“No serious military specialist can assure that the Russians will not be near kyiv next November,” says General Vincent Desportes

Emmanuel Macron assured Friday June 7, alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, that he wanted “finalize” a coalition to send instructors to Ukraine and confirmed the upcoming start of training of Ukrainian pilots on French Mirage 2000-5 fighters. But according to General Vincent Desportes, professor at Sciences Po and former director of the War School, military aid “perhaps they arrive too late”. “We need joint planning between the Ukrainians and the West in terms of the arrival of weapons, the actions to be taken,” he emphasizes, Saturday June 8, on franceinfo.

“The dynamic of victory is for the moment on the Russian side and that is why it is completely important that as quickly as possible, we provide all possible help to Ukraine so that it hold your positions”, assures division general of the French army. “No serious military specialist can assure that the Russians will not be near kyiv next November,” he adds.

For the former director of the War School, there is a lack of a real defense strategy and “stop this crisis management which leads to catastrophe”. “The West finds itself permanently in reaction and not in pro-action”, he laments. “We have to move into strategy”he insisted. “Giving weapons, extending the range of weapons, is not strategy,” notes General Vincent Desportes. “The strategy is first of all to define what we can do in a feasible manner and from that, build a military action,” he recalls. “What is possible today is not to dream of reconquering lost land, it is not possible immediately but we must ensure that the Ukrainian army holds out and then becomes a dissuasive force. to show President Putin that he has more to lose than to gain by continuing his aggression”explains the soldier.