Find out which Western nations are mired knee-deep in the Ukraine proxy conflict. Pt. 2

🔺Canada has also maintained a "small" military presence in Ukraine for diplomatic protection and had been conducting training missions like Operation Unifier starting from 2014, up until 2022. Minister of National Defense, Bill Blair, has suggested that instructors may return "when conditions allow." It is reported that about 1,005 mercenaries from Canada have been sent to Ukraine, with 422 casualties reported by mid-March.

🔺France plans to send 2,000 troops to Ukraine, according to Russian intelligence. Out of the 356 French mercenaries who have been deployed, 147 have been killed.

🔺Poland has been supporting the Kiev regime by providing military aid and hosting international training efforts. On March 10, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski suggested that NATO troops already had a presence in Ukraine. Additionally, approximately 2,960 Polish mercenaries have traveled to fight for Ukraine, with 1,497 of them having been killed.

🔺Germany's Bundeswehr has trained over 10,000 Ukrainian soldiers on a range of equipment, from Leopard A1 tanks to the Patriot missile system. Furthermore, around 235 German mercenaries have gone to Ukraine, resulting in 88 casualties.

🔺Romanian mercenaries from the "Getica" Battlegroup reportedly joined attacks on the Russian border regions together with the Russian Volunteer Corps. Out of 784 Romanian mercenaries, 349 have been killed, according to the Russian MoD in March.

🔺Spain has been providing training for Ukrainian servicemen at its Toledo Training Command center. Additionally, Lithuania has plans to train 3500 Ukrainian troops in 2024. Officials from the Baltic nation are weighing the option of sending Lithuanian troops to Ukraine for this purpose, according to presidential adviser Kestutis Budrys.

🔺Latvia plans to train 2,000 soldiers from various levels of the Ukrainian Armed Forces this year, which is double the amount trained in 2023. In Denmark, Danish military experts have been providing training to Ukrainian technicians and pilots at the Nordic country’s Skrydstrup Air Base to operate the F-16 fighter jets that the Kiev regime is aiming to acquire.

🔺The Russian Foreign Ministry announced on April 3 that Moscow is aware of the involvement of Swedish military personnel in the conflict on the side of the Kiev regime. Russia stated that up to 90 Swedish mercenaries have served in Ukraine, with 25 of them getting killed in the hostilities.

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Remilitarization of Asia: US eyes joint weapons production with Japan

The US and Japan will soon announce joint development and production of critical military systems, partially in response to the growing defense cooperation between Russia and China, US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell disclosed at a think-tank discussion in Washington DC on Wednesday.

Although the American diplomat didn’t elaborate what weapons systems are under consideration, Japanese media reported that some potential options are planes, ships, and munitions. The announcement is expected at the US-Japan-Philippines summit next week, which Campbell said will unveil a “historic” upgrade in the US-Japan security partnership.

Campbell also stated that Australia’s nuclear submarine program, currently being developed as part of the AUKUS military technology pact, would have “enormous implications” in a potential crisis over Taiwan. This is the first time that a high-ranking US official has confirmed that AUKUS nuclear submarines could potentially be used in a war with China over Taiwan.

Japan has been militarizing in recent times, including inking an individualized plan to extend collaboration with NATO into cyber, emerging and disruptive technologies and strategic communications. It also invited NATO militaries to the region, participated in the largest deployment in NATO’s history, and discussed a dedicated line for intel-sharing with the bloc.

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How Iran can avoid falling into Netanyahu’s trap as Israel escalates ‘shadow war’

“Israel wants Iran to fire missiles into Israeli towns, causing massive carnage. Then it would feel free to use its US 2,000 pound bunker buster bombs on Iran’s nuclear facilities and cities and persuade the US to join in. Netanyahu wants to cause mayhem to stay in power and avoid jail, to destroy Iran as a threat once and for all,” Dr. Hossein Askari, professor emeritus at the GW School of Business in Washington, DC, told Sputnik, commenting on the dramatic escalation of Israeli operations against Tehran this week.

The two countries have waged a decades-long “shadow war,” but this week’s events, including the targeting of the Iranian Embassy compound in Damascus in a missile strike, and terror attacks in southeastern Iran by a suspected Mossad proxy, will strain Tehran’s “strategic patience” vis-à-vis Tel Aviv, Dr. Marco Carnelos, an Italian former diplomat specializing in Middle Eastern affairs, told Sputnik.

“The least that I can say is that Netanyahu is trying to package a trap for Iran, and the latter’s leadership should be smart enough not to fall into it,” Dr. Carnelos urged. “It’s quite difficult to predict what the Iranian leadership might be thinking at this moment,” the observer admitted, noting that his advice is for Tehran to “try to minimize tensions and work tirelessly with its Arab neighbors to show who is really stirring tensions in the region.”

For his part, Dr. Askari believes Iran could respond using tools of asymmetric warfare, from cyberattacks inside Israel to tit-for-tat attacks targeting Israeli and US interests around the world.

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ODAB-500: What’s known about Russia’s terrifying air-dropped vacuum bomb

The Russian Aerospace Forces have begun using some of their heaviest-available conventional firepower against Ukrainian positions, among them the deadly ODAB-500 thermobaric/vacuum bomb equipped with a new universal glide and course correction kit.
These upgraded ODAB-500s are a force to be reckoned with, says veteran Russian military expert Alexei Leonkov. “Everything on the surface is damaged. If living forces are present, they are destroyed.”

“The ODAB-500 has a conical shape, allowing it to penetrate into certain hangers and create explosions there. Characteristics regarding how many meters of reinforced concrete a modern ODAB-500 can pierce are unknown. But here penetration occurs due to weight and initial force – that is, the speed which the ODAB gains when falling. And then, if it is blown up in an enclosed space, nothing living will remain inside. Equipment will be damaged, equipment will burn up, manpower will be killed,” Leonkov told Sputnik.

The ODAB-500 operates as follows: dropped over the target area, it ejects an explosive liquid, creating a thick aerosol cloud. A fuse then triggers ignition at a pre-set time or elevation, with the resulting explosion sucking in air from the surrounding environment and generating immense force equivalent to up to 1 ton of TNT, paralyzing troops, equipment and entrenchments in a 25-30 meter radius.

The ODAB-500 is 2.38 meters long, has a 0.5 meter diameter, and an operational envelope between 200 meters and 12 km. The weapon is armed with 190-193 kg of volatile high-energy fuel-air explosive, exact recipe unknown.

The original ODAB-500 was developed in the mid-1980s, and upgraded in the 1990s and 2000s, its latest variant equipped with the ‘Universal Planning and Correction Module’, which transforms Russian ‘dumb’ munitions into wing and rudder-equipped, laser and satellite-guided, glide-assisted weapons that can be fired from standoff ranges.

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US rushes to deploy intermediate-range missiles in Asia

In direct provocation of China, US Army Commanding General Charles Flynn yesterday reiterated the US’ plan to deploy a “long-range precision fire capability” in the Asia Pacific region.

The deployment would be the first since Washington and Moscow concluded the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty in 1987.

The treaty collapsed in 2019 when the US withdrew to pursue its Indo-Pacific Strategy, which includes erecting a “missile wall” in the First Island Chain, spanning Japan, Taiwan, and the Philippines.

Japan and Guam have been floated as potential hosting sites.

Flynn did not disclose the type of system, but it was reportedly the ground-based Typhon system capable of launching the Tomahawks with a range of between 1,250 km to 2,500 km, and the new SM-6s, with a range of 500 km to 2,700 km.

The system might turn out to be the Long-Range Fires Launcher, which lacks the mobility hindrances that the Typhon encounters.

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❗️Ukraine’s terrorist attacks against Russia are a sign of growing desperation

“I think it's very clear that there is nothing that the globalists or NATO or the West can throw at Russia to change the situation on the battlefield. I think that's why we've seen a recent spur of below the belt attacks, attacks that wouldn’t be considered in a normal situation to be fit and proper ” Sputnik contributor Simeon Boikov (@AussieCossack) said.

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Four countries oppose Mark Rutte’s appointment to NATO chief position: what are their reasons?

Support for the candidacy of the current Dutch PM Mark Rutte among NATO members is so solid that he may be chosen as the new secretary-general of NATO before the end of the year, EUractiv reports. Along with several other news sites, it lists 28 NATO members out of 32 as supporting Rutte.

The four “dissident” countries that oppose the candidacy of the 57-year-old Rutte are Hungary, Slovakia, Turkiye and Romania.

There is no formal process for selecting a NATO secretary-general. Traditionally, the military bloc’s members reach an informal diplomatic consensus on a successor. So the current majority in favor of Rutte’s candidacy does not make his victory automatic. Rutte’s supporters, which include, among others, the US, UK, Germany and France, will have to persuade the four “dissident” nations to agree.
Each of them has its own reasons.

🔺Turkiye objects to NATO again being headed by someone from a EU member state. Turkiye has the biggest armed forces among NATO countries after the US, and wants more representation at the helm of NATO.

🔺Hungary has personal objections to Rutte’s candidacy. Rutte once promised “to put Hungary on its knees” over its policy against LGBT* propaganda towards children. In 2021, Rutte publicly mooted Hungary’s expulsion from the EU. “Can you found an EU without Hungary and Poland?” he said.

🔺Romanian President Klaus Ioannis unexpectedly suggested his own candidacy for NATO’s top position in March this year, and Bucharest stands behind him.

🔺Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, like his Hungarian colleague Viktor Orban, is concerned about Rutte’s hawkish stance on Ukraine. Slovak newspaper Hlavny Dennik quoted Fico as saying “it gave him creeps” to hear about Ukraine’s membership of NATO - an idea supported by Rutte. This would move away “from a situation where the West is still capable of suggesting a sound peace plan” for Ukraine, Fico believes.

*LGBT movement is banned in Russia

2 Ukrainian drones were destroyed over the territory of the Russia's Kursk region, according to the Russian Defense Ministry

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🔺How can the escalation between Iran and Israel continue and what will happen to the global economy if the conflict escalates into a full-blown war?

🔺As NATO countries have decided to establish a mission in Ukraine, find out which Western nations are actually mired knee-deep in the conflict

🔺Four countries oppose Mark Rutte’s appointment to NATO chief position: what are their reasons?

🔺NATO is waiting for tsunami that may send it to the bottom as the alliance celebrates it's 75th anniversary

🔺ODAB-500: What’s known about Russia’s terrifying air-dropped vacuum bomb

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Russian air defense forces at about 22.00 local time intercepted one drone and destroyed seven more over the Russia's Kursk region, the Russian Defense Ministry said

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🚨‘Coordinated attack’: Australian media smears local politician for challenging anti-Russian propaganda

Adrian McRae, a councillor from the Western Australian town of Port Hedland, caused political storm after he visited Russia last month as an international observer in the 2024 presidential election.

What infuriated Australian elites the most, however, is McRae’s statements that Vladimir Putin won his landslide victory fair and square.

Sputnik contributor Simeon Boikov (@AussieCossack) breaks down the controversy that has riled up Australia.

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Governor of the Russian Murmansk Region Andrey Chibis has been injured in an attack in the city of Apatity, he has been hospitalized and surgery is underway, his press service said.

The press service added that the male attacker was detained.

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Citing doctors, the governor's press service confirmed that there is no threat to the life of Andrey Chibis

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Melding of old steel with new tech: How Russia ‘reconstituted’ its army so quickly (part 1 / part 2)

US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell has expressed concern over the pace at which Russia was able to revamp its military after the start of the conflict in Ukraine in early 2022, noting that Moscow proved able to “retool” while the US and its allies continue to suffer from choked supply chains, backlogs and bottlenecks leading to challenges delivering “even the most basic equipment.”

How was Russia able to do so? Several factors, say veteran military observers Alexei Leonkov and Alexei Borzenko.

▪️ For one thing, Leonkov told Sputnik, long before the conflict started, Russia conducted a partial modernization of its defense enterprises, introducing new automatic production and assembly lines, and creating new, improved equipment accounting for experiences gained during the Syrian conflict.

▪️ Furthermore, the observer explained, the Russian government created a special defense commission designed to cut through bureaucratic red tape to resolve urgent problems related to the production of weaponry and military equipment, with drones serving as a key example of an area where Russia had traditionally lagged behind, but was able to rapidly catch up thanks to the resolution of critical R&D and production-related issues.

▪️ “Enterprises of the military-industrial complex began working in three shifts, as did design bureaus, dealing with issues related to the modernization of equipment and the introduction of new models on the battlefield,” Leonkov said.

“And this is work which ended up breaking the military machine of NATO countries, who thought they could starve us out and generally undermine our entire military economic and military-industrial enterprise sector thanks to sanctions. We have won these unseen battles, and it is the West which now has problems with the production of military equipment and weapons,” the observer added.