Viktor Solotov
“It doesn’t all happen so quickly”: Putin confidante admits misjudgment about Ukraine
Viktor Solotov, chief of the Russian National Guard, at the military parade on May 9, 2021 in Red Square
© Kirill Kudryavtsev / AFP
Outwardly, Russian President Putin is giving the impression that the war in Ukraine is going as planned. Now the head of the National Guard admits that Moscow miscalculated the invasion.
For the first time, a senior official in Putin’s security apparatus has admitted that Russia’s war in Ukraine is not progressing as planned. The Kremlin boss had always maintained that everything was going according to plan – including in terms of time. On the other hand, the head of the Russian National Guard, Viktor Solotov, said: “I would like to say that, yes, everything is not going as quickly as one would like.” He spoke of “Nazis” hiding behind peaceful citizens, including women and children, in schools, kindergartens and residential buildings in the region.
At the same time, Solotov believed that the Russian army would win. He made the comments after a service led by Patriarch Kirill at the Savior Cathedral, the main church of the Russian Orthodox Church, in Moscow on Sunday evening. Russia’s National Guard is also taking part in the fighting in Ukraine.
Russia meets resistance in Ukraine
According to Moscow, the pro-Russian separatists in the Luhansk region continue to meet strong resistance from Ukrainian troops. Fighting against “nationalists” was going on in the north-east of the city of Sieverodonetsk, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in his morning briefing on Monday. About 100,000 people live in the city. According to Konashenkov, the Russian army advanced a further eleven kilometers in eastern Ukraine.
The number of military objects destroyed since the beginning of the war on February 24 is now around 4,000 – including more than 1,200 tanks and armored vehicles. Russian President Vladimir Putin also justified his invasion of Ukraine by saying that he wanted to “demilitarize” the country, which had been armed by the West.
See in the video: For two weeks, Ukraine has been braving the war against the Russian attack. Many Ukrainian cities are fiercely contested, and civilian targets are increasingly being hit. Did Putin miscalculate? stern military expert Gernot Kramper explains the Ukrainian guerrilla tactics and why there will be no storming of Kyiv.