"The Russian Offensive in Ukraine"
Scott Ritter
Judging Freedom (February 16, 2023)
https://youtu.be/jHi1AvTtyL8

An interview with Judge Napolitano of "Judging Freedom":

Judge Napolitano: "... You've been saying that the Ukrainians should suspect an overwhelming Russian Force. How overwhelming? How soon? and From what direction?"

0:46 Scott Ritter "Start with How overwhelming? Basically, the Ukrainians are going to get swamped. They don't have a chance. There's nothing they can do to stop this. They have insufficient resources across the board. It's going to be bloody fighting. The Ukrainians have shown themselves to be tenatious defenders. But it's over. When is it happening? It's happening right now. Literally, right now as we speak. The Russians are preparing the battlefield. They are launching a number of reinforced probes that have made considerable advances, causing the Ukrainians to commit what few resources they have to plug the holes. And in doing so they're creating additional opportunities so that when the final green flare is fired and the Russians approach the forward edge of the battle area they will do so in a location the Ukrainians are incapable of stopping. And then it begins."

01:46 Judge Napolitano: "Is this -- and I think these are your numbers (and I believe Colonel Macgregor agrees) -- is this the 300,000 to 500,000 additional troops, many of whom are veterans; many of whom are what we would call National Guard, so they're trained; some of whom are conscripts -- reluctant conscripts -- but all of whom are trained. They're not taking people off the streets and putting them on the battlefield."

02:18 Scott Ritter "Well, actually, there won't be any conscripts on the front line. The conscripts only constitute a minority of the Russian army and they're going to be doing rear area support. The front-line troops are going to be exclusively volunteers, or contract soldiers. Of the 300,000 who were mobilized, 80,000 of the most experienced individual replacements were sent to the front lines to plug the gaps. So you have 220,000 who have received the organized unit training -- the formal unit training in Batallion Brigade level plus another 180- to 200,000 volunteers similarly incorporated. These are the ones that are appearing -- I mean, there are satellite photographs that have shown these forces accumulating along the border in these massive camps. And those camps are starting to empty, which tells you they are moving towards the front line. They will be committed, I think, where the main effort is going to come from the [Kharkov] north. I think the Ukrainians have stripped away their resources there and its them who now have overextended defensive lines with no depth. And I think the Russians are going to come sweeping down and ... we'll see."

. . .

Secretary of Defense Austin [speaking in Brussels, Belgium]: "Ukraine has been at this for a year and they have used a lot of artillery ammunition. We're going to do everything we can working with our international partners to ensure that we give them as much ammunition as quickly as possible

05:58 Judge Napolitano: "What are we giviing them that can help them? It's of no value at this point."

Scott Ritter: "The bottom line is this. I hope everyone understands the despair that was in his voice. This was not the words of a confident man. These are the dejected words of a man who realizes the game is over. We're out of ammunition. And what he told Zelensky in Ramstein on Valentine's day was 'You're going to run out of ammunition sometime this summer and we don't have anything left to give you. We're going to try, but we don't. Let me tell you what happens when you run out of ammununition in war. You die. It's over. That's why I'm so confidant in my assessment. They are going to run out of ammunition. Even if they had ammunition, they were going to get beat. But they're going to run out of ammunition. And when that happens, it is Game, Set, Match. Goodbye. There is nothing that can be done to stop the Russsians."

. . .

19:03 Scott Ritter: [quoting President Joe Biden to Afghanistan (Kabul’s) Ashraf Ghani]: ‘… Even if it is not true, we must shape the perception.’ … but at some point in time perception hits reality, and that’s about to happen.”

. . .

26:45 “… NATO is nothing but a tool of the United States. … The number one threat to NATO is the United States. We just attacked Germany … NATO doesn’t help anybody unless it helps America.