It is generally expected that the weekly news program on Russian state TV will tell you the story of Russia’s success in the Russo-Ukraine war.
But this time on Sunday the story was different. No one expected the news that was narrated at the beginning of the program on this day.
In a serious posture, anchor Dmitry Kiselev said, “This has been the most difficult week so far in the special operation against Ukraine.”
“The situation was especially difficult in Kharkiv. Here the enemies attacked our army, their strength was greater than ours, and we had to retreat from the already liberated cities.”
Russia believes that it had actually “liberated” the Ukrainian cities it “occupied”.
Russia had occupied these areas only a few months ago. The Russian army has had to leave such large areas in the northeast of Ukraine after the Ukrainian army retaliated with a fierce attack.
Despite this, the Russian state media is trying to handle the situation firmly. Officially, what happened in the Kharkiv region is not being called an “army retreat”.
According to the latest edition of the official newspaper Rosaya Gazette, “The Russian Defense Ministry has dismissed rumors of an army retreat from Balaklia, Kupiansk and Izyum and said that the army did not retreat, but as a pre-planned army.” is being re-mobilized.”
However, in a magazine named Moskovsky Cosmosolets, a military analyst offered his different opinion. He wrote, “It is clear that we underestimated the enemy. The response of the Russian army was delayed, due to which this happened. The result was that we were defeated and we had to withdraw the army to reduce our losses. “
Social media channels supporting Russia and Russia’s “patriotic” bloggers reacted sharply to the “defeat”. He has accused the Russian military of making mistakes.
Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of Chechnia, who is considered powerful, has also targeted the Russian government.
“If there is no change in the army’s strategy in a day or two, then I will have to talk to the Defense Ministry and the leaders of the country. I have to tell the ground truth from him. The situation there is very interesting,” he said.
Russia waged war on Ukraine on 24 February 2022.
Russia has been calling it a special military operation.
On 13 September, the Ukrainian president claimed that the Ukrainian army had managed to recapture several Russian military-held sites.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his army had freed 6,000 square kilometers of land from Russian occupation. However, the BBC does not independently verify these figures.
Ukraine is rapidly launching counter-attacks in the eastern part of the country.
This week the US has approved fresh financial aid of $ 2.7 billion for Ukraine. Out of this, $ 675 million will be given for weapons.
Under this, Ukraine will be provided with howitzers, ammunition and Humvi armored vehicles , armored ambulances and anti-tank systems.
President Zelensky says that the army is taking Ukraine one step at a time to liberate Ukraine.
The struggle did not stop for six months
It has been more than six months since Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a special operation against Ukraine. In the days following the invasion of Ukraine, several Russian politicians and analysts said on TV channels that the campaign would end in a few days. People in Ukraine will welcome the Russian army as messengers who came to liberate them, and in a few days the Ukrainian army will collapse like a pack of cards.
But it didn’t happen.
Rather, this struggle has been going on continuously for six months and now the Russian army has had to retreat in some places.
In such a situation, the question is bound to be, what political effect will this have on Vladimir Putin?
After all, for more than two decades, Putin’s image among the Russian elite has been that of a winner, able to pull himself out of a difficult situation and maintain his image.
I often see him as the famous escape artist Harry Houdini. Whatever kind of situation came in front of him, he always pulled himself out of it.
But all this changed from February 24 onwards.
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What will be the problems for Putin?
What happened over the past six months is an indication that President Putin’s decision to attack Ukraine was the result of a miscalculation. The Russian army could not ensure a quick victory and suffered a humiliating defeat in places embroiled in a protracted bloody conflict.
When the image of a strong and strong leader is affected, it creates difficulties for him. They must have known about the history of Russia that they have not been successful in the military campaigns waged by the earlier Russian leaders.
After the defeat of Russia by Japan, the first Russian revolution took place in the year 1905. After the defeat in the First World War, Russia again witnessed the revolution in 1917 and the fall of the Russian ruler Tsar.
However, it is also true that in public Putin would not like to see himself as a loser.
On Monday, his spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that “Russia’s special military operation will continue and will continue until the goals already set are achieved.”
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What will Putin do next?
If you try to find out what Putin is thinking and what is going on in his mind, then you will be in trouble, because a lot depends on how he gets to know about the ground reality from the military leadership and his intelligence. What information are you getting?
But so far two things are clear – first that the Russian president has admitted that he has made mistakes, and second, that Putin has been known for not taking a U-turn.
Russia’s state media is saying that foreign aid to Ukraine is responsible for what we are seeing on the battlefield.
“Kiev, backed by NATO and with its help, is launching a counterattack,” it said on Russian state television.
For the past few months, another question has been floating in the media. That is, if Putin does not get success using conventional weapons, then can he opt for nuclear weapons?
A few days ago, Ukrainian military chief Valery Zaluzny warned, “There is a direct danger that the Russian military may use tactical weapons, ie nuclear weapons, under certain circumstances.”
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According to what has been found so far, there is no sign of panic in the Russian government yet. The news on Russian state television at the moment seems to be positive.
State television described the Russian military’s attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure as “a turning point in the special operation”.
As far as Putin is concerned, Putin, who was inaugurating Europe’s largest Ferris wheel (swing) in Moscow, looked quite comfortable at the time when news of Russia’s withdrawal from Ukraine was being received from some places.
Putin still believes that like this new Ferris wheel, the direction of his special military campaign against Ukraine will also turn towards him.