Asked about franceinfo, the general Jérôme Pellistrandi believes that the Russian offensive takes this Monday evening “a higher dimension” which risks being “appalling”.
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“Vladimir Putin is playing his all in this offensive” in eastern Ukraine, said Monday on franceinfo General Jérôme Pellistrandi, editor-in-chief of National Defense, while Volodymyr Zelensky announced that “Russian troops have started the battle for Donbass”. According to the Ukrainian President, “a very large part of the entire Russian army is now devoted to this offensive”.
“What changes tonight is the scale of the offensive”explains Jérôme Pellistrandi. “For a few days, we felt that the Russians were preparing this massive attack, which is supposed to obtain a final decision in the Donbass region.” The Russians are “acted out”but the general points out that “their troops are tired and they have not been able to completely complete their replenishment”.
Jérôme Pellistrandi recalls that since 2014, “part of Donbass was occupied by these pro-Russian forces claiming to be from Moscow”. And since February 24 and the start of the Russian invasion, “the fighting has not stopped on this part of the front”. But with this Russian offensive, “we go to a higher dimension which risks being terribly deadly on both sides”warns the general.
According to Jérôme Pellistrandi, Ukraine “has demonstrated for fifty-four days its ability to withstand multiple attacks”. But he points out that the Ukrainian armed forces “have been put to the test and that they will be confronted with a large mass” of Russian soldiers. According to him, Moscow brought back everything possible “in terms of infantry, tank and artillery forces”. The fights are therefore likely to be “extremely intense with many losses among the civilian populations who did not have time to flee the region”.
General Jérôme Pellistrandi reminds us again that the Dombass is “a political, military and economic issue”. Vladimir Putin says “that he acts to liberate the Donbass from Nazi nationalist forces”which is “a speech completely out of reality”, says the general. The head of the Kremlin has therefore “need to get that achievement”, adds Jérôme Pellistrandi. The Russian President “failed in the first part of the war to seize kyiv and bring down the regime” Ukrainian. Vladimir Putin is “engaged in a long conflict. And the conquest of Donbass is for him a major imperative”.