The Russians have “already lost the war” on the military level estimates on franceinfo, Guillaume Ancel, former officer of the French army, while the Ukrainian army entered, Saturday, October 1, in the strategic city of Lyman, in the east of the country, in the region of Donetsk. On Friday, Moscow’s annexation of this part of Ukrainian territory was strongly condemned by the international community. According to Guillaume Ancel, Vladimir Putin’s latest statements are only a means of “hide the debacle of his army”.
franceinfo: What explains this failure for Russia in Lyman?
Guillaume Ancel: The situation in Lyman perfectly illustrates the situation of the Russian army. It’s cracking all over, the units don’t even obey the orders of vladimir Putin, quite simply because they no longer have the means to resist. The Russian army has lost most of its equipment and potential, particularly in terms of command and intelligence. The units are almost blind today, while the Ukrainians are very well supplied and above all remarkably well informed. On the front of Kherson, in the South of Ukraine, the Russians resist with the greatest difficulty. It is likely that the Ukrainians, given the means at their disposal today, are preparing a third counter-offensive. It would then be fatal to Vladimir Putin’s army.
Could the Russians lose the war relatively quickly?
In fact, they have already lost it militarily. They don’t have the means to resist, they can only prolong their debacle a little bit. It’s just a matter of time. Vladimir Putin has rolled his army. His boasting, including on the use of nuclear weapons, shows above all that he is trying to hide the debacle on the ground.
Russia announced the partial mobilization of its population on September 21, which represents 300,000 reservists. Could this help to rectify the situation?
It is pure fiction. Their mobilization is too late and totally chaotic. It’s not when a fire breaks out that you have to recruit firefighters! We can clearly see that the Russians have no intention of going to fight and that they absolutely do not feel threatened by the Ukrainians. It’s already a failure. When we also see the state of the units that are on the ground, which are supposed to be the best, I let you imagine what mobilized, poorly equipped, absolutely untrained and uncommanded units would look like. It would be adding catastrophe to catastrophe: today, the Russian army is in total failure.