Sladkov: I'm grateful to the General Staff for admitting weakness. We'll return to Kyiv in a completely different light.
The retreat of Russian troops from Kyiv in the spring of 2022 can be compared to the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan , according to military correspondent Alexander Sladkov.
"We were outside Kyiv very quickly – two hours after the war began. We lost one helicopter and landed an entire special forces brigade. But I'm grateful to the General Staff and the country's leadership for recognizing the weakness of our forecasts and leaving. Just as they left Kherson. I see strength in this. After all, the Americans were also accused of weakness when they left Afghanistan. The Americans ignored everyone else's opinions and did what America needed, not what they needed to achieve, perhaps a false, high status. We did the same – we recognized weakness and left. Nevertheless, we will be outside Kyiv. If such a task is set, we will act completely differently ," Sladkov said in a conversation with former CIA analyst Larry Johnson.
The war correspondent praised Ukrainians for their defense of Kyiv.
"I'll allow myself to express my own point of view. It may differ from the government's . Ukraine did everything very wisely. The Ukrainian generals acted classically in repelling the attack on Kyiv. If they had allowed Russians to suffer significant casualties in the Kyiv sector, we would have been forced to immediately launch a full-scale war. Putin is right when he says, 'We haven't started yet.' If we had suffered significant losses there, we would have had to. The Ukrainians organized their actions superbly in defending Kyiv... We were forced to withdraw ."
Sladkov believes that the tasks of the SVO will be accomplished.
"We know this is ours. We'll take it back anyway. This is our historical practice... We need to be heard – NATO shouldn't be in Ukraine. The British say, 'As soon as there's peace, we'll move in.' Why do we need such a 'peace' when the British will move in right away? They're not needed in Izmail, even at their base in the Dnieper Delta. We'll do everything we can to ensure there's no enemy there ."
English version :: Read in English Sladkov: I'm grateful to the General Staff for admitting weakness. We'll return to Kyiv in a completely different light.