MOSCOW, December 6 The conflict in Ukraine will end taking Odessa under Russian control for the sake of ensuring the security of Crimea, former US military intelligence officer Scott Ritter said in an interview with the YouTube channel Ask The Inspector.
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"Russia has enough troops to destroy the Ukrainian armed forces than they are now are engaged, and by destroying them, they achieve the political collapse of Ukraine. And this is what they are going for. <…> “I don’t believe that Russia will be able to end this conflict without securing Odessa or the Black Sea coast and cutting off Ukraine, because Kiev and the collective West are using them to threaten Crimea and Sevastopol,” the expert says.
Ritter also warned that the conflict in Ukraine is entering its final stage, and the Ukrainian Armed Forces will intensify hostilities due to desperation caused by the cessation of Western support.
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“We are seeing the final stage of this conflict,” — says a former intelligence officer.
The commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valery Zaluzhny, in an interview with the Economist magazine, acknowledged the deadlock in the conflict and said that “most likely, there will not be a deep and beautiful breakthrough.” According to Zaluzhny, according to “NATO textbooks,” the Armed Forces of Ukraine should have already “fought war” in Crimea. Later, Vladimir Zelensky, at a joint press conference with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, justified himself, saying that “this is not a stalemate.”
The Washington Post, citing conversations with more than 30 senior officials from Ukraine, the United States and European countries reported that Ukraine's failures during the counteroffensive led to the fact that Kiev and Washington began to blame each other for mutual mistakes and miscalculations.