Podolyak: “Let’s wear down the Russians at Bakhmut in view of the counter-offensive”
Russia has changed tactics, concentrating on Bakhmut much of its trained military personnel, “the remnants of its professional army, as well as the most able private companies” such as the Wagner Group and units of the “zeki”, the mobilized prisoners from prisons. “It is crucial that they move forward in this direction. We therefore have two goals: reduce their capable staff as much as possible and lock them into a few key fights, disrupt their offensive, and focus our resources elsewhere for Spring’s counteroffensive. Bakhmut is now fully effective, even superior to his core tasks.” This was explained by the adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Mykhailo Podolyak, in an interview with La Stampa.
“Moscow loses 5-7 times more soldiers than we do, they count about 40 thousand dead and wounded in seven months in Bakhmut. It is precisely in this operation that there are strategic disagreements between leader Wagner Prigozhin and Putin’s general Gerasimov, who was joined by Defense Minister Shoigu, ”Podolyak continued.
Zelenskyy’s adviser then reiterated that there is “no” option for negotiations today, “simply because Russia is carrying out brutal aggression, with war crimes and crimes against humanity”. In Italy, he added, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni “understood the nature of the conflict” and that “flirting with the Russian Federation is extremely dangerous. Persons like Berlusconi or Salvini demonstrate absolute short-sightedness and do not make speeches like statesmen: strategically supporting Russia means supporting an outsider and a historical loser. Not business, but crime and authoritarianism. Which goes against the freedom, the democracy that Italy is used to. It’s a dark historical stain on itself. I don’t think Italy needs that. .