Ukraine's Blame Game Begins: Who is Responsible for Kiev's Looming Defeat?
© AP Photo / Vadim Ghirda
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As Russia's victory looks increasingly imminent, Ukrainian politicians are starting to seek a scapegoat to blame.
The Ukrainian leadership is coming face-to-face with not only the failure of its counteroffensive but also seemingly imminent defeat in the more than 20-month-long conflict with Russia - despite months of triumphalist rhetoric from Kiev.
While Western leaders appear to be seeking a face-saving exit from their proxy war, past and present Ukrainian officials are busy finding someone to blame.
How come Ukraine is losing? Wasn't it clear from the outset that Ukraine had considerably less troops, military equipment and resources to prevail? So who is to blame?
Volodymyr Zelensky
According to Sergey Kryvonos, a retired general of the Ukraine Armed Forces and former deputy secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, it's President Volodymyr Zelensky's fault that Ukraine is losing.
The president's promises of victory to Ukrainians have never turned into reality, Kryvonos said on air at the "Pryamoy" News Channel.
"Last year and in the first half of this year, we were told about victory, that the Russians were already exhausted, that they no longer had missiles, that their economy had fallen. Did they say that? Yes, they did. (…) But did all this really happen? No", the retired general said, adding that the Kiev regime's words about a "powerful counteroffensive" were also just hot air.
Kyvonos argued that Zelensky "must think not only about himself but also about training the population [in security]," which is not happening. He recommended that the Ukrainian president hire professionals instead of mere speechwriters who "write speeches for him to read."
"When it comes to the complaints against Zelensky, he promised victory, access to the borders of 1991 and the liberation of Crimea, if the equipment, money and all other equipment he needed were delivered," Andrey Suzdaltsev, an assistant professor and deputy dean at the School of the World Economy and International Affairs at Russia's State University–Higher School of Economics, told Sputnik.
"Let me remind you that in June of this year, Washington claimed that Zelensky had received everything he needed for a successful offensive. The army was mobilized, and it launched a counteroffensive in early June and stalled. That's the problem. This is a general miscalculation. Zelensky’s ambitions are understandable because he's a mercenary. They were hired to fight with Russia, to fight for a long time, but it doesn’t work. This is where the grievances of both the West and [Zelensky] originate from," he continued.
Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine's Armed Forces Valery Zaluzhny. File photo
© Photo : Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP
General Valery Zaluzhny
For her part, MP Maryana Bezuglaya from Ukraine's Servant of the People Party blames Commander-in-Chief Gen. Valery Zaluzhny for the unfolding situation at the front. Per her, he failed to offer a strategic vision for 2024, including training, rotation and funding.
"The commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was unable to provide a plan for 2024," Bezuglaya wrote on her Facebook* account. "Neither large nor small, neither asymmetrical nor symmetrical [plans have been proposed]. The military simply said that they need at least 20,000 citizens per month."
However, Bezuglaya immediately came under criticism from her partymate Fyodor Venislavsky, who said that her presence on the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security and Defense "may threaten the national security of Ukraine."
5 November 2023, 16:18 GMT
"Well, they accuse Zaluzhny of not having a plan for the winter, and everyone at the same time says that it is necessary to work out a defense plan - not a counteroffensive, but a defensive plan," Suzdaltsev said.
"Firstly, Zaluzhny (…) is not a fool to express the army’s plans for the next six months to the Verkhovna Rada. Of course, it’s easier for him to say 'There is no plan, leave me alone' at least to maintain secrecy. Therefore, these accusations that he has no plan are ridiculous. If he says that there is a plan, they would ask him what it is, what is planned and so on. We live in a very transparent system, the media space of Russia and Ukraine is very transparent, everything is visible and also transmitted. Telegram channels tell everything."
It's not the first time that Zaluzhny has been criticized by Ukrainian politicians. In early November, the Ukrainian top commander gave an extensive interview for the Economist and published an essay about the balance of power on the battlefield, outlining what equipment and training the Ukrainian military needs to launch a future offensive. Zaluzhny made it clear that the Ukrainian counteroffensive attempt is over and there is no sense in proceeding with military actions through winter. Zaluzhny was lambasted by the Office of the Ukrainian President for his interview and op-ed. Soon after, Zaluzhny's close aide was killed by a grenade blast at home in an unclear situation that Kiev blamed on an "accident".
Per Suzdaltsev, no matter how hard the Ukrainian political establishment lambasts Zaluzhny the crux of the matter is that there is no replacement for him in the Ukrainian Armed Forces, even though he can't be called a successful military leader.
In this image provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, left, and Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson talk during their walk in downtown Kiev, Ukraine, Saturday, April 9, 2022.
© AP Photo / Ukrainian Presidential Press Office
Former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson
Per Davyd Arakhamia, leader of the Servant of the People's parliamentary faction, it was then-UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson who encouraged President Volodymyr Zelensky to pick the battle and fight to the bitter end.
The lawmaker, who headed the Ukrainian delegation during the March 2022 Istanbul talks with Russia, said that Moscow was ready to end the conflict if Ukraine committed to neutrality and refused to join NATO.
"When we returned from Istanbul, Boris Johnson came to Kiev and said: 'We won’t sign anything with them at all, and let’s just fight'," Arakhamia recalled in an interview with Ukrainian TV channel 1+1.
Ukrainian Western Allies
Alexey Arestovich, ex-adviser to President Zelensky, argues it's Kiev's NATO allies which are responsible for Ukraine's defeat as they have not provided enough assistance for the military to rise victorious.
"The real responsibility lies with those who promised us, Ukraine, real support and (…) did not provide it. That means they conned us," Arestovich wrote on his Telegram account.
Per him, the Ukrainian authorities' "stupidity and corruption" provided Ukraine's Western allies with "a reliable set of arguments (…) to justify" their decision to dump Kiev.
The former Zelensky adviser argued that Ukraine needs military aircraft, long-range missiles and a fivefold increase in supplies for its ground forces. In his opinion, Kiev allies want to force Ukraine into signing a peace deal with Moscow, which would envisage recognizing the Donbass, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions as part of Russia. Arestovich said he opposes that.
"Now it is said that little is supplied; that this or that is missing," Suzdaltsev noted. "What else needs to be delivered? Everything is burning. The F-16 warplanes are presented as a remedy, but these are also amazing illusions. They are now at a stage in which it is unclear what to do with the money, how to get new equipment, how to maintain power - this is very important for Zelensky. What to do with the defenses? They would have copied Russian defensive lines, but for that you need to have a different industry and different equipment that would dig and encase in concrete it all instantly. Ukraine does not have that, it is necessary to create a whole industry."
25 November 2023, 17:28 GMT
So - Who is to Blame?
According to Suzdaltsev, Washington is mostly responsible for the Ukrainian military crisis, because Ukrainians are just US proxies.
"So here, of course, [Ukrainians] are mercenaries, and they were hired by the West. Without Western support, without promises, without Western equipment, they would have never engaged in battle," he said.
For eight years the Ukrainian leadership provoked Russia into a conflict "with all their might" by shelling Donbass Russian speakers, violating the Minsk agreements and proceeding with militarization, Suzdaltsev noted. Nonetheless, they were very surprised when Russia stepped in to stop this and launched its special military operation, the academic noted, adding that it appears that the Ukrainian elite couldn't connect the obvious dots.
*Meta's Facebook is banned in Russia over extremism.
