www.zerohedge.com By Tyler Durden
Ukraine’s leaders have made it known that they want Washington to impose new biting sanctions on Russia even before any military offensive materializes. And at a moment that it appears Russia, the US, and NATO are actually ready to enter negotiations on ‘security guarantees’ related to NATO expansion, it appears Kiev is willing to do whatever it takes to conduct some muscle-flexing, possibly toward derailing the potential for January de-escalation talks.
In what seems its most provocative move thus far, “Ukrainian military forces have conducted combat drills with U.S.-made Javelin anti-tank missiles in a conflict area with separatists in eastern Ukraine as tensions run high with Russia, Ukrainian Dom television channel said on Wednesday,” Reuters reports.
It should be remembered that Ukraine’s receiving the Javelin missile since at least 2018 has already been a source of outrage among Moscow officials. Kiev is justifying the exercises as necessary in the face of ‘Russian aggression’ – given the widespread reports of some 70,000 to 90,000 Russian troops mustered across the border.
