“The events of recent days have shown that the Kiev nationalists have crossed all the RED LINES,”
– Deputy head of The Lugansk Civic Chamber Lina Vokalova said, as they call for an immediate referendum to join the Russian Federation.
“The Nazis mercilessly shell and stage terrorist acts against the civilian population of the Lugansk People’s Republic, seeking to scare us, and make us give up our dream and our ultimate goal – to join the Russian Federation,” Vokalova added. (RT – Donbass republic eyes vote on joining Russia).
Donetsk civilians were assaulted with a US M777 Howitzer, manufactured by BAE. These artillery pieces were supplied to the Ukraine by Western Countries.
What is a US Howitzer?
The 155mm howitzer is the longest-ranged of the military’s indirect-fire guns, able to hit targets up to 18 miles away.
The U.S. supplied 126 M777 howitzers to Ukraine as part of several military aid packages. Ukraine received 10 additional units from Australia and Canada and 200,000 155mm rounds, as well as 72 trucks to transport the guns, enough to supply six battalions. Ukrainian forces claim they need this weapon as their own artillery does not have the range of Russian systems, while the M777 has a range greater than Russian’s weapons. – How Much Can US Howitzers Help Ukraine?
Among the earliest and most effective weapons delivered to Ukraine by America’s military were artillery systems like the 155mm M777 howitzer. Almost immediately after their arrival in Ukraine in May, reports of M777 systems destroying Russian targets began emerging on social media. Throughout both World Wars, artillery proved so devastating to enemy troops that it earned the moniker, the “King of Battle,” and the past seven months of fighting in Ukraine have proven the high-caliber monarch’s reign is far from over. Ukraine’s troops have been highly effective with the M777 howitzer, but US troops can turn it into a ‘giant sniper rifle’
While the pro-Ukraine media churn out stories about successes of using Western weaspons against Russia, be mindful that innocent lives are being lost; and that US Taxpayers are paying for these weapons, enriching the industrial military complex. The M777 cost US$2.025 million per one unit (domestic cost, FY 2008) or $3.738 million per one unit (export cost, FY 2017).
In an interview with National Defense magazine, entitled “Ukraine to U.S. Defense Industry: We Need Long-Range, Precision Weapons“, Ukrainian Brg. Gen. Volodomyr Karpenko said to carry out a war in this day and age, we need heavy weapons — that’s primarily artillery systems. As of today, our need for heavy artillery systems is measured by hundreds. That’s why we also need a huge number of rounds for these artillery systems. I am not going to name the exact number we need. That is information for internal use. I’m just going to tell you I think to fulfill those needs we have to engage the entire military industrial complex of the entire world. He also noted that the M777 howitzers were prone to damage by shrapnel from incoming artillery fire. He said that ordinarily two out of six pieces in a typical M777-equipped Ukrainian artillery battery would require maintenance due to shrapnel damage after a typical incoming fire event. At that time, Ukraine was asking for armed Predator drones, loitering munitions and the multiple launch rocket systems.
On 21 February 2021, Putin made a decision to recognize the independence of the DNR and LNR, following a meeting of the Security Council of the Russian Federation.
Now, calls to conduct a referendum “immediately” have been unanimously supported by the Civic Chamber and submitted to Pasechnik and the LPR legislature. So far, the leader of the republic has not made any public statements on the initiative. Shortly after the call for speeding up the “referendum” was made, the head of the Civic Chamber, Alexey Karyakin, said it was too early to speak about a concrete date for the poll. The preparations for it are not a “matter of a single day,” he said.
Nikolai Patrushev, Secretary of the Security Council, considers what is happening in the Donbass a conflict organized by the United States.
“I also want to emphasize that we are saying: we are negotiating with NATO, we are negotiating with the OSCE, we are negotiating with the European Union, with the leaders of European countries. Negotiations must be conducted with the United States. Everyone else will do what the United States says. And NATO, and the OSCE, and the European Union, and so on. Therefore, the main negotiator with whom this business must be conducted is the States,” Nikolai Patrushev noted.
