Posted on 05/30/2023 7:50:52 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Tuesday that the "special military operation" Russia launched against Ukraine hasn't achieved the results that the Kremlin expected and that Ukraine now has one of the world's most powerful armies.
Prigozhin, whose fighters have been heavily involved in the war in Ukraine, shared a 77-minute interview with pro-Moscow blogger Konstantin Dolgov, in which he launched one of his most heated attacks on Russia's military leadership since the war began.
Relations between the Wagner Group head and the Kremlin have become increasingly strained as the war has gone on. He has repeatedly accused Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov of depriving his fighters of the ammunition they need for the war, even going as far as to suggest that doing so amounts to treason.
Russia sought to "demilitarize" Ukraine, but has instead militarized it with some of the best weapons in the world, Prigozhin said, echoing the justifications Russian President Vladimir Putin gave when launching his full-scale invasion against the neighboring country on February 24, 2022.
"The special military operation was done for the sake of denazification and demilitarization. Thus, the denazification of Ukraine, which we talked about, we made Ukraine a nation that is known to everyone all over the world...Ukraine has become a country that is known absolutely everywhere."
"Now, with regard to demilitarization...if they had 500 tanks at the beginning of the special operation, [now] they have 5,000 tanks. If they had 20,000 people able to fight skillfully, now 400,000 people know how to fight. How did we demilitarize it? It turns out that the opposite is true—we militarized her hell knows how," the Wagner chief said.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsweek.com ...
Seems like his main complaint was that Putin didn’t carpet bomb Ukraine. Time will tell who was right!
Agree. Some say Putin is a gentle soul and largely unwilling to conduct warfare. To that they say, Next man up!
“Agree. Some say Putin is a gentle soul and largely unwilling to conduct warfare. To that they say, Next man up!”
I think that he misjudged Europe and especially the Neocons, who were DYING to find a reason to go to war against Russia.
So, he figured he could both secure his Southern Border and also remain ‘part of Europe’. Obviously he now knows that was never in the cards.
“Now, with regard to demilitarization...if they had 500 tanks at the beginning of the special operation, [now] they have 5,000 tanks. If they had 20,000 people able to fight skillfully, now 400,000 people know how to fight. How did we demilitarize it? It turns out that the opposite is true—we militarized her hell knows how,” the Wagner chief said.”
May putin and Prigozhin destroy each other
If this is accurate, the need for F-16’s is overblown.
He has spoken the only truthful comment I’ve heard for a long while: “ the “special military operation” Russia launched against Ukraine hasn’t achieved the results that the Kremlin expected.” I exclude the remainder of the original quote, because I consider it to be debatable.
“If this is accurate, the need for F-16’s is overblown.”
I disagree. If this is accurate then the presence of F-16’s will deter further air and cruise missile attacks by Russia and hopefully help bring about an end to the war.
You remember this?
The Russians know very well this will be a protracted campaign since you have outside influence meddling, no different than we had in Iraq.
The problem with such campaigns is that you cannot just dump all your forces or material into the fight, you have to think in terms of force rotations and in the case of Russia, just like us, they have other external commitments they still need to cover down.
We are breathing down the Russians neck. We know they are weak and a small relic of the once powerful force they were. We have been going after them for years, i.e. in Venezuela, Syria, Libya, but also along their border in the Republic of Georgia etc.
This is a marathon, not a sprint, Russia knows that. General Shinseki knew that. He was just aligned with the Democrats and seized the opportunity to stab the Republican administration at the time. Of course he was politically rewarded and given the position of head of the VA as soon as Obama took office.
IMHO, Prigozhin probably does not like seeing his boys being burned up in a war. Wagner is his, and those are his boys that are being expended. Unlike Shinseki, for which it was a mere political maneuver, Prigozhin probably has a hard time with the fact that his organization is being damaged, many of his people killed, etc. Unlike the American career officer that jumps from unit to unit every few years and really has little attachment to the unit he’s in or people he’s serving with (there are all just stepping stones in a career), Prigozhin created Wagner, has been with them a long time, knows many of the people on a personal level, and that organization is his baby.
Nonetheless, if you’re thinking big picture and long term, you cannot just throw everything you have into this fight. Doing that would guaranteed be detrimental for Russia’s security interests long term and on a global scale.
In addition, even though this sound calloused, you need to understand that PMC Wagner was created for these types of campaigns. That’s their area of specialty and purpose for existing.
Ukraine is armed, financed, partially trained, logistically supported and backed by Western intel. A large part of their military (the foreign legions) are de facto paid for by us through our financial aid. They will hold on as long as the West wants this to continue.
***Since the West has a tight grasp on the Information Operations aspect of this war, and because there is no blood by oneself involved, the West is bolder and more willing to keep this going for a long time.
***The media and our governments like to talk about Ukraine, Ukraine, Ukraine, but it’s really a question of when the US and Europe want to end this, not Ukraine.
When you allow for the largest international mercenary force on this planet to be assembled in Ukraine, and it’s paid for by the West, it’s hardly a war of Ukraine against Russia.
Ukraine can’t afford to pay their own civil servants anymore. Ukraine is floated by the US and Europe, they are a mere proxy and “we” decide when this war ends, not the super action hero Mr. Z that shows up at every international event wearing olive drab and giving speeches asking for more money and arms.
I also think that Prigozhin may also be employing a bit of a disinformation campaign, especially with his claims regarding Ukraine's military capabilities. It's directed at both sides.
The one designed for Ukraine is to keep them waging their campaign as they have so far. The one designed for Russia is to step up the pressure, reduce the hesitancy of executing this conflict, and increase the level of intensity.
Ukraine has cost us a fraction of our annual defense budget but has succeeded in hobbling our strongest military adversary. Morality aside...which is a big ask...purely from a financial standpoint it’s been the best investment in arms we’ve made since WW2.
“by their fruits ye shall know them”
what are putin’s ‘fruits’?
evil:
war against his neighbor, bombing hospitals, civilian infrastructure, abducting children, murder, rape torture, beheading, castrating etc
putin is evil
I think that this guy will not have a future for much longer.
Tremendous attrition on both sides in people and hardware.
Every step forward for either side takes massive time and resources, which they don’t have.
Time for a peace talk.
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