Ukraine needs “bayraktars” and air defense – a political scientist from Kiev for TuranInterview
How can you break down the stages of the war? What stage is now?
– After the initial stage of the war, which was conceived by the Kremlin as a blitzkrieg, Ukraine was gradually drawn into the stage of total war. Blitzkrieg failed; Ukraine managed to hold the first blow without significant losses in its Armed Forces. The myth of the invincibility of the Russian army turned out to be just as fake as the stories born of Russian propaganda about the crucified boy, the Nazi authorities in Ukraine, and so on.
Further, the never-before-seen brutality displayed by the Russian military backfired on Putin in a way he did not expect. No one met the invaders with flowers, no one was frightened, no one was taken prisoner. On the contrary, the whole people rose up to fight the aggressor. From the Armed Forces of Ukraine and Territorial Defense to simple farmers, homeless people and gopniks. Russia is faced with a phenomenon that has never been seen before. Its poorly trained, as it turned out, soldiers and officers are opposed by the Ukrainian military, Ukrainian militias and even Ukrainian hunters. And civilians, even in the occupied cities and villages, with the flags of Ukraine, with their bare hands and to the anthem of Ukraine, come out and stop the columns of armored vehicles. Even in Afghanistan, the USSR had some support among the local population, but in Ukraine, no one supports Putin. In fact, rashists are fighting against the people. And the people cannot be defeated. Especially when all as one are united by the goal of defending the freedom of their Motherland.
– What is the reason for the large number of prisoners of the Russian army?
– The Russian horde gathered at the borders of Ukraine and in the Crimea from all over the vast Russia throughout the past year. Half of the troops are made up of conscripts – unfired youth. Encountering more fierce resistance from Ukrainians, and not understanding why this war, the occupiers lose their motivation for further military operations. Pictures of columns of military equipment burned by Ukrainians hit their minds especially hard.
In addition, the high military command of Russia arrogantly hoped that the war would last 2-3 days. Therefore, the troops entered without food, fuel and reserves. Crowds of ragged, homeless-looking rashists roam the fields and forests of Ukraine. They are caught. Those who do not resist are taken prisoner. It should be noted that Ukraine, unlike Russia, acts strictly in accordance with the Geneva Conventions. The prisoners are provided with medical care, food and everything necessary. Therefore, many of them voluntarily turn to their compatriots with calls to stop the war. It can be assumed that every day more and more Russians will surrender, because they do not see a favorable outcome of the war for themselves.
More than 1/3 (one third) of the Russian troops have been destroyed. Losses are terrible. In terms of manpower, this is already a figure comparable to the losses of the USSR over 10 years in Afghanistan. And this is for less than three weeks of fighting. Losses in equipment amount to such a number of aircraft, helicopters, tanks, hail, etc., which no European country has in service. Only the blind will not see that Russia is suffering the most shameful defeat in its history in Ukraine.
– What does yesterday’s anti-war protest on the First Russian TV Channel, led by the channel’s former editor Marina Ovsyanikova, point to?
– This is the first sign that there is no longer a majority in Russia that blindly supports any actions of Putin. She was supported publicly by a huge number of people. In fact, this action is a harbinger of the fact that an internal explosion is brewing in Russia, which will sweep away both Putin and all the Putinoids around, from top to bottom.
– How is the Territorial Defense of Ukraine* organized? I know you are in it. Does this experience, the use of civilians, give a result?
– The creation of the Territorial Defense began in January 1 of this year, when the Law “On the Fundamentals of National Resistance” came into force. It consists of two components. The first is the territorial defense troops themselves, which are a separate branch of the Armed Forces. The second is volunteer formations, which can be created on a voluntary basis in each territorial community. The commander of each unit is appointed as the commander of the territorial defense unit, which is based in the respective territorial community in agreement with the commander of the territorial defense forces. At the moment, more than 100 thousand Ukrainians have already joined the Territorial Defense units or volunteer formations.
The uniqueness of the situation lies in the fact that many times more people sign up for these units than provided for by their regular layouts. Therefore, all new divisions are being created. More than 100,000 men returned to Ukraine from abroad alone to defend the country against Russian troops. They tore up their labor contracts in order to help the country defeat Fuhrer 2.0. Putin.
– Can we talk about a turning point in favor of Ukraine?
– The fact that Ukraine has thwarted all of Putin’s plans, and stopped his troops on all fronts, suggests that the turning point is near. Russia has practically no reserves. Russians do not want to fight for Putin in Ukraine, more than 2 million Russians have fled Russia in these 3 weeks. Nobody helps Russia. Even the puppet of the Kremlin, Lukashenko, refused to send his troops into Ukraine. And China, on which Putin so hoped, took a very cautious position, gradually drifting away from the Kremlin. So, time plays in favor of Ukraine.
We are forming additional brigades in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the territorial defense is being strengthened, modern weapons are being brought in from our partners. The main thing is that the world saw the unprecedented heroism of the Ukrainians, the professionalism of our military and, at the same time, a lot of Russian war crimes, including the massacres of civilians, including children, and the destruction of critical infrastructure.
Russia is increasingly drawn into the trap of unprecedented sanctions, flying at full speed into the abyss. Default, mass unemployment and poverty – this is what awaits horror for Russia in the coming weeks. So the turning point in this war will come soon. And it will definitely not be in favor of Putin.
– Has the war turned into a chronic form like the Afghan one?
– The Ukrainian Patriotic War actually has little in common with the Soviet war in Afghanistan. And the possibilities of the then USSR and the current thieving backward Putin’s Russia are not commensurate. Therefore, there can be no talk of any long war for years. The Kremlin has neither the resources nor the will to do so. Moreover, Putin has already been dumped by his closest oligarch friends, not everything is so simple among army generals, and especially in the FSB, which was previously considered his reliable rear, and the fugitive oppositionists are waiting for the moment to seize power, which is about to mouth.
The only thing that can and should be common between the Afghan and this war is the consequences for the aggressor. Then the USSR collapsed. Now the Russian Federation should fall apart. All its 83 subjects must receive the right to self-determination. Only by dismantling this type of statehood, which Putin created on 1/8 of the land, will it be possible to guarantee peace and security in Eurasia. Otherwise, the threat of the appearance of another Fuhrer in Moscow, who again decides to build another Russian world around the world, will remain. Tatars, Chechens, Dagestanis, and dozens of other peoples who inhabit today’s Russia have the right to their own states.
– What are the expectations of an early peace during the negotiations? They say every day that there will be peace soon, Zelensky several times promised the successful completion of negotiations with the Russian Federation.
– What are the expectations of an early peace during the negotiations? They say every day that there will be peace soon, Zelensky several times promised the successful completion of negotiations with the Russian Federation.
