“We are very clearly in the definition of war crimes against civilians, in particular in Mariupol”analyzes Thursday, March 17 on franceinfo General Jean-Paul Paloméros, former supreme commander for the transformation of NATO and former chief of staff of the Air Force, after the bombardment of a theater of the Ukrainian city on Wednesday. “It’s the strategy of relentlessness, it’s an infernal spiral and unfortunately, we don’t see what will stop it”he continues.
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franceinfo: What is Russia’s strategy today?
Jean-Paul Palomeros : We have the feeling that there is no more strategy. Putin’s strategy has clearly failed, he is reduced to besieging and attacking cities. We are also very clearly in the definition of war crimes, voluntarily, against civilians, in particular in Mariupol. There is no doubt about this subject, about this theater which was perfectly identifiable. This is the strategy of relentlessness. It’s an infernal spiral and unfortunately, we don’t really see what will stop it. I’m rather worried, because we have the feeling that Mr Putin wants to punish them for not having joined Mother Russia, for not accepting her diktat. In any case, it’s no longer a military objective: if the Russians really wanted to take Mariupol because it’s a lock on the Black Sea, they would do everything they could, they would return to the city. But no, we are not at all in this logic, the proof in Kharkiv is the same method.
We learned yesterday that Russia will recruit thousands of Syrians to go to Ukraine and today the leader of the Russian Republic of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov announces that a thousand volunteers are on their way to Ukraine. What is Vladimir Putin’s goal?
We feel that the “special peacekeeping operation” has turned into the most vile acts of war since they are recruiting mercenaries. Which also proves that the Russian army has real problems of maneuver in terms of human resources for various reasons. Morale is undoubtedly affected. You imagine the Russian soldiers who were told that they were going to arrive as liberators and who find themselves blocked because they are invaders and conquerors…
Emmanuel Macron declares that the invasion had given an electric shock to NATO, what should we understand by that?
Collective defense has always been the primary mission of the Alliance. I can assure you that we are constantly cultivating this collective defense, trying to improve it, training, training, setting defense expenditure targets… This remains the main and essential mission of NATO: to protect, defend, ensure the security of the Western world, of the free and democratic world and allow it to prosper under the shelter of this alliance which is unique in the history of the world.