By Tom Squitieri
Red Snow News
WASHINGTON – A Russian military convoy nearing the outskirts of Kyiv is now believed to be more than 40 miles long and includes armored vehicles, tanks, towed artillery, and other vehicles.
It is what is known in military parlance as a “high-target area” — a long convoy, moving slow, on a tight terrain with few ways to evade an air onslaught.
Except there will not be one.
While western armchair pilots may be licking their chops, thinking of the many ways to pulverize and set ablaze the convoy, that scene is not likely to come to life. The U.S. and NATO planes that could take that out — and turn the tide of the inevitable assault on Kyiv — will not be flying.
Ukraine’s citizens and its military have been creative and resilient but there are not enough Molotov cocktails to stop this convoy or the full force of the Russian blunderbuss.
The Ukrainian ambassador to the U.S. said that Russia utilized a thermobaric bomb on Monday. The weapons also cause massive shock waves which suck the air out of the lungs of its victims. Ukrainian officials on Monday also accused Russian forces of launching a barrage of rockets on a residential neighborhood in Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, killing at least nine civilians and injuring dozens of others.
“It’s not just a war, it’s murder,” Ihor Terekhov, the mayor of Kharkiv, Ukraine, said.
No confirmation from the Pentagon. “We can’t independently verify that,” John Kirby, the Pentagon spokesperson, told reporters. “But look, let’s not get hung up on a particular weapon system here. He’s perpetrating violence on a neighboring nation-state that presented no threat to him. And innocent lives are being killed, taken.”
As for the convoy, Kirby said: ” I can’t speak with specificity about this convoy and what’s in it and what their designs are. But it clearly appears to us just anecdotally, as of a piece of their desire to continue to move on the capitol
On Monday, Russian forces increasingly targeted Ukrainian airfields and logistics centers on February 28, particularly in western Ukraine. Russia likely seeks to ground the Ukrainian air force and interdict the ability of Western states to resupply the Ukrainian military, according to the Institute for the Study of War.
“Russian and Belarusian forces may be preparing for an additional line of advance from Belarus into western Ukraine,” Institute analysis said. “Russian successes in southern Ukraine are the most dangerous and threaten to unhinge Ukraine’s successful defenses and rearguard actions to the north and northeast.”
The Russian control of air space over Ukraine is increasing, meaning delivery of critical war supplies will be adjusted to overland routes. It also means the Russians will be able to attack the supply convoys from the west — while its convoys remain unscathed.
What happens when the Russians start attacking those convoys, Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby sniffed, “I’m not going to get into a hypothetical. And I’m going to refrain from hypothesizing about what ifs in terms of any disruptions or potential disruptions to that assistance.”
One convoy wins, the others lose.
