January 10, 2023.
By Anna Cherkasova, Correspondent
Political scientist Vladimir Kozin talks to Ukraina.ru about the future of the SMO or Special Military Operation in 2023 and the events on the line of contact
Q: Vladimir Petrovich, AFU [Armed Forces of Ukraine] fighters record video appeals to the chieftains, in which they talk about the deplorable situation on the line of hostilities, lament that they are not properly armed, have no equipment or training. Ukrainian political analyst Oleg Soskin reports about this in his blog. Why do you think this is happening when Europe, the USA and Great Britain are training Ukrainian soldiers in warfare tactics?
A: Soldiers and officers of the AFU have been recording such video appeals to the current Ukrainian military and political leadership practically since the beginning of the SMO. Moreover, they do it proactively and in very emotional tones, not shying away from using even strong language to address their mediocre superiors.
Similar harsh words to their address are also repeated by Ukrainian prisoners of war. The described reaction of the AFU is caused by the fact that Ukrainian servicemen on the front line lack not only weapons and ammunition, but also normal food and seasonal uniforms.
More and more Ukrainian soldiers and officers also complain that they are thrown into the hotbed of it, while NATO mercenaries are spared; that the salaries and combat supply of servicemen who came from the Eastern regions of Ukraine are severely inferior to those distributed to soldiers and officers from the Western regions and to its neo-Nazi armed formations.
There are more and more complaints on the part of the AFU about the tactical and technical characteristics of NATO heavy weapons supplied to the Ukrainian army from the countries of the North Atlantic Alliance and some non-aligned partners of the USA.
Why is this happening when all of European nations, the United States and the Great Britain are training Ukrainian soldiers in warfare tactics?
The fact is that NATO member states, which have taken on the task of training the AFU soldiers, are not capable of training all Ukrainian conscripts.
Especially, in a short period of time. Especially, those who have weak general and initial military training and those who do not know English in general terms and professional military English, in particular.
There are more and more statements being made against the military and political leadership in Ukraine. For more than eight years it has been conducting aggressive actions against its own citizens living in Donbass that contradicts the Constitution of Ukraine.
Since February 14 of last year, that is, ten days before the SMO commenced, Kyiv launched a large-scale combined aggression against the DPR and LPR, projecting it mainly against their civilian population.
This resulted in enormous civilian casualties and millions of Ukrainian refugees, as well as tremendous military expenditures allocated by Ukraine, a dramatic drop in its GDP, and loss of its territory. Ukraine has paid too high a price for its own aggression.
There are also more and more voices within the AFU against the oppression of Orthodoxy in Ukraine and the raiding of Orthodox Christian cathedrals and churches.
Q: Military action in Ukraine, according to local political analysts, is primarily part of the struggle to change the world order, not "for" or "against" Ukraine. What keeps Ukraine within the Western framework and why has it chosen this particular path?
A: Yes, I believe that the aggression of Ukraine and NATO now against Russia – which took place after the incorporation of the four new former Ukrainian entities into Russia in early October 2022 – was planned precisely with such profound aims as changing the world order in favor of the West.
But first, the objectives of the West were minimal: to return Crimea and the four administrative entities in Donbass and Southern Ukraine, and then to wear down Russia militarily, financially and economically by achieving its own disintegration.
The West also planned to admit Ukraine to NATO in order to have a permanent armed conflict with the adjacent Russian territories.
Q: Why has Russia failed to lead Ukraine along its own path?
A: Russia failed to lead Ukraine along its own road, to ensure its non-aligned and friendly character relative to itself as a result of significant systemic mistakes in the political, trade and economic sphere, and in informational-explanatory domain, as well as improper appointments of personnel at a very high level.
There was not enough courage to repeat a similar situation, which was successfully carried out in Crimea in 2014, in Donbass as well.
In addition, the negative impact manifested itself as a result of the incorrect and factually unsound qualification of a number of leading NATO countries as "peacekeepers" and "supporters of a peaceful resolution" of Kiev's internal aggression against its own citizens.
It began after acting Ukrainian president Turchinov issued a decree on April 13, 2014 to begin Kiev's internal aggression against civilians in Donbass under the pretext of fighting the never-existing "terrorist threat from the DPR and LPR”.
To our deep regret, for too long we have called NATO aggressors and militarists, who always wished only ill fate for the Soviet Union and later for Russia after 1991, as our “partners” and “colleagues”.
Q: Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) of Ukraine Oleksiy Danilov said that Kiev has been or may be offered a "Korean scenario" for a settlement that involves partitioning the country – by drawing the so-called "conditional 38th parallel.” What are the prospects for such scenario?
A: The implementation of this plan would mean one thing. There will be a permanent armed confrontation between Ukraine and Russia, unless there entrench sane, non-corrupt, and friendly leaders in Kiev who are friendly to their own citizens, and to the Russian Federation. If there are "two Ukraines," as there are two Koreas, then the pro-Western part of Ukraine will join NATO, deploy U.S. nuclear and anti-missile weapons, and continue to destabilize Europe and the world as a whole.
Ukraine's new political and military leadership must ensure that Ukraine will have a non-aligned, neutral and non-nuclear status, as well as cease its aggression against Russia. Kiev must once and for all recognize the existing realities with Moscow politically, legally, territorially and geographically, as well as to conclude an open-ended peace treaty with it.
Q: Does the U.S. need an all-out victory over Russia? And how might this look in the eyes of Washington?
A: Yes, I'm sure it does. This is evidenced by the key military strategies approved by Joseph Biden last October, the huge amounts of military aid given to the criminal Ukrainian regime by countries-members of the Alliance of the "transatlantic solidarity" and others wishing to continue the large-scale aggression of Ukraine and NATO against Russia.
As well as by those who continue the deployment on Ukrainian soil of heavy weapons generously supplied by the West, the participation of NATO troops under the guise of "mercenaries" in the ranks of the AFU.
The strategic goal of the U.S. and NATO with regard to Russia has been and remains unchanged – to ensure its collapse and its complete destruction as a state bearing such name. Those who have not yet understood this are doomed to tectonic defeat and eternal sorrow.
[the original text may be found at: https://ukraina.ru/20230109/1042467118.html under the heading: “Vladimir Kozin on the U.S. plans for Russia and the "Korean scenario" “for Ukraine”]
