The Russian commander of the “Vostok” Battalion fighting in southern Ukraine said on Thursday that Ukraine will not be defeated and suggested that Russia freeze the war along current frontlines.
Alexander Khodakovsky made the candid concession yesterday on his Telegram channel after Russian forces, including his own troops, were devastatingly defeated by Ukrainian marines earlier this week at Urozhaine in the Zaporizhzhia-Donetsk regional border area.
“Can we bring down Ukraine militarily? Now and in the near future, no,” Khodakovsky, a former official of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic, said yesterday.
“When I talk to myself about our destiny in this war, I mean that we will not crawl forward, like the [Ukrainians], turning everything into [destroyed] Bakhmuts in our path. And, I do not foresee the easy occupation of cities,” he said.
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Nobody is fine with Crimea - except Russia, but they want more. Crimea was the price to pay for peace, but peace was broken by Russia, so Russia does not get to keep it.
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Jumping to defend and being fine with are two different things. Let’s not forget Russia is a “nuclear power”.
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Surely “their soil” means actual Russian territory, not Crimea.
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Nazi Germany thought it was very important too until May 1944.
Russia considers Earth its soil. Bloodthirsty conquerors never, ever stop.
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Crimea is Ukraine.
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Pretty sure nobody except Russia and its cronies recognizes that border.
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They have already ‘annexed’ oblasts they do not completely control so that threat is pretty hollow.
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While I agree that it is Ukraine’s, Russia does not since they have gone through their legal process of annexation. They are currently fighting in what Russia legally considers their soil.