“First of all, we should not take at face value the information disseminated about a so-called moral and psychological degradation of the Ukrainian armed forces. To put it bluntly, this is all false,” says Mikhail Khodaryonok.
He admits that this may be the case for certain units or prisoners of war: “But we should always look at the big picture”, specifies the former soldier.
A journalist present on the set then tries to bounce back on this statement: “There are individual cases which give an idea of what is happening in Ukraine. If several units have already explained that they lack funding and weapons , it’s significant. You can’t leave that factor out,” she retorts.
“Of course, but from a global strategic point of view, Ukraine is capable of arming a million people,” adds his interlocutor. “The question remains to what extent they can provide weapons and modern equipment to their troops,” he continues.
According to Mikhail Khodaryonok, European aid will be crucial in the outcome of this conflict and it is necessary to take this threat seriously in “the very near future”.
Moreover, the retired Russian colonel maintains that what determines the level of professionalism of an army is not so much the number of men it has within it but rather the training of personnel, their morale and their desire to shedding blood for the fatherland: “And in Ukraine, they intend to fight to the last man,” he assures.
Finally, Mikhail Khodaryonok maintains that Russia is entering dangerous international territory: “Sooner or later, historical reality will hit you so hard that you will regret it”, he claims. “After all, our main flaw is that we find ourselves in total geopolitical isolation and, however much we hate to admit it, the whole world is against us. And that is what we have to get out of,” concludes- he.