As Russia makes slow progress in eastern Ukraine, questions loom over the extent to which President Vladimir Putin plans to invade Ukraine. During a recent press conference, Putin claimed Nothing has changed and everything is going according to plan: “She formulated the general goal, which is the liberation of Donbass, the protection of its people and the creation of conditions that ensure the security of Russia itself. That’s it.” His deliberately vague responses suggested that Russian attacks in other parts of Ukraine were intended to “distract” the Ukrainian leadership.
Some military experts believe that the fierce Ukrainian resistance may be insurmountable, as long as it continues to have continued Western support. Appearing on a government TV show The evening with Vladimir Solovyov Last Friday, Andrei Gorolev, State Duma deputy and former deputy commander of Russia’s Southern Military District, asserted that the West would continue to supply Ukraine with every conceivable type of weapon, “even a nuclear bomb – just so we wouldn’t win.” He suggested re-creating the Cuban missile crisis, but This time with hypersonic weapons, in order to reach a final breakthrough with the United States: “Our hypersonic weapons … flight duration is no more than five minutes.”
Gorolev, frankly He confessed: “This is the only scenario for us to be able to disarm and disarm Ukraine. Only a direct threat to the United States and the United Kingdom… will force them all to come to the negotiating table… It’s all part of a larger plan to conduct not just a special operation, But the Third World War, for which we have the Second Great Patriotic War. ” He positioned nuclear blackmail as Russia’s golden ticket, urging the country’s leadership to “think seriously about plans for how to painlessly get to the next crisis that will be our ticket to the future.”
“Thanks to the foolishness of NATO countries, the world can expect hunger and a great war,” said host Vladimir Solovyov. His constant attempts to deter foreign support for Ukraine through threats of nuclear attacks against Western countries have become so exaggerated that even his fellow preachers routinely wince and roll their eyes. Solovyov, who is he? It said He himself purchased military equipment to help the Russian war against Ukraine, and is currently calling for the complete destruction of the country’s vital infrastructure. His theatrical threats ring hollow, but at the same time raise expectations.
On Monday, the Kremlin is childish to reject To congratulate the United States on its independence day. Military expert Alexei Leonkov appeared on the Solovyov Show on July 4, suggesting that Russia should declare the United States and its allies “state sponsors of terrorism” to help Ukraine deter Russian aggression. The host enthusiastically agreed and threatened that Russia would begin to shoot down American satellites, which would lead to a direct confrontation with the United States. “I don’t know why we haven’t already declared that they are terrorists,” Solovyov added.
While most of the world hopes for a quick end to Russia’s brutal war against its neighbor, the Kremlin’s pet propaganda insists that the carnage must continue and expand. In a Sunday evening broadcast of the Solovyov Show, one of the show’s frequent guests, Yaakov Kidmi, aka Yasha Kazakov, a former Israeli politician and diplomat, insisted that Russia should completely take over Ukraine and nothing less.
If the results of this process are maximally close to the expectations of the Russian people, it will be a victory. If they were far from it, it would be a defeat. A semantic somersault, like the claim, “We set the liberation and security of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics as our goal,” will not be helpful. The Russian people will consider it a defeat. It does not matter what created this expectation of the target, whether it is clever or not, that is what they are waiting for,” he said. “If they had such expectations, any deviation from the complete and final victory over Ukraine would be seen as a loss, and with consequences for Russia “.
Speaking about the statements of former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, Kedme and others have indicated incredible support for Putin as a result of this process. What is the basis of this support? The unshakable confidence of the Russian people that he will achieve complete victory. God forbid it is broken. This trust or somehow damaged … The people will not accept nor forgive anything less than a complete victory. I would like to remind you, based on the history of Russia, how the people reacted when the government did not live up to their expectations. With the same force that they supported [the government]They’ll bury it in the dirt… Anything less than Novorossiya [a proposed confederation of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic and the Luhansk People’s Republic] And the left bank of Ukraine would be a disaster. Not just a defeat, but a disaster.”
Solovyov jumped: “In this case, let’s be more frank. In fact, the goals were formulated in December 2021. And they are not limited to Ukraine, but demand the return of the NATO infrastructure to the 1997-1998 borders.” Kedmi agreed, saying: “This was another of Kissinger’s mistakes. As I said before, everything that happens in Ukraine is a prelude to the main confrontation, the main battle, which will determine the fate of the whole world, the fate of the United States, as well as the fate of Russia. This battle will develop The big one depends on the outcome of the actions in Ukraine. Russia has no right to lose this big battle, or the battle in Ukraine, defeat is like death.” Solovyov concluded: “Defeat is death.”
The next guest, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, sounded furious at Kedmi’s comments, which may indicate that the Kremlin has already settled on a more modest endgame in Ukraine.
I told him to talk to the Israeli government and leadership about the problems of the “Kyiv regime”, rather than “fantasy” about the desires of the Russian people. She claimed that there was “complete unity” of ordinary Russians with the country’s government, regarding their goals in Ukraine.
Zakharova’s angry sermon tried to cover up the fact that even top preachers seem unable to know the Kremlin’s ultimate goals, let alone ordinary people. The latest poll conducted by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center VCIOM Offers That 38 percent of Russians think the goal of the invasion was to disarm Ukraine, 20 percent think the goal was to protect Donbass, and only 19 percent think Putin’s questionable claim to “de-Nazification” and 8 percent think Russia’s intention is to occupy All of Ukraine is absorbed into Russia.
Rather than aiding the Putin regime, the furious intimidation by state media propaganda only highlights the meaninglessness of the conflict, even the Russian people struggle to make sense of. Cardinal promises of world domination fail to obscure the fact that the Russian economy is descending into the abyss. No territorial gain can justify the intolerable human toll.
