Igor Girkin – who goes by the
nom-de-guerre Igor Strelkov, meaning ‘shooter’ – has given a withering
assessment of Putin’s war effort, saying that Russian units are suffering
‘huge losses’ by ‘banging their heads against’ deeply entrenched Ukrainian
troops, and are being led by commanders who ‘leave much to be desired.’
Despite Russia making
piecemeal gains on the Donbas front in recent days – capturing towns around
Popansa and pushing to encircle Severodonetsk – Strelkov says Ukraine is
fast-mobilizing new troops, rearming using Western weapons, and digging into
new defensive positions that will be hard to overrun.
It is ‘meaningless to hope for
victory’ without a general mobilization of Russia’s army, Strelkov argues,
which Putin refuses to do because he is being molly-coddled by his inner circle
into believing victory is still possible. As long he remains shielded from
reality ‘nothing will change, and when it does change… it will be too late to
do anything.’
Once the Russian offensive
grinds to a halt – something Strelkov predicts could happen as soon as mid-June
– Ukraine will then switch to counterattacks as it did around Kyiv and
Kharkiv, forcing Putin’s commanders onto the back foot and likely pushing
their badly-mauled units backwards – perhaps to their own borders.
But even if no counter-attacks
come, Russia will be faced with the prospect of trying to hold a long front
line against well-armed and newly-reinforced Ukrainian defenders who will
refuse to give up the fight, all the while Russia’s economy will flatline under
sanctions.
