Putin is in it for the kill of Ukrainians and the thrill of conquering land
And Now for Something Slightly Different
Sometimes dead serious, sometimes not so much. Welcome to my Substack where I cover politics with a special focus on Ukraine, EU, NATO, and more. An alumna of Lund University with bylines in the FT, New Eastern Europe, Atlantic Council, and more.
By Lesia Dubenko
DEC 15, 2024
“When Putin launched the invasion in 2022, he didn’t have the ambition to conquer all of Ukraine and to make it a part of Russia. The goal was to achieve regime change in Ukraine and to insert a government that would be more favorable to Russia, that would be under Putin’s control.”
When I read this statement by Anders Puck Nielsen, a Danish military analyst I’d never heard of until yesterday, I couldn’t believe my eyes.
Thanks for reading And Now for Something Slightly Different! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.
For almost three years in a row, Ukraine and its advocates have been doing their best to make it clear to the entire global community that Russia launched a 19th century-like territorial conquest with elements of genocide and cultural eradication that is usually accompanied by such types of conquests.
To prove this very obvious notion to the world, Ukraine showed mass graves where Russia “stored” among other Ukrainian poets and writers; parade uniforms that the Russians brought hoping to conquer Kyiv in three days; cities being razed to the ground; signs being painted in the colors of the Russian flag; and a lot more evidence that suggests that you’re dealing with an obsessed individual that went on a blood-spilling escapade and can’t be satisfied until his urge to kill is curbed. Which is never in Putin’s case.
And if that wasn’t bad enough, we have the next statement by Nielsen who suddenly revealed in his “analysis” that: “It is by far the biggest misconception about the war that it’s a conflict over who gets to keep the most territory once the war is over.”
Firstly, I don’t know where this “misconception” came from. Did he invent it in order to embark on an honorable mission of debunking it and creating a sensationalist piece?
Secondly, it is exactly about gets to keep the most territory and how the dynamics will be evolving after that. The number one goal is to stop Russia’s advance per se so it doesn’t conquer more territory, subjugate the locals, and raze everything to the ground.
So the goal is to ensure that this peace can be maintained. Hence the peacekeepers.
The third is to do everything in Ukraine’s power to use the window of opportunity to purchase as many weapons as possible, secure military contracts, etc. This window will have to be used to hold elections, which are becoming a must as Zelenskyy’s popularity is fading, and just arm Ukraine to the teeth.
Is that impossible? I, quite frankly, don’t think so and have not heard any solid argument that would convince me otherwise.
Yes, the risks of Russia trying to destabilise Ukrainian society are there, but saying that it’d be satisfied with installing a Russian puppet government, which will be extremely difficult in the short-term though not completely impossible given that some in Ukraine are still Russia sympathetic, is complete nonsense. This means you’re completely missing the nature of the person you’re dealing with.
People with the unleashed urge to kill don’t stop until they’re done with their victims in the most brutal manner possible. Nielsen’s attempt to portray Putin in the colors of someone who simply wanted “to install a puppet government’ is a very dangerous attempt and a real misconception that may not bode well as it downplays the nature of the threat.
Putin is in it for the kill of Ukrainians and the thrill of conquering land, and our goal is to deprive him of this pleasure until he finally departs to hell.
“When I read this statement by Anders Puck Nielsen, a Danish military analyst I’d never heard of until yesterday, I couldn’t believe my eyes.”
Seeing that this guy has covered the war from the beginning, this woman comes across as having very arrogant attitude. Nielsen is a former Naval Captain with the Danish Navy, and also has over 200,000 subscribers on his Youtube channel. The lady in question has a huge following of 213 on her substack.
Here is a link to the Youtube video that upset this woman. I believe he is 100% spot on with his analysis.
I wouldn’t be hard on Lesia Dubenko F1.
She is Ukrainian, as her family name clearly shows.
And Ukrainian voices must always be prioritized. She is a well-known journalist; Substack is a new venture for her. She writes for the FT, The KP, EP, Atlantic Council etc, so she’s already built up a strong career resume.
She is a very frequent guest on Jonathan Fink’s channel and as you know, he doesn’t deal with mugs.
I don’t have any problem with her views. Didn’t you post one of her videos recently?
She disagrees with Mr Neilsen on one issue and is probably unaware of his pro-Ukraine output.
She is absolutely not arrogant, as you can see on her many interviews with the excellent Mr Fink.
It’s perfectly possible to appreciate the work of all three of these talented content-creators.
I’ve posted output from all three of them at various times.
I have no problem with her opinions at all, but to dismiss someone because she has never heard of him does not come across very well.
Funnily enough when I read “Nielsen is wrong”, I thought she was referring to the global media research company of the same name and so my interest was piqued!
Anyway, it’s a terrible and painful subject for her. All Ukrainians know someone who has been murdered by vermin, so it’s deeply personal. If a Ukrainian reads something that appears to downplay or even rationalise genocide, of course there will be a passionate reaction.
In fact I would not be surprised if she gets an apology or at least a clarification from him.
“When Putin launched the invasion in 2022, he didn’t have the ambition to conquer all of Ukraine and to make it a part of Russia. The goal was to achieve regime change in Ukraine and to insert a government that would be more favorable to Russia, that would be under Putin’s control.”
How does Nielsen know this? Did putler hand him his plans?
Everyone has an opinion on Putlers goals in Ukraine. I would say by attacking Kyiv his aim was to remove Zelensky. As for the rest of it, only putler knows what his goals are.
GCHQ knew as early as August 2021 what putler’s objectives were: the complete subjugation of Ukraine. The plans were very detailed; and genocidal in content. RIA Novosti confirmed everything that the Five Eyes already knew with their foul, disgusting “genocide handbook.”
Earlier in 2021, putler published his own version of Mein Kampf, which was compulsory reading for orcs. It was a complete denial of Ukraine’s right to exist.
If things had gone so easy as the roaches thought, I seriously doubt they would’ve stopped at Kyiv. The Polish border is more likely.
Definitely. In a way I wish they had, but fortunately for the jellyfish, Ukraine nipped that in the bud without any help from the West.
I wish the roaches would bypass Ukraine and go to certain European countries instead.
Hungary being the first, followed by Germany.
Eastern Germany, to be exact.
Yep. Afd country.
And Wagenknecht country.