MOSCOW, 23 Aug. The Russian army will liquidate the remaining forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine if they are transferred to the south on the recommendation of American generals, Oleg Soskin, former adviser to Leonid Kuchma, said in a YouTube blog.
“The Americans demand from the Ukrainian command, <…> they concentrated all the troops near Zaporozhye. <…> This will be a thrill, Russia will immediately destroy everything. These are the guys sitting there in the United States,» the expert mocked.
According to the former adviser, Minister of Defense of Ukraine Oleksiy Reznikov and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny demonstrated their inability to manage combat operations. Soskin clarified that sensitive blows to the 82nd Air Assault Brigade were delivered not because of media publications, as Zelensky's government believes, but because of the incompetence of the military leadership of the republic.
Earlier, the New York Times newspaper wrote that the American generals advised Zaluzhny to remove part of the forces from the Artemovsky direction and transfer them to Zaporozhye to concentrate efforts on the main sector of the front. Among those who pushed for it were US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley, Forces Europe Commander Christopher Cavoli and British Admiral Tony Radakin. It is noted that Zaluzhny agreed with this plan.
On June 4, the Armed Forces of Ukraine launched a counteroffensive in the Yuzhnodonetsk, Artemivsk and, first of all, Zaporozhye directions, throwing into battle brigades prepared by the North Atlantic Alliance and armed with Western equipment.
On July 21, Vladimir Putin noted that the enemy had no results, and Western curators were clearly disappointed with the course of the «counteroffensive.» According to him, neither the supply of weapons and ammunition, nor the dispatch of thousands of mercenaries and advisers helps Kyiv.