Author: Dr. Bob Thiel

Politico reported:

Russia strikes south Ukraine city, presses attacks in east
July 17, 2022
POKROVSK, Ukraine — Russian missiles hit industrial facilities at a strategic city in southern Ukraine Sunday as Moscow continued efforts to expand its gains in the country’s east.
Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Senkevych said that the Russian missiles struck an industrial and infrastructure facility in the city, a key shipbuilding center in the estuary of the Southern Bug river. …
Mykolaiv has faced regular Russian missile strikes in recent weeks as the Russians have sought to soften Ukrainian defenses.
The Russian military has declared a goal to cut off Ukraine’s entire Black Sea coast all the way to the Romanian border. If successful, such an effort would deal a crushing blow to the Ukrainian economy and trade and allow Moscow to secure a land bridge to Moldova’s separatist region of Transnistria, which hosts a Russian military base. …
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Lt. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Sunday that Russian missiles destroyed a depot for anti-ship Harpoon missiles delivered to Ukraine by NATO allies, a claim that couldn’t be independently confirmed.
The Russians also sought to reinforce their positions in the Kherson region near Crimea and part of the northern Zaporizhzhia region that they seized in the opening stage of the conflict, fearing a Ukrainian counteroffensive. https://www.politico.com/news/2022/07/17/ukraine-russia-missiles-00046221

Yes, Ukraine has been losing territory. This is not unexpected.

Two days BEFORE the start of Russia’s “Special Military Operation” into Ukraine, I posted the following here:

In the Fall of 2013, I wrote that Russia would end up with some territory that Ukraine claimed. That was confirmed on March 18, 2014, when Vladimir Putin signed a treaty to make Crimea part of Russia (https://www.rferl.org/a/putin-to-visit-crimea-to-mark-five-years-since-peninsula-rejoined-russia/29826559.html).
Why did I write that back in 2013?
Because of my understanding of biblical prophecies while also watching some of what was happening in Ukraine.
Back in 2013 there were protests against the democratically elected and pro-Russian government in Ukraine. Instead of backing Ukraine’s elected president, the USA backed a coup. Because of prophecies related to the “kings of the Medes” in the Book of Jeremiah, I concluded that at least some territory controlled by Ukraine would end up supporting Russia and wrote about that.
When Ukraine’s coup government took over in early 2014, one of the first things it did was to pass a bill (that ended up not being signed into law) to make Russian a second-class language in Ukraine. That incensed those in Crimea and various ones in the eastern portion of Ukraine. Many in Donbas and Crimea speak Russian as their native language.
So in 2014, Crimea voted to leave Ukraine and become part of Russia. Russia later accepted the territory, which it had long wanted. Crimea has been a fairly poor region that felt neglected and discriminated against by the western portion of Ukraine. Many in Donbas also have felt neglected (or worse) by western Ukraine and have long wanted to be closer to Russia.
Many of those in Crimea (other than the Tartars) and Donbas believed that they would be better off with Russia who wanted them than Kiev who claims to want to keep them, but apparently had not shown them enough signs that it would truly be able to help them.
The USA would not accept the vote by the Crimeans primarily because it seems to want to stop Russia from expanding. The USA pushed for international sanctions with Europe, many of which still remain, in an effort to hope Russia would release Crimea to Ukraine.
The USA’s position seemed to be based mainly on politics as opposed to its professed belief in democracy.
Even though the USA and many in Europe have wanted Russia to leave Crimea, on March 18, 2019, I posted:
It remains my view that Crimea and at least parts of eastern Ukraine will ultimately align with Russia.
International sanctions will not stop biblical prophecies from being fulfilled. (Thiel B. ‘Putin in Crimea as Russia Marks Five Years Since Annexation’ the ‘Kings of the Medes’ will arise. COGwriter, March 18, 2019)
And the events of the past couple of days confirmed my view that sanctions would not stop Russia from having territories align with it. The sanctions recently announced by the USA and the Europeans look to be announced as political punishment, as opposed to being announced by those who seriously believe that they will get Russia to cede the Donbas back to Ukrainian control (it would probably take a pro-Russian government in Keiv for Russia to do that).
Perhaps it should also be mentioned that on the Sabbath of February 5, I did a sermonette where I mentioned that lands associated with Ukraine would be confederate with Russia:

Russia, Ukraine, Babylonian Europe, and Prophecy

The situation between Russia and Ukraine has again heated up, although it has been tense since the Euromaiden protests and Russia’s annexation of Crimea. There was later a separation of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church from the Russian Orthodox Church. Is war prophesied for Russia and Ukraine? Are prophecies in the Bible associated with the ‘kings of the Medes’ and a power from the “north country” related to any in Russia and Ukraine? Is a confederation of powers from the north, east, and central Asia prophesied to destroy the coming end time European Babylon? Will the destruction be reminiscent of what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah? How is the King of the North and who will destroy him? Do those in Russia and Ukraine have a hope of salvation? Will Russia and powers of the east be involved in the gathering in Armageddon as prophesied in Revelation 16? Dr. Thiel addresses these issues.
Here is a link to our video: Russia, Ukraine, Babylonian Europe, and Prophecy.
Bible prophecy, as well as ancient origins of various peoples, are normally ignored by the major media. …
Biblical prophecies can be trusted.
I expect that Donetsk and Luhansk will either be annexed by Russia and/or join its Eurasian Economic Union. (Thiel B. ‘What to Know About the Donetsk and Luhansk Regions’. COGwriter, February 22, 2022)

Russia is not finished with its military operations in Ukraine.

Even Ukrainian leader realize that:

July 17, 2022
Russia is preparing for the next stage of its offensive in Ukraine, a Ukrainian military official said, after Moscow said its forces would step up military operations in “all operational areas.”
As Western deliveries of long-range arms begin to help Ukraine on the battlefield, Russian rockets and missiles have pounded cities in strikes that Kyiv says have killed dozens in recent days.
“It is not only missile strikes from the air and sea,” Vadym Skibitskyi, a spokesman for Ukrainian military intelligence, said on Saturday. “We can see shelling along the entire line of contact, along the entire front line. There is an active use of tactical aviation and attack helicopters.
“Clearly preparations are now underway for the next stage of the offensive.” …
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu ordered military units to intensify operations to prevent Ukrainian strikes on eastern Ukraine and other areas held by Russia, where he said Kyiv could hit civilian infrastructure or residents, according to a statement from the ministry.
His remarks appeared to be a direct response to what Kyiv says is a string of successful strikes carried out on 30 Russian logistics and ammunitions hubs, using several multiple launch rocket systems recently supplied by the West. …
Russian-backed separatists said Ukraine had hit the town of Alchevsk, east of Sloviansk, with six U.S.-made HIMARS rockets on Saturday. The self-styled Luhansk People’s Republic said the strikes had killed two civilians and damaged a bus depot, health camp and apartments.
Ukraine’s armed forces said they had struck the bus depot because they had information it was being used to house Russian troops.
The Russian defense ministry said its forces had destroyed a launch ramp and reloading vehicle for one of the HIMARS systems deployed near the eastern city of Pokrovsk.
It also said they had shot down a Ukrainian MI-17 helicopter near Sloviansk and a SU-25 aircraft in the Kharkiv region further north and destroyed a depot in Odesa in southern Ukraine that stored Harpoon anti-ship missiles from NATO countries. https://www.newsmax.com/headline/russia-ukraine-next/2022/07/17/id/1079111/

As I have been writing since 2013, at least parts of territory that Ukraine has ruled will align with Russia.

Some, like Crimea and parts of the Donbas already have.

While Russia might negotiate some areas away in the future, Russia tends to keep control over what it believes it should.

Full article with related written articles/videos: ‘Russia strikes south Ukraine city, presses attacks in east’

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