“Vladimir Putin is crazy, we will kick him out of Ukraine”. At the crucial stage of the war with Russia, Volodymyr Zelensky try to keep morale high and keep the always declared objective in sight: repelling the invaders and maintaining Russia’s territorial integrity. The words of the Ukrainian president come at a particularly critical moment.
Moscow forces press along the front line and in Donetsk besiege the stronghold of Khasiv Yara crucial hub for the control of the region and for the possible organization of a broader offensive, which experts and analysts expect between the end of spring and the beginning of summer.
The fall of Chasiv Yar is “a matter of time”, admitted Vadym Skibitsky, number 2 of Ukrainian defense intelligence, who to the Economist outlined an overall picture that was not very encouraging for Kiev: winning the war, he said in summary, is almost impossible and the only way to end the conflict is through negotiation.
Negotiations with Moscow, however, are not a concrete hypothesis at the moment. Russia has said over and over again that it does not consider Zelensky an interlocutor. The latest signal in this sense arrived in the last few hours: The Ukrainian president has been formally placed on the wanted list by the Russian Interior Ministry. A criminal investigation has been opened against Zelensky pursuant to an article of the Russian criminal code, which however is not specified.
Zelensky’s message
“Putin doesn’t want peace, he’s crazy. Every day his State does new things to prove it. And to beat this evil, to win the war, we need the greatest unity in the world. Results are achieved together,” says Zelensky in his daily message.
“Russia – he underlines – can only be forced to leave Ukraine alone. And this will happen. Our strength will certainly make it happen. The strength of our people, our military strength, the strength of our unity with the world, the strength of our partners, the strength of our diplomacy.” Ukraine is focusing on the Peace Summit scheduled for June in Switzerland to prepare the ground for a possible diplomatic solution to the crisis. The summit “will be held and must be successful, no matter how much they try to sabotage it,” he says, referring to the event to which Russia is not invited.
Zelensky, meanwhile, explains that Oleksandr Syrskyi, the Commander of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, gave a long report on the situation. Ukrainian Defense Intelligence Chief Kyrylo Budanov also gave a speech. “We are aware of all aspects of the current situation,” says the president, announcing the shooting down of a Su-25 plane in the Donetsk region.
Russia ahead despite record losses
“I would like to pay special mention to the soldiers of the 110th separate mechanized brigade for shooting down another Russian Su-25 in Donetsk Oblast,” he says. “Despite severe Russian pressure, despite all the difficulties of the situation, now our soldiers are destroying the invaders,” he says.
And in fact Russia suffers heavy losses, which however slow down but do not slow down the war machine entrusted to Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. Every day just under 900 Russian soldiers are killed or wounded on the battlefield in Ukraine, according to British intelligence monitoring the conflict on a daily basis. With a practically unlimited ‘human reservoir’, Moscow can afford to pour resources to the front without interruption.
“Russia’s casualty rate is likely to increase further over the next two months as offensive operations in eastern Ukraine resume,” British intelligence says. “This follows a slight decrease in the pace of operations over the last two months, after the fall of Avdiivka,” she adds. Since the beginning of the war, more than 465 thousand Russian losses have been recorded, with an average this year of 899 deaths and injuries per day.