~NightSky

By Michael Snyder

The war in Ukraine has just moved to an entirely new level, but most Americans do not even realize that we are closer to “nuclear Armageddon” than ever. Very early on the morning of May 10th, Russian forces began to pour across Ukraine’s border north of Kharkiv. In the short-term this will enable the Russians to create a buffer zone around the Belgorod region and force Ukraine to pull desperately needed forces away from the eastern front. But eventually I believe that the Russians fully intend to take Kharkiv, and that would be an absolutely devastating blow. Needless to say, losing Ukraine’s second largest city is not an option for Ukraine’s western backers, and they are determined to do whatever it takes to keep that from happening.

It would be hard to overstate the importance of what we just witnessed. Russian forces have come across the border in an area that is far away from any other current conflict zone. UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron says that Russia has basically “invaded [Ukraine] again”…

A Ukrainian regional official insisted Russia’s progress was not yet “significant” but admitted ground fighting in the area was spreading. Meanwhile, speaking on British television, UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron acknowledged it was an “extremely dangerous moment,” adding that Russia had effectively “invaded [Ukraine] again.”

According to CBS News, the Russians were able to capture five villages on Saturday and four more on Sunday…

Evacuation teams worked non-stop throughout the day to take residents, most of whom were elderly, out of harm’s way.

At least 4,000 civilians have fled the Kharkiv region since Friday, when Moscow’s forces launched the operation, Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said in a social media statement. Heavy fighting raged Sunday along the northeast front line, where Russian forces attacked 27 settlements in the past 24 hours, he said.

The Russian Defense Ministry said on Sunday that its forces had captured four villages, in addition to five villages reported to have been seized the day before.

It is being estimated that the Russians are in control of about 100 square kilometers in the border area, and this advance is going to force Ukrainian leaders to transfer forces from other areas…

Russian Federation forces have penetrated the defenses of the Ukrainian Armed Forces from 3 to 5 km in Kharkov region, with a control zone in the border area to 110 square kilometers.

This will have a ripple effect in all the 600-mile-long frontline. As soon as Ukrainian top General Syrsky begins to transfer units to the northern regions of Kharkov and Sumy, the front in Donetsk will fold, and Chasov Yar, Kurakhovo and Krasnoarmeysk are expected to instantly collapse.

Ukrainian Armed Forces in fact have withdrawn some of the units of the 42nd Mechanized Infantry Brigade from the front near Chasov Yar and are hastily transferring troops north.

Of course the Ukrainians don’t have enough soldiers anywhere at this stage.

The Russians have been steadily gaining ground all over the map in recent weeks, and over the weekend significant gains were made near Chasiv Yar and Krasnohorivka…

It is not just in Ukraine’s north that Kyiv’s armed forces are losing ground.

DeepStateMap also shows Russia making further gains in two other key areas, most notably towards the town of Chasiv Yar, which has become an important forward military position, and further south in the industrial town of Krasnohorivka, where Russian troops are now in control of the town’s main facility, a brick factory.

Ukraine is clearly losing the war, and western leaders are getting desperate.

When asked about the new Russian offensive near Kharkiv, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Face the Nation that we “are not going anywhere”…

“We’ve been providing the systems to do that, but it’s a challenging moment. We are not going anywhere, and neither are more than some 50 countries that are supporting Ukraine. That will continue and if [Russian President Vladimir] Putin thinks he can outlast Ukraine, outlast its supporters. He’s wrong.”

The U.S. is going to continue to pour billions of dollars into Ukraine, but everyone can see that isn’t going to be enough to alter the trajectory of the conflict.

The only way that Ukraine will be able to win is for NATO to intervene directly, and that is dangerously close to becoming a reality.

For example, politicians in Germany actually want to use NATO air defense systems based in Poland and Romania “to protect the western regions of Ukraine from Russian drones”…

There is a proposal to use NATO air defense systems deployed on the eastern borders of the Alliance to protect the western regions of Ukraine from Russian drones. In particular, Poland and Romania could do this.

This idea is supported by representatives of some German political parties, including the ruling Free Democratic Party (FDP) and the Union 90/Greens.

According to the newspaper, the idea of using NATO air defense systems deployed in Romania and Poland and operated by NATO forces to shoot down Russian drones over Western Ukraine was proposed by Nico Lange, an expert at the Munich Security Council (MSC) and former NATO Deputy Secretary General, and was suggested by Lieutenant General Horst Heinrich Braus.

According to Lange, this would create a 70-kilometer safe zone on the Ukrainian border. This could relieve Ukrainian air defense forces in other parts of the front.

It is also being reported that the Germans are now considering conscripting all 18-year-olds…

Germany is considering introducing conscription for all 18-year-olds, as it looks to boost its troop numbers in the face of Russian military aggression.

Military planners in Berlin are in the final stages of discussing three options, two of which involve a form of conscription, according to leaked plans reported in the German media.

I was stunned when I saw that.

I don’t think that young people in Germany will be too thrilled about being forced to go into the military.

But this is where we are at.

NATO really is on the brink of a hot war with Russia.

Speaking of NATO, the largest military exercises that the alliance has organized since the Cold War are being conducted right now…

State-of-the-art attack helicopters today swooped in a show of force against Vladimir Putin for NATO’s biggest military exercise since the Cold War.

British and US troops performed a land assault in Estonia, amid the threat posed by the Kremlin. They were supported by two of our Apache AH-64E attack helicopters, making their debut in an alliance exercise.

Explosions rang out during the exercise, with troops simulating a battlefield scenario of seizing territory. Over two years on from Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the wargame took place under Exercise Swift Response.

During the early stages of 2024, there has been a lot of chatter about the possibility of western troops being sent to Ukraine.

If that happens, that will put us just one step away from nuclear war.

What would you do if you were the president of the United States and you just learned that the Russians have launched their nukes?

Whoever is in the White House when that day arrives will only have a very limited amount of time to decide…

Once the president learns from his nuclear command and control team that he must act, he has only six minutes to respond. To “respond” means responding with our own nuclear weapons. President Ronald Reagan lamented in his memoir that six minutes is an irrational amount of time to “decide whether to release Armageddon! …Six minutes to decide how to respond to a blip on a radar scope…How could anyone apply reason at a time like that?”

Yet, the president must respond anyway. In this six-minute window, the president must decide how many nuclear weapons to use and which targets to strike—while also being briefed on estimates of how many tens of thousands, or millions of people, would be instantly incinerated, with an almost equal number dying days, weeks, and months later from radiation poisoning. All this to consider under a literal ticking clock.

As I keep warning my readers, the Russians have been feverishly preparing to fight a nuclear war for many years and we have not.

If the Russians launch missiles from ultra-quiet submarines parked just off our shores, the nukes will start hitting before they can even get the president out of bed.

It is imperative that we avoid such a scenario, and that is why I have been pushing for a peaceful solution in Ukraine for a long time.

Unfortunately, no peaceful solution is even being considered.

Leaders on both sides are absolutely obsessed with “winning” this war, and that means that “nuclear Armageddon” is getting closer with each passing day.