Red Storm: Complete Series

by James Rosone, Miranda Watson

Genres: War & Military; Military Thrillers; military; war; world wars; battlefields; strategic planning

Synopsis

Deep in Siberia, a plan was hatched…

…to restore Communism to its rightful place.

Will Eastern Europe fold as they expect?

A sleeping giant is awake, but it’s not the one the world expects. The first spark hits a powder keg on the Black Sea, but this is only the beginning. Soon, dominos fall across Asia, and China will factor into a different type of war.

When bullets turn to bytes…

…will the allies be ready?

The US President has a decision to make, there’s just one problem, his advisers are deeply divided on the next move. He must bring together a coalition to stand against the coming storm. As Communism rebrands, can the autocratic regimes threatening peace be stopped?

Is a new Unipolar World inevitable?

You’ll love this epic six-book series, written years before the events in Europe and Asia as the Master of Military Thrillers weaves us through a story more faction than fiction.

Get it now.

This Boxset includes the books, Battlefield Ukraine, Korea, Taiwan, Pacific, Russia, and China in one running format the way it was intended to be read.

Release date: February 14, 2023

Publisher: Front Line Publishing, Inc.

Print pages: 2303

Sample

The Shot Heard Round the World

 

July 2017

Kharkiv, Ukraine

Freedom Square

 

Petro Kolomoisky was tired after working his eight-hour shift at the steel mill. His father and grandfather had been steelworkers, so it had seemed only natural to follow in their footsteps, but it had become a difficult path. This was one of the first months that business had been good enough for the mill to run a full forty-hour workweek. As Petro meandered toward Freedom Square, where tonight’s political rally was taking place, he suddenly felt incredibly hungry. As he sniffed the air, he could smell the charbroiling of some chicken kebabs from one of the vendor trucks parked nearby. His stomach grumbled, and he knew he would need to stop and grab dinner.

“Hey, there you are, Petro…”

Petro turned around and smiled broadly at his friend, Andriy. The two of them had known each other since childhood, when they used to play in the same sandbox near their homes.

“I had just about given up on you,” said Andriy jokingly.

“We had a full shift today at the mill. I just got off work,” Petro replied. He waved his friend over to where he was waiting in line to get some dinner from the food truck.

“The crowds have really come out tonight. Look at all these people,” Andriy said, motioning toward the developing assembly.

“Yeah, I’m surprised so many people have shown up after everything that went on last night,” Petro replied. He reached the front of the line and ordered his kebab. When he received it, the two men walked toward the edge of the square. Petro took a deep breath of the steam that was drifting from the meat, letting the spices fill his nostrils before he took a giant bite. The juices ran down the side of his mouth, and he dabbed at it with a napkin.

“Those police officers got what they deserved,” his friend retorted angrily. Andriy had gotten hit by one of the riot police truncheons two days ago, losing a tooth in the process. He was still fuming about it.

Petro sighed. “Andriy, I am really sorry you were beaten. It was wrong of the riot police to have attacked us like that, especially when our protests have been completely legal and peaceful. But no one deserves to lose their life over this, even the police.”

He looked across the growing throng of people. The crowds had been protesting in Kharkiv a lot this summer because of the breakdown in diplomatic talks in Kiev; folks were angry that no real progress was being made. The political leaders in the capital were pushing for policies that would integrate Ukraine into the EU, which many feared would strip away the country’s wealth and pass it off to France, Germany, and Britain, just like what they had seen happen in Greece, despite the fact that more than half of the citizens of Ukraine wanted instead to join the Russian trade union with several of the other former Soviet states, believing that this would keep more of people’s money out of the hands of fat-cat politicians.

Kicking a small stone as they walked toward the large mass of people, Andriy grumbled, “I know. I feel bad for those officers’ families. I do. But they had no right to just come in and ambush us like they did. Something must change, my friend. This constant bickering in Kiev is tearing our country apart.”

 

*******

 

As the protesters continued to pour into Freedom Square, Colonel Petr Croski was ready. After several police officers had been killed the other day, the central government in Kiev had ordered his Anti-Terrorism Unit or ATU to Kharkiv to put down this protest movement before it grew any larger or spread any further. President Groysman was not going to allow the city of Kharkiv and the surrounding region to erupt into civil war like the rest of eastern Ukraine had. The time for negotiating was over—now it was time to restore order and bring the country back together, even if that meant the use of force.

Major Dimitri Dremov walked up to his commander, who was standing near the armored vehicle that was acting as their command vehicle. “Sir, I have a company of soldiers at the east end of the city, ready to move in and close off the eastern exit of Freedom Square. I also have another company opposite the zoo, prepared to move in when you give the order,” he said with a smile on his face.

They had been planning this operation for nearly a day. Their goal was to apprehend as many of the protesters as they could and charge them with crimes against the state. Then they would identify the ringleaders and charge them with treason and fomenting insurrection against the government.

Pleased with the news, Colonel Croski handed his deputy his flask to join him in a little sip before the operation began. “The snipers are in place, right?” he asked. They needed to be prepared in case things turned violent.

Major Dremov nodded as he took a swig of vodka and handed the flask back. “Yes. I have the three sniper positions set up. I’ve personally seen their positions, and they have a good overwatch of where our troops will be.”

“Excellent. Then all we need to do now is sit back, wait for the main speakers at the rally to show up, and let the police box them in,” Colonel Croski replied. “Once they herd the crowd into the target area, then send the men in. ”

 

*******

 

Oleksandr Prasolov looked out at the eager faces of the crowd. Their energy fed him, filling him with adrenaline and allowing him to overcome his fear of publicly contradicting the central government. Now that he had children, the legacy he left behind was so much more important to him than any suffering he might have to endure in this life.

Oleksandr was from Kharkiv. He had met his wife in high school and married her before leaving to attend university and graduate school in London. After completing his master’s degree in economics at the London School of Economics in the mid-1990s, he had gone on to work for a well-known global management consulting firm, leading a team in Russia as the government worked to privatize much of the economy, which had been state-owned during the era of the Soviet Union. Despite his busy schedule, Oleksandr and his wife had had two sons during this time. He’d managed many other major projects for his firm, traveling to a number of former Soviet republics. Being fluent in English, Russian, and Ukrainian had given him an edge in handling the complex privatization projects these former Soviet republics were undertaking.

After Oleksandr had made partner with the firm, his wife had given birth to their twin daughters. At that point, he had four children, all under the age of seven. One Christmas, as his kids were running around him playing with their new presents, he suddenly realized that they were growing up right in front of his eyes, but he hadn’t been there for them as much as he should have. One of his young sons crawled into his lap, and as he kissed the little head before him, he wondered how much of their young lives he’d already missed because of his job. His wife and children might have been living a posh lifestyle in London, but he’d been spending most of his time traveling from one country to another. If he didn’t change something in his life soon, he realized that he’d never be the father his children deserved.

After the holiday, he reached out to some of his contacts back in Kharkiv and was offered a job in the governor’s office, helping him with growing the economy in the region. Within a year of taking that position, he was offered a position as a deputy minister in the Yanukovych administration. The President was in the process of negotiating the Ukraine-European Union Association Agreement, which would help to integrate Ukraine slowly into the European Union. While Oleksandr had been a supporter of the EU as an expatriate living in London, the more he delved into the details of this agreement, the more he saw this was not as great a deal for Ukraine as the government had been led to believe.

He’d known Ukraine was struggling financially, but the proposed agreement wasn’t going to help the situation. In order to receive any of the EU subsidies, or a bailout from the European Commission or the International Monetary Fund, Ukraine would have to undergo a series of austerity measures just like Greece, Spain, and Portugal. This would cripple Ukraine, taking their short-term issue and making it a long-term economic problem.

He brought these concerns up to others in his committee and to the President; however, most of them were willing to go along with the austerity if it meant Ukraine could get the bailout money they needed and move further away from Russia politically. Oleksandr was frustrated that no one listened to him.

Then, one day, President Yanukovych asked him to start talks with Russia about joining the Eurasian Customs Union, which was led by Russia and included the countries of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. Having led a number of privatization projects in many of these countries, Oleksandr was familiar with this customs union and the benefit it could provide Ukraine. The Russians had also offered to infuse Ukraine with a lump sum of cash without imposing austerity upon them. They’d even offered a heavily reduced price on natural gas, which would further help the Ukrainian economy.

Unfortunately, the Euromaidan uprising had taken place and then spun out of control. Before he knew it, President Yanukovych had been forced out of office in what was described as a soft coup. Yanukovych had fled to Russia, and the Ukrainian government had been taken over by a pro-fascist EU-dominated element. Oleksandr hadn’t been willing to let his country fall into the hands of these rogue dictators who were trying to bring his nation back into civil war. By working with separatist groups and Russia, he gained enough support to rally others around his cause. Together, they called for Eastern Ukraine to become independent from the central government.

Oleksandr began to hold rallies all across the region. With each passing event, he felt more and more confident that he was gaining the support of the people. This was now his third evening speaking in Kharkiv, and tonight’s crowd was by far the largest; nearly ten thousand people were gathered to hear him deliver his message.

One of the community organizers worked the crowd up into a frenzy. The people roared with excitement as the lead organizer of the event introduced him, waving for him to come to center stage. Oleksandr smiled as he walked toward his friend, shaking his hand. As he took the microphone, the crowd slowly calmed themselves enough so he could speak and be heard.

“My fellow citizens, I want to thank you for your support and for coming here tonight to hear me speak. Our nation has been torn apart by those wanting to impose the will of the German-dominated EU on us. Let us not forget that it was the fascist Germans who once occupied our nation. Now they want to occupy us again—this time through the control of the EU.”

The crowd roared. The people were really eating this rhetoric up. People saw the austerity that was happening in Greece, Spain, and Portugal and didn’t want that same fate imposed upon them as well.

Oleksandr raised his hands to calm the people. “Look at the southern EU members,” he continued. “Greece has been reduced to a beggar nation. They have over fifty percent unemployment…and this has everything to do with the German-imposed austerity they had to agree to in order to receive a bailout from the European Central Bank. Look at what has happened to their country—not just from the austerity, but from the migrant crisis that once again has been created by the totalitarian German government.”

“They welcome these Muslims into their country by the hundreds of thousands. Now, millions of Muslim immigrants are flooding across the Greek, Italian, Macedonian, Bulgarian, and Hungarian borders.” The crowd booed.

“These Muslims do not respect our European Christian values, yet the Germans, in their effort to divide and control Europe, have imported them in droves to sow chaos and anarchy. If the authoritarian jackals in Kiev get their way and Ukraine joins the EU, we will have to accept the German austerity plans and take in hundreds of thousands of Muslim refugees, just like every other EU member.

“I say enough! It is time for the people of Kharkiv to rise up and form our own republic, independent of the fascist-led government in Kiev!”

Now the gathering cheered wildly. Oleksandr let the roar of the crowd wash over him as he basked in the energy of it all. Thousands upon thousands of supporters chanted his name and demanded that they separate from the central government.

Within minutes of the end of Oleksandr’s speech, police dressed in riot gear began to show up at several entrances to Freedom Square. They pulled out their loudspeakers and ordered the crowd, “Disperse! Leave the square! If you refuse, you will be arrested!”

Oleksandr grabbed the microphone he had relinquished to the next speaker and yelled to the crowd, “See? The repressive government doesn’t want your voices to be heard! They want you to submit to their iron will and that of Germany! Will we submit?”

The crowd angrily shouted, “No! We will not submit!”

Seeing that the situation was only escalating, the police tossed dozens of tear gas canisters into the crowd. As the people wailed from the pain of the chemicals attacking their eyes and lungs, the officers stormed in, yelling with a unified roar to create the maximum psychological impact.

Several armed security personnel rushed the stage to protect Oleksandr and the other speakers as the riot police made their way toward the stage. Then, without warning, a single shot rang out. The side of Oleksandr’s face exploded, splattering skull fragments, brain matter and blood on one of the community organizers standing next to him. His body collapsed to the ground.

Several more shots rang out, and more speakers dropped to the stage. Some had been instantly killed like Oleksandr, while others howled from the pain of their injuries.

A number of the armed security guards fired wildly at where they thought the snipers were. At first, the riot police were unsure if the shots were being fired at them, but when one of the police captains saw the armed guards on the stage shooting at something in their general direction, he ordered the officers around him, “Use your rubber bullets on the crowd!”

The crowd began to drop like flies. Some were seriously injured by the impact of the fast-flying projectiles, others simply stunned by the shock of being shot.

 

*******

 

Petro had just turned to tell Andriy that they should try to get out of the square when he saw dozens of military vehicles blocking their avenues of escape. The shooting intensified, and the tear gas cloud continued to rise and move closer to them.

“Andriy, we need to find a way out of here!” Petro yelled.

“I know,” said his friend, scanning the scene for any possible mode of escape. “Over there, look. If we can get to that store, we can see if they have a back entrance we can use to get away.”

Petro nodded. They both bolted toward the store, almost running straight into several other protesters. The people were all screaming and running in different directions. It was sheer chaos. They couldn’t believe what was happening. Someone had just assassinated Oleksandr Prasolov right in front of thousands of his supporters. If they survived the evening, there was going to be hell to pay.

Andriy made it to the entrance of the store. He pulled on the doorknob, only to find the owner had locked it. He turned around to tell Petro when suddenly something hit him hard in the left shoulder. He grabbed at it and pulled his hand back. Blood oozed through his fingers.

“Andriy! You’ve been shot! Are you OK?” Petro yelled over the screams of everyone around him.

His friend looked dazed. Andriy didn’t respond but instead stared down at his hand as if he were confused by the red liquid dripping off his fingers.

“I feel so cold…,” he mumbled, which was a strange statement considering that it was the middle of July.

Andriy leaned his head against the doorsill to rest his head and closed his eyes for a second. He drifted off, and his body slumped to the ground.

By the time Petro got to his friend, he could see that Andriy was dead. The bullet must’ve hit something important, he thought as he helplessly grabbed at his friend’s hand in grief.

Just then, a soldier ran up to Petro and whacked him in the side of the head with something heavy. His world went black.

 

 

Escalation

 

August 2017

Kiev, Ukraine

US Embassy, Chancellery

 

Ambassador Duncan Rice sat at his mahogany desk, reviewing several proposals for bringing eastern Ukraine back into the fold as he sipped on his morning coffee and nibbled on his everything bagel smothered with cream cheese. He wanted to go over the options again before his meeting with the Ukrainian Prime Minister tomorrow. The PM had pressed the Secretary of State for a review of the current options being pursued and asked if new political and military options could be drawn up. Ambassador Rice and his staff had worked around the clock for almost a month before the Secretary of State had finally given his blessing on the proposals.

The embassy staff’s proposal was for continuing sanctions against Russia, maybe even strengthening them. This policy had been implemented by the previous president’s administration, with mixed results. The goal of the sanctions was to make the Russian government hurt enough that they would stop their support of the rebels in eastern Ukraine. So far, all it had done was antagonize Russia into a tit-for-tat response. They had been sticking their nose into affairs in the Middle East and vetoing additional sanctions against North Korea, despite North Korea’s continued violation of previous UN sanctions. However, as the sanctions stayed in place, they were starting to affect a number of influential Russian businesspersons. The hope was that strengthening this approach would provide more expedient results.

The second proposal had been put together by the nondiplomatic side of the embassy, the CIA’s Chief of Station and the Defense Attaché’s Office. The plan involved sending US Special Forces soldiers as advisors to direct the Ukrainians on how best to defeat the rebels. The Department of Defense’s Office for Defense Cooperation had helped to make this plan possible through a massive increase in foreign military aid since the start of the Gates administration in January.

As he read the proposal, Ambassador Rice had to admit that it looked like it would work, though he still had a lot of concerns that it might provoke an excessively negative response from the Russians.

Unlike most diplomats, Ambassador Rice had a good sense of how the military worked. He had served as an officer in the Marines before leaving to pursue a career in the diplomatic service of his country. He knew the enemy would respond in ways that could not yet be calculated, as in any military operation. Chances were, this plan, as good as it was, would not survive first contact with the enemy. His goal was to solve conflicts through diplomacy whenever possible. Military force should only be used as a last resort, not a first option.

Rice had been a career diplomat with the Department of State for nearly eighteen years. As a diplomat, his purpose was to represent the interests of the United States and to help defuse tensions and conflicts in whichever country he was assigned. He still felt a peaceful solution could be found in Ukraine, though it was becoming increasingly difficult as tensions mounted between Washington and Moscow. Rice sat back in his leather office chair and placed the papers down on the desk in front of him. He closed his eyes, thinking back to how he had become the ambassador to Ukraine just four months earlier.

When it had become clear that the former Secretary of State was not going to become the forty-fifth president of the United States, he had seen a unique opportunity to distinguish himself from his peers. Having served ten years at the US embassy in Russia and in other Eastern European countries throughout his career, Rice felt he understood the Russians and could help to defuse the conflict that had been going on in Ukraine for the past four years, so he’d quietly jockeyed to be reassigned to Ukraine.

He wanted to spearhead the efforts to establish a workable peace deal in the country, something that basically none of his other colleagues wanted any part of, especially under what many considered a novice president. Many of his peers held great disdain for the incoming president, and several had even resigned in protest. While Rice hadn’t agreed with or voted for the President, he had recognized that Gates had been duly elected by the people and felt that it was now his job to help implement his country’s foreign policies.

 

*****

 

Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman was a young man to hold a position of such great power in Ukraine. He had been helped in part by his family’s connections within the unspoken oligarchy of the nation, but he was also an incredibly charismatic speaker in his own right. His message had resonated with the people of Ukraine, who were mostly enticed by the idea of a modern European existence. It hadn’t been long before he had risen to the top of the opposition party that had ousted Yanukovych.

When he had originally taken power, PM Groysman had hoped to approach eastern Ukraine calmly and bring them back into the fold through diplomatic means. He had certainly heard often enough from his EU partners that they wanted him to handle the issue peacefully. At first, he’d agreed with their reasoning, but after a while, he had begun to feel bitter at constantly being told how to run the country, as if the heads of state in the European Union thought he was a child.

After four long years of conflict, Groysman was losing patience. The constant protests undermined his legitimacy as the true leader of Ukraine. He took great offense to this and began to work with his Public Information Officer to make sure that stories favorable to his administration were dominant in the public information sphere.

When President Gates was sworn into office in the United States in January of 2017, Groysman was initially unsure of the new leader’s intentions toward Russia. He worried that he would have another man in office who would try to convince him that he should win over the separatists with simple kindness. However, within a matter of months, Gates had changed the US policy toward Ukraine and had started providing the country with military aid.

Perhaps I have misjudged this man, thought Volodymyr. Gates seemed like he might be someone who was not afraid to stand up to the Russian dictator.

The Prime Minister was very pleased with the assistance that began to pour in from the US. In addition to equipment and manpower, Special Forces soldiers began to train his soldiers, introducing a lot of new tactics and techniques for fighting an insurgency.

 

*******

 

Unbeknownst to Groysman, Ambassador Duncan Rice was trying to slow things down behind the scenes. On more than one occasion, the ambassador had picked up the phone and tried to talk some sense into his direct superior, Secretary of State Travis Johnson.

“Sir, I serve at the pleasure of the President, but this place is a giant powder keg waiting to explode,” Rice had asserted. “We need to cool things down here, not send additional weapons to the area. Why don’t we defuse the situation by providing substantial economic aid to the affected areas? We could try to get people focused on rebuilding the economy here and healing the wounds of conflict,” he’d pleaded.

The ambassador’s appeals had fallen on deaf ears. “Rice, while I respect your opinion, I recently spoke to your new Senior Defense Officer, George Luka, and he has a different assessment. He views this Ukrainian conflict as a counterinsurgency fight, and feels confident that with the right training, military advisors and equipment, we can win.”

“Mr. Secretary, I value my colleague, but George was just promoted to brigadier general very recently. He hasn’t been on the ground here that long. I feel that his experiences in the Special Forces in Iraq and Afghanistan may have impacted how he sees things here,” Ambassador Rice had explained.

“Well, Ambassador, you may have a point,” Secretary Johnson had agreed. “However, the Secretary of Defense also shares the same views. He wants to take a hard line against Russia, and he feels that Ukraine is the perfect place to do it.”

“Sir, I agree that something needs to be done to counter the separatists, but I feel strongly that applying economic pressure on the Russian government is a better approach. If we make the sanctions arduous enough, the Kremlin will stop supporting the rebels in eastern Ukraine,” Ambassador Rice claimed.

The Secretary of State didn’t budge. “I think we’re going to have to agree to disagree on this one, Rice,” he countered.

Rice was frustrated. The Secretary of State and his SDO weren’t the only people to disagree with him. The CIA Station Chief, a man by the name of John Williams, also sided with General Luka. He despised the Russians and blamed them for meddling in the American election. Agent Williams hadn’t wasted any time. Soon he had convinced the President’s National Security Advisor to allow “the Agency” to deploy a Special Activities Division or SAD unit to help counter the separatist movement.

Once Ambassador Rice learned of this plan, he definitely had reservations. Nothing good can come of a SAD team operating here—they’re killers, nothing more, he thought. Still, despite the challenges and divergent agendas and personalities, Rice began to feel that real progress was taking place in Ukraine.

 

*******

 

Several months went by. Prime Minister Groysman knew that Ambassador Rice preferred a diplomatic solution, but the support from the United States continued to ramp up, which he appreciated more and more as the situation in eastern Ukraine continued to escalate.

One day, Marko Tereshchenko, one of the Prime Minister’s senior military advisors, showed up at Groysman’s office unexpectedly, sweating as if he had just run a mile to get there as quickly as possible.

“Prime Minister,” he began, “I apologize for my unannounced visit, but I must speak with you very urgently.”

Groysman waved him in. “What is it, Marko?”

“Sir, Oleksandr Prasolov is going to be speaking at the protests in Kharkiv,” he announced, out of breath.

“The former deputy minister from the Yanukovych administration?” Groysman asked.

“Yes, Prime Minister,” Marko responded. “Prasolov has been a problem. He will try to rally the people of eastern Ukraine to join the other separatist regions, and our intelligence on the ground shows that he is a very effective voice for the opposition.”

“Enough is enough,” asserted Groysman. He stood up and paced the room. “I’m so tired of these constant protests and attacks against our government. The soft touchy-feely European approach isn’t working anymore. We have to get serious about shutting this down! I want you to give me some options for how we can use the military to support the local police there.” He smacked the desk. “I want to see the proposals here by the end of the day, do you understand?”

“Yes, sir,” Marko replied. He dashed off to get the plans in order.

Volodymyr had a tendency to be rash. He didn’t have the patience that many men develop with age and experience. However, even though he’d ordered 1,500 soldiers to Kharkiv to put down the insurrection, he hadn’t intended for things to go sideways the way they had.

Things had been going smoothly until one of the soldiers, a sniper, had shot Oleksandr in the head, killing him instantly. Once Oleksandr was dead, the security guards surrounding the other speakers had shot at the soldiers and police officers, who in turn had fired into the crowd of protestors. By the time the sun had risen the following day, twenty-eight protestors had been killed and another 112 had been taken to the hospital. Nearly two hundred others had been arrested, along with several protest leaders who had survived the bloody evening. The separatist provinces had begun calling the tragedy the Freedom Square Massacre and had taken to the airways to proclaim, “This is proof that the fascist government in Kiev is never going to negotiate with us in good faith about the reforms that they promised. The time to act is now!”

Groysman read every report that came in regarding the activities in Kharkiv. His partners in the EU and the US kept calling him and telling him how poorly this was all being received in the West. He eventually stopped answering their calls.

They don’t know what they’re talking about, he thought. Although he could concede that things looked different from the outside, he felt satisfied that his men had ultimately been successful in stabilizing the city. The multiday protest had finally ended and those who were loyal to the government would no longer feel that they had been left to fend for themselves behind enemy lines.

As much as the Prime Minister wanted to end the separatist movement and evict the Russians once and for all, he hadn’t known that the Freedom Square Massacre had ignited new passion in the separatist movement in eastern Ukraine. Russian propaganda and fake news poured across social media throughout Ukraine, hyping up the government’s use of soldiers against peaceful civilians. Smartphone footage of the headshot that had killed Oleksandr Prasolov had instantly been turned into a powerful propaganda image against the central government in Kiev.

After the massacre, the new head of the Russian separatist movement, Alexander Zakharchenko, organized a series of violent protests against the central government in a number of major cities across eastern Ukraine. As the situation grew more volatile, the US increased its pressure on the Russians. For six months, the Americans had been providing training to the Ukrainian military leaders, who were becoming more and more confident in recommending a military solution to the separatist problem. General Luka worked with his partners at US Special Operations Command in Europe, and they were on board with providing additional US military advisors if needed.

Finally, Prime Minister Groysman placed a call to his American counterparts and asked for options on how they’d handle putting down this insurrection and reuniting the country. Something needed to change, and right or wrong, Groysman was going to be that instrument of change.

 

*******

 

The morning of Saturday, August 5, was a beautiful one. The sun was out, the birds were chirping, and most people were enjoying a lazy Saturday morning at the numerous outdoor cafés and restaurants around the Prime Minister’s office. Like many of the buildings constructed during the Soviet Union days, the PM’s office was a grand and majestic edifice, created to impose a feeling of power on all those who entered it.

General Luka opened the enormous iron front door and held it open for Rice and Colonel Avery to enter. Every time the three of them walked into that building, they couldn’t help but feel small as they looked up at the high ceilings and large paintings of government officials.

As Ambassador Rice entered the PM’s office, he saw the head of the Ukrainian military and the Defense Minister seated on the couch in the parlor section of the room, casually talking with each other and smiling. He shook the Prime Minister’s hand and greeted him warmly in his native tongue.

Once the pleasantries had been completed, he walked over to the couch, where the other men were currently sitting. Rice sat down and graciously accepted the cup of coffee offered to him by the Prime Minister. As the ambassador surveyed the leader’s face, he could tell that the job had aged him. He had substantially more gray hairs than the average man in his late thirties, and the creases around his eyes seemed deeper than the last time they had met in person.

Many of the leaders who had come to power in the decades following the fall of communism had a history of going out of their way to enrich themselves rather than focusing on lifting up the people of their countries. Prime Minister Groysman was an exception to this rule. Ambassador Rice saw in the man an intelligent visionary who truly wanted what was best for his people; he hoped he would stay in power for several more years.

As Rice lifted his mug to his mouth, he took a deep breath through his nose to inhale the aromatic steam before taking a sip. He was a bit of a coffee connoisseur—his friends occasionally joked that he was a java snob—and for some reason the Prime Minister seemed to have a lock on the best coffee he had ever tasted. He had tried on numerous occasions to find out who his supplier was, but Groysman held on to that information like a closely guarded state secret.

“Mr. Ambassador, thank you for meeting with us this Saturday. As you know, it has been a trying time in Ukraine these past several weeks.” His face was solemn. “I assume you’ve reviewed the military plans to end the conflict in the east?” he asked.

“I have, Mr. Prime Minister. As a diplomat, I still recommend caution. Although the window may be closing, I do believe a peaceful solution to this conflict is possible. A military operation could result in hundreds of thousands of people being displaced as refugees, not to mention the civilian casualties that would surely be suffered,” Ambassador Rice warned, wanting to make sure the PM fully understood the consequences of moving forward with a military operation.

Groysman stiffened. He nodded in acceptance of what Ambassador Rice had said. “We’re in a tough situation, Ambassador Rice. This conflict has been raging for several years. It has ruined our economy and divided our country. The separatist regions are governed by a small group of leaders, controlled by a group of militias that number ten to twelve thousand members. Unfortunately, the Russians continue to arm and train them. There are even unofficial Russian combat units operating in the East. If we don’t act soon, they will grow too strong, and the divide in our nation will become permanent.”

The PM continued, “We’ve spent the last four months getting ready to conduct this operation. With the Russians putting forth a renewed effort to go after ISIS in Syria, they will be distracted from intervening here any further. Your own CIA does not believe the Russians will intervene militarily. Therefore, with the military advisors and training your country has provided, and the substantial amount of weapons, food, fuel and vehicles your country has given us these past months, we now feel we are ready to move forward with the operation.” Groysman paused to take a sip of his coffee, as if the group were discussing their weekend plans and not a war.

He placed his coffee cup down and looked Ambassador Rice in the eye. “In forty-eight hours, we will begin the operation. Our forces will begin to move into the Kharkiv Oblast, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast and the Donetsk regional state administrations.”

This made it official. Rice sat there for a moment, not sure what to say. This is a dangerous move, he thought. It would certainly result in a military confrontation between separatist fighters and the Ukrainian military, but it could also result in a direct confrontation between central Ukraine loyalists and the “unofficial” Russian forces that were not officially in Ukraine; any American advisors on the ground would certainly be caught in the cross fire too. This was the exact situation Rice had desperately wanted to avoid.

Rice put his own coffee down and leaned forward, returning Groysman’s unrelenting eye contact. “Mr. Prime Minister, I implore you one last time to reconsider this action. We are starting to make headway with the Russians. Through the sanctions, we can get them to end their support for the separatist movement on their own. Then the movement will die.” He could see by the expression on the PM’s face that he didn’t want to wait any longer. “I ask for you to give diplomacy more time,” he pleaded, placing his hand over his heart in hopes of somehow swaying the man before him into avoiding this potentially disastrous decision.

As Groysman sat listening to the American ambassador, he couldn’t help but marvel at Ambassador Rice’s determination to see a diplomatic solution to what everyone could see was a military problem. He sighed before speaking. “Ambassador Rice, I greatly appreciate the efforts of yourself and others to solve the problems in Ukraine via diplomacy, but you must see that this has now moved to a problem that must be solved militarily. There are limits.”

The Prime Minister then leaned forward. “General Luka and my senior military advisors assure me that our military is now up to speed and ready to handle this. We’ve received hundreds of Javelin antitank missile systems, fuel, food and other needed equipment and supplies to sustain a military operation such as this.” Groysman could see the diplomat was saddened by this information. “The Russians are now involved in the Syrian conflict. They are finally too busy to get heavily involved in our conflict. This is not 2014, and America has a new president, one who will not back down in the face of threats made by President Petrov.”

Rice could see the PM was not going to change his mind, so he changed tack. “If I can’t talk you out of this military operation, then how can we support you to ensure its success?” Rice hated the idea of offering military aid, but the Secretary of State and the President had told him in no uncertain terms that if he couldn’t persuade the Ukrainian Prime Minister to avoid a military operation, then he was to offer whatever support would be necessary to guarantee its success.

PM Groysman leaned back in his chair. He held all the cards now, he realized. After all, the new American president didn’t want to lose face with the Russians; he needed to look strong. They are eating out of my hands now, the PM thought.

“Ambassador Rice, thank you for your offer. I truly do wish we could have found a diplomatic solution, and I will rely on your help once the time comes to pursue a diplomatic end to the conflict. Right now, I must do what the people who elected me are demanding—I must unite our country and put down this separatist movement.”

Groysman paused for a moment, calculating what he could ask for. “What I will need American help with is intelligence. We also need help with surveillance, supplies, and logistical support while my ground forces carry out the actual fighting.”

Sighing, Rice replied, “Well, you know that I wanted to try and talk you out of this confrontation. However, seeing that I cannot, I want to make sure it succeeds. I’ll hand over the rest of this discussion to General Luka and Colonel Avery, the US Air Force liaison officer to the embassy,” the ambassador said, nodding toward his two military counterparts for them to speak up.

He had to give them both credit; they were true professionals. Not once had they tried to interrupt or add anything to the discussion. They had sat there passively and waited for their turn to talk, knowing that it would come. They knew the Ukrainians were not interested in further peace talks, but they also knew every effort had to be made before they moved forward with the military option.

General Luka cleared his throat. “Mr. Prime Minister and General Popko, as you know, the US has leased the former military air base at Pryluky, seventy miles from the Boryspil International Airport in Kiev. We’ve spent the last two and a half months rebuilding it, transforming it into a training facility and forward operating base for the US and NATO to support your operations. Now that military action is going to move forward, you should go ahead and assign those ten liaison officers we previously talked about, along with additional interpreters.”

General Popko had been expecting the request. He smiled and nodded in agreement.

The Pryluky airfield had been Ukraine’s primary Tupolev Tu-160 “Blackjack” bomber base until it had been decommissioned at the end of 2012 due to budget cuts. When the US and NATO had wanted to lease the base and build it back up, it had been seen as a huge economic boon to the cash-strapped central government. It had brought thousands of high-paying jobs to the local area and imported thousands of NATO servicemen who would spend hard currency in the surrounding area. It was estimated the base would bring in several hundred million euros a year in economic activity alone.

Much to the angst of the Russians, the Ukrainian government had leased the facility to the US three and a half months earlier. The base had been in a bad state of repair. An army of contractors and military engineers had shown up and the base had begun to transform overnight. Living quarters and offices had been rebuilt and the runway and other aircraft facilities upgraded. The US and NATO had poured $80 million into the facility, transforming it into a modern military facility.

The Air Force LNO spoke next. “We have eight Predator drones, two Reapers, and two Global Hawks that are ready to provide 24/7 surveillance of the battlefield as your forces move forward. We also have several electronic surveillance tools that will be made available. Starting tomorrow, we are going to close off the air base to all nonessential personnel. We want to minimize the chance of any separatist forces gaining access to the base,” he said as he showed some of the plans they had for securing the air base.

“When your forces head into the disputed territory on Monday, they will have constant drone surveillance and signals intelligence. We’ll help you root these separatists out in short order,” the Air Force colonel said, confident that this military operation would be wrapped up before the end of the year.

While Ambassador Rice sat there listening to the military members talk, he had a sick feeling in his stomach that things weren’t going to work out quite as well as everyone thought they would. I hope I’m wrong, he thought, but military operations seldom turn out how they’re supposed to. There was an adage he’d heard that he’d found to be true—the enemy always gets a vote in the matter, too.

The group continued to talk for a while longer, going over details about the logistical support that would be needed. There was some debate as to what would be provided by the Americans versus NATO, but at the end of the day, a complete plan had been formalized.