Important Takeaways:
- Russia producing three times more artillery shells than US and Europe for Ukraine
- Russia appears on track to produce nearly three times more artillery munitions than the US and Europe, a key advantage ahead of what is expected to be another Russian offensive in Ukraine later this year.
- Russia is producing about 250,000 artillery munitions per month, or about 3 million a year, according to NATO intelligence estimates of Russian defense production shared with CNN, as well as sources familiar with Western efforts to arm Ukraine. Collectively, the US and Europe have the capacity to generate only about 1.2 million munitions annually to send to Kyiv, a senior European intelligence official told CNN.
- “What we are in now is a production war,” a senior NATO official told CNN. “The outcome in Ukraine depends on how each side is equipped to conduct this war.”
- Officials say Russia is currently firing around 10,000 shells a day, compared to just 2,000 a day from the Ukrainian side. The ratio is worse in some places along the 600-mile front, according to a European intelligence official
- Russia is running artillery factories “24/7” on rotating 12-hour shifts, the NATO official said. About 3.5 million Russians now work in the defense sector, up from somewhere between 2 and 2.5 million before the war. Russia is also importing ammunition: Iran sent at least 300,000 artillery shells last year — “probably more than that,” the official said — and North Korea provided at least 6,700 containers of ammunition carrying millions of shells.
- Russia has “put everything they have in the game,” the intelligence official said. “Their war machine works in full gear.”
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Important Takeaways:
- Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that the West threatens nuclear war if the alliance sends troops to Ukraine.
- During his State of the Union address on Thursday, Putin claimed NATO and the US are preparing to “strike Russian territory”.
- He added: “They must realize that we also have weapons that can hit targets on their territory. All this really threatens a conflict with the use of nuclear weapons and the destruction of civilization. Don’t they get that?”
- Putin also claimed that his new RS-28 Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile is ready for the Russian military to use.
- With Putin’s saber-rattling reaching new levels, the map below shows the 14 locations in the US Russia would likely target in a nuclear war.
- The Pentagon
- Naval Station Norfolk
- Comfort Suites Kings Bay Naval Base Area
- Barksdale Air Force Base
- Whiteman Air Force Base
- United States Strategic Command
- VLF Array Lualualei
- Kirtland Air Force Base
- 21st Force Support Squadron
- Warren Air Force Base
- Minot Air Force Base
- Hill Air Force Base
- Malmstrom Air Force Base
- Naval Radio Station Jim Creek
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Important Takeaways:
- Moment Ukrainian drones hit $65million Putin warship, causing ‘significant damage’ in fireball explosion as bridge linking Crimea to mainland ‘also comes under attack’
- This is the astonishing moment one of Putin’s most modern warships was ‘hit and sunk’ by a devastating Ukrainian drone strike overnight.
- The $65mn Sergey Kotov, which only came into service in 2022, was reportedly struck by an exploding kamikaze sea drone attack near Feodosia, in occupied Crimea.
- Footage purports to show the moment of the major explosion in darkness close to the coast.
- The vessel normally has a crew of 80 – and the fate of those on board remains unclear.
- Andriy Yermak, President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff, said on Telegram on Tuesday that ‘The Russian Black Sea Fleet is a symbol of occupation. It cannot be in the Ukrainian Crimea,’ in an apparent reference to the attack.
- It came as the £3mn Crimean Bridge – the main connecting link between Russia and the annexed territory – also fell under sustained attack, causing at least nine hours of traffic disruption.
- There was no official response from the Russian defense ministry.
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Important Takeaways:
- Inflation, global ‘sustainability’ push a potential death sentence for US Agriculture, farmers warn
- American liberals who join their global counterparts in applauding the acclaim of “sustainability,” among other interests, are ignoring the damage their policies are already wreaking on U.S. agriculture, farmers told Fox News.
- Globalist “green” policies as well as inflation and rising costs have led to thinner herds, and in some instances, foreclosure or shuttering of farms altogether, bringing with them a potential domestic food crisis, they said.
- “Farmers are going out of business every day,” said John Boyd Jr., founder of the Black Farmers of America.
- “What’s happening is America’s beef cattle producers are depleting their herds. So they’re not having more calves so they can multiply.”
- Boyd said there has been a one billion pound decrease in U.S. beef production over the past year, warning it is an impending crisis that every American could discover one day at their grocer or butcher.
- He noted the feds are keen on financially aiding farmers abroad, particularly in war-torn Ukraine, but have done little to help American agriculture.
- “We have farmers facing foreclosure. And the USDA will not stop farm foreclosures in this country for direct loans, guaranteed loans and other agricultural lenders,” he said.
- “And I’ve made that request on your network many times,” added Boyd, who previously but unsuccessfully dipped his toe in the political waters himself in 2000, when he faced off as a Democrat against then-Rep. Virgil Goode, I-Va.
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Important Takeaways:
- British and French Troops ON THE GROUND in Ukraine; Operating Cruise Missiles to attack Russian Troops
- Shocking revelations from the British Press reveal the British General Staff, led by Admiral Tony Radakin, directly participated in the attack on Russian Black Sea Fleet ships, and that German Chancellor Olaf Scholtz confirmed British and French troops are in Ukraine operating Cruise missiles to hit Russian targets.
- Russian reaction to these revelations has been blunt: “This proves Britain and France have attacked Russia; we have the right to respond militarily” said one high ranking Russian official.
- On Monday, he said that German soldiers could not follow the lead of their British and French allies in “the way of target control and accompanying target control.”
- By saying that, Scholtz revealed that French and British troops are, in fact, controlling the targeting and guidance-to-target of weapons (like cruise missiles) and are thus responsible for Russian targets being hit!
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Important Takeaways:
- German chancellor Olaf Scholz has been accused of a “flagrant abuse of intelligence” for divulging details of British aid for Ukrainian forces.
- Scholz said Germany will not be sending Kyiv Taurus, Berlin’s version of the Storm Shadow missile, pointing to a risk of his country becoming directly involved in the war, referring to the UK and French assistance to Ukraine.
- On Monday, he said that German soldiers could not follow the lead of their British and French allies in “the way of target control and accompanying target control”.
- “This is a flagrant abuse of intelligence deliberately designed to distract from Germany’s reluctance to arm Ukraine with its own long-range missile system,” said Tobias Ellwood, the former chairman of the Commons defense committee.
- Rishi Sunak on Tuesday confirmed the UK government has a “small number” of soldiers deployed inside Ukraine but added that Britain has no plans for a large-scale deployment of troops to the war-hit nation.
- “Beyond the small number of personnel, we do have in the country supporting the armed forces of Ukraine, we haven’t got any plans for large-scale deployment,” the PM’s spokesperson told reporters, adding that large numbers of Ukrainian troops were being trained in Britain and London was supporting Kyiv with equipment and supplies.
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Important Takeaways:
- NATO will likely have to directly engage with Russian aggressive expansion if Moscow emerges victorious in the war against Ukraine, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said at a congressional hearing on Feb. 29.
- Austin stated, “Putin won’t stop with Ukraine; he will continue to push forward and attack the sovereign territory of his neighbors.”
- “If you are in the Baltics, you’re very concerned you might be next,” the secretary said.
- “They understand Putin and his capabilities. And frankly, if Ukraine falls, I genuinely believe NATO will be fighting Russia.”
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Important Takeaways:
- Biden announces 500 sanctions against Russia as payback for war, Navalny
- Biden said the sanctions are payback for Mr. Navalny’s death in an Arctic prison and designed to coincide with the second anniversary of Mr. Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine.
- “These sanctions will target individuals connected to Navalny’s imprisonment as well as Russia’s financial sector, defense industrial base, procurement networks and sanctions evaders across multiple continents,” Mr. Biden said. “They will ensure Putin pays an even steeper price for his aggression abroad and repression at home.”
- Biden also said he is imposing 100 export restrictions on entities that are providing “backdoor” support for Russia’s war effort.
- The U.S. and Western nations have imposed crippling sanctions on Russia over its war on Ukraine, only to see Moscow find end-runs around the restrictions or new global partners to keep its economy afloat.
- The president scolded the Republican-led House for failing to take up a Senate-passed supplemental bill that includes $60 billion in aid for Ukraine.
- The U.S. has provided more than $75 billion already. Some lawmakers say there is no clear plan for a Ukrainian victory so it doesn’t make sense to throw more American treasure at the effort or to help more Ukrainian soldiers to die in what is a never-ending stalemate.
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Important Takeaways:
- UN Report: Global hunger numbers rose to as many as 828 million in 2021
- According to a United Nations report that provides fresh evidence that the world is moving further away from its goal of ending hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition in all its forms by 2030.
- The numbers paint a grim picture:
- As many as 828 million people were affected by hunger in 2021 – 46 million people more from a year earlier and 150 million more from 2019.
- Around 2.3 billion people in the world (29.3%) were moderately or severely food insecure in 2021 – 350 million more compared to before the outbreak of the COVID 19 pandemic. Nearly 924 million people (11.7% of the global population) faced food insecurity at severe levels, an increase of 207 million in two years.
- Looking forward, projections are that nearly 670 million people (8% of the world population) will still be facing hunger in 2030 – even if a global economic recovery is taken into consideration
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Important Takeaways:
- NATO Must ‘Wake Up’ to Putin’s Trap, Russia’s Neighbor Warns
- Gathered at the Munich Security Conference in southern Germany this weekend, the mood among Western leaders was notably subdued. The elation of Ukraine’s survival and subsequent battlefield victories of 2022 are now distant in the rearview mirror. Ahead lies an open-ended bloody conflict, in which a Ukrainian victory—as set out by Kyiv—appears increasingly ambitious.
- Lativa, like its fellow Baltic neighbors, has been in the vanguard of pushing for greater aid for Ukraine and harsher measures on Russia. Latvia has donated more than 1 percent of its GDP to assist Ukraine’s defense, and Riga is also among the top NATO military spending in GDP terms.
- Latvia’s Prime Minister Evika Silina said “Such a regime as Putin’s regime, he is using our own values against us, our own tools against us, our own international treaties against us,” she said. “They know it’s our weakness.”
- “We have to remember that we are policy makers, we can change our rules, but still remain true to the same values. It is very important to remember that.”
- “We are the front runners, we are at the front line,” Silina said. Other NATO allies are warning that the alliance faces a resurgent Russian military threat within less than a decade, despite Moscow’s mauling in Ukraine.
- “I cannot say there is a three- or five-year timeline for the threat, but we understand,” Silina said to those warnings. “We see Ukraine winning. But yes, after this, Russia will again gain capabilities to attack someone else. And it could be five years, it could be three years, it depends which tools they will decide to use.”
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