Putin decided to play Marshal Zhukov.

5.06.2024

The Russian offensive in the Kharkiv region clearly did not go according to plan. The occupiers tried to achieve significant successes at the front, but instead a series of failures and defeats followed, which called into question the strategy and tactics of the Russian command.

What were the Russians counting on when they started this operation? Charter97.org? spoke about this with Boryslav Bereza?, Ukrainian politician, former member of the Verkhovna Rada:

— Firstly, it went according to plan, but clearly not Putin’s. This is already a tradition — “Kyiv in three days”, “Bakhmut in a day”, “Ukraine in a week” — all the plans of Russians are designed for some short term and success. Traditionally, they get punched in the face. It is officially known that Russia lost the largest amount of manpower and weapons near Vovchansk in a very short period of time, when compared with other operations.

In addition, let’s be frank, we do not know what Putin is thinking about, who is actually now trying to attack Ukraine from different sides with his army. To date, we see in a sense the restoration of Operation Bagration, which Marshal Zhukov successfully carried out against the Germans during World War II.

But here this situation is exactly the opposite: the operation of the Russians still stumbles upon total failures and defeats on the battlefield. The Russians are trying to repeat the same maneuvers to divert attention and deliver one main blow, but in what place? It is clear that no one knows now. I hope that only the General Staff of Ukraine knows, and it is ready for this.

What we are now seeing is a repetition of Operation Bagration, when the Germans were waiting for Zhukov to attack through Romania, through Hungary, or somewhere else. But he went through the swamps of Belarus, and this was the most successful operation that allowed the collapse of the Nazi front.

Now we see something similar. Another thing is that Putin, unlike Zhukov, has much more problems today. If Zhukov tried to clear the territory of the country, the USSR, from the invaders, then Putin, on the contrary, transformed into an invader and tries to be an occupier himself.

— Putin stated that he wanted to create a “sanitary cordon” to protect the Belgorod region. However, we see that after the lifting of the ban on strikes on the Russian territory, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are destroying Russian military targets in Belgorod region. Will there be a “sanitary cordon” on the territory of the Russian Federation??

— I believe that the “sanitary cordon” should pass through the territory of the Kursk, Bryansk and Belgorod regions. This would help everyone, because Russian troops then could not pass through this territory to Ukraine. The “sanitary zone” should pass through the territory of Russia, this is an ideal option for everyone.

How realistic this is, we will see over time. Once I said that if they give us the opportunity to attack the Russian territory with Western weapons, in due time you will see that they will give us the opportunity to create this zone using this particular weapon.

In addition, let’s be frank when talking about the problems of the Ukrainian army, and they, of course, exist, we should not forget about the problems of the Russian army. The British General Staff officially announced that the Russians had lost 465,000 soldiers, this is an irretrievable loss. Even if only 30% of them are completely destroyed physically, this suggests that the losses of the Russian army are huge, to make up for them fully while the Russians fail. Yes, the keyword is “for now”, but it fails.

Also, Russians have problems with the loss of weapons, the lack of junior commanders and many others. In this format, you can only fight according to one scheme — meat assaults. Putin has a lot of meat, it’s true. But untrained meat is powerless against high-precision Western weapons in sufficient quantities.

Here it is necessary to clearly understand that now there is a turning point at the front: whoever transfers it will win. Accordingly, if we talk about the “sanitary zone”, then I would sincerely like it to be on Russian territory. Ukraine must win.

— How will Russian propaganda explain to the Russians why instead of the “captured Kharkiv” HIMARS destroy C-300 on the territory of the Russian Federation?

— No way. The king is not going to explain to his cattle what is going on. Just an unexpected turn, which, unfortunately for the Kremlin, is happening, but no more. He will not explain anything: he will not explain why he cannot oppose, why the Russian vaunted weapons are powerless against the Western ones. Putin will traditionally be silent and close his mouth to anyone who asks inconvenient questions. It is the tradition of the totalitarian regime to close its mouth to critics of the regime and those who point out problem areas. Accordingly, one should not hope that the serfs will come to the master to demand an answer.

https://charter97.org/en/news/2024/6/5/597770