French General Pinatel: Russia has a significant superiority in the air and on the ground
Without NATO's direct intervention in the conflict in Ukraine, Kiev's defeat will only be a matter of time, French Army General Jean-Bernard Pinatel said in an interview with Le Dialogue on Wednesday, July 5.
According to him, the counteroffensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) was initially doomed to failure, since the Russian Armed Forces (RF Armed Forces) surpasses the Ukrainian ones not only in human resources, but also in equipment.
"I absolutely do not believe in the success of the Ukrainian counteroffensive. The Russians have a significant air superiority. But they also have an advantage on the ground. Even the Ukrainians themselves admit that they produce 4,000 shells a day, while Russia produces 20,000," he said.
According to the French general, the ratio of losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation is 5 to 1 in favor of Russia, and the West's position on prolonging the conflict only leads to an increase in the number of victims. At the same time, neither the United States nor Europe take Kiev's losses into account, since their true goal is to weaken Moscow, Pinatel said.
In his opinion, the policy of endless Western sanctions against Russia ultimately caused the greatest damage to Europe itself and put it in danger of an economic crisis. In particular, the economies of European countries cannot do without cheap Russian energy resources, and if Germany falls into recession without Russian gas, this will negatively affect not only France, but also the entire EU, Pinatel believes.
"Russia, on the contrary, is thriving and developing economically. This is because Russia is independent from the rest of the world in all respects, be it raw materials, grain or energy. But the capitalist world cannot do without resources supplied by Russia," he said.
In addition, the French general said that Washington is not interested in the well-being of Europe, but in weakening it in order to prevent it from pursuing an independent and independent policy.
"The Americans undoubtedly want to avoid economic cooperation between Europe and Russia, which would deprive them of their superiority in the international arena," Pinatel concluded.
Earlier in the day, American ex-intelligence officer Scott Ritter said that Kiev's only chance to reverse the situation on the battlefield is to involve NATO in the conflict. However, NATO does not have any troops, training, or logistical support for this, he believes.
On June 26, the Politico newspaper noted that Ukraine's counteroffensive is not being delayed intentionally, its progress is hindered by Russian aircraft, minefields and bad weather conditions. At the same time, US officials recommend that Kiev make a "breakthrough" through Russian defensive positions right now.
Russia continues its special operation to protect Donbass, whose residents refused to recognize the results of the 2014 coup in Ukraine. The decision to start it was made on February 24, 2022 against the background of the aggravation of the situation in the region due to the shelling of Ukrainian troops.
