There has been shock in Russia after a retired army colonel appeared on state-run television and said that the war in Ukraine was going badly and that Russia was suffering huge defeats.
Mikhail Khodarenok, a former air defence commander, appeared on one of Russia's most popular talk-shows where he spoke with the host, notorious Kremlin propagandist Olga Skabeyeva. To her bemusement, Khodarenok broke ranks and laid out Russia's dire situation after almost 3 months of war against their neighbour.
The former colonel explained that the Ukrainians were high in morale and that they had a strong desire to fight for their homeland. Russia propaganda has said since the start of the war that only a small group of fascists supported the Ukrainian government and that the Ukrainians were welcoming the Russians with open arms, and as such would not put up much of a fight. He said:
"Moral and psychological breakdown in the Ukrainian armed forces which are allegedly on the verge of some kind of crisis in morale are to put it mildly, 'false'. The situation... is that the Ukrainian armed forces are able to arm a million people. So a million armed Ukrainian soldiers needs to be viewed as a reality of the very near future,' he said."
He continued:
"A desire to protect one's homeland, in the sense that it exists in Ukraine, it really does exist there, they intend to fight to the last man. Ultimately victory on the battlefield is determined by a high level of morale among personnel, which sheds blood for the ideas which it's prepared to fight for."
Speaking of Russia's internal position, he added:
"We are in full geopolitical isolation. However, much we would hate to admit this, virtually the entire world is against us. Sooner or later the reality of history will hit you so hard that you'll regret it."
The statements come as reports indicate that Ukrainian forces have pushed back Russian forces north and west of Kharkiv, and that the Ukrainian defenders had now reached the Russian border. At the same time, Russia now looks to be in full control of the port city of Mariupol after the surrender of Ukrainians who had been inside the Azov steelworks fighting the Russian invaders for almost 12 weeks.
Russia had already been forced to make a humiliating retreat after failing to take the capital city of Kiev, despite driving a 40-mile-long column of armour to the outskirts of the city.
[Based on reporting by: The Daily Mail]
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