Ex-CIA Officer Says Ukraine A ‘Sinking Ship’ After NYT Highlights Recruitment Crisis

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky issued a customary speech to the nation wherein he advanced a vision of optimism even as the already war-ravaged country is under Russian bombs and drones. Putin has said Monday that these aerial operations will “intensify”. 

Zelensky vowed to see Ukraine transformed into an arms production powerhouse, saying in the Sunday televised speech that “next year, the enemy will feel the wrath of domestic production.”

“Our weapons, our equipment, artillery, our shells, our drones, our naval ‘greetings’ to the enemy and at least a million Ukrainian FPV drones,” he added. “All of which we will generously use… On land, in the sky, and, of course, at sea.”

Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP

Speaking of the West-sponsored pilot training program, which is happening in northern Europe and in America, Zelensky claimed that Ukrainian trainees are “already mastering” F-16 jets and that they’ll “definitely” soon be seen in Ukraine’s skies to that “our enemies can certainly see what our real wrath is.”

Friday witnessed one of the largest missile and drone strikes carried out by Russian forces since the war began, but in the wake of this Zelensky said that no matter how many “the enemy” launches, Ukrainians “will still rise.”

But by 2024’s end, will there still be a unified Ukraine to speak of? 

Interestingly, retired CIA intelligence analyst and former State Department official Larry Johnson has recently engaged in an interview with Redacted News wherein he painted a picture of desperation among Kiev officials, likening the country to a ship which is fast sinking, akin to the Titanic. Watch:

NYT finally reports: “‘People Snatchers’: Ukraine’s Recruiters Use Harsh Tactics to Fill Ranks. Ukrainian men are reporting incidents of wrongful draft notices, unprofessional medical commissions and coercive mobilization tactics.

With Ukraine’s military facing mounting deaths… pic.twitter.com/dmeWVZf31K

— Ivan Katchanovski (@I_Katchanovski) December 16, 2023

“The fact that the New York Times is now reporting this tells you how bad the situation is. They’ve realized that this party is over,” Johnson told Redacted host Clayton Morris in the weekend interview, referencing this NYT report.

“It goes to part of another story that came out last week about members of the Rada – the legislature. They’re trying to get out of Ukraine. So to get out of Ukraine at the border you’ve got to show a passport. So no passport, no leaving,” Johnson said. 

“The fact that the Ukrainian legislators recognize that the end is near, which is why they’re trying to get out, it’s like that scene from the movie Titanic. The passengers are moving one direction, the rats are moving the opposite way. That’s what’s going on in Ukraine right now. The rats are heading for the lifeboats.”

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Below is a key, damning section from the fresh NY Times reporting…

Recruiters have confiscated passports, taken people from their jobs and, in at least one case, tried to send a mentally disabled person to military training, according to lawyers, activists and Ukrainian men who have been subject to coercive tactics. Videos of soldiers shoving people into cars and holding men against their will in recruiting centers are surfacing with increasing frequency on social media and in local news reports.

The harsh tactics are being aimed not just at draft dodgers but at men who would ordinarily be exempt from service — a sign of the steep challenges Ukraine’s military faces maintaining troop levels in a war with high casualties, and against a much larger enemy.

Lawyers and activists say the aggressive methods go well beyond the scope of recruiters’ authority and in some cases are illegal. They point out that recruiters, unlike law enforcement officers, are not empowered to detain civilians, let alone force them into conscription.