Loane Nader
modified to
10:13 a.m., May 08, 2023
After more than a year of clashes with the Ukrainians, if it thought it would win the war in a few days, Vladimir Putin’s army is no closer to victory. For Renaud Girard, great reporter and specialist in international issues at “Figaro”, guest of Europe Matin on Monday, it is now a question of “avoiding defeat” for Russia.
It has been more than a year since the international community heard of the first of a long series of Russian offensives in Ukraine. Neither side has yet managed to end the war, which continues to cause the death of young soldiers. For Renaud Girard, great reporter and specialist in international issues at Figaroguest of Europe Matin Monday, Russia is suffering the “hard blows” even though there was “no doubt, in the minds of the Russians and especially of the Russian leadership, that the affair would be settled in a week “.
Renaud Girard also believes that Vladimir Putin engaged in the confrontation with his little Slavic sister without being “aware of the situation and the value of the Ukrainian army and its determination to defend the country.” The latent situation is further explained by the fact that the Russian president “was completely unaware of the shortcomings of his army.” Especially since this Tuesday, May 9, she celebrates her victory against the army of Nazi Germany, and has no other possibility than simply “avoiding defeat on the ground”.
Bakhmout, a symbolic city that has become “a little Verdun”
The strategy of the Russian belligerent would then be to stop attacking, especially after the delivery of 300 tanks by NATO countries to Ukraine. “Besides, his ally (Evgueni) Prigojine, the leader of Wagner, said that the war had to be stopped there”, which does not show a “uniqueness of command and communication” , for the journalist of Figaro. As for the Ukrainian camp, “you have no dissenting voice, communication is very well maintained. […] You have a nation at war, bent entirely on one goal.”
A strategic cohesion all the more important to have for Renaud Girard, as the area occupied by the paramilitary group remains at the center of covetousness. “Wagner, it was important for the Russians because they hold this lock of Bakhmout, and it has become symbolic, it has become a little Verdun.” The city also represents an important rail road junction according to the great reporter, who considers Bakhmout to be “the greatest ‘classic’ battle since the Yom Kippur War of 1973.”