Igor Girkin (52) – the self-proclaimed nationalist convicted of shooting down the passenger plane over Ukraine – believes that Russia cannot win the war “with the current leadership”.
Girkin, who was central when Russia started the war in 2014, says in an interview on the Telegram channel “Nesjutka”, reproduced by Nexta TV.
Several well-known Russian military bloggers are also concerned about Russia’s chances of emerging victorious from the war in Ukraine.
– We won at the start and had a good opportunity to win, but now we are losing and have to withdraw, says Girkin in the interview.
– I hope for victory, but Russia cannot win as it looks now. With today’s management, with today’s staff. Without implementing some measures, Russia cannot win. Russia can only prolong the fighting indefinitely, continues Igor Girkin, or Streltsov, as he is also known.
– The three “villages” we have managed to take are nothing compared to losing Kherson.
It was in early November that Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu ordered his troops to withdraw from the west side of the Dnipro River near the city of Kherson.
Igor Girkin was for a period in 2014 “Minister of Defence” in the self-proclaimed “Donetsk People’s Republic”, which has later been annexed by Russia and is considered by Moscow to be part of Russia. He has a background in both the FSB intelligence service and the Russian army.
In November 2022, Girkin was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison for shooting down an airliner over Ukraine in 2014. 298 people were killed.
He was not present at the trial in the Netherlands, and it is unlikely that he will be extradited by the Russian authorities. Malaysia Airlines’ route MH17 was supposed to go from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when the plane was shot down over eastern Ukraine on 17 July 2014. The judgment states that by this time Russia had already taken control of this area in the Donbas region.
Igor Girkin is one of many who claim on social media that the so-called Wagner group is not getting the ammunition they need. The Wagner group is a private army founded by “Putin’s chef”, Yevgeny Prigozhin.
In another interview says Girkin that “if the Russian offensive does not start before 24 February, there will hardly be any offensive”. He makes fun of the general staff in Moscow and calls them the “genius staff”.
– In the 12th month of the war, we are further from victory than we were in the first month, notes Igor Girkin.
In yet another interview, he states that no one is afraid of Russian threats, not even of the use of nuclear weapons:
– Not even mice are afraid of us. Iran has more prestige (than us). North Korea has more prestige.
In a post on Telegram states Girkin that it would be pointless for Russia to expand to attack from the north, including trying to capture the capital Kyiv.
– Ukraine’s armed forces are prepared for battles in all these directions, writes Girkin.
He believes that even with help from Belarus forces, such a front in the north will require 150,000–200,000 soldiers and thus entail a new mobilization.
The military blogger Vladlen Tatarskij also criticizes the Russian offensive in an interview published by Nexta TV:
– Advancement is not enough for victory. It is not occupying any piles. Victories are won by breaking through the front. There is progress, but it is not enough for victory.
– It allows the enemy to create new defense lines.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said at the security conference in Munich on Saturday that he is sure they will get fighter jets from the West.
– It is only a matter of time, the foreign minister stated confidently.
