Original subtitles

Former deputy commander of NATO forces in Europe, General Michel Yakovleff,

gave his views on the Russian and Ukrainian armies and how the war should end.

I want to share the theses from this interview and also add about new problems in the Russian army.

Operational art, choosing where to attack, logistics, fire coordination, air support,

equipment quality, troop and service interaction, reconnaissance - these are all things in which

the Russians have performed so woefully that it has simply stunned the world.

Suddenly it was discovered that this team,

which everyone thought was playing in the Champions League, was in the third league.

At best, it would go to the second league. But it's not going to make it to the big leagues.

Even another army that Putin recruited after the mobilization will not change the balance of power.

It will take another wave of conscription to do that. But for these recruits there

is already no equipment, no command staff, no equipment. Even a third army won't help here.

In order to get a lasting peace, it is necessary for Russia - namely Russia, not

President Putin - for all Russians to understand that they have gained nothing from the war.

And this presupposes that Ukraine will return to all of its old borders, which are Crimea and all

of Donbass. Ukraine must get its old borders back to the last kilometer. And on that day,

we will show the Russians that 2014 and 2022 were not just rivers of blood, the impoverishment of

the country, and so on, but beyond that, it gave them nothing. You didn't get one

square kilometer. That's what needs to be shown. That's it, the condition for a lasting peace.

But the victory of Ukraine in the war, I think, will happen before the Ukrainians win it all back.

The hostilities, I believe, will be over before they reach their internationally

recognized borders. I don't think they'll have to go before them. I think the war will

end before that, because the collapse of Russia will happen before that.

I'm not quite sure that will happen exactly as the general says.

At least as far as the Russian citizens are concerned. I think he has not yet fully realized

that the majority of Russian citizens are willing to continue to exterminate Ukrainians with the

hands of others, they are out for blood. And some by the hands of their children,

numerous interviews with mothers of dead Russian soldiers speaks of this.

They thank their president and say that they are mothers, they will give birth to new sons, but

their homeland is in danger. Russian propaganda works no worse than it did during World War II.

But the same Russian propaganda, as usual,

continues in its patriotic reports to reveal the problems of the Russian troops.

For example, one story showed a bravura and pathos-laden video about the combat

use of the "unparalleled in the world" T-90M "Proryv". But there is a nuance in this video...

The fact is that Russian journalists showed that "unparalleled in the world",

the most expensive and most modern tank in the Russian troops is used as conventional artillery.

Note on the video how the barrel of the tank is positioned,

which indicates not direct fire, but mounted fire.

This report only confirmed the fact that Russia has big problems with

artillery and its ammunition supply. Moreover, the very use of the T-90M

for such a purpose indicates the limited capabilities of other tank modifications,

such as the T-72 or even the T-62, because of their scarcity in the units.

In general, they wanted to make a quick propaganda piece to make the blood boil and the libido jump

with pride for the great and indestructible Russian weapons, but it turned out as always.

By the way, in Ukraine it is documented that the invaders lost 56 tanks T-90,

according to other data their losses are more than 80, 17 of which were given to AFU as trophies.

We would also like to draw attention to the way in which the AFU has been regularly targeting Russian

short- and medium-range air defense echelons in recent days. In March a real hunt for Russian air

defenses in the combat zone unfolded, and the number of destroyed equipment jumped sharply

since February 23. This is a kind of safari for Russian SAMs. I wonder what this is about ?