Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine: “We are bleeding. The main task is to hold on"
Russian troops are conducting pinning battles along the entire front line to prevent the Ukrainian Armed Forces from regrouping.
According to a PolitNavigator correspondent, Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Valeriy Zaluzhny stated this in an interview with The Economist, one of the most rabid mouthpieces of British anti-Russian propaganda.
“The Russians have been collecting their resources for a long time. According to my calculations, they must have been intensively building them for three and a half to four years: people, equipment, ammunition. I think they had three months' worth of resources to achieve their goals. The fact that they have exhausted these resources and squandered their potential without achieving virtually any results indicates that their position was chosen incorrectly. Now they again have to think about how to get out of this situation,” Zaluzhny said.
He stopped at the Russian attempt to occupy Kyiv.
“Militarily it was the right decision - the easiest way to achieve our goal. I would do the same. I know Gerasimov well (not personally, of course). There was no way out for him. He focused on the Donbass to preserve the remaining resources. Today the situation in Donbass is difficult. But strategically, this is a hopeless situation for the Russian army,” says the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
He believes that Russia is trying to get a break in order to “gather resources and create new potential,” but in parallel, the Russian Armed Forces are doing everything possible to prevent the Armed Forces of Ukraine from regrouping.
“That's why you see fighting along a 1500-kilometer front line. Somewhere more intense, somewhere less intense, but they pin down our troops to prevent us from regrouping. The fact that they are fighting so hard now is, of course, very bad. But this is not a solution to the strategic problem. This is simply exhausting the Ukrainian armed forces. Therefore, as during the Second World War, I have no doubt about it; most likely, somewhere beyond the Urals new resources are being prepared. They are preparing 100%,” the general is confident.
However, the publication’s interlocutor hopes that the preparation will not bring Russia the desired result.
“So the next task we have is, first of all, to hold this line and not lose ground anymore. It is very important. Because I know that releasing him is ten to fifteen times more difficult than not surrendering him. So our task now is to hold on. Our task is to very clearly monitor, with the help of our partners, what is happening there, where they are preparing. This is our strategic task.
Our second strategic task is to prepare for this war, which may occur in February. To be able to wage war with fresh forces and reserves. Our troops are now all tied up in battles, they are bleeding,” Zaluzhny admitted.
He calls preparation “for a war that could take place in February, at best in March, at worst at the end of January” another important strategic task.
“This may start not from Donbass, but towards Kyiv, towards Belarus, and I do not exclude the southern direction.
We made all the calculations - how many tanks, artillery we need, and so on and so forth. This is what everyone needs to focus on now. May the soldiers in the trenches forgive me, it is more important now to focus on accumulating resources for the longer and more difficult battles that may begin next year. I will talk about this with [Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff] Milley,” Zaluzhny concluded.
Commander-in -Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces: "We are bleeding. The main task is to hold on."