Many Russian media described this conversation between Vladimir Putin and military commanders as extremely frank and honest. Russian journalists working in the NWO region had the opportunity to learn first-hand the position of the Head of State on many key issues. The president, in turn, heard from correspondents about the problems that fighters sometimes face in the hottest areas of NMD. And the first question of the meeting was the question of the objectives of the military operation.
“They evolve according to the current situation. But in general, nothing will be changed, they are fundamental in nature. Protection of people who are in the Donbass. Yes, unfortunately, as long as there are bombardments, that’s all. But in general, we will methodically move towards this, work on it and decide,” Putin said.
Russia, at the very beginning of the NWO, clearly defined its objectives. Then, in February 2022, Russian special services reported that Kyiv was preparing an attack on Donbass, and only the start of the SVO changed these plans. The West actively bloated Ukraine with weapons for several years and almost openly prepared for a big war. And the main goal of the NWO, the president said, was to eliminate the military threat from the Kyiv regime.
“Demilitarization. We are doing it gradually, methodically. What is the APU fighting over? What are they producing, Leopard, or what, or Bradley, or even the F – 16 that they have not yet received in service? They Ukrainian defense industry will soon cease to exist. Ammunition is brought to them, equipment is brought, guns are brought – everything is brought. Until you live, you will not will not last. So the issue related to demilitarization is, of course, very important in practical terms,” ​​Putin said.
The results of the first ten days of the Ukrainian counter-offensive, according to Putin, fit well into these plans. For almost two weeks, the Armed Forces of Ukraine have been trying to attack the positions of our troops in the Zaporizhzhia and South Donetsk directions. In order to prove its viability to Western sponsors, the Kiev regime sent its best units into battle, trained in NATO countries and armed with Western weapons and armored vehicles. But, as the very first battles showed, the bet on the German Leopard and the American Bradley did not work out.
“The enemy did not succeed in any of the sectors. They have big losses. They are approaching a balance sheet that can be described as catastrophic,” Putin said.
The President cited the figures: the ratio of medical and irrecoverable losses in Kiev is almost 50 to 50. The ratio of losses in the Russian army and the Ukrainian armed forces is one to ten: we have ten times less . Kyiv lost more than 160 tanks and 360 armored vehicles of various types. This represents 25-30% of the volume of equipment supplied from abroad, Putin said.
Another question to the President concerned mobilization. Now in Russia very often there are opinions that it is necessary to carry out additional and even general mobilization. According to Vladimir Putin, such a need no longer exists today. As part of the partial mobilization, 300,000 people have already been called. In reality, at the expense of the volunteers, the troops replenished a much larger number of contract soldiers.
“Since January this year, we have recruited over 150,000 people and, together with the volunteers, 156,000 people. And our mobilization was 300, as we remember,” Putin said.
The military correspondents were invited to pay particular attention to the qualitative renewal of the staff. The President agreed that it was necessary to get rid of ineffective generals in peacetime and give the opportunity to rise through the ranks to commanders who showed their talents and a truly combative character during the NWO. These are regular Russian servicemen and officers of the Donbass Army Corps, who already had extensive combat experience at the beginning of the NMD.
The question from our TV correspondent was about the military-industrial complex. Kyiv receives from the West the most modern weapons systems and in large quantities. Will the Russian defense industry withstand such qualitative and quantitative competitive pressure?
According to the president, the SVO showed our shortcomings. It is the lack of various types of drones, precision-guided munitions and communication equipment. Now, a year later, the defense industry is rapidly increasing production of all necessary weapon systems.
Russia, according to Putin, has never sought confrontation with anyone. On the contrary, Moscow has tried to build good neighborly relations with European countries. Both in the 1990s and in the 2000s, the president said, we were ready to cooperate with the United States on many military programs, including NATO membership. But the West has always perceived Russia as a kind of raw material appendage. And while enjoying successful transactions with our country, on the one hand, on the other hand, he continued to try to weaken it and, ultimately, plunder its resources.
Part of the meeting was held behind closed doors. Journalists conveyed to Putin the wishes and demands of the fighters at the front. The president jotted down each of them in his notebook and promised to solve them. As for the journalists, each of them was able to ask more than one important question to the president and, above all, to obtain an honest and exhaustive answer.
For more about the president’s candid conversation with military commanders, see Vitaly Akinshin’s material for the program “The Main thing with Olga Belova.”
Read the Russia Ukraine News on The Eastern Herald.
