Russia military veteran Khodaryonok in damning assessment of Ukraine war
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In Bucha, the Russian military destroyed its equipment.
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In a country where independent media and commentary has all but disappeared from public view, it’s rare to hear dissenting voices on the many state-controlled TV networks in Russia — particularly now with the country at war with Ukraine.
One veteran and well-known analyst in the military has made a strong statement this week, appearing on state television to give a stark assessment of Ukraine’s invasion or “special military operations” as Russia refers them.
Mikhail Khodaryonok (a former Russian Army colonel) said that the situation would get worse. He was speaking on “60 Minutes”, a talk program broadcast by Rossiya-1. Olga Skabeyeva hosts “60 Minutes”, a show hosted by Olga Skabeyeva. Skabeyeva is well-known for her proKremlin views.
Khodaryonok advised the host to avoid informational tranquilizers.
Khodaryonok also works as a defense columnist in Gazeta.ru. According to Reuters, he was also a graduate at one of Russia’s most elite military academies and had previously warned Russia about invading Ukraine’s neighbor.
Russia now has almost three months to go before a bloody conflict with Ukraine. Russia only made a handful of territorial gains in east and south. With the invading force likely to become a long-term war, the bravery, resilience, and determination shown by the fighters in Ukraine are all underestimated.
Moscow already had to reduce its strategy of invading Ukraine from the south, north and south. It has now shifted its combat forces to eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region.
Khodaryonok stated that even if Ukraine relied on thousands upon thousands of conscripts who had only a basic military training, the most important thing was that they would fight for their country, which would prove disastrous for Russia.
“The desire to defend one’s motherland in the sense that it exists in Ukraine — it really does exist there and they intend to fight to the last,” Khodaryonok said before he was interrupted by Skabeyeva who was trying to downplay the effectiveness of Ukraine’s forces.
Reuters reports that neither Skabeyeva nor Khodaryonok could be reached for comment.
“The world is against you”
Russia has become a global outcast and its sanctioned actions have been harshly criticized by India and China, as well as former allies China and India. They are also concerned about how long this conflict will last.
“The main deficiency of our military-political position is that we are in full geopolitical solitude and — however we don’t want to admit it — practically the whole world is against us … and we need to get out of this situation,” Khodaryonok continued on the talk show, with the other studio guests appearing dumbstruck by his outspoken critique.
While Russia’s isolation is increasing, the West seems more united than ever. The West’s allies continue to provide arms to Ukraine and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has forced NATO to tighten its security procedures. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has not strengthened the alliance, with Finland and Sweden looking to join.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was largely financed by opposition to NATO joining. However, this prospect is not likely to happen. Russia also accuses NATO of being preparing for an attack on what Moscow considers Russian territory in eastern Ukraine. There are two pro-Russian self-proclaimed republics in the Donbas.
However, its reaction to NATO’s upcoming expansion to include Finland/Sweden has been muted. Although Russia initially threatened “retaliatory actions” to stop the expansion with President Vladimir Putin calling the issue “a problem”, it now says that it doesn’t think the expansion will make much difference. According to geopolitical analysts, Russia doesn’t have much control over the expansion. However, Russia threatened to take action if NATO military infrastructure was placed in Sweden and Finland.
Khodaryonok stated that Russia must see the realities of Ukraine’s situation: “The most important thing in our business, have a sense military-political realist: If you move beyond that then you will be so shocked by the facts of history that it will make you forget what happened to you.”
“Don’t wave rockets in the direction of Finland for goodness sake — it just looks rather funny,” he said.
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