Russia Massing up to 700,000 Troops on Ukraine's Borders for a Massive Winter Offensive Designed to Force Kyiv to Sign Peace Agreement

Meanwhile, General Keith Kellogg reveals Ukrainian officials told him that Ukraine has lost 100,000 troops killed in action which is likely about three times more troops than Russia has lost thus far

Russia’s Massive Winter Offensive Expected to Begin Next Month

On January 18th, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that the purpose of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine was to end the war and protect Russian citizens living in the Russian annexed territories of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhya and Kherson. CIA Director William Burns traveled to Kyiv shortly before then to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to warn him about Russia’s impending winter/spring offensive which Ukrainian defense officials have stated is likely to begin next month. Burns warned that Russia is readying a huge number of troops consisting of as many as 700,000 troops on Ukraine's border to spearhead Russia’s massive winter offensive which I predicted back in September that Ukrainian Ministry of Defense officials are predicting will likely occur sometime next month. The purpose of this massive offensive is reportedly to force Ukraine to agree to Russia’s offered peace terms and end the conflict which Russia has been trying but failing to end through diplomatic negotiations since the first week of the invasion. These peace talks which were initially welcomed by Zelensky, culminated in a tentative peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine negotiated in Istanbul on March 31st which Ukraine repudiated scarcely over a week later under pressure from the U.S. and British governments.

Putin reportedly put Russian Chief of the General Staff, General of the Russian Federation Gerasimov, in personal charge of the Russian winter offensive so he could lead a Second Great Patriotic War to defeat Ukraine and force it to make peace with Russia. Reportedly, he asked to be appointed as Supreme Commander of the Russian Group of Forces in Ukraine so he could personally ensure victory over Ukraine.  I think it is also worth noting that Gerasimov is the author of Russia's’ escalate to de-escalate’ nuclear doctrine which advocates the use of Russian tactical nuclear weapons to ensure Russian victory against nations invading Russian territory. Given the fact that Ukraine has been invading and occupying annexed Russian territory since October, Russian nuclear escalation is definitely an option on the table for the Kremlin. However, Russian leaders have repeatedly stated that they view the war in Ukraine to be a war between Russia and NATO which is using Ukraine as a proxy to fight them. Accordingly, they say that Russia’s nuclear threats are not aimed at Ukraine but at rather at the US and its NATO allies without whose massive financial and military support Ukraine would have accepted Russia’s peace terms within mere weeks after the war began. On January 24th, Germany’s Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock, confirmed Russia’s suspicions when she publicly declared, “we are fighting a war against Russia” during remarks she gave at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Russia responded by declaring that Russia considers any nation that sends tanks to Ukraine to be a direct participant in the war, thus justifying potential Russian retaliatory strikes on the U.S. and the other NATO nations which are providing them.