Ex-colonel’s dire words of warning
A RETIRED Russian colonel declared ‘the whole world is against us’ in a dire assessment of Vladimir Putin’s war, broadcast to millions on state TV.
Mikhail Khodarenok gave his most damning critique yet of the invasion as he warned Ukraine will soon have armed one million men and ‘intends to fight to the last man’.
The former air defence commander urged Russians to ‘maintain a sense of realism’ as ‘sooner or later the reality of history will hit you so hard that you’ll regret it’.
Anatoly Chubais, Putin’s former special envoy and a seasoned Kremlin powerbroker, was thought to be the highest-ranking official to oppose the war when he fled Russia in March. But Khodarenok’s intervention was perhaps more damaging as it countered the president’s spoon-fed narrative on propagandist Olga Skabeyeva’s evening talk show.
Batting aside repeated interruption from Skabeyeva, the retired colonel urged his fellow panellists to wean themselves off of ‘information tranquillisers’.
His comments seemed intended to spark a conversation about how exactly the country can get itself out of the failing invasion.
On the world stage, he added, Russia is ‘in full geopolitical isolation’. ‘Virtually the entire world is against us,’ he said.
He added that nuclear threats have done little to deter Russia’s enemies and instead ‘actually looks quite amusing’ to them. Khodarenok has already spoken out against the war in writing and on state TV, but he has not used his slot on one of Russia’s most-watched talk shows to such a great extent before.
It comes as Ukrainian soldiers became the country’s first to reach the Russian border after retaking Kharkiv from occupation at the weekend – the closest they have come to the invaders’ territory since February 24.
Smart counter attacks appear to be outwitting Russia’s attempts to encircle them in the East where Putin is focussing his efforts after being driven from Kyiv.
Moscow’s hopes for a swift victory appear to be slipping away, as analysts predict they could be forced into a defensive battle to try and cling to what they have already taken.