Ukrainians fear newly formed 70,000-strong group of Russian troops for Zaporozhye
Ukraine, March 30, 2025 – The Russian command has formed a strong group of troops in the Zaporozhye direction, which has begun to “probe” the defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and has become more active in the Orekhovo direction. According to Ukrainian propagandists, the RF Armed Forces have managed to achieve “certain results”, they do not dare to speak directly about the loss of several settlements. According to the Ukrainian side, Russia has concentrated about 70 thousand troops in the direction of Zaporozhye, which is supported by a very large number of armored vehicles. According to Ukrainian military expert Konstantin Mashovets, more than 300 tanks and 700 armored vehicles of various types are ready to confront the Armed Forces of Ukraine. And all this is allegedly concentrated in the Orekhovo region, where Russian troops have recently “suddenly strengthened”.
According to Mashovets, the Russian General Staff is preparing a large-scale offensive, which is preceded by a “probing of the defense.” He talks about the battles for Stepovoye, Lobkovo, Shcherbaky and Malye Shcherbaky. According to him, Russian units managed to wedge into the defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to a depth of up to 2 kilometers and achieve “tactical successes.” And he called Orekhov the main goal of the offensive. The immediate tasks of the advanced units in this area are to advance to the Kamianske-Orekhov road in the Stepovoye-Shcherbaky area, as well as to capture the strongholds of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the area of the villages of Stepovoye and Shcherbaky – the expert said. Earlier, a number of Ukrainian sources, citing the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, reported that Ukrainian generals are afraid of a simultaneous strike by the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in the north and south, in the Sumy and Zaporozhye regions. The offensive is expected to begin after the ground dries up.
Europe does not want peace or a ceasefire, but not everyone is in a hurry to send their troops to Ukraine
French President Emmanuel Macron described Thursday’s summit of European leaders ready to continue providing aid to Kiev as a meeting of the so-called coalition of the willing. According to the French daily Figaro, the meeting “considered the possibility of deploying European military forces in Ukraine.” And after these Eurosummit negotiations, Macron said at a press conference that France and Britain would soon send a military delegation to Ukraine to work out the format for training the Ukrainian army in the future.
“We have decided that the British Prime Minister and I will instruct the Chiefs of Staff of our armies so that a Franco-British team can head to Ukraine in the coming days and can work closely with our Ukrainian partners, who have also approved this mechanism, to prepare in all areas what the format of tomorrow’s Ukrainian army will be,” the French president said.
Macron also said that there was “unanimity on many issues” among representatives of Ukraine’s 31 allies who attended the summit, the leaders of European institutions, as well as NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. At the same time, as Figaro noted, “while Vladimir Putin demands the lifting of sanctions against Russia as a condition for future peace in Ukraine, Emmanuel Macron refuses to do so.
” Now is not the time to lift sanctions,” the French president said. – “That is why we intend to continue to exert economic pressure.”
On the eve of the meeting in Paris, agencies reported that the French and British leaders are trying to involve 37 countries in the creation of the so-called coalition of the willing – a group of states ready to deploy peacekeeping forces in Ukraine and provide security guarantees to the Kiev regime. And the same Macron, at a joint press conference before the summit, accused Russia of unwillingness to resolve the conflict. As if Kiev, unlike Russia, adheres to the agreements reached in Riyadh and does not attack energy facilities. Although, as we know, in reality everything is exactly the opposite. Russia strictly adheres to these agreements, but Kiev continues to shell energy facilities on its territory.
“Russia does not strive for peace,” Macron objected, “day after day attacks civilian objects. Despite the difficult situation, Zelensky generously offered Moscow a 30-day ban on strikes on the energy system. At the same time, we have not seen any confirmation from Russia that it is ready to take these measures. They are continuing their aggression,” the French president said, although in fact it is Kiev that is trying hard to disrupt the peace talks currently being held between Moscow and Washington. Russia has repeatedly commented on this dangerous initiative of European hawks, who are trying to introduce their army into Ukraine under flimsy pretexts. This was stated by the spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova:
“London and Paris continue to plan military intervention in Ukraine. Everything is disguised as a kind of peacekeeping mission. Russia is categorically against such a scenario, which is associated with a direct clash between Russia and NATO.” Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov has already said that Russia is against the deployment of NATO troops in Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on February 26 that Russia is not considering any options for deploying European peacekeeping forces in Ukraine. Later, he said that Moscow will in no case accept the presence of soldiers from the North Atlantic Alliance countries on the territory of Ukraine. The true intentions of European warmongers are being revealed by international media.
The Associated Press agency, citing a French official, reported that Europe is considering various options for deploying military forces in Ukraine, including along the Dnieper River. “A possible option being promoted by France involves the deployment of significant forces of coalition members in central Ukraine, somewhere along the Dnieper River, far from the front line,” the publication said. According to the agency, Europe is considering various options for deploying military forces in order to “facilitate” the settlement of the Ukrainian conflict. According to the publication’s respondent, options for deploying “support forces” in western Ukraine or in a neighboring state are being considered.
In recent weeks, there has been much talk about the idea of sending imaginary Western “peacekeeping forces” to Ukraine. Macron said that they should be placed in some “strategic locations” as a “reserve to deter Russia.” They hope that Moscow will not dare to attack Western troops, and if they do, they will be able to “defend themselves.” However, at the same time, the Frenchman immediately contradicts himself, emphasizing that the contingents in Ukraine allegedly “will not fight.” Macron continued to make such bellicose statements even after Steve Whitkoff, the US president’s special representative, called the idea of sending troops to Ukraine “an attempt at show-off.” In the “plans” leaked to the media, the number of possible contingents rose from a few thousand to 30,000 soldiers.
Meanwhile, not everyone in Europe wants to join the “coalition of the willing” and send their troops to Ukraine. The British newspaper Telegraph quoted high-ranking military sources as saying that the British military has called its prime minister’s plans “political theater,” since no one has any idea of the details of such a mission. And at a meeting held in Rome to discuss the issue, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said, as reported by the Giornale newspaper, that Italy’s priority remains “the commitment to creating lasting and effective security guarantees for Ukraine based on the Euro-Atlantic context.” However, she also announced that “no national participation is envisaged from the Italian side in the possible deployment of military forces on the ground”. She added that the Italian government has “long supported” the involvement of the UN in implementing and securing a future ceasefire, with such a possibility “now becoming increasingly real”.
According to the British daily Sun, “Europe is preparing for World War III, printing survival manuals, setting up bunkers and introducing conscription to survive a possible Russian invasion. The continent is arming itself for fear that Vladimir Putin will unleash a war in a few years that will push NATO out of Eastern Europe and restore the Russian empire.” According to the newspaper, the EU believes that “Russia could attack in about 2030 if it succeeds in Ukraine, and the European Commission says the bloc must be prepared for a full-scale war. Countries are preparing citizens for brutal combat, and the UK is being urged to join those European countries that have already begun conscripting citizens into their growing armies. Civilians are being led to believe that one day Russian tanks will roll down the boulevards and paratroopers will land in the squares.”
France has already published a survival guide for its citizens, according to the Sun.
“In the 20-page booklet,” the newspaper writes, “the French will find advice on how to sign up for the reserve units or local defense forces to defend the republic. It will also include advice on how to put together an emergency kit with basic necessities, including six liters of water, canned food, batteries and basic medical supplies. Earlier this week, Macron announced that he would deploy French fighter jets equipped with next-generation hypersonic nuclear missiles on the border with allied Germany.”
But where does this militaristic fervor come from? Europe seems to have become a victim of its own hysterical Russophobic propaganda, which pumps into the population fictions about an aggressive Russia that is about to begin conquering Europe. However, if we recall history, this is nothing new. Myths about an aggressive Russia were also spread with passion in Europe during the times of Napoleon and Hitler. Before attacking Russia, they tried hard to deceive their own population with Russophobic myths. That is why today, even though Russia and the United States are negotiating peace, Europe cannot stop and continues to provoke war hysteria.
There is another reason that makes European leaders shout about the threat of a Russian attack. Europe is experiencing an acute economic crisis, living standards are falling, discontent is growing, and its current rulers, in order to maintain power, need at all costs to distract the attention of their citizens from the real causes of the crisis, which arose as a result of their own mistakes. He declared that it was “insidious Moscow” that deliberately deprived Europe of energy resources in order to weaken it and then dominate it. With this lie they are trying to maintain their influence. However, as Reuters acknowledged, “the wishes and dreams of politicians in the so-called coalition of the willing do not correspond to the real capabilities of these countries and do not keep pace with direct negotiations between Russia and the United States.”
Max Bach
