Back Story Newsletter
Good Morning, and welcome to 2023!
Ukraine Missile Strike
As I write, the Ukrainians say they shot down all 39 drone strikes launched by Russia on Monday. Ukraine is showing it can adapt to the constant air attacks by Russia on civilian infrastructure.
The Ukrainian air defence has received a boost from the U.S. provided NASAM system, an advanced surface-to-air missile system which includes radar, sensors, launchers and a mobile command center.
But the real news this week is the Ukrainian strike on a Russian military facility in the Eastern Ukrainian occupied city of Makiivka where possibly hundreds of Russian soldiers died.
Using the American made HIMARS rockets the Ukrainians hit behind enemy lines to take out a multi storey building. The building appeared to be destroyed in the attack and the Russian Defence Ministry made a rare admission that dozens of Russian soldiers were killed.
The Ukrainian Government says the number may in fact have been 400 killed, prompting criticism inside Russia of Russian Generals who seem inept at providing troop protection.
A former Russian paramilitary commander in Ukraine, Igor Girkin, that “many hundreds” were dead and wounded and that many “remained under the rubble.”
2023 New Years messages from Russian show a detachment from the impossible task of conquering Ukraine, and a President Putin intent on prosecuting a war he seemingly can’t win.
In February when I wrote correctly that Putin would indeed invade Ukraine, while many others said the media was overstating any threats, I also predicted Putin would not back away from a long war as he had done in Chechnya when he first came to power.
Putin cares little for the price Russians will pay for this conflict, as he pursues some dream of restoring a Russian Empire and his place in history.
As a Lithuanian friend told me yesterday, “we have already been in this story, when the Soviets invaded and occupied us” in 1940. Russia’s immediate neighbours know the threat and have lived in the Kremlins shadow for centuries. And he predicted Putin won’t back away unless he is removed from power.
Exclusively for you here on Back Story newsletter an end of year video interview with former Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov who predicts Putin’s demise in 2023.
Kasyanov believes the biting sanctions in Russia will bring about change, and that Putin can’t last.
In 2023 I am available as a consultant/speaker on Russia, and the war in Ukraine. Private message me.
And Happy New Years!
Dana Lewis