The Ukrainian power could only rejoice in the military mutiny of the Wagner group and the crisis in Russia, even if it has no direct military impact on the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. For kyiv, any political signal of a weakening of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who ordered the invasion of Ukraine, is welcome.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reacted in two stages, during and after the mutiny led by Yevgueni Prigojine, the head of the private military company Wagner. While Mr. Prigojine threatened Moscow, Friday, June 23, Mr. Zelensky pointed “the obvious weakness of Russia. Total weakness”. Affirming that “who chooses the path of evil self-destructs”the President added that “Russia used propaganda to mask its weakness and the stupidity of its government. Now the chaos is such that no one can lie about it.”. He joked about his Russian counterpart, who “sends hundreds of thousands of people to war to finally barricade themselves in order to protect themselves from those whom they themselves have armed”.
When the mutiny ended the next day, Saturday June 24, the Ukrainian president felt that Mr Putin had “obviously very scared” of the armed rebellion and that he “probably hiding somewhere”. Mr. Zelensky concluded that “The world has seen that the Russian leadership has no control over anything. Nothing at all. It’s total chaos”.
Call to supply more weapons to Ukraine
From a military point of view, Wagner’s rebellion was in itself neither good nor bad news for Ukraine, Wagner having left the Ukrainian fronts since the first days of June, when he withdrew from the city of Bakhmout, and the Russian army having a priori not cleared any front to reinforce the protection of Moscow. kyiv, on the other hand, was delighted with the possible political and diplomatic impact of Wagner’s coup de brilliance. Not only is the possible weakening of Vladimir Putin’s power in the eyes of Russian society and the Russian army considered by Ukraine as an element which could perhaps one day contribute to accelerating the end of the conflict, but Moscow’s power wavering, even for a few hours, can only, Kiev hopes, make Russia’s allies on the international stage cautious.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba took advantage of the windfall to call for more weapons to be provided to Ukraine, in this period of military counter-offensive which is not yet, since its launch on June 4 , only at a preliminary stage. “Those who said Russia was too strong to lose: look now. It’s time to let go of false neutrality and fear of escalation. Give Ukraine all the necessary weapons. Forget friendship or business with Russia. It’s time to put an end to the evil that everyone despised but was too afraid to put down. »
You have 50.43% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.