Ukrainian expert: “The point of no return has not been passed. Russians study and have a margin of safety"
The Russian command made a mistake by trying to defeat Ukraine with rather limited forces
This was stated by military expert and senior analyst at the Come Back Alive foundation, affiliated with the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, Nikolai Beleskov, in an interview with the magazine Kraina, as reported by a PolitNavigator correspondent.
“Successes in war are the result of two things - the enemy’s miscalculations and the correct actions of one’s own. Russians make a lot of mistakes. The main thing is that they tried to hold a large front with small forces. The length of the front line by the beginning of summer was 1100 kilometers. The Russian group numbered 300 thousand, of which 200 thousand fought. This is too small for such a front,” Beleskov said.
He calls Russia's underestimation of Ukraine one of the main leitmotifs of the war.
“But the enemy is also learning. He cannot correct the key mistake - starting this war. In Russian society, the elites are in the process of accepting that even large nuclear states can lose. But the enemy should not be underestimated. He drew conclusions from the Balakleya-Kupyansk operation and retreated differently in the Kherson region. He managed to withdraw the main forces from under attack.
I also realized that it was unrealistic to hold such a front with small forces, so I began to conduct open mobilization and prepare echeloned defense in the main directions. The enemy is learning and has a significant margin of safety,” the expert is convinced.
According to him, “Russia does not have the means to achieve the main goal - the destruction of Ukraine,” but Moscow “continues to create problems for us.”
“I would not sign that the point of no return has been passed. The struggle to seize the strategic initiative may continue for some time,” says the publication’s interlocutor.
He believes that the ideal victory for Ukraine will only happen when a critical mass of Russian society understands that Ukraine is a different state and no one is waiting for Russians here.
“Whether this will happen after the current war is a question. Defeating the enemy without influencing his political thinking is a postponed war. Our task is to change the perception of Russians so that they understand: it’s better not to get involved here, because they will kill you,” concluded Beleskov.