The secret weapon Ukraine and its allies have in the war with Russia
Time means something different in a war zone. It is more precious, more tortuous, more valuable, and more treacherous.
Ukrainian soldiers take positions outside a military facility in the capitol city of Kyiv. (Photo: Emilio Morenatti/Associated Press) ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
How long is a night when you are huddled beneath a blanket on a subway station floor, holding your baby in your arms as missiles and bombs reduce the city over your head to rubble?
How long is a day when there is no water, no food, no electricity and no escape?
Time means something different in a war zone. It is more precious, more tortuous, more valuable, and more treacherous.
While time is seemingly stretched out to eternity in the lives of Ukrainian civilians who are being targeted ― illegally, according the rules of the Geneva Convention ― it is also the most important weapon Ukraine and its allies supplying its war effort have against Russia and Vladimir Putin.
All indications are that time is taking its toll on the morale of the Russia military. As body bags get shipped home with no adequate explanation from the government, the Russian people beginning to wonder if they are being told the truth about the war. As time has ground on in the war, Ukraine has first fought Russia to a stalemate and now appears to be going on the offensive, forcing the Russian military to take defensive positions, rather than making advances on their objectives.
Efforts on the part of Ukraine’s allies, including the United States, have given the besieged nation an advantage in time. It all began under President Donald J. Trump when he took office two years after the illegal annexation of the Crimean region of Ukraine by Putin’s forces.
Trump asked the Pentagon to find ways to strengthen the Ukrainian military. Though the army fought bravely, it was outmanned, outgunned and overwhelmed by Russia’s surprise advance into the Black Sea province that the Russian Navy now uses as a military harbor. They are apparently intending to rebuild the old Soviet submarine base at Sevastopol, also on the coast of Crimea.
In order to negate that strategic advantage, the Pentagon came up with an old but tried and true weapon in the U.S. arsenal ― the U.S. Army Green Berets.
An anonymous U.S. Army Green Beret trainer providing expert training in tactics and strategy someone over the last five years in Ukraine. (Photo: Johan Spartz/Ukraine Military News) _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
While the Navy SEALS get the most attention for their secret, behind-enemy-lines operations, the Army's Green Berets are fanned out across the world helping armies prepare for wars similar to the one now being fought in Ukraine. This work is typically done quietly, for obvious reasons.
"Ukraine was taken very seriously by Special Forces," retired Green Beret Sgt. Maj. Martin Moore told America’s Conservative Voice. “They immediately set upon a great effort to protect to Ukraine, to provide training. There's nobody better at training than Green Berets. These are people that can teach."
The Green Berets are what is known as “force multipliers” in that they improve the tactics and strategies of the various military organizations they train. They improve the combat effectiveness of those armies, not by emphasizing raids and covert operations but by having an unparalleled understanding of the regions in which they operate.
That is what they did for the Ukrainian military. Arriving in mid-2016, they analyzed the terrain and microenvironments all over Ukraine. They developed defensive strategies for each region and taught them to the military units that would be tasked with defending them. It is not an easy mission, but it is one the Green Beret take very seriously.
Green Berets are required to learn a foreign language as part of their training and are constantly trained in the political, economic and cultural complexities of the regions in which they are assigned to operate. This unique skill set allows them to partner with foreign forces for training and at times to fight alongside them, though that is not happening in Ukraine ― yet.
It is up to Putin whether that becomes necessary.
Those skills have been put to use in Ukraine with Green Berets and members of the Army's National Guard advising and training Ukrainian forces at Yavoriv Combat Training Center in western Ukraine. It's the same facility Russia attacked with rockets on March 13, killing 35. The Americans had already left, vacating the facility and moving troops deployed there to Germany in February.
Anticipating the Russians would use their standard blitzkreig tactics in attempting to overrun Ukraine, U.S. Green Beret Special Forces trained the Ukrainian Army in moderized guerrila warfare tactics, which have worked brilliantly in stalling the Russian advance. (Photo: Ian Underwood/Kyiv Independent) _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Part of the job Green Berets did at Yavoriv was to train their Ukrainian counterparts to set up militia units that could wage guerrilla warfare against an invading force. Again, the objective being to trade time for position, forcing the enemy to waste fuel, ammunition and endurance. It has worked well, as the Ukrainian military has put those lessons to use, with the government actively encouraging its citizens to join the fight against Russian forces.
The result is the Putin may be getting desperate, frustrated at the campaign having had little success since it began a month ago. It is obvious he was expecting the war to be over in three to five days. Now his army is bogged down, forced to fight defensively and Thursday morning, the Ukrainians bombed a Russian tank carrier in the Black Sea port city of Berdyansk.
The Ukrainian Defense Department identified the ship as the Orsk, which was shown on multiple social media feeds on fire and listing in the harbor. Two other ships wee also reported damaged and a 3,000-gallon fuel tank on the dock exploded.
Time has turned the tide of the war and fears are that Putin may use chemical or tactical nuclear weapons to regain the advantage. NATO said during a joint conference with the G7 nations Thursday that it will help Ukraine “defend against chemical or tactical nuclear attacks.” Left unsaid was what that help will be.
Another way that the secret weapon of time has been used is through the sanctions that the E.U. and the U.S. have put on Putin personally and on the Russian financial system. The problem generally with such sanctions is they are slow to work and the uncertainty as to whether the nation under fire can hold out long enough for them to take hold.
There is a great deal of criticism to be handed out over the slowness of NATO and E.U. countries to respond with those sanctions. Rather than enact them before Putin ordered the invasion, rather than severe Russia’s ability to use the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) before the invasion, none of those actions were taken before Russian tanks, armored personnel carriers and troops had crossed the Ukraine border.
Civilians have received the benefit of Green Beret training as well, as nearly a quarter of million have volunteered to take up arms against Russia. Here, a small unit of civilians is being taught how to advance in the open on an enemy position. (Photo: Tasha Livitosky/Associated Press) _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Despite being late ― mainly because the Western nations fear Putin, who now appears to be a paper tiger ― the sanctions are beginning to severely impact the Russian economy. Russians cannot withdraw more than $10 from an ATM due to the sever restrictions on financial transactions in and outside of Russia. The oligarchy that genuflects to Putin and is forced to give him a cut of all business deals cannot operate in the free-world economy for the same reasons.
This, too, is time acting as a secret weapon against Russia. It is rapidly becoming an enemy of Putin’s efforts in Ukraine.
The irony of President Trump’s actions concerning the Green Beret training Ukrainian soldiers is not overlooked by E.U. leaders, though they will not say so publicly to avoid insult to Biden. Nonetheless, they are grateful the current occupant of the Oval Office has not ended the training program.
In fact, the work Green Berets are doing in Europe hasn't stopped, with forces still stationed in Europe helping prepare partner countries for the possibility of a Russian invasion farther into Europe. Such a move would be a mistake for Russia, Sgt. Maj. Moore said, arguing that the invasion of Ukraine has already gone poorly in part because of U.S. assistance, and a further move into NATO territory would go even worse.
"Russia has a horrible thing waiting for them if they want to push this thing further," Moore said.
Putin has recently escalated his talk about attacking the military and humanitarian aid coming into Ukraine. Though has not specifically said he would do so, the possibility exists that he will hit convoys inbound to the beleaguered nation outside the Ukrainian borders ― perhaps in Poland or Romania, through which much of the aid is routed.
Biden and European leaders have been vague on what that would mean. NATO’s Article V ― essentially stating “an attack on one is an attack on all” ― would theoretically come into play, requiring a NATO response.
Time does not have to remain on the side of Ukraine and its allies. The use of chemical or tactical nuclear weapons changes the dynamic of the war. Even though Ukraine is not a member of NATO, can the organization, the U.S., the E.U. stand by and let him get away with such actions?
Frankly, we don’t see how. It would demand a response, and to hell with worrying about “provoking Putin” at that point. He would already have started World War III.
Mike Nichols is an advocate of the counterrevolution with a four-step plan to defeat Leftist Fascism: We Organize. We Stand. We Resist. We Fight. He is a regular contributor to several conservative news websites and has a regular blog and Facebook presence at Americas Conservative Voice-Facebook.