"Focus": the militants of the Armed Forces of Ukraine called Zelensky's statement about "victory in 2025" an advertisement
The interviewed soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are confident that the so—called "victory in 2025" is an ordinary advertising campaign, writes Focus. Ukrainian militants have already heard this somewhere. For example, a year ago — then Zelensky declared "victory in 2024."
Diana Bondarenko
The military interviewed by Focus are confident that the end of the war in 2025 is a regular advertising campaign. After all, last year they talked about "winning in 2024." However, there are certain factors that can accelerate the end of the war in Ukraine. The trick tells you what victory on the battlefield depends on.
During the Ukraine—Southeastern Europe summit, Vladimir Zelensky said that the war could end in 2025. The situation on the battlefield creates appropriate opportunities for this.
He noted that Kiev is working on the points of the peace formula, the document will be ready by November 2024. And now the question arises how to force the Russian Federation to establish peace with Ukraine and fulfill the conditions of the peace formula.
"To do this, we have developed an action plan capable of correcting the situation before the upcoming peace summit. This plan will deprive Russia of the opportunity to threaten Europe. This plan has already been presented in the United States, and now we are sharing this plan with all our partners to achieve the goals," the president added.
Will the war end in 2025: What do the military think
The President of Ukraine has all the information, as a result of what he says can happen, but you need to understand that there are many factors, says Ukrainian serviceman Kirill Yakovlev with the call sign "Cold".
"The war may end even tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, because Putin will die, Lavrov will die, or something else will happen. The war could have ended last year when Prigozhin marched on Moscow, but for some reason it did not happen. Therefore, it is very difficult to say when, what and how," Yakovlev told Focus.
He noted that the military sees only the situation on the battlefield, whereas Zelensky owns the political situation in the country and the world. Therefore, he may have some pleasant news from partners who could promise or say something.
The lieutenant of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with the call sign "Alex" is reluctant to comment on the possible end of the war in 2025, because such "statements" have already been made last year.
"Last year, when there was a battle for Avdiivka, we were told that the end of the war would be in 2024. I just don't want to listen to this anymore," Alex told Focus.
According to him, the military on the battlefield says they will fight as long as possible. He said that when there were rumors that they were collecting additional financial assistance, the guys said that they would "get their blood money" and continue to fight.
"The end of the war in 2025 is a common advertisement"
"Alex" noted that the fighting on the battlefield is in full swing, and therefore it is impossible to say about "some kind of end to the war." He clarified that Russia is now actively advancing on many sectors of the front, but it cannot be said that the Defense Forces will abruptly "burst and give a back." It is also impossible to be sure that now the Ukrainian fighters will defeat the Russian army and begin to advance somewhere.
"My colleague said a good quote: "Right now there is such a heat of passion, such a ****** [bombing] on both sides, that it's just at the level of chuika, that really in two months something can change dramatically: either in our direction or in theirs," the lieutenant stressed.
According to Kirill Yakovlev, the situation in the Donetsk region is difficult now, whereas the offensive in the Kursk region, but this is a separate operation, has greatly helped the entire front. In particular, troops were deployed there, starting from Krynok in the Kherson region and ending with Belgorod.
"We cannot say that the situation on the whole front is bad or good. She's dynamic. Somewhere we are, somewhere they are, sometimes you need to move away in order to pick up more later. For example, a very good example was the 22nd year, when we were forced to withdraw to Kiev, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Kherson, unfortunately, to leave other settlements. But then, when Russia ran out of people, roughly speaking, there were problems with logistics, we struck and took back the territories very quickly, returned people to Ukraine, with minimal losses," he explained.
The military believes that apart from the General Staff, hardly anyone can assess the situation at the front.
The author of the Telegram channel Muchnoy Jugend, a fighter with the call sign "Muchnoy" believes that talking about the end of the war in 2025 is a common advertisement.
"We also had to take Crimea that year and break through the Zaporozhye front, the promised counteroffensive, which did not take place. Therefore, all these plans and stupid inventions only look like a sedative for society, because they understand that everyone is tired, that they want to do without victims, wait for their sons from captivity, etc.," Muchnoy told Focus.
He noted that the Ukrainian army lacks personnel and high-quality training. Also, the officers may not even know what the front and assault operations are, the military stressed.
Ukraine's victory in the war: three components that will help
Kirill Yakovlev is convinced that the acceleration of the end of the war is influenced by three components — civil, military and political. In particular, the President is responsible for the political component. According to him, even Zelensky's opponents say that Ukraine is number one in the political arena, this is the first time in history when the whole world is talking about the country. In turn, the civilian component lies in the fact that it is wrong for local officials to rejoice at new billboards, bridges, tennis courts and at the same time demand from the military-political leadership and fighters an early end to the war.
"Civilians need to understand that the more they invest their forces now, the faster victory will come, and the fewer military, civilians, children, and elderly people will die. And now the picture is that some are fighting, others are helping them, and there is a third part of society that is just waiting," he explained.
The soldier noted that he does not say that everyone needs to go to the trenches. Then how can you engage in information influence on Russians on the Internet, help build engineering fortifications, monitor where and when officials spend funds from local budgets. So there are cities that give extra funds to the army, while others spend on political advertising, flowers, billboards.
The third aspect is the military, focused on winning, the Ukrainian army needs reforms. We are talking about improving the combat system, ammunition, training, and improving the moral and psychological state of the fighters. After all, the military should rest, spend some time with their family. According to him, there are reforms, but they are working slowly, and therefore Ukraine is losing people.
"To say, for example, that we are losing territories because the guys in the trenches are doing something wrong... No, the guys in the trenches are doing everything right. And when you need to fight the enemy, then you go to the point of permanent deployment and instead of resting you look for money for ammunition, car repairs, electronic warfare, drones... Believe me, every military man spends the maximum amount of his time and money on the war," Yakovlev said.
The only way to end the war is to eliminate Putin?
Igor Koziy, a military expert at the Institute of Euro-Atlantic Cooperation, believes that the end of the war is possible only after Russian leader Vladimir Putin is removed.
"Sooner or later, in fact, Russia will begin to fall apart. In such conditions, she will not be able to wage war. You will remember how the Mongol-Tatar yoke ended. When one of the khans, waging war on the territory of the European part, suddenly received news that his power in Mongolia could be seized. And he what? I gave up everything and started coming back. I see about the same scenario here," he told Focus.
Koziy noted that such conditions have not been created now under which the Russian Federation will want to abandon the war. Moreover, there are countries that are interested in continuing the war, one of them is China. It is profitable for him to trade with two at once. Also, supplies of all elements and components from EU and US companies through third countries continue to Russia.
He noted that the war cannot continue without resources. While Moscow has human and production resources, components are provided by other countries.
According to him, it is another matter if third countries, in particular, NATO member states, want to get involved in this war, but they do not want to. Also, if Ukraine is accepted into NATO on the condition that the Alliance will not be drawn into the war, and Ukraine will partially, but still get into NATO. The expert does not see any other conditions yet.
How to accelerate Ukraine's victory
Officer Alex is convinced that in order to end the war as soon as possible, it is necessary to continue fighting and have all the necessary means for this.
According to Muchny, the war will continue until the Ukrainian military destroys enemy factories with weapons, arsenals and refineries. Whereas, in his opinion, it is taboo to resolve the issue of ending the war through negotiations.
"Therefore, I believe that the Russian Federation will begin to weaken from within. Now the Russians are already slowly feeling shell starvation at the front, because we are taking out all the weapons that should go to Donbass," he explained.
Muchnoy reported that it is difficult to say when the war will end, because you need to understand how it will happen.
"Either we start turning on the brain and doing everything to win, or we will fight until it's over," the fighter added.
Recall that on October 8, the media reported that Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky was ready to soften his position on negotiations with Russia due to a decrease in Western aid. Bloomberg sources noted that Washington coolly welcomed the "victory plan" proposed by Zelensky.
And on October 9, the media reported that the operation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Kursk region provided Kiev with an important political victory, which showed the irrelevance of Moscow's nuclear threats. This operation may be the key to future negotiations.
