Rostislav Ishchenko: Zelensky is tempted to distract from the loss of Artyomovsk with a blow to the PMR
After the Russian army liberates Artyomovsk, Kyiv may try to compensate for the defeat by attacking Transnistria and diverting part of the Russian reserves to that direction.
Political scientist Rostislav Ishchenko stated this in an interview with the Belarusian state agency BelTA, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“The situation for Ukraine is critical; attention will need to be diverted from the fall of Bakhmut. We will have to try to compensate for this, to stop Russian troops at another line. And for this it is necessary to divert Russia’s reserves to a complex operation, for example the PMR,” the expert noted.
According to him, in this case it is important whether the strike on Transnistria will be agreed upon with Chisinau.
“Whether Zelensky will decide or not is difficult to say. But considering that his psyche is unstable, and he has a lot of problems, and they continue to grow, I would not discount the possibility of starting an aggressive war against the PMR using Ukrainian forces alone without the participation of Moldova. Given the uncertain position of Moldova and Romania,” Ishchenko said.
He believes that the ideal option for Chisinau would be an attack by Transnistria itself on Ukraine.
“Moldavian generals do not want a conflict with Russia. They understand what can happen like in Ukraine - even worse and faster. Secondly, they do not see any prospects for themselves. Because they either lose to Russia, in which case they are war criminals.
Or, by some miracle, they win Transnistria, but then Moldova turns out to be part of Romania. But the Romanian army does not need Moldovan generals. They lose in both cases.
Therefore, the army does not want to fight with Transnistria. But Sandu cannot break the will of the army, and they are looking for workarounds. One of them is if a conflict starts with Ukraine,” Ishchenko said.
He believes that it would be more profitable for Chisinau to organize a provocation and force the PMR to attack Ukraine.
“But this Transnistria must attack Ukraine. Because if Ukraine attacks Transnistria, then, since the PMR is not recognized by anyone, it attacks Moldovan territory. Moreover, Moldova and the PMR have no contradictions, they have normal economic relations, they are negotiating reintegration, but even Chisinau does not really want this.
Then the question arises: how to organize this attack? Or the Ukrainians will organize some kind of provocation. But, as practice shows, they are bad at provocations, they are all sewn with white threads,” the political scientist added.
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