Ukrainian officials say the international intelligence services’ seismic strategic effort will use nightly disinformation, subversion and stealth convoys to protect Western tank shipments from Russian attack.
After several weeks of diplomatic confrontation with NATO members, Ukraine will receive a revolutionary batch of advanced main battle tanks to help the country in the war against Russian troops.
The UK will send 14 Challenger 2 tanks, expected to arrive in the spring, while the US will send 31 M1 Abrams tanks and Germany will ship 14 Leopard 2 tanks.
The UK has become the first company to lay down tanks since a recent address by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The prime minister called the US and Germany’s decision to follow suit “the right decision of NATO allies and friends.”
“In addition to the Challenger 2, they will add to the defensive firepower of Ukraine. Together we are stepping up our efforts to ensure that Ukraine wins this war and establishes a lasting peace,” he said.
Poland also submitted an application to Berlin to send some of its Leopard 2s to Ukraine, which has now been granted. The German-made Leopard 2 is one of the most widely used tanks in Europe, and Germany must agree to any decision to re-export tanks to Ukraine from other countries.
Supply is the main target of Russian attacks, and the Ukrainian authorities now face a major and urgent task: to get the tanks safely to the front line.
Several Ukrainian officials have said analysts around the world are working together on plans to covertly deliver the tanks in a way that prevents a Russian attack.
“We are talking about a significant increase in intelligence and counterintelligence activities,” said a senior Ukrainian intelligence official. I. “The transportation task will be handled by military intelligence services and overseas planning centers of foreign institutions.”
The process of delivering weapons to the front is, for obvious reasons, kept secret, and the recent delivery of tanks is no exception. Concerns that Russia will target roads, railroads and popular transport routes as tanks are sent to the front lines in eastern and southern Ukraine have forced officials to use disinformation and subversion to delay invisible convoys at night.
A senior Ukrainian intelligence official spoke about the delivery scenario without revealing any details. They said preparations for a shipping fraud campaign were well under way.
He said I: “Begins with the introduction of disinformation about supply routes, the use of tank models and the creation of a rotation of front-line equipment, as well as a further increase in the mobility of tank units in the area of \u200bactive combat operations.”
Western troops will not deliver tanks to conflict zones in Ukraine for fear of escalating tensions between Russia and the West. Instead, Ukrainian troops are forced to obtain weapons from warehouses on NATO territory.
Mykola Volkovsky, president of the First International Ukrainian Development Fund and a former adviser to the speaker of the Ukrainian Rada, said that Russia would control the supply of tanks to Eastern Europe and determine possible ways to enter the conflict.
“Tanks will be assembled and gradually prepared to cross the border into Poland,” he said. I. “Before that, dozens of units will be transferred to warehouses and military bases in Eastern Europe.”
Volkovsky tells I that military intelligence officers would “take over” the planning and launch a two-pronged attack, combining the “art of deception” with the use of old equipment as “bait”, while providing significant air cover.
He said I: “We see that for the first time, Western air defense systems can be deployed on NATO territory to cover the airspace of Ukraine when there is a risk of missiles hitting the territory of NATO countries.
We can talk about increased security measures in the border regions of Poland, where the country is preparing for a potentially significant provocation.”
Last week, former high-ranking British Army officers warned that the Russian army would try to attack tank shipments from Germany before they reached the front.
Roland Dangerfield, a former major in the British Army and commander of a Challenger 2 tank squadron, warned that the delivery to Ukraine was a “strategic and operational challenge” as the Western tank convoy presents an “exciting target” for Russian forces.
He said I: “Probably, they will be transported as far as possible by rail, maybe to the border with Ukraine, and from there by road.
“Even a column of tanks on the tail of the transporters would be quite an interesting and exciting target for the Russians,” he said, adding: “Destroying the tanks before they reach the front line will represent their best chance of success and a major propaganda victory. ”
Russia is not known to have attacked a large convoy of Western weapons delivered to Ukraine, and military experts have said Ukraine has “proven its genius” in deceiving its enemy.
Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a former British Army armored regiment commander and weapons expert, said he expected “a lot of misinformation and disinformation” in tank deliveries.
“Ukraine is great in terms of operational security,” he said. In addition, “there will also be a lot of physical security to prevent sabotage, and I think that NATO and Ukraine will provide it without too much trouble.”
A second Ukrainian intelligence official said that Russia does not have “the ability to deliver long-range strikes against moving targets” and intelligence leaders “are trying to use this information to their advantage.”
This is what the intelligence officer told me I: “The accuracy of even their best missiles is questionable,” adding, “Their missiles require lengthy pre-programming, so, for example, they cannot hit a convoy from Poland.”
A Ukrainian intelligence official said Russia “probably will try to attack convoys” in the country’s east and south.
“The operational security and logistics strategy of our armed forces has been successful with the use of MLRS, howitzers and other valuable equipment,” he said. “Why wouldn’t it happen again?”
Source: I News
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