‘Best’ Way Ukraine War Ends May Be Most Dangerous; Ukraine Shot Down 61 of 71 Missiles Russia Fired in Latest Attacks; Record 54 Clashes Per Day Take Place Near Bakhmut; Ukraine Reports Record-High Number of Around 1,140 Russian Troops Killed in a Single Day, LIVE UPDATES and MORE

By admin On Feb 12, 2023

‘Best’ way Ukraine War ends may be most dangerous:

The war in Ukraine looks set to move to the next level. One signal came in a passing reference about tea this week. On Wednesday, in a speech to the UK Parliament, President Zelensky reminisced about his last visit to the Westminster in 2020. On that occasion he said his hosts had given him “delicious English tea.” He continued, “I will be leaving Parliament today, thanking you all in advance for powerful English planes.”

It was a cheeky way to make the request, but as so often Zelensky knew what he was doing. The assembled Parliamentarians strongly applauded his statement. Yesterday Zelensky made a similar request to the European Parliament in Brussels. MEPs also gave him a standing ovation.

But here’s the thing. Only weeks — if not days — ago, providing Ukraine with fighter jets was still one of the no-go’s of the conflict. From the start of the Russian invasion NATO chose — rightly in my view — to help arm Ukraine.

The only other options were to allow Russia to win, swallow up a country and destabilize all of Europe, or to send American and other troops to the conflict. Thankfully, unlike other conflicts America has recently been involved in, the Ukrainians want to liberate themselves and just need the tools. This doesn’t require any American lives to be risked.

Still there have been some red-lines for NATO. And what is notable is how they have shifted. For instance, only a few months ago it was thought impossible for the Europeans to provide Ukraine with tanks. Then last month the German government and others finally gave into public and political pressure and agreed to provide Leopard tanks to Ukraine.

Similarly, days ago the provision of planes to Ukraine looked like a step too far. Only for lawmakers in London and Brussels to applaud the idea.

Even the most casual observer of this can see that there is an escalation going on. Not in the conflict itself, which has been bloody from the outset. But in NATO’s commitment to Ukraine.

Everybody from Joe Biden to a clapped out rocker from Pink Floyd have views on how to end the conflict. But this week’s event should remind us there are only four possible end-games.

The first —>READ MORE HERE

REUTERS/Michele Tantussi

Ukraine says it shot down 61 of 71 missiles Russia fired in latest attacks:

Russia launched 71 cruise missiles at Ukraine on Friday and 61 of them were shot down, Ukraine’s air force said.

“As of 11:30 a.m., the enemy had launched 71 X-101, X-555 and Kalibr missiles. The air defence forces, Air Force and other components of the Ukrainian Defence Forces destroyed 61 enemy cruise missiles,” it said on the Telegram messaging app.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said earlier on Friday that Russia had fired more than 50 missiles at Ukraine and most of them were shot down.

“Russia cannot accept failures and therefore continues to terrorise the (Ukrainian) population. Another attempt (on Friday) to destroy the Ukrainian energy system and deprive Ukrainians of light, heat, and water,” Shmyhal wrote on Telegram.

The Air Force said Russia had used eight Tu-95MS strategic bombers, and that they had fired X-101 and X-555 missiles from the Caspian Sea and the city of Volgodonsk in Russia.