The West’s Ukrainian project is on the precipice of collapse, and it’s becoming harder and harder to ignore. On Nov. 14, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported that Russian troops had overtaken 11 Ukrainian communities over the week of Nov. 8-14, in the Kharkov, Dnepropetrovsk and Zaporozhye Regions and the Donetsk People’s Republic. That includes the towns of Sinelnikovo, Rog, Sukhoi Yar, Gnatovka, Orestopol, Danilovka, Volchye, Novouspenovskoye, Novoye, Sladkoye, and Rybnoye, reported TASS. Even the New York Times called the events of the past week “an unusually rapid advance.”
Pokrovsk, soon to be the largest city to be captured by Russia in two years, is on the verge of collapse as Russian forces continue to seize parts of the city. Further, an adviser to the head of the Donetsk People’s Republic told TASS on Nov. 14 that a cauldron of several thousand Ukrainian troops has now been surrounded in Dimitrov, just outside of Pokrovsk. This situation is occurring across virtually the entire line of combat. Dire warnings of Pokrovsk’s imminent collapse and calls for Ukraine’s forces to retreat are becoming increasingly shrill.
These advances are taking place at the same time as Russia is pummeling Ukraine’s industrial and energy infrastructure, leaving Ukrainian cities with sometimes only a few hours of electricity each day.
Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council Dmitry Medvedev stated on Telegram on Nov. 14: “The encirclement of his [Zelenskyy’s] troops threatens to send the whole frontline crashing down—and from there, who knows, maybe more territorial losses to follow. The energy grid is collapsing under Russian strikes. Electricity is still on, but with constant blackouts. And the heating situation is dire.” Adding in a comment on the rolling corruption scandal surrounding the Ukrainian President, which even Western media have had to admit has stained his image, Medvedev added: “As expected, the green nit [Zelenskyy] has landed himself in a classic zugzwang. With every passing day, his position on the chessboard only gets worse.”
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio added an element of desperation to this picture during a Nov. 12 press conference. Speaking about the destruction of Ukraine’s power grid, Rubio said: “That’s why we’ve been in discussions with them [Kiev] about defensive weapons to be able to protect their grid. And I know we’ve been in ongoing technical conversations about the specific equipment they need. But ultimately, if that equipment is ultimately destroyed a week later after it’s installed, that remains a problem. And that’s been the history of the last two or three years.”
