By Brandon Turbeville

After its horrendous decision to officially recognize Jerusalem as the Israeli capital, the Trump administration is showing signs of its intention to provide anti-tank missiles and possibly even the Javelin missile system to Ukrainian fascist forces in their fight against the Donbass separatists and, according to the State Department itself, Russia.

Earlier, the Trump administration had announced that it would be providing “lethal aid” to Ukraine, which the U.S. characterizes as “defensive” in nature. As The Hill reports,

The State Department confirmed that the U.S. had decided to provide Ukraine with defensive equipment. “The United States has decided to provide Ukraine enhanced defensive capabilities as part of our effort to help Ukraine build its long-term defense capacity, to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity, and to deter further aggression,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement. “U.S. assistance is entirely defensive in nature, and as we have always said, Ukraine is a sovereign country and has a right to defend itself. The United States remains committed to the Minsk agreements as the way forward in eastern Ukraine.” The Trump administration earlier this week signed off on a sale of lethal arms to Ukraine, a departure from the Obama administration. The administration approved the sale of Model M107A1 sniper systems and associated equipment to the country on Wednesday at a value of $41.5 million. The move drew swift praise from Russia hawks in Congress, including Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), who had urged the Obama administration to do more about Russian aggression into Ukraine.

Terrorist supporter and anti-POW activist John McCain predictably praised the move as well, but demanded that this step toward confrontation with Russia only be the first step.

Russia has responded strongly, condemning the move and stating that the United States is crossing the line.

“Washington is trying to present itself as a mediator,” Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said. “It is not a mediator at all, it is an accomplice in fomenting a war.”

“They have started talking about Javelin missile complexes ‘to begin with’. The question is: what’s next?” said Mr Ryabkov. “American weapons can lead to new victims in our neighbouring country, to which we cannot remain indifferent.”

To be clear, the Trump administration has approved the sale of “lethal weapons” to Ukraine. However, the jury is still out as to how far this aid will go. The administration’s language has been shadowy in regards to whether or not heavier weapons such as the Javelin anti-tank missile system will be shipped to Ukraine at some point in the future. The administration has yet to approve these missiles for sale but reports and the behavior of the Trump administration suggests such approvals are on their way.

Obviously, Trump’s move is a step toward greater conflict with Russia, who has been covertly supporting the Donbass separatists in their attempt to gain independence from Kiev. It is now very possible that unofficial Russian soldiers, operatives, and assets may be killed in Ukraine by American weapons, a drastic and grossly unnecessary escalation in a conflict that has seen fighting increase over the past few weeks.

“American weapons in the hands of Ukrainian soldiers are not for an offensive, but for a decisive rebuff of the aggressor, the protection of Ukrainian soldiers and civilians, as well as for effective self-defense,” said Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. “It is also a trans-Atlantic vaccination against the Russian virus of aggression.”

The crisis in Ukraine, however, was entirely instigated by the United States and NATO, an obvious attempt to interrupt Russian-Ukrainian relations and install a regime hostile to Russia in the place of Yanukovich. Russia responded defensively by annexing Crimea and covertly supporting Donbass separatists fighting against Nazi and fascist forces of Ukraine backed by the United States and other “Western” powers.

It has been well-known that American military mercenaries (aka contractors) like Blackwater have been operating in Ukraine for at least a year.

As RT reported in May, 2014,

About 400 elite mercenaries from the notorious US private security firm Academi (formerly Blackwater) are taking part in the Ukrainian military operation against anti-government protesters in southeastern regions of the country, German media reports. The Bild am Sonntag newspaper, citing a source in intelligence circles, wrote Sunday that Academi employees are involved in the Kiev military crackdown on pro-autonomy activists in near the town of Slavyansk, in the Donetsk region. On April 29, German Intelligence Service (BND) informed Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government about the mercenaries’ participation in the operation, the paper said, RIA Novosti reported. It is not clear who commands the private military contractors and pays for their services, however. In March, media reports appeared suggesting that the coup-imposed government in Kiev could have employed up to 300 mercenaries.That was before the new government launched a military operation against anti-Maidan activists, or “terrorists” as Kiev put it, in southeast Ukraine.

Sputnik also relates the activities of Blackwater/Academi fighters’ presence inside Ukraine. On December 31, 2014 the news agency reported,

Academi, formerly and more popularly known as Blackwater, is back in the news as reports are trickling in that they’ll train an “experimental battalion” of 550 Ukrainian soldiers in urban warfare next month. The source, who spoke to Russia’s ITAR-TASS news agency, specified that the $3.5 million training will include “marksmanship, operations by assault groups in urban conditions, close combat and combat and logistics support for the battalion”, areas of focus that Blackwater is intimately familiar with from its time in Iraq. In fact, if its deployment there is any indication, then it may be training Ukraine’s “experimental battalion” to carry out the same carnage in Donetsk in the future that Blackwater did in Baghdad in the past. It’s an open secret that the ‘ceasefire’ hasn’t’ ceased any firing on either side, and Kiev’s’ forces seem to be gearing up for a continuation of war. Urban warfare training won’t help them stop a mythical Russian invasion (likely to be fought more in the fields than the foyers if it did happen), but would definitely come in handy in subjugating the self-defense forces in Eastern Ukraine’s main cities.

Yet, while some may attempt to discount the presence of Blackwater mercenaries on the grounds of technicality since they are not official US troops, they would do well to remember that the United States has already committed a number of military personnel to Ukraine in the form of “advisers,” the famous designation that has preceded several of America’s quagmires. As Chuck Vinch wrote for the Military Times in June, 2014,

A small team of American military advisers will soon head to Ukraine to assess that embattled nation’s “mid- and long-term needs for defense reform,” a Pentagon official said Thursday. Pentagon spokeswoman Eileen Lainez said senior U.S. defense officials met with senior Ukrainian officials earlier this week to discuss “ways our countries could strengthen our long-term defense cooperation to help Ukraine build highly effective armed forces and defense institutions.”

The dispatch of “advising teams” to Ukraine was not just a one-time deal either. It was stated months after the initial announcement that the United States was going to continue its policy of sending personnel to act as “advisers” and provide training to the Ukrainian junta.

Still, others have called into question whether or not “advising” and training is all these individuals and teams are doing.

For instance, a video that surfaced recently taken in the eastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol seems to prove what many have suspected for some time – that US operatives are on the ground inside Ukraine assisting the junta army in their campaign of extermination of eastern Ukrainians. The video shows a Ukrainian journalist approaching a number of men in Ukrainian military uniforms and attempting to ask a question of what she thinks is a Ukrainian soldier. As she approaches the man, she asks in Ukrainian, “Tell me, what happened here?” to which he responds in perfect American English (no foreign accent), “Out of my face! Out of my face, please.”

Reports coming out of Ukraine also seem to demonstrate that the United States has already made its decision whether or not to provide Kiev with “lethal” assistance. For instance, an article entitled, “Militia DNR: Ukrainian army uses US missiles,” and published on the Russian website Life News Russia, reports that members of the DNR (Donetsk People’s Republic) militia have found shell fragments that do not belong to the Ukrainian military. Those armaments, according to the DNR militia members, belong to the United States.

The report states (please note the translation is very rough),

In the shelling Gorlovki Ukrainian military use American equipment. Proof of this channel information [was] provided [to] LifeNews [by the] Donetsk militia. In an exclusive interview, they told and shown, from which the security forces shelled the city.

As reported from the scene [by a] correspondent [from] LifeNews, January 31, the Ukrainian military fired [on the] Gorlovki Cathedral – [a] shell landed on the roof of the temple grounds in the refectory, with the result [being] that there was a fire. Later [,the] DNR militia found several fragments of shells that do not belong to Ukrainian artillery, and even more so do not use Soviet or post-Soviet military equipment. According to their hypothesis, the APU use weapons that belong] to NATO.

Deputy brigade commander [of the] DNR Army call sign “Biker” showed shells and said that it was after the shelling Ukrainian military militia are [inflicting upon] the DNR militia. “This is a special projectile 155-caliber self-propelled artillery of the M109 A1 American production, which is used by the NATO countries. On this apparatus is installed [a] bottom detonator. If it gets into the walls and get stuck in it, then he shall rend it easily. If it gets into the interior of the building, the blast wave will happen indoors.” It is these shells militia found after a fire in the building of the Cathedral, and these fragments are the main evidence that the temple has been under fire from NATO guns. In addition, during the shelling, Gorlovki militias are increasingly finding shells, which are analogous to the “Castle”, only the size of a smaller caliber than our arms, and is only 75 mm. “The following projectiles that we found a 75-caliber. They belong to the jet burst system, which is installed on all terrain vehicles – a more mobile system that can move easily through the streets of the city” – says militia Biker information. The brigade commander also addressed the presence of foreign troops fighting for the Kiev junta. He stated that “The presence of foreigners in their army and radio intercepts confirm our intelligence when we hear interceptions phrases in English and Polish.”

That the campaign against eastern Ukraine is actually a campaign of extermination of the eastern people is not exactly a well-kept secret either, except, of course, to the Western public.

Some of the evidence corroborating the claims of intentional targeting of civilians on the part of the Kiev regime was recently uncovered by Ren TV, a major Russian news network (privately owned). While covering a skirmish taking place in Ozeryanovka, the journalists got an up-front look at the artillery coordinates of the Ukrainian military. These coordinates were indeed civilian targets such as restaurants, cafes, and markets. The positions were abandoned after an assault by the Donbass militia who subsequently recovered the artillery coordinates and held them up for the camera to see.

The report, which can be seen in this video was transcribed by Eric Zuesse of Washington’s Blog. It states,

[29 January 2015] The journalists of Ren TV today received the first documentary evidence that residential areas of Donbass [the rebelling region of the former Ukraine; the farthest-east part of Ukraine, shown here in the darkest purple] are being targeted. Although Kiev may claim that ‘stray shells’ hit a hospital or a kindergarten, we have found on the front line that is being left behind by departing Ukrainian soldiers, artillery maps, where the targets were restaurants, cafeterias and shops. Here is an exclusive report by our correspondent Valentin Trushin from the former UAF’s [Ukrainian Armed Forces} trenches: This is a field near the village of Ozeryanovka, from which recently was a Ukrainian battery firing at Gorlovka: … [The rebel soldier says that many of these abandoned tanks and other weapons are undamaged, and ‘They will say tomorrow that Russia supplied them to us, but it’s actually their equipment that will be repaired if necessary but will be used at war against them.’ Views of Government-destroyed Gorlovka are shown.] … In the [rebel-]destroyed dugouts were found … notebooks of cannon commanders, maps. The documents show that shelling of the city [by the Government] was not random, but deliberate.The coordinates of the targets are shown. For examples, one is a restaurant, another a cafeteria or a market where no militiamen were stationed. … Here are their target-maps, … irrefutable evidence of war crimes.

In yet another interview that was transcribed by Zuesse and broadcast on the Hromandske TV, a pro-regime television station that is apparently funded by the United States and Dutch government as well as George Soros, it was openly stated that civilians and civilian infrastructure was being openly targeted by the Kiev fascists. The first interview is with Commander of the Ukrainian Government’s Volunteer ‘Shaktarksk’ Battalian, Ruslan Onishcenko. Onischenko states, “Our mission, being employees of the Ministry of the Interior, is to clean the cities, after the army has ‘worked’ this territory with aircraft, artillery and heavy military equipment. This is a normal tactical approach to warfare.”

Col. Vladimir Ruban Ret. was also interviewed by Hromadske where he seconded Onischenko’s sentiment. He said:

I want to offer the Ukrainian artillerists medals, to those who shell the city [Donetsk], the houses and the civilian population, … for they [artillerists] have deserved it [medals], both because of the accuracy and inaccuracy. … It’s one thing if attack groups or any mobile mortar troops drive through the city and shoot, … but if the artillery units fired from the airport [i.e., from the distance], then no one can claim that the separatists shoot themselves [i.e., that the people who are being killed in the city are victims of separatist troops mistakenly hitting passers-by when aiming at Government troops. He is saying that artillerists will clearly get the blame, whereas street-fighters can always blame the ‘terrorists.’]. … The shelling there is done as intimidation, … not just object destruction, but intimidation [to get the population to flee to nearby Russia]. The civilian population is intimidated by a chaotic bombardment of different objects. There are many shells that plug directly into the streets or vegetable gardens [and so make the very ground on which these people live terrifying to them].

The interview continues:

INTERVIEWER: This refers to those that didn’t explode? ANSWER: Yes, … there are many of those, … shells that fail to detonate. But Gorlowka has been fortunate to have not yet been totally eradicated from the face of the earth, along with the civilian population. INTERVIEWER: You mean that the city is bombarded violently? ANSWER: Gorlowka was shelled by our troops, [even] as I went there for the prisoner exchange. Although it was known that I was there, they [our troops] kept up the bombardment of Gorlowka.

Clearly, the US and NATO mission inside Ukraine, much like its mission inside Syria, has nothing to do with concern over human rights, democracy, or the lives of civilians. In fact, quite the opposite is the case.

The US and NATO are interested in their geopolitical positions, the encircling of Russia, and world hegemony. If civilians get in the way, then civilians will be eliminated.

To be sure, the Russians have their own “elite” fighters operating inside Ukraine as well. However, it should be noted that, while both sides are playing geopolitical games, it was the United States that initiated the Euromaidan color revolution, the putsch of neo-Nazis and fascists, and the push to include Ukraine as a NATO member.

But this, of course, is what makes the game so dangerous.

The potential for a collision between two nuclear powers is one that concerns every human being and every living thing upon this planet. The United States and Russia hold the power to eradicate a significant portion of the population in a single blast and much of what remains in the fallout. Thus, the decision on to arm the Ukrainian junta is undoubtedly one that must be opposed.

Brandon Turbeville writes for Activist Post – article archive here – He is the author of seven books, Codex Alimentarius — The End of Health Freedom, 7 Real Conspiracies, Five Sense Solutions and Dispatches From a Dissident, volume 1 and volume 2, The Road to Damascus: The Anglo-American Assault on Syria, The Difference it Makes: 36 Reasons Why Hillary Clinton Should Never Be President, and Resisting The Empire: The Plan To Destroy Syria And How The Future Of The World Depends On The Outcome. Turbeville has published over 1000 articles on a wide variety of subjects including health, economics, government corruption, and civil liberties. Brandon Turbeville’s radio show Truth on The Tracks can be found every Monday night 9 pm EST at UCYTV. His website is BrandonTurbeville.com He is available for radio and TV interviews. Please contact activistpost (at) gmail.com.

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