‘Those who think Russia is exhausted are too optimistic’: Lithuania’s former chief of defence

The Russian military in Ukraine suffered a severe blow last week in Crimea, sparking enthusiasm that the tide in the war might be turning. Lithuania’s former chief of defence, Lieutenant General Valdas Tutkus, says such optimism might be premature.

Although the Ukrainian forces have had big successes in the region of Kherson – where they have blown up bridges, putting the Russian forces in a precarious situation – Kyiv does not have the capacity to launch a large-scale counter-offensive, Tutkus says in an interview to LRT TV.

Moreover, the war may be entering a protracted phase where neither side could achieve a decisive victory on the ground. A solution, Tutkus believes, may therefore require an intervention from a third party that could push through a ceasefire and make the two sides stick to it.

He added, that there are a few things to bear in mind. The first thing is that Russia has its own specificities and its own psychology of warfare and its own next steps. They do not care about losses. The worst thing is that they do not care about the human cost. And they do not care about the loss of weapons.

And Russia still has enough capability. Let’s not forget he added that they haven’t even started mobilisation. In the same way, they have enough armaments in their warehouses, albeit somewhat outdated ones. So he said that in his opinion he does not think that the losses incurred so far will make a fundamental difference to the Russian offensive.

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