The Ukrainian counteroffensive is expected to start shortly. President Zelensky is already predicting the end of the Putin regime.
Kyiv – Volodymyr Zelensky has staged himself as the head of state of clear statements in the Ukraine war from the very beginning. Every evening, the 45-year-old addresses the Ukrainian population in a video address - sometimes also to the invaders from Russia. On Sunday evening (28 May), Zelensky predicted a bad end for the Moscow power circle around Vladimir Putin.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky talking to a soldier. The 45-year-old predicted the overthrow of Russian despotism on Sunday. © Ukrainian Presidentia/imago-images
Ukraine war: Zelensky predicts end of Putin's regime
"Kiev and all our cities, all of our Ukraine will put an end to the history of Moscow despotism, which enslaved many different peoples for a very long time," the Ukrainian president said in his speech. Zelensky delivered his message from the night streets of the Ukrainian capital, not from his office as usual. The head of state praised the air defense of Kiev for its good work over the past few days. He had succeeded in almost completely repelling one of the largest Russian drone attacks since the beginning of the war.
Zelensky described the attacks as a desperate attempt by the Russian leadership to break the morale of Ukrainians. But according to him, weapons like the Shahed drones cannot save Russia's rulers. Because it despises life and culture, Russia can only lose the war, he predicted.
Counteroffensive in the Ukraine war is imminent – Putin's resources "more depleted by the day"
Kiev could take a first step towards the overthrow of the Russian regime with the counteroffensive in eastern Ukraine, which has been expected for weeks. This could begin "tomorrow, the day after tomorrow or in a week," said the secretary of the National Security Council, Oleksiy Danilov, the British BBC. Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the Ukrainian president, confirmed to the Guardian that preparatory operations have already begun.
Despite the threat of a counteroffensive, Putin is currently keeping his feet still. "Actually, the Kremlin should have announced a new wave of mobilization long ago," said exiled opposition politician Vladimir Milov a week and a half ago at a panel hosted by the Atlantic Council think tank. But the Kremlin has too much respect for the domestic political consequences of the measures. Instead, the Russian autocrat is now playing for time.
"Its resources are becoming more and more depleted by the day," Milow continued. Time is running against Putin. That is why the Kremlin is trying to stoke the West's fear of a protracted war and thus break support for Ukraine.
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"Don't think he has the skills" – Is Putin running out of time in the Ukraine war?
U.S. intelligence coordinator Avril Haines came to a similar conclusion in March at a hearing before the Senate in Washington. Putin has longer-term plans, Haines said. He apparently considers a long war with intermittent pauses in the fighting to be the best way to achieve Russia's "strategic interests" in Ukraine - "even if it takes years".
But according to voices from the West, the Russian president could no longer have this time. "Putin may want to prolong this war, but the question is whether he has the capability to do so," said David Kramer of the George W. Bush Institute, a US think tank, on the Atlantic Council panel. "And I don't think he has the skills." The war fatigue among the population is simply too high, according to the expert's assessment. In the event of a successful counteroffensive, Kramer therefore also considers a collapse of the Russian military conceivable. However, this would not necessarily lead to the overthrow of Putin.
Support for the West continues unabated – training on Abrams tanks started
Western support for Ukraine is still ongoing. It was only at the weekend that the U.S. government announced that it had begun training Ukrainian forces on the U.S. M1 Abrams main battle tank. The Abrams tank, together with the German Leopard 2 and the British Challenger 2, is intended to strengthen the tank forces in eastern Ukraine. At the moment, however, it is still unclear when the first operational Abrams will be delivered to Kyiv. (FD with dpa)
