Putin Begs For Mercy
- 23.07.2022, 10:55
Russia's army has lost its main advantage.
International observer Ivan Yakovina told Radio NV that Putin was asking for a truce because the Russian army had run out of reserves and lost its main advantage - the artillery.
Yakovina recalls that since the Russian army has no reserves, "homeless people and criminals are already being recruited there."
"Because of the very successful HIMARS, the main advantage of the Russian armed forces - the artillery - is coming to naught. Why? Because due to the destruction of artillery depots, there is nothing to shoot with now," the NV international observer also notes.
There is "the systematic destruction of Russian army headquarters and oil depots," so as Russian generals and officers are killed, there is no one to command the Russian army. The equipment is left without fuel.
In addition, the Ukrainian military is destroying the Russian air defense, "these S-300s, S-400s, Tors, Buks, Pantsirs and other things, all this leaves the Russian troops without air cover at all. Yakovina stresses this is why Ukrainian aviation begins to fly more freely than Russian aviation.
The fact that the offensive potential of the Russian army is gradually being destroyed is the main military reason why Vladimir Putin is asking for a truce, the NV international observer believes.
"For about a week now, Vladimir Putin and his subordinates have been strenuously asking and generally spreading the idea that it is urgently necessary to begin negotiations on a truce. On July 8, Putin said "it's urgent, and it will be easier to do it now than later".
The political observer stresses that Putin is aware that "the territory controlled by his troops will shrink" without a truce. It's very bad for his ratings, by the way.
In addition, a truce, according to Yakovina, "would at least give hope" for the removal of economic sanctions. They are causing "the economic situation in Russia to turn rapidly into a real disaster."
Military expert Oleg Zhdanov has recently warned Ukraine against a one-month ceasefire with Russia while grain is withdrawn from Ukrainian ports, as it could give Russia time to build up reserves.
According to Kirill Budanov, head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, Russia is preparing to hold a pseudo-referendum in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions on September 11. British intelligence also reported a high probability of a pseudo-referendum.
Political scientist and publicist Andrei Piontkovsky says in an interview with journalist Elena Trybushna during a recent program with Alexei Venediktov (editor-in-chief of the Echo of Moscow radio station, blocked in Russia on March 1 for covering the war in Ukraine - editor) that "he could assume Putin would react to the attempt to take Kherson as an existential threat to the state. It is already a Russian state in his mind. He would be willing to use nuclear weapons." Meanwhile, he predicts Ukraine will retake Kherson in August.
According to analysts of the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Putin wants to annex the seized Ukrainian territories as soon as possible and further refer to the Russian doctrine that allows "the use of nuclear weapons to defend Russian territory".