cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/4630592

https://archive.li/Z0m5m

The Russian commander of the “Vostok” Battalion fighting in southern Ukraine said on Thursday that Ukraine will not be defeated and suggested that Russia freeze the war along current frontlines.

Alexander Khodakovsky made the candid concession yesterday on his Telegram channel after Russian forces, including his own troops, were devastatingly defeated by Ukrainian marines earlier this week at Urozhaine in the Zaporizhzhia-Donetsk regional border area.

“Can we bring down Ukraine militarily? Now and in the near future, no,” Khodakovsky, a former official of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic, said yesterday.

“When I talk to myself about our destiny in this war, I mean that we will not crawl forward, like the [Ukrainians], turning everything into [destroyed] Bakhmuts in our path. And, I do not foresee the easy occupation of cities,” he said.

  • @[email protected]
    5•1 year ago

    I really hope Putin listens to this. Russia can’t afford to keep this war going - both in money and in lives lost.

  • @Redditgee
    4•1 year ago

    As soon as Ukraine showed serious resistance, this thing was going to be nasty for Russia. They could likely throw enough people into the fight to win, but that’d only get them to the insurgency phase, where victory is hazy, and the amount of lives thrown away is unacceptable to the Russian people. If Russia could’ve captured Kyiv in the opening weeks, the west would’ve stood by, and the population might have accepted their new rulers, but that’s a dream that evaporated so long ago, it’s difficult to understand the drive to carry on the fight.

  • verity_kindle
    0•1 year ago

    Khodakovsky for president of whatever. If only because he seems capable of self criticism and analysis.