NATO is preparing to send a thousand soldiers to the South-Eastern European front to face the crisis in Ukraine. Of these, 250 are Italian and could end up on the border with Hungary. One of the front countries: the others are Bulgaria, Slovakia and Romania. While there are 130,000 Russian soldiers on the border with Ukraine, according to American intelligence, which has revised upwards the previous estimate of 100,000 it spoke of in recent days and updated Joe Biden. Meanwhile, Kiev is asking airlines not to fly to the Black Sea. And in the newspapers there is talk of a secret plan of Moscow to trigger the invasion. While the West sends weapons and defense systems awaiting the offensive.
The Italian mission
But who are the Italian soldiers involved in the mission? Republic he explains that the pre-warned people are in total a thousand. There are troops engaged in Afghanistan until 2021 and soldiers present in the mission in Kosovo. That is, Alpine troops and Bersaglieri, who will be engaged in exercises conducted in the areas of the south-eastern border with the aim of deterrence. The decision will be made official between February 16 and 17, when a NATO meeting is scheduled to be attended by the Minister of Defense Lorenzo Guerini. And the mission will have to get the go-ahead from the Chambers. The print he explains instead that the re-deployment in Hungary is the result of the Italian mission of air policing, that is to say the air defense of the Baltic Sea, which began in May and ended at Christmas. Carried out with fifth generation F-35 A fighters and with Eurofighters starting from September. The mission was of control: the order was to monitor the encroachments of Russian fighters. In addition, an army mission has already been present in Latvia since 2016, essentially to reassure the Baltic allies. Meanwhile, Ukraine has advised airlines to avoid flying over the Black Sea from Monday to Saturday next week due to Russian naval exercises taking place in the area. Yesterday, the Ria Novosti news agency reported over 30 Russian warships engaged near the Crimean peninsula as part of larger naval exercises. “From tomorrow, airlines are advised not to fly to this area and to plan alternative routes in advance, taking into account the current situation,” said the Ukrainian state air traffic service.
Arms to Ukraine
Meanwhile, Ukraine yesterday received a supply of the Stinger anti-aircraft missile system from Lithuania. This was announced by the Defense Minister of Kiev, Oleksii Reznikov. He also said that two planes have delivered 180 tons of ammunition from the United States, for a total of about 1,500 tons received so far. While the government continues to believe that the Russian threat is not imminent, it has meanwhile lined up a military apparatus along the Donbass trenches. All this even if Western intelligence reiterates that the high-risk border is the one with Belarus. Republic explains that in the event of a force attack, the order would be to slow down the invasion without attempting a direct confrontation. To then lure them “into a trap” where the weapons of the West are amassed. Mine clearance systems arrived from the US, defense weapons from Canada, while Sweden and Norway supplied Kiev with systems to protect borders and nuclear security.
