The number of Ukrainian casualties in the country’s ongoing war against Russia has remained a highly contentious matter throughout the duration of the conflict. Kiev and its Western allies often downplay the number, claiming the death toll is only in the thousands, but Moscow’s defense ministry has estimated the actual figure is close to 500,000. Purportedly leaked US intelligence documents admit Ukraine’s death toll is much higher than publicly acknowledged.
Whatever the number, the war is likely the bloodiest the world has seen in decades. But security analyst Mark Sleboda claims the “ideological” Kiev regime is unfazed by the sacrifice of hundreds of thousands, or even a million, of its own citizens in its crusade against the Russian nation.
The international relations expert joined Sputnik’s Fault Lines program Wednesday to discuss the latest developments in the conflict as the killing of several Russian civilians, including two children, at a beach in Sevastopol elevates tensions to new heights.
Host Jamarl Thomas began by asking Sleboda what the consequences might be for the United States, which provided Ukraine with the US-made ATACMS missiles used in the attack. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov recently warned the country would be forced to respond to repeated acts of terrorism against Russian civilians.
“That's a good question and I don't know that anyone rightfully knows the answer to that,” Sleboda responded. “There are some who suggested that the statements by Lavrov and by other officials seem to indicate that they know or have identified certain individuals in the Kiev regime and the US' decision-making process, whom they can hold personally responsible, and what measures they might take against them either over sanctions, criminal cases or shall we say more direct justice.”
“The other possibility is an asymmetric response, as Putin has promised, of providing long-range strike weapons to US adversaries in the world,” he suggested.
Thomas speculated Moscow could implement a no-fly zone over the Black Sea, where drones have gathered targeting information for Ukrainian strikes. Russian officials have also pointed out that advanced Western weaponry, such as the ATACMS missile system, typically require the assistance of highly-trained US military personnel to operate.
The high level of coordination in the strikes on Russia represents a level of US involvement in the conflict that goes beyond what the country publicly acknowledges, Russian officials have noted, requiring a response from Moscow in order to protect its people and territory.
“This is not passive intelligence,” Sleboda said of Kiev’s reliance on Western reconnaissance aircraft to help coordinate attacks. “This is active intelligence gathering.” The security analyst also noted the assistance of the United States in programing targeting information into Ukraine’s weapons systems, according to comments by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and generals in the German Bundeswehr.
“Not doing something almost guarantees escalation by the West,” said Thomas. “Meaning, they're acting with impunity. They don't believe in Russia's red lines.”
The host claimed the United States has not yet faced a great enough cost during the conflict to reconsider its position, with American officials frequently boasting of the potential to undermine one of their perceived global adversaries without sacrificing American lives.
“If Ukraine loses a million men, the US doesn't care,” he emphasized. “At the end of the day the argument they're going to make is the same: they're not Americans, we're getting rid of our own junk. We get to buy new weapons.”
“The Kiev regime feels the same way,” Sleboda claimed, to the surprise of the program’s hosts.
“They're ideological, right?” he continued. “A lot of the people that they are press ganging and conscripting to fight right now they don't even consider to be proper Ukrainians. A lot of them are Russian ethnic, Russian speaking, right? Or those who aren't politically loyal to the Kiev regime, and they don't care if they lose those people.”
Sleboda’s analysis sheds unique light on the motives of the Kiev regime and its willingness to sacrifice vast numbers of its own people to attempt to weaken Russia. The country has fallen under the sway of radical nationalists since 2014’s Maidan coup, which elevated to power a segment of Ukraine’s population harboring extremist sympathies harkening back to the collaboration of militants like Stepan Bandera with Nazi Germany.
Officials in Moscow point out that Ukraine has targeted ethnic Russians since 2014, when the country launched a bloody civil war against the Russian-aligned population of the Donbass. Kiev’s leaders are unlikely to be troubled by ongoing hardship in the region, Sleboda surmised, if they see it as furthering their fanatical crusade against all things Russian.