Putin announces transition of war with Ukraine to defensive phase

A brief summary of Putin's long Tuesday talk to 'war correspondents': “a 'special military operation' is now being conducted to create a sanitary zone so that they (the Ukrainian Armed Forces - Ed.) cannot reach us.”

Everything else is the usual half-conscious babbling about Bandera, fascism, Ukraine's long-destroyed defense capability, how Russia has already defeated us several times, about a huge 'million or two' mobilization potential, but at the same time “there is no need for a new mobilization in Russia.”

In fact, Putin has declared that the war with Ukraine has entered a defensive phase.

“It took 475 days for the concept of a blitzkrieg, a short victorious war, and the 'instant conquest of all of Ukraine' (and the Baltic states, a bit of Poland...) to be officially replaced by the paranoid concept of 'defense against all' and 'defense of the central regions.'”

It took 475 days for the concept of a blitzkrieg, a short victorious war, and the 'instant conquest of all of Ukraine' (and the Baltic states, a little bit of Poland...) to be officially replaced by the paranoid concept of 'defense against all' and 'defense of the central regions,' while the border is left to the Armed Forces.

In fact, by doing so, Putin has already admitted a strategic defeat and retreat. He is likely to be the first to pay the price for this: he personally sent a signal to disloyal elites: “I am no longer a leader of victories.”

Source

About the author. Oleksiy Holobutsky, political scientist.

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