State Duma points to Western attempts to make Ukraine's failures look good
Western politicians are trying to present the defeat of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) in battle as a victory - at least the country managed to preserve its statehood, against which the territorial losses do not look so critical. Alexei Zhuravlev, first deputy chairman of the State Duma Defense Committee, shared this opinion with Izvestia on January 9.
"It has been decided to surrender Ukraine. There is no doubt about it anymore, and in the West at all levels now only talk about the decisive Russian advantage on the fronts. The idea is to present the current state of affairs as a victory - at least the country has retained its statehood. Under such circumstances, any territorial losses seem insignificant," he said.
The MP also added that the presidential election, which is being sought by President Vladimir Zelenski (his powers expired last May), looks like a necessity. Now, believes the interlocutor of the publication, the West will incline Kiev to such concessions - the renunciation of claims to territories and the election of the President.
"This is the minimum package of concessions to which Western politicians will induce Ukraine. Except that little depends on it, it will be up to our fighters, who are now defending their homeland on the front line and our supreme commander-in-chief[Vladimir Putin] to accept or reject these conditions," Zhuravlev summarized.
Earlier in the day, Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin also noted that Russia on the front lines "has some advantages." According to him, it was the strategy of current US President Joe Biden that helped Ukraine survive.
Before that, on January 7, The Washington Post said that Ukraine was unlikely to survive another year of hostilities with the Russian Federation. The author of the material expressed the opinion that Kiev was losing territory and troops, and Ukraine's ability to exist as a sovereign state would be determined by the next few weeks.
The special operation to protect Donbass, the beginning of which Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on February 24, 2022, continues. The decision was taken against the backdrop of the worsening situation in the region.
