In the overnight hours the “Battle of the Donbass”—as Ukraine’s Zelensky is calling it—was launched with a full renewed Russian onslaught, marking the beginning of a second phase of the war which kicked off on February 24. The opening hours of Tuesday (April 19) were marked by constant shelling and missile strikes in the region.
“Another stage of this operation (in eastern Ukraine) is beginning and I am sure this will be a very important moment of this entire special operation,” Lavrov announced during a live interview with India Today.
As heavy military assets and troops poured into the far eastern Ukrainian region over the past few days, Zelensky assessed in a video address that a “very large part of the entire Russian army is now focused on this offensive,” adding that, “No matter how many Russian troops they send there, we will fight. We will defend ourselves.”
NATO Secretary-general calls for “transformation” of NATO into a fighting force against Russia and China
As the United States, the UK and other NATO powers surge weapons into Ukraine, the NATO alliance is being transformed into a fighting force capable of directly waging wars with Russia and China.
Using the war between Russia and Ukraine as a pretext, NATO has already mobilized its 40,000-strong rapid response force against Russia. But this is only the beginning of a far broader transformation of the alliance in preparation for what US military planners have called “great-power conflict.”
In an interview with the Telegraph, NATO General-Secretary Jens Stoltenberg said this transformation aims “to move from tripwire deterrence to something which is more about deterrence by denial or defence. This is already in process. We have to ensure that we continue to be able, in a more dangerous world, to protect and defend all Nato allies.” read more ( countercurrents)
