Retired US Army Lieutenant General HR McMaster said on Sunday that the Russian army could be on the brink of “collapse” after it was stationed in Lyman – the previously occupied Ukrainian town to which Russian forces withdrew on Saturday. had suffered a defeat.
The loss in Lyman, which served as a transport hub during the Russian invasion, was seen as a major setback for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who illegally annexed four regions of Ukraine, including Luhansk and Kherson, just a day before troops pulled out of the city had , Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk, the latter where Lyman is located.
On Saturday, the Ukrainian army forced Russian troops to withdraw from the city after surrounding up to 5,000 soldiers at the strategic point. The Russian Defense Ministry later confirmed that the troops “withdrew to more advantageous lines”.
Margaret Brennan, who appeared on CBS’s Face the Nation, asked McMaster about Ukraine’s recent victory.
Above: HR McMaster attends a joint press conference at the White House in Washington, DC on April 3, 2018. the previously occupied Ukrainian city to which Russian forces retreated on Saturday. Alex Wang
“What do you see happening and what do you predict will be Vladimir Putin’s next move?” Brennan asked.
McMaster said he believes Saturday’s success for Ukraine “could result in a cascading series of defeats by Russian forces,” adding that “we may really be on the precipice of the collapse of the Russian army in Ukraine.” , a moral collapse. I think they really must be at a breaking point.
He continued: “If you just look at the number of casualties, the huge territory they are trying to defend, and now, of course, Russia is trying to mobilize conscripts and send them to the front lines untrained. And I think it’s very important to understand that these forces that are now in full withdrawal from Lyman were really the first round of mobilization.
“Remember, when Putin was trying to recruit more and more people at about three times the average wage to get so-called volunteers to move forward, those forces were hastily trained, thrown onto that front, and those forces are collapsing right now ‘ McMaster said.
In June, Russian military officials began offering Russians three times the national average salary for taking part in the war in Ukraine and began forming units to recruit mercenaries across the country.
Last month, Putin announced a “partial mobilization” of the country – an attempt to bring another 300,000 Russians with some military training to the battlefield. The Russian leader said the measure was necessary “to protect Russia’s sovereignty, security and territorial integrity.”
In similar comments Sunday, retired US Army general and former CIA Director David Petraeus said Putin’s failure in the war was “irreversible.”
“There’s no mobilization however chaotic, that’s the only way to describe it, no amount of annexation, no amount of veiled nuclear threats can actually get him out of this particular situation,” Petraeus said on ABC’s This Week.
Newsweek has reached out to the Ukrainian and Russian defense ministries for comment.