Ukraine’s Defence Minister announces forecast for end of war: "a few more victories – and Russians will run away"
IRYNA BALACHUK — SATURDAY, 10 SEPTEMBER 2022, 12:01
Although Ukraine’s Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov hesitates to predict when the war will end, he is also convinced that after a few more, albeit small, Ukrainian victories, the Russians will begin to flee.
Source: Reznikov in an interview for RBC-Ukraine news agency
Regarding whether Ukrainians would have to fight for a long time, the Minister said: "As it happens, I have a different feeling.
I am convinced that after a few more successes at the front, even small victories, the Russian troops will start fleeing. And they [victories] will come, believe me, because today we have been destroying their supply chains, warehouses, and so on. And the question will arise: where should they go? And the morale… it will be like an avalanche, with each line of defence falling one after the other".
Details: Reznikov added that Ukrainians have already seen how the invaders fled Kyiv Oblast, Chernihiv Oblast, and Sumy Oblast when the defenders began to kick them out of there.
He added that Russia had no food left to feed its soldiers and no fuel to refuel its tanks, because the Armed Forces of Ukraine have been cutting off their supply chains. And now, with the use of high–precision artillery and equipment, there is a high chance that "this avalanche will come faster".
According to Reznikov, there are several reasons for such an assessment. First, the world used to perceive the Armed Forces of Ukraine as a small Soviet army that would resist a larger Soviet army, but in reality, everything panned out quite the opposite way.
In addition, Russian soldiers believed that they would take Ukraine in a few days and that [Ukrainians] would greet them with flowers, but they were killed here.
According to Reznikov, the Russian soldiers have no moral grounds, nothing to fight for, while Ukrainians know that they stand for "their country, their family and their land". Ukrainians "have no other option but to survive as a nation, country and people," he said.
Quote from the Minister of Defence: "I will tell you how I picture the end of this war. It is very simple, there are two [images]: our border guards stationed along all the state borders, as they were [internationally] recognised in 1991. This is such a formal, official image. In terms of day-to-day life, let’s say we meet at Boryspil airport, you and your family are boarding a plane, heading, let's say, to Turkey; my wife and I are flying let's say also to Turkey, and we are chatting about which hotel you are planning to stay at on your holiday… This will mean that peace has come to Ukraine."
Background:
- In August, the Armed Forces of Ukraine started a counteroffensive in the Russian-occupied territories.
- Ukraine has reclaimed more than 1,000 square kilometres of territory.
- On 8 September, President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, confirmed that army units had liberated the city of Balakliia in Kharkiv Oblast.
- On 9 September, Zelenskyy said that the Armed Forces of Ukraine had taken control of more than 30 cities and towns in Kharkiv Oblast.
- On 10 September, Nataliia Popova, adviser to the Head of Kharkiv Regional Council, reported that the Armed Forces of Ukraine have liberated Kupiansk in Kharkiv Oblast from Russian occupiers.
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