‘We Cannot Win’ Says Top Russian Commander Alexander Khodakovsky
www.kyivpost.com
The leader of the Russian battalion defeated at liberated Urozhaine calls for “freezing the front” after his unreinforced troops were devastated in a rout.

https://archive.li/Z0m5m

The Russian commander of the “Vostok” Battalion fighting in southern Ukraine said on Thursday that Ukraine will not be defeated and suggested that Russia freeze the war along current frontlines.

Alexander Khodakovsky made the candid concession yesterday on his Telegram channel after Russian forces, including his own troops, were devastatingly defeated by Ukrainian marines earlier this week at Urozhaine in the Zaporizhzhia-Donetsk regional border area.

“Can we bring down Ukraine militarily? Now and in the near future, no,” Khodakovsky, a former official of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic, said yesterday.

“When I talk to myself about our destiny in this war, I mean that we will not crawl forward, like the [Ukrainians], turning everything into [destroyed] Bakhmuts in our path. And, I do not foresee the easy occupation of cities,” he said.

  • barsoap@lemm.ee
    3·
    1 year ago

    The Iraq war was wrong for a multitude of reasons, and many countries (including mine) wanted to do nothing to do with it, but one thing sets it apart very clearly from the current situation:

    Iraq wasn’t a war of conquest. Russia’s war against Ukraine is. The US hasn’t waged a war of conquest IIRC since Hawaii, it’s always been foreign meddling instead but never out-right imposition of rule and they’ve gotten less and less bad at how they’re doing it over time. I mean compare the Iraqi or Afghani government during occupation with the likes of Batista.

    Then, and this (as well as that Marvel reference I couldn’t give less of a fuck) makes me think you’re American: It’s the first war by a major power in Europe since WWII. We thought we had that shit behind us, that Yugoslavia was a regrettable exceptions caused by small-minded autocrats exploiting ethnic tensions for their own benefit. But, nope, actual full-scale war has come back to Europe because unlike the rest of Europe Russia hasn’t gotten the memo that imperialism is soooo 18hundreds. As a yank you wouldn’t understand.

      • barsoap@lemm.ee
        3·
        1 year ago

        A war of avoiding national embarrassment and getting re-elected. The equivalent of starting a bar fight because someone picked up the gal you eyed through your whisky glass for two hours.

        • ShimmeringKoi [comrade/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
          40·
          1 year ago

          Okay, so what you’re saying is that our genocidal war in Iraq that killed a million people, displaced 30 million more, poisoned their soil and DNA with depleted uranium and created ISIS…You’re saying all of that was done for even stupider reasons than the ones you think are driving the Russian Federation now.

          Is that supposed to make the US look better, and not monstrous?

          Or, more relevant question, why on Earth should the country that lied to start that war be trusted about anything, ever again?

          Nobody has been able to give me a compelling answer that doesn’t just boil down to “because other countries must be worse, have to be worse, for my worldview to make sense.” And I get it, I’ve been there. I was a bit of an American chauvinist for a while. But the more familiar I became with history, especially in the 20th century, the more it became clear to me that America has no equivalent in the scale of it’s evil.

          Btw just curious, (and not the smug condescending internet kind of “curious”, the real deal): Have you ever checked out Blowback? If you’re a podcast person it’s fantastic, season one is about the Iraq war and it really goes into depth on the history and context behind the war. Some of the reasons you mentioned, some others. Highly recommend.

          • ImOnADiet@hexbear.netEnglish
            18·
            1 year ago

            America has no equivalent in the scale of it’s evil.

            I don’t know the British Empire has to be pretty close lol

          • barsoap@lemm.ee
            1·
            1 year ago

            Is that supposed to make the US look better, and not monstrous?

            No. Yanks are idiots I said it before and I’m certainly willing to repeat it. The age of enlightenment by and large never reached them.

            Have you ever checked out Blowback?

            Nope and honestly I’m not particularly interested because I was already arguing with idiots back then that they’re making a heap of mistakes, I’m sure there’s details in there that I don’t know but I’m well-versed in the overall gist of it all from back then.

            If you’re up for crying and laughing at the same time though I have something for you. The history of the USA ones, the subtitles are quite good.

    • Frank [he/him, he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
      14·
      1 year ago

      Iraq wasn’t a war of conquest.

      Please, for god’s sake log off before you strain something.

      less and less bad at how they’re doing it over time.

      This is actually disgusting and you should be ashamed of yourself. The Americans murdered a million Iraqis, and in the last few years at least 400,000 Yemenis, plus god knows who else and in what numbers.

    • Ram_The_Manparts [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
      6·
      1 year ago

      Ah yes, the US murdering millions of people in Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Afghanistan, Iraq and so on was just “foreign meddling”.

      You are fucking disgusting.

    • MoreAmphibians [none/use name]@hexbear.netEnglish
      6·
      1 year ago

      It’s the first war by a major power in Europe since WWII.

      Are you a child, an american, or did you only start paying attention to history in February 2022?

      1. The Troubles (UK vs occupied Ireland)
      2. Cyprus War of Independence(UK vs occupied Cyprus)
      3. Bombing of Yugoslavia (Nato vs Yugoslavia)
      4. Russo-Georgian War (Russia vs Georgia)
      • barsoap@lemm.ee
        2·
        1 year ago

        The troubles were not an inter-state conflict.

        Cyprus is a vastly complicated situation as Turkish Cypriots were in favour of British rule and Greek Cypriots wanted unification with Greece while it was a dictatorship.

        I mentioned Yugoslavia. Do you read comments before replying.

        Georgia is basically the same shit as Ukraine just in a bit less worse. While we’re at it we can also mention Transnistria: Again, Russia. As said, it’s Russia which didn’t get the memo.

        • MoreAmphibians [none/use name]@hexbear.netEnglish
          3·
          1 year ago

          The troubles were not an inter-state conflict.

          Only because the Irish didn’t manage to win.

          Cyprus is a vastly complicated situation as Turkish Cypriots were in favour of British rule and Greek Cypriots wanted unification with Greece while it was a dictatorship.

          Now this definitely was an inter-state conflict, because Cyprus managed to break free from the British empire. And if we excluded complicated situation then we would have to exclude all wars, including the Ukraine war.

          I mentioned Yugoslavia. Do you read comments before replying.

          You mentioned it and then said it didn’t count because of reasons. I’m saying it does count because it was a war and it was in Europe. Although under your criteria this should also be excluded because it wasn’t an inter-state conflict. One of the ways that NATO justified its bombing was by saying it wasn’t a state but a supranational organization and thus wasn’t beholden to the UN charter.

          Georgia is basically the same shit as Ukraine just in a bit less worse

          It was another situation where a western-backed revanchist government attacks a separatist area and then Russia moves in to stop the shelling.

          Transnistria

          “The first fatalities in the emerging conflict took place on 2 November 1990, two months after the PMR’s 2 September 1990 declaration of independence. Moldovan forces entered Dubăsari in order to separate Transnistria into two halves, but were stopped by the city’s inhabitants, who had blocked the bridge over the Dniester, at Lunga. In an attempt to break through the roadblock, Moldovan forces then opened fire.[47] In the course of the confrontation, three Dubăsari locals, Oleg Geletiuk, Vladimir Gotkas and Valerie Mitsuls, were killed by the Moldovan forces and sixteen people wounded.[30]”

          According to a Human Rights Center “Memorial” report, local Bender eyewitnesses on 19 June 1992 saw Moldovan troops in armored vehicles deliberately firing at houses, courtyards and cars with heavy machine guns.[39] The next day, Moldovan troops allegedly shot at civilians that were hiding in houses, trying to escape the city, or helping wounded PMR guardsmen. Other local eyewitnesses testified that in the same day, unarmed men that gathered in the Bender downtown square in request of the PMR Executive Committee, were fired at from machine guns.[39] HRC observers were told by doctors in Bender that as a result of heavy fire from Moldovan positions between 19 and 20 June, they were unable to attend the wounded.[39] -Wikipedia

          Hmm

          The economic situation in Moldova was not bright. The Agrarian Democratic Party of Moldova was having, along with the Unity-Edinstvo formation – belonging to the people with nostalgia for the former Soviet Union, a comfortable majority; yet, deep concepts and programmes on reforms and the country’s development were absent.

          Nevertheless, the western countries were helping Moldova make progress on the way of liberalization of the political and economic spheres. In particular, a substantial assistance was coming on behalf of the USA. The Americans repeatedly declared their unconditional support for Moldova’s territorial integrity, acting to this end in diverse international institutions. And the economic agenda of the Moldovan-American relations was rich at that time. In 1993, 35 Moldovan-U.S. enterprises were working and the trade between the two countries was in a continuous growth. In 1992, this commerce stood at 11.5 million dollars, in 1993 - 15.1 million dollars and in 1994 – 22.4 million dollars. Moldova was benefitting from full support in the relations with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. -https://news.gov.md/en/news/2021/01/01/21000333

          Hmm. It’s weird how in Moldova, Georgia, and Ukraine a western-backed revanchist government started attacking civilians in a separatist region all of a sudden. And how all three countries had “market liberalizations” against the will of their people. I guess it’s just one of those coincidences that seem to happen whenever the US has an interest in a place.