Putin "is fighting for his life right now": Selenskyj adviser points to fear after Kherson withdrawal
Created: 11/24/2022, 4:35 p.m
By: Felix Durach
Vladimir Putin could lose further support as a result of the Russian withdrawal from Kherson.
A Ukrainian official sees the Russian president fearing for his life.
Kyiv — The withdrawal of Russian troops from the strategically important port city of Cherson is likely to have further increased the pressure on Vladimir Putin from within his own ranks.
Russia's president "is afraid for his life," said Oleksiy Arestowich in an interview with the English portal
The Times
.
The 47-year-old Ukrainian is an advisor to Andriy Yermak, the head of the Ukrainian presidential office.
Ukraine war: Zelenskyj adviser sure - Putin "is fighting for his life right now"
"Putin is very afraid because in Russia there is no forgiveness for tsars who lose wars," Arestovich said.
"He's fighting for his life right now.
If he loses the war, at least in the minds of the populace, it will mean the end.
The end of his political career.
And probably also in the physical sense”.
Oleksiy Arestovych, adviser to the Ukrainian presidential office, in Kyiv.
© Oleksii Chumachenko/imago-images
Since the start of the Ukraine war, Cherson has been considered a strategically important hub in Ukraine.
The metropolis, which had almost 300,000 inhabitants before the war, is located at the mouth of the Dnieper River in the Black Sea.
Because of this location, Kherson is considered an important bridgehead for the Ukrainian armed forces to push further east of the Dnieper.
Russia occupied the city for months.
The region of the same name was annexed by Putin by decree, along with the regions of Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhia.
Ukraine News: Putin under increased pressure after withdrawing from Cherson
As part of the Ukrainian counter-offensive in the south of the country, many experts expected bitter fighting for the city.
However, Putin eventually ordered the withdrawal of Russian troops, leaving the Ukrainian army in Kherson without a fight.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on a visit to the Armenian capital Yerevan.
© imago-images
According to Arestowich, the decision is now making waves in the Russian leadership.
"This has even forced people who are very loyal to Putin to doubt that they can win this war," the Ukrainian says.
In the past few weeks, there has been unusually clear criticism of Russia's conduct of the war from within its own ranks.
Above all, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov and Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the mercenary group "Group Wagner", had expressed dissatisfaction with the course of the war.
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