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Putin's view of Ukraine "very exaggerated": military expert sees "first signs" of a radical step

2022-07-19T08:04:36.980Z


Putin's view of Ukraine "very exaggerated": military expert sees "first signs" of a radical step Created: 07/19/2022, 09:52 By: Felix Durach Kyiv wants to reconquer areas in southern Ukraine with a counter-offensive. Russian President Putin threatens further escalations in the Ukraine war. Moscow/Kyiv - Almost four and a half months after the start of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine,


Putin's view of Ukraine "very exaggerated": military expert sees "first signs" of a radical step

Created: 07/19/2022, 09:52

By: Felix Durach

Kyiv wants to reconquer areas in southern Ukraine with a counter-offensive.

Russian President Putin threatens further escalations in the Ukraine war.

Moscow/Kyiv - Almost four and a half months after the start of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, the military situation in the east of the country remains contested.

In the past few weeks, the Russian armed forces in the Ukraine war had managed to capture the last cities in the Luhansk region.

The self-proclaimed People's Republic is now almost completely under Russian control.

The statement by Russian President Vladimir Putin on the course of the war so far also caused a stir last week.

"Everyone should know that by and large we haven't started anything serious yet," the Kremlin chief told the faction leaders of the Russian Duma.

Should Putin's threats to the devastated cities of eastern Ukraine be a cause for concern?

Russia's President has threatened Ukraine and the West: "Everyone should know that by and large we haven't started anything serious yet." © Alexander Zemlianichenko/dpa

Moscow continues to threaten: military expert - Putin's current view of Ukraine "very exaggerated"

In an interview with

ntv

, military expert Wolfgang Richter was skeptical about the statements made by the Russian head of state.

"I think that's very exaggerated.

Strategically, Putin's active land forces are completely overstretched, otherwise the army wouldn't have to resort to reservists now," said Müller.

About 60 percent of the Russian land forces are currently deployed in Ukraine.

But in addition to the active war against Ukraine, armed forces are also needed in other strategic locations in the country.

"From Murmansk to Central Asia, from the Caucasus to Vladivostok and the Kuril Islands," strategic positions must be maintained, Richter explains.

The Russian military leadership must therefore attempt a strategic balancing act.

CDU foreign policymaker Roderich Kiesewetter also has little faith in Putin's threatening gestures.

At the weekend, the 58-year-old described the President's statements on Deutschlandfunk as "empty threats".

Russia "cannot afford further escalation" - Ukraine launches counteroffensive

"For me, these are empty threats because Russia cannot afford further escalation," said the CDU politician.

Kiesewetter went on to argue that Russian arsenals were being exhausted and Russian forces were suffering "prodigious casualties".

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Could the current situation even turn out to be an opportunity for Ukraine?

Earlier this week, President Volodymyr Zelenskyi announced a Ukrainian counter-offensive in the south of the country.

The aim is to push back the Russian armed forces from the strategically important areas on the Black Sea and the Assov Sea.

Observers see the restoration of the axis around the cities of Odessa, Mykolaiv, Cherson and Melitopol as the goal of the Ukrainian counter-offensive.

A Ukrainian soldier walks past a destroyed armored vehicle in the Kharkiv region.

© ANATOLII STEPANOV/AFP

Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov told the British

Sunday Times

that up to a million soldiers - equipped with Western weapons - are said to be involved in the offensive.

Despite the grandiose announcements, given the current situation, it seems unlikely that Ukraine could gain the upper hand in the war in this way.

Is Putin serious?

Military expert sees "first signs" of radical action

Former Bundeswehr General Hans-Lothar Domröse is of the same opinion.

“However, the Kremlin chief has escalation dominance.

Only Russia can send more artillery, more tanks, more ships and more planes every day.

The only option the Ukrainian army has is to delay and to defend itself skillfully," Domröse told the

Funke media group

newspapers .

Wolfgang Richter also continues to see the advantage in the Russian armed forces.

"If Moscow mobilizes, calls up reservists - they have millions of them - and converts parts of the industry to war production, then the Russians will ultimately be able to generate more forces than the Ukrainians," the military expert told

ntv

.

There are already “first signs” from the Kremlin of these steps.

Russia prepares offensive - Ukraine could be forced to partisan tactics

According to observers, the Russian armed forces are also preparing for a new major offensive.

From the conquered cities of Sievjerdonetsk and Lysyschansk, the troops could push further west.

The cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region are considered likely targets.

A car with the letter Z painted on it in Lysychansk.

Russian troops managed to capture the strategically important city in the Luhansk region last week.

© Stanislav Krasilnikov/imago-images

Military expert Carlo Masala, professor of international politics at the Bundeswehr University in Munich, is currently expecting the Ukrainian general staff to change strategy if the counteroffensive is unsuccessful.

Then Kiev could increasingly resort to partisan tactics or agree to negotiations, Masala told

t-online

.

In recent months, President Zelenskyi's government has repeatedly emphasized that it will recapture all occupied areas of Ukrainian national territory.

The surrender of territories within the framework of peace negotiations was ruled out.

(fd)

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2022-07-19

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