“The Russians simply cannot find an adequate answer. Moscow is clearly very confused,” said US General Ben Hodges, former commander-in-chief of US forces in Europe, in an interview with German wave. He commented on the secret of Ukrainian success.
How do you think Ukrainian troops managed to regain such a vast territory in a few days?
I think it’s a combination of three circumstances. First, the Russian army is exhausted, its rear support is also exhausted, and a significant part of the officer corps is destroyed; in recent months we have seen a serious deterioration in the morale of the Russian troops, they simply do not want to fight.
Former US Commander: Prepare for Russia’s Collapse
Secondly, an important role is played by the weapons supplied to Ukraine by the West, in particular long-range missiles, which have greatly contributed to destroying Russian logistics, artillery, command posts, etc .; these missiles have created a lot of problems for the Russians on their own territory, and they simply cannot understand what is happening, they cannot find an adequate answer.
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In third place are the merits of the Ukrainian General Staff and the Ukrainian Armed Forces: they are disciplined, they have done a good job of protecting their information and their operational security. They deceived Russia as to where the main blow would be struck. All the while they talked of an attack near Kherson, but their main thrust was actually north. That is, we observe the highest level in the implementation of tactical plans.
Military experts were indeed following the plans for the advance of the Ukrainian forces in the south, near Kherson. And you say this was just a trick: weaken the Russian defenses north and northeast of Kharkiv, right?
Exactly. The Russians were deceived, as were many other observers. Precisely for this reason the Russians began to transfer troops to Kherson. Yes, Kherson is very important and in the end we see that Ukrainian troops will also enter there. But the real goal now was for the Russians to focus on Kherson and thus unmask a weak spot in the north where the Ukrainians had the opportunity to attack.
And how do you explain Moscow’s almost total silence on this defeat we are witnessing?
In my opinion, it is obvious that Moscow is confused. This must be a big shock. I think truthful information never reached the top in that system. That is, it is possible that people in the Kremlin and at various levels share divergent views on what is really happening and how serious the situation is. In my opinion, the preliminary assessments that the Russian army is better than the Ukrainian one were wrong. In recent days many mutual accusations have been exchanged in Russia, there have already been layoffs, criticisms have come both from extremist nationalists and from those who thought that Russia should not have invaded Ukraine at all.
Do you expect a Russian retaliatory attack after this Ukrainian offensive?
I can imagine such a thing. The Russians have no choice but to continue killing innocent people by firing rockets at residential areas as they are doing now. Their ground forces clearly cannot stop the Ukrainian army. There is no Russian air force and their navy is hiding behind the Crimea. So I don’t see much chance of large-scale military action by Russia. They will try to compensate for this by firing rockets at cities. Until they destroy them or until they are stopped.
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