Recently, Putin gave another solo performance at the pseudo-economic forum in Vladivostok. But essentially, this was the first major public speech by Putin for the Russians since the beginning of our occupation of Kursk. Therefore, it is somewhat special and genuinely interesting to understand compared to the standard blabbering speeches of the tsar. Thus, the speech and discussion can be divided into three blocks.
The first is about increased yields and the colonisation of Mars. The usual, everything is fine and will be better without any basis. There is no sense to dwell on it due to its meaninglessness and unreality.
The second block is military. Finally, Putin openly named his main priority. Donbas. For the first time. Directly. From himself. In context, it’s clear that the decision to continue the offensive in the Donetsk region is his personal decision without considering the Kursk operation in Ukraine. His “delight” in achieving which he will sacrifice part of the Kursk region (and not only). That is why instead of “Kursk region,” he uses the vague “borderlands” to such a degree of cynicism that sometimes it seems that he is talking about the territory of Ukraine.
Besides, it seems he again dipped into the warm bath of the Ministry of Defense reports. Not about the standard “everyone died” and “we lost all the equipment” on our side. Here is about self-confidence and counting kilometres. Here, triangles are calculated as squares of 3 by 5 kilometres in the Pokrovsk direction. He already glows with victory as if only a few meters were left to the stele “Donetsk region” for the Russian occupiers. But this is not the case.
The warm bath is so warm that the reality of 1,300 square kilometres occupied by Ukraine almost without resistance got lost in the rays far from Putin’s victory.
To summarise, Putin clearly made it known to everyone. There will be no Kursk in exchange for Donbas. Because there is no Kursk in military history.
Therefore, all supporters of theories about the existence of a point of unacceptable losses for Putin should throw their theories in the trash can of history. Simply, such a point does not exist. As it did not exist for all previous totalitarian dictators. And that means – it must definitely be crossed out from the equation in the analysis of perspectives.
The third block is foreign policy. Putin’s blatant rudeness towards NATO country leaders is not just rudeness. It is a demonstration. A demonstration that he is almost not afraid of them. Here, it is not a question of specifics. Here are the mood and determination. The order of the International Court? How about Turkey in BRICS? Malaysia? He openly believes that he has found an antidote – the fear of escalation. That’s what our partners live by and now what Putin will use against us.
But in all this – his weakness. In the cognitive dissonance when you brag about plus ten kilometres of control near Donetsk and keep silent about the loss of 1,300 sq. km. of your own country. Here, in this simultaneous dissonance, lies the death of Koschei. These are his fears. Which we must press more. Not enough Kursk? There must be Bryansk and Belgorod. Tear apart self-assurance through fear to regain our own. After all.
By Petro Andryushchenko
*These opinions are solely those of the author. The Ukrainian Review takes no position and is not responsible for the author’s words.
Petro Andryushchenko was an adviser to the mayor of Mariupol. After the Russian Federation started war in Ukraine in February 2022, he became the de facto “voice” of Mariupol.
On his Telegram channel, “Andryushchenko Time“, he tells the truth about the horrors of the occupation, the deportation of people by the Russian occupants and the “filtration” camps in Donbas.
