naval/logistical part of the operation will continue from now until mid-March, the land warfare phase will last from mid-March through the end of May using 90,000 NATO troops from and in the following NATO nations: Finland, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden, and the UK.
The movement of 90,000 NATO soldiers into the areas bordering Russia and Ukraine is also a prime opportunity to continue the importation of thousands of foreign mercenaries into the depleted ranks of Ukrainian cannon fodder. There are two separate variants foreign mercenaries in Ukraine these days - on the one hand, you have the Tik Tok Tourists, here only for the photo ops and bargain brothels, the low budget assassins from the narco-cartels in Central and South America, here to make gun, drug, and human trafficking connections, cheap and expendable, ideal candidates for suicide missions, who don't have to even be buried, much less paid. On the other hand, you have field grade NATO officers, highly trained weapons technicians and special forces "operators" from the elite units of the NATO militaries. Steadfast Defender is an opportunity to give these expert torturers and killers, these trained terrorists, a free ticket to Ukraine, with all their gear.
Meanwhile, the Russian Army continues to advance all across the Donbass Front, particularly in the area of Kupyansk, where Ukrainian media have been spreading rumors in recent days of 40,000 Russian soldiers and 1,100 tanks and IFV's. There is little to no evidence of such a massive build-up, and competent analysts have floated a theory that these announcements are really a cover excuse for a forthcoming retreat by Ukrainian forces to the western side of the Oskol River, which runs through the middle of Kupyansk. Either way, another significant Ukrainian retreat appears likely in the short term.
The recent horrific massacres of civilians in the Tekstilshchik market of Donetsk, and the HIMARS bombing of the bakery in Lisichansk are both indicative of Ukrainian desperation and their abject evil. Ukraine and NATO cannot win this war with conventional weapons, and they know it. The world knows it. But these kinds of crimes will continue for as long as the criminal regimes of the West continue to supply high-power long-range weapons to mass murderers and war criminals, or until, (not "if", but "when") Russia delivers a decisive defeat to the Ukrainian Nazis and their foreign masters. The same applies equally to the Israeli regime and their henchmen attacking Palestine and Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, and Syria. And beyond. The looming question of the next few months will be whether Russia, along with the Axis of Resistance and our other allies around the world can deliver this finishing blow without our enemies resorting to unconventional NBC weapons, and truly starting World War 3, by forcing us to do the same. It will be a very dangerous Summer - in Ukraine and Europe, the Red Sea and the Middle East. Good luck to all good people. May God bless and protect the innocent and those who defend them. And may the rest of us get everything we deserve.