Heading towards World War III?

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson offered President Volodymyr Zelensky a major training program for Ukrainian forces, during his surprise trip to Kiev on Friday.

During his visit, Johnson revealed his whereabouts by posting a photo of himself and Zelensky with a caption “Mr President, Volodymyr, It is good to be in Kyiv again.” The prime minister did not come to the capital of Ukraine empty-handed: he brought Zelensky a gift, Robert Hardman’s book ‘Queen Of Our Times.’

www.rt.com/russia/557363-uk-major-military-training

Two American nationals have told RT that they surrendered to Russian forces after being abandoned by their Ukrainian commanders. The pair told veterans like them to “think twice” before making the trip to Ukraine.

Alexander Drueke and Andy Huynh spoke to RT from a detention center in the Donbass People’s Republic, a day after The Daily Telegraph reported that they had been taken prisoner. The British newspaper described them as being the first American citizens captured while fighting for Ukraine, and Washington has vowed to secure their return.

The two veterans – Drueke served two tours with the US Army in Iraq while Huynh worked in logistics for the Marine Corps in Okinawa, Japan – were captured just hours after being sent to the front lines near Kharkov last week. Under the command of Ukraine’s secret police, the SBU, Huynh said that the pair were sent to cover a Ukrainian retreat.

“We were told to post up on a little overlook,” Huynh recalled, describing how he was armed with a Czech CZ rifle and a Rocket-Propelled Grenade (RPG) launcher. Columns of Ukrainans retreated past their point, followed by armored vehicles and a tank belonging to either Russia or the DPR.

“When [the tank] shot the first time, I was readying my RPG,” Huynh said. He claimed that the tank shot at a different position moments later, and thinking it was firing upon him, Huynh shouldered his weapon and fired a rocket at the vehicle, but missed. With the Ukrainian troops gone, Huynh and Drueke “ran away and hid in a fighting hole,” as Russian vehicles and foot patrols passed by.

“We were initially supposed to do [reconnaissance] with drones,” Drueke told RT, “but when we got to our location there was already a battle of sorts in progress. Our plans changed…and one teammate and I were left in the woods.”

When the coast was clear, the Americans set off walking through a forest for several hours before Drueke said that they “took a wrong turn or a misstep and made it into a village. We were approached by a Russian patrol and immediately surrendered to them.”

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Drueke, who left the US military in 2014, initially set out for Ukraine without a clear plan. Flying to Poland with the intention of doing humanitarian work, he nevertheless brought military gear and said that he was prepared to fight, even if military service “was not the be-all and end-all.” He said that while he was distrustful of American news coverage, he believed that Ukraine’s struggle was being portrayed in a way that “would appeal to veterans like myself.”

Now, with Ukrainian shells falling on civilian targets in the majority-Russian speaking city of Donetsk, he told RT that he realized “there are two sides to this story and I was not getting one of them.”

Huynh said that he’d traveled to Ukraine in April and contacted a Polish priest overseeing humanitarian relief, but soon made contacts in Ukraine’s ‘International Legion.’ After joining the legion, he left shortly afterwards, citing corruption and disorganization within the ranks.

“Commanders were very corrupt and troops were very ill-prepared and supplied,” he said. Drueke also began his duty in Ukraine with the legion, where he said he was “dissatisfied with the caliber of person they had there.”

Both men traveled the country looking for a more competent unit to join, before ending up in the so-called ‘Task Force Baguette’ in eastern Ukraine, a foreign mercenary unit consisting mainly of American and French veterans. The unit confirmed on Wednesday that Drueke and Huynh – referred to by their nicknames ‘Bama’ and ‘Hate’ – had been captured.

“Watching the propaganda from the West, it says how glorious all Ukraine is, and when I came here I saw how not true that was,” Huynh told RT. “The Ukrainians say they’re the best, but from what I’ve seen, I’ve seen a lot of corruption.”

Drueke ended his interview with a warning. “Fellow veterans like me who are thinking of coming: don’t.”

“Think really long and hard about why you’re doing it and what can happen, and if this is really your fight,” he said. “If I make it out of this situation, I have a lot of things to think about.”

www.rt.com/news/557340-us-fighters-captured-ukraine

The White House has put plans to sell four MQ-1C Gray Eagle combat drones to Kiev on hold due to fears that the technology could fall into Russian hands, Reuters reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.

According to the report, the sale was initially approved by the White House, but later flagged by the Pentagon’s Defense Technology Security Administration (DTSA), which is tasked with keeping high-value technology out of enemy hands.

The officials are said to be concerned that the drone’s radar and surveillance equipment could be captured by the Russians. The issue had been overlooked, but came up during a meeting at the Pentagon late last week, Reuters said.

A source was quoted as saying that the radar and sensors could now potentially be replaced for something “less sophisticated” in order for the sale to go through, but that could take months to complete.

The Gray Eagle is the US Army’s newer version of the MQ-1 Predator attack drone, which has been widely used for airstrikes in the Middle East. Like the Predator, the Gray Eagle can carry Hellfire missiles.

www.rt.com/news/557372-us-drones-ukraine-sale

The lavish military aid provided to Kiev by Washington could result in the conflict in Ukraine turning into World War III, former US President Donald Trump has said.

“We have a war in Ukraine... and perhaps it’s going to lead to World War III because of the way we’re handling it,” Trump warned in a speech at a religious conservative conference in Nashville, Tennessee on Friday.

“We just gave $40 billion on top of another $16 billion. So, we’re in for $56 billion,” he said regarding the aid packages the Biden administration has already approved for Ukraine amid the conflict with Russia.

“But when you look at Europe – and Germany, and France and all these other countries – they’ve given a tiny fraction, a tiny, tiny fraction of what we’re giving. We’re giving $56 billion and they’re giving a few billion dollars. And they’re the ones who are affected much more so,” he said.

www.rt.com/news/557380-trump-ukraine-aid-putin

The head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council (NSDC), Alexey Danilov, has called out presidential adviser Mikhail Podoliak for making statements on behalf of the military.

Earlier this week, Podoliak unveiled an arms wish list for the West, saying Kiev needs 300 multiple-launch rocket systems, 500 tanks, and 1,000 howitzers to achieve heavy weapons parity with Russia.

On Saturday, in an interview with news outlet Liga, Danilov stressed that only senior military officials can make statements like this, questioning why Podoliak “is now the voice of the army.”

“I don’t understand why Podoliak makes such statements. Is he a representative of the General Staff? I only saw him on the stumps of Yanukovich,” Danilov said. By ‘stumps’, he was apparently referring to the stump path in former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich’s country residence. In 2011, Yanukovich showed off the residence to a group of journalists, telling them that every morning for half an hour, he would run up and down the stumps – comments which inspired numerous internet memes.

www.rt.com/russia/557405-ukraine-lashes-military-zelensky

The head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council (NSDC), Alexey Danilov, has called out presidential adviser Mikhail Podoliak for making statements on behalf of the military.

Earlier this week, Podoliak unveiled an arms wish list for the West, saying Kiev needs 300 multiple-launch rocket systems, 500 tanks, and 1,000 howitzers to achieve heavy weapons parity with Russia.

On Saturday, in an interview with news outlet Liga, Danilov stressed that only senior military officials can make statements like this, questioning why Podoliak “is now the voice of the army.”

“I don’t understand why Podoliak makes such statements. Is he a representative of the General Staff? I only saw him on the stumps of Yanukovich,” Danilov said. By ‘stumps’, he was apparently referring to the stump path in former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich’s country residence. In 2011, Yanukovich showed off the residence to a group of journalists, telling them that every morning for half an hour, he would run up and down the stumps – comments which inspired numerous internet memes.

www.rt.com/russia/557405-ukraine-lashes-military-zelensky