Winter is on AFU’s side, and Ukraine should receive sufficient support to start liberation of Crimea — General Hodges

So, whose drones have attacked Russian airfields deep within the country?

Well, of course, we don`t know and maybe we should not know. The Ukrainian General Staff has been very disciplined as well as professional and protecting the approbation. And I think it`s a good thing they don`t advertise or brag about successes like that. If there were there. There is no need to tell Russia what capabilities Ukraine has. 

But at the same time, the Russian Defense Ministry said that the Soviet-maid jet drones were used for these strikes. Can we rely on this information?

Well, of course, I’m always skeptical of anything that goes from the Kremlin and they will attempt to put anything that happens negative to put within the light that is best for the Kremlin. So, it will be very embarrassing for them to have Ukraine demonstrate a technological capability like this, or their air defenses could be so easily penetrated. So, I would be skeptical of anything anyway they try to explain this.

Yeah, I see. Can we conclude that these attacks on military targets far from the border are the turning point in this war? So and there are no more safe places in Russia anymore.

This is the important point that you make. If, in fact, this war was of long-range, capability that Ukraine is demonstrating, that means we don`t have to wait for attacks on other zones, Ukraine has the capability now just start hitting on its own Russian bases in Crimea as well as inside Russia. And of course, I completely support this because Ukraine has the right to defend itself to protect its people from what Russia is doing. And most of its missiles and rackets that are killing innocent Ukrainian people are being launched from inside Russia as well as inside Crimea. 

Jens Stoltenberg said that Russia is aiming to freeze the war conflict at least until the upcoming spring. so do you think that Russia will accumulate like forces for the counteroffensive and what is Putin’s plan, what he`s gonna do? 

I think that the Kremlin recognizes that Ukraine has earned or achieved irreversible momentum. That Ukrainian forces are having the initiative and so the only hope for Russia for the Kremlin is to attempt to drag it out of war longer-longer and hopes that the west will lose the will to continue supporting Ukraine So they`re gonna attack infrastructure to put hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian civilians on the road into Europe. They`re going to trade bodies for tam, for these recently mobilized Russian soldiers. They don’t care how many of them are killed it’s just a bad time. And so key for all of us is to stick together, to keep in mind why it is important not just for Ukraine but for so much, so much larger and help accelerate Ukraine`s victory over Russia not let Russians drag it out or prolong it.

Talking about victory will this winter decide who is going to win this war?

I think it`s... again this is the great question, I think it`s which side uses the winter most effectively, makes sense that Ukrainian General Staff has been so effective so professional, will take advantage of the better change by having more motivated soldiers on Ukrainian side and support from the west and keep the pressure on Russian forces as much as they can within these circumstances. And of course, it will be extremely cold and miserable for Ukrainian soldiers operating in the conditions that we see right here, it will be much worse for Russian soldiers who are not properly trained or not properly equipped and do not have good leadership. So, I think Ukrainian General Staff will want to continue the pressure, continue the pound way on Russian logistics. The Russians will just hope that we will all lose the will support. I think it is the last venture Russia can use gas as a weapon they`ve already tried that and I think that next summer, this coming summer 2023, Ukraine will have liberated Crimea.

In one of your interviews you`ve already said, I’ll quote if the west sticks together with Ukraine and keeps the sanctions on it`s quite possible that the Ukrainian army will push Russian forces back to the 23rd February line till the end of this year. Are we out of the schedule or not?

Uhm, I think it`s not likely what is going to be at the 23rd February line by the end of December. So what`s more important is that Ukrainian General Staff gets the condition set. So earlier than the new year they are able to start the liberation of the Crimea Peninsula. So I think that it will be tough to meet the original terms line that I had anticipated earlier. It`s possible but that will be tough. But I think of course Ukrainian General Staff is working in a very deliberate monotonic professional way to get the conditions right. So that no Ukrainian soldier is lost due to traps Russians do, something before it`s ready. So I think they will get on the right timeline like the key is Crimea liberated by the next summer because Crimea is the price.

Do the civilians have to expect new attacks by Russian forces?

Yeah, I think the Russians are gonna continue this as long as they have cruel missiles because again they have no other real options. They`re probably working on possibilities for some sort a way spring offensive or something like that to try to change the battlefield dynamics. But I don`t think they will have logistics in place or make corrections to the many problems in order to do that successfully. So in my view, the Ukrainian General Staff is going to keep up the pressure and the west so far is going to continue to support and that`s why I feel confident that we`ll still be that Ukraine will be where they should be by the end of the summer.

Is it going to be an escalation the more we attack, like Russian airfields, the more their response?

No, I think that Russians actually don`t have more forces what they can do, I mean we have been deterred ourselves for months now, worrying, oh my God, the Russians might do something. When, in fact, they do everything they can possibly do right now and they are not able to stop Ukrainian forces. So, there is no huge Russian army on the other side of the Ural mountains waiting to come in. I mean to have the Black Sea Fleet gone, on the other side hiding in Sevastopol. There is no other stuff that they can do and I don`t believe that they are seriously entertaining the idea of using the nuclear weapon; I think that it is very unlikely.

Now does the Ukrainian army have the right to strike airfields deep in Russian territory? 

They`ve always had the right to do this, they`ve just always had the capability, I disagree, I understand why the US administration is reluctant to do this but I disagree with it. But having said that General Staff is obviously not waiting for the US or anybody else to provide capabilities if Ukraine is able to do it themselves. And they are demonstrating a remarkable ability to innovate and incorporate new technologies. So, I think that yes, Ukraine can always defend itself, it can always attack targets in Russia. But the government in Kyiv is also very smart and when we`re thinking about while it`s good to hit Russia`s airbases it`s even more important they keep support from the west coming. So, I think General Staff and the government in Kyiv will continue to balance that as well.

Thank you once again and thank you because you`ve just said that we do have a high possibility that Ukrainians will celebrate the next Independence Day in August 2023 in Sevastopol, Crimea.

I`m certain, that is the case, that`s because Ukraine will not be secure if Russia retains any part of Crimea.