Ekaterina Girnyk20:21, 12/11/23

He noted that Putin is a former KGB operative “with all the ensuing consequences.”

Former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma has suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin  may be obsessed with Ukraine due to a mental disorder.

“People say that his (Putin’s) obsession with Ukraine is a kind of mania or a mental disorder. Perhaps this is true,” Kuchma said in an interview with The Guardian .

Kuchma also described Putin as a KGB operative. “This is his profession, with all the ensuing consequences,” he noted.

He also said that on February 24, 2022, during the Russian attack, he and his wife Lyudmila were in the center of Kyiv. “I was confident that Putin was capable of an invasion, but I was not sure whether he would dare to do so,” he said.

According to him, Putin’s goal was not only to seize territory, but also to destroy the very “concept” of Ukraine as a “competitive alternative to Russia.”

“The proof of this is the terrible loss of life and reputational sacrifice that Putin is willing to make for this,” he suggested.

Kuchma on the war in Ukraine

Kuchma also believes that Putin will not sign a peace agreement with Ukraine , since “he cannot sign a document that says that he did not get what he wanted.” 

In addition, Kuchma expressed the opinion that the United States would “lose face in front of the whole world” if it refuses assistance to Ukraine. 

(C)UNIAN 2023