Ukrainian forces have suffered almost 1 million casualties since February 2022 and have lost about 20,000 tanks and armored vehicles, Valery Gerasimov, the head of the Russian General Staff, told foreign diplomats on Wednesday.

Russia’s top general hosted foreign military attaches to brief them on the activities of the country's military in 2024 and how the Moscow views the global security situation. Part of his 30-minute report was dedicated to the Ukraine conflict.

”The US and its allies have significantly increased the volume of military assistance to Ukraine” in a continued attempt to inflict a “strategic defeat” on Russia, Gerasimov said. Despite this, Russian troops are currently on the offensive, having pushed Ukrainian forces out of more than 190 settlements this year, he added.

The estimates of Ukrainian losses cited by Gerasimov were previously made public by Defense Minister Andrey Belousov, who delivered a televised year-end report to President Vladimir Putin on Monday.

Gerasimov accused Kiev of a policy of confrontation with Russia which “has resulted in total dependence on foreign management and funding” as well as “the consequent loss of state sovereignty” for Ukraine.

There were two major points of escalation in 2024 initiated by the West and Kiev, the general claimed. One was the Ukrainian incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region in August, which Gerasimov called a futile “terrorist attack” motivated by battlefield failures. The other was the permission given in November by Western arms donors for Kiev to fire long-range missiles deep into Russia, he added.

”In essence, the US has permitted itself to use those systems against Russian territory. The Ukrainian army alone is incapable of imputing space surveillance data to form flight plans for the missiles,” the general told the audience.

Moscow’s response was to demonstrate a new medium-range hypersonic ballistic missile dubbed Oreshnik, which the military launched at a Ukrainian weapons plant last month, Gerasimov said. The Russian military will react to further actions by its adversaries based on ongoing threat assessments, he warned.

https://www.rt.com/russia/609538-gerasimov-military-attaches-briefing/

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MEANWHILE:

Kiev will not “rush” into any agreements with Russia, Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has said. In an interview with French news outlet Le Parisien published on Wednesday, Zelensky declared his reluctance to make concessions, either territorial or in relation to Kiev's NATO and EU ambitions, to achieve peace.

Zelensky has previously insisted that the only viable path to peace with Russia was his ten-point ‘peace formula’, which includes a complete withdrawal of Russian forces from former Ukrainian territories and the restoration of the country’s 1991 borders. Widely touted by the West, the proposal was never taken seriously in Moscow.

However, Zelensky has signaled in recent weeks that he would be willing to relinquish territorial claims if Kiev becomes a NATO member. Recent media reports have also suggested that US President-elect Donald Trump, who met Zelensky in Paris earlier this month, could persuade the Ukrainian leader to ‘freeze’ the conflict along the current line of contact and enforce negotiations between Kiev and Moscow. Trump previously pledged to end the conflict within 24 hours upon returning to the White House in January next year.

“He really wants to move quickly [but] he is not yet in the White House and cannot have access to all the information. He also knows my firm desire to not rush to the detriment of Ukraine,” Zelensky stated.

“No matter how many presidents or prime ministers want to decree an end of the war, we are not going to simply give in and give up our independence,” he added. Zelensky claimed that freezing the conflict at its current stage would give Russia an opportunity to “attack” Ukraine at a later date.

“Putin is a boomerang: he comes back until he gets what he wants… If we do not stop Putin, he will continue to destroy us,” he stated. Zelensky said he would be ready to negotiate peace with Moscow only from “a position of strength,” and in order to get there, Ukraine must become part of the EU and NATO.

Zelensky rejected claims that he would acknowledge the loss of former Ukrainian territories that have joined Russia, namely the regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson, Zaporozhye, and Crimea.

“We cannot give up our territories. The Ukrainian Constitution forbids us to do so,” he stated, admitting, however, that Kiev does not currently have “the strength to regain” these territories.

Moscow has maintained that freezing the conflict unacceptable. It has repeatedly said it is open to negotiations and would welcome a diplomatic settlement, but insisted that this is only possible if Kiev ceased military operations, withdrew its forces from Russian territory, including former Ukrainian regions, ensured the rights of Russian-speaking residents, and became a neutral, nuclear-free state.

https://www.rt.com/russia/609523-zelensky-conflict-rush-peace/

MAKE A DEAL PRONTO BEFORE THE SHIT HITS THE FAN:

NO NATO IN "UKRAINE" (WHAT'S LEFT OF IT)

THE DONBASS REPUBLICS ARE NOW BACK IN THE RUSSIAN FOLD — AS THEY USED TO BE PRIOR 1922. THE RUSSIANS WON'T ABANDON THESE AGAIN.

THESE WILL ALSO INCLUDE ODESSA, KHERSON AND KHARKIV.....

CRIMEA IS RUSSIAN — AS IT USED TO BE PRIOR 1954

TRANSNISTRIA WILL BE PART OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION.

A MEMORANDUM OF NON-AGGRESSION BETWEEN RUSSIA AND THE USA.

EASY.

THE WEST KNOWS IT.

YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

HYPOCRISY ISN’T ONE OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS SINS.

HENCE ITS POPULARITY IN THE ABRAHAMIC TRADITIONS…