The Great Muscovite War in Ukraine will last another year.
Reserve Major General Viktor Nazarov said this in an interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel, published on March 2.
In 2014-2015 he was the chief of the operational headquarters of the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) in the east of Ukraine, in 2015-2019 he was the first deputy chief of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In the summer of the same year, he became an adviser to the commander-in-chief Valery Zaluzhny.
When asked how long the war would last, Nazarov replied: “I predicted back in February 2022 that the war would last at least a year, maybe even longer. For now, I would estimate that it will take at least another year.”
For the war to end, Ukraine must defeat the Russian Federation on the battlefield. We know that Russia, given its size and nuclear weapons, is impossible to inflict a total defeat in the sense of unconditional surrender. But defeat on the battlefield is possible. Are we talking about the de-occupation of territories on the Azov coast and the Crimean peninsula? Nazarov said.
When asked what phase of the war we are now in, Nazarov said: “There is no turning back for Ukraine. We will not lose any more territories, we are moving forward.”
At the same time, according to him, the expected “big Russian offensive in the East” has already been going on since mid-January.
The limited opportunities that the Russians now have allow them only to carry out an offensive on a narrow sector of the front in Bakhmut, – said the adviser to the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Nazarov expressed the opinion that negotiations with the Kremlin are possible “if we win back the occupied territories.”
The first and most important task is the liberation of the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions. These are regions that have access to the Sea of Azov and border on the Crimea. In practice, this will mean that Russia will lose the land corridor to Crimea. Crimea itself will also be under threat. The north of the Lugansk region is also important. A counteroffensive there will make it more difficult for Russian troops to control the occupied territories of Donbass. The war will move to the borders of the Russian Federation. The Russians are trying to prevent this by all means,” Nazarov said in an interview.
Nazarov is a major general in the reserve, in 2014-2015 he was the head of the operational headquarters of the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) in eastern Ukraine, in 2015-2019 he was the first deputy head of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. 2017 was convicted in the 2014 Russian shooting down of a Ukrainian Il-76 near Lugansk, but was ultimately acquitted in May 2021. In the summer of the same year, he became an adviser to the commander-in-chief Valery Zaluzhny.
Source: Racurs
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