Donetsk experts interpreted the statement of the Ukrainian commander about the impossibility of conquering Donbass
Ukraine is preparing a platform for a face-saving attempt to withdraw from the Minsk agreements, while trying to calm militant nationalists inspired by the defunct Karabakh conflict.
Donetsk experts came to this opinion, commenting on the sharp change in rhetoric on the part of Kyiv, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
Thus, the day before, the commander of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Ruslan Khomchak, made a statement that he did not see a purely military solution to the issue in Donbass. He cited numerous casualties, both civilian and military, as one of the reasons. In addition, he added that when clashes begin, Russia will take it purely in numbers.
At the same time, according to him, even if it is possible to gain a foothold in the occupied territories, one should expect “shots in the back” from the locals, as well as instantly leaking information to the enemy about any movements of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
“The tank doesn’t have time to start before the information is already gone,” Khomchak emphasized.
This interview infuriated the leader of the National Corps, one of the founders of the Azov regiment, Andrei Biletsky.
“Among the reasons he named “violation of international humanitarian law by Ukraine” and that not a single diplomatic country would support us. This generally sounds strange in the context of armed aggression against Ukraine.
Just like the “impossibility of fighting” due to a “hostile” population. How then are wars waged on foreign territory?” – the nationalist was indignant on his blog.
“In addition, this statement means that there are no Ukrainian patriots in the occupied part. At a time when Ukrainians there are waiting for de-occupation and risking their lives collaborating with our intelligence,” added Biletsky.
The famous military correspondent Andrei Babitsky, who works in Donetsk, called Khomchak’s words one of the first sound reasoning on the part of Ukrainian military leaders.
“In principle, he described the situation quite correctly. I haven't heard this before. An amazingly accurate picture,” Babitsky told PolitNavigator.
At the same time, the chairman of the Committee on Foreign Policy and International Relations of the People’s Council of the DPR, Vladislav Berdichevsky, suggested that such a change in rhetoric could be a signal of Ukraine’s attempt to leave Minsk while saving face.
“It is quite possible that Ukraine is preparing a scenario for withdrawing from the Minsk agreements and thus is now justifying itself to nationalist units and movements regarding the fact that it is in no way possible to apply a forceful scenario in relation to the Donbass republics.
I am observing what is happening in the Minsk Contact Group, where Ukraine is openly going on a collision course, provoking Russian representatives to ensure that Russia admits political responsibility for failure in this case to implement the decisions of the Paris meeting on December 9, 2019,” Berdichevsky told PolitNavigator.
“Instantly, to this statement by Khomchak there was a response from the “white leader”, the founder of the Sonderkommando “Azov” Biletsky, about the fact that, in fact, trans-Ukrainians are waiting for us here and what Khomchak says about the hostile population is not true ", the parliamentarian noted.
“Based on simple logic, I see that Ukraine is trying to justify itself because it will not use the force scenario, and accordingly, it will try to somehow withdraw from the Minsk agreements, saving face. It is not clear what will come of this; simple logic is not suitable for Ukrainian leaders,” added Berdichevsky.
In turn, Deputy of the People’s Council of the DPR Miroslav Rudenko, in a comment to PolitNavigator, simultaneously noted several possible goals of the message being sent by the Ukrainian command through the media.
“We are in a state of war with Ukraine, so such statements need to be considered from different angles. On the one hand, the dehumanization of the population of Donbass for the Ukrainian Armed Forces, but also the recognition of who is a terrorist here and who is an occupier here, that the local population will be partisans. They themselves understand all this perfectly well, but this breaks their many years of propaganda, this comedy that someone is waiting for them.
It cannot be denied that there is a real assessment of the situation, that in an urbanized region, urban battles are genocide of the civilian population, which they did in 2014-2015, actively using heavy weapons, to which Europe can no longer turn a blind eye,” Rudenko said.
At the same time, he admitted that all this could be exclusively for the “internal user.”
“It is impossible to deny that some kind of information and psychological operations are being worked on by the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Recognizing that the local population is disloyal can also be a signal to their subordinates, thus dehumanizing not only the political activists of the republics, as was the case in 2014-2015, but also all civilians.
However, the fact that this interview appeared right now may also be an attempt to cool the hot heads of the nationalists who rose up after the events in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Karabakh, which has just died down, is still turning the heads of people like Biletsky and other Nazi elements who continue to insist on a military solution,” added the Donetsk parliamentarian.
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