Ukrainian Officials Makes STRONG Statement About Crimea
Russia’s desperation in Ukraine has been astounding of late, with the former military superpower having exposed itself as little more than smoke, mirrors, bark, and no bite.
Just this week it was revealed that Vladimir Putin would need to forcibly conscript another 200,000 soldiers for “mobilization” – after having already thrown near half a million bodies at the problem thus far.
Moscow’s military failures have been so incredible, in fact, that some of the Ukraine’s top military minds are now suggesting that the repatriation of Crimea may be on the table.
Hours before all of his warnings about a Russian invasion were proved spot-on, Maj. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, Ukraine’s military intelligence boss, moved his wife into his office, fearing that the worst would not indeed happen.
It was Feb. 23 — the night before Russia launched its war on Ukraine — and Budanov had staked his career on being the rare Ukrainian official who was convinced that Russia was about to attack and attempt to capture Kyiv, the capital.
He and his wife stared at the clock that night, anxious that Budanov could soon be out of work if all did not go as he had loudly predicted to Ukraine’s skeptical political leadership.“We’d had this conversation that if this attack doesn’t happen, we’re not going to look very good,” he said in a recent interview. “We had specifically said that at 4 a.m. it would start. It sounds really weird, but I was scared it wouldn’t go as it should.”
As for Crimea, Budanov believes it could be simply a matter of time.
Budanov’s forecast for this year is that Russia will focus on occupying more territory in the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions. A renewed offensive from its forces stationed north of Ukraine, in Belarus, is unlikely, he said, and just an attempt to distract and divide Kyiv’s troops. He also said that “we must do everything to ensure that Crimea returns home by summer.”
Asked if he thinks Ukrainian troops reaching Crimea, which Russia invaded and annexed illegally in 2014, could trigger Russian President Vladimir Putin to use a nuclear weapon, Budanov said: “This is not true. And Crimea will be returned to us. I’ll tell you more: It all started in Crimea in 2014, and it will all end there.”
“It’s a scare tactic,” he added, speaking in his office, where he keeps a pet frog. “Russia is a country that you can expect a lot from but not outright idiocy. Sorry, but it’s not going to happen. Carrying out a nuclear strike will result in not just a military defeat for Russia but the collapse of Russia. And they know this very well.”
Budanov has made a number of further claims, including the widely-believed suggestion that Vladimir Putin is dying of cancer.
