The strategy was already seen after the occupation of the Moldavian region of transnistria in the 90s of the XX century and the occupation of the Georgian territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in the 2008 war.
After occupying vast territories of neighboring sovereign countries, they freeze the conflict in a state of “war-no war», start a process of Russification of the local population and let the war cool down for decades until the annexation becomes a fact.
That road map is the one that Russia could try to follow in the face of the impossibility of defeating Ukraine militarily.
Or, at least, so the Vostok battalion commander suggests, Alexander Khodakovsky. This pro-Russian warlord from Donbass, whose militias have become a key player in Putin’s plans for Ukraine, believes that the Kremlin will not be able to defeat Kiev.
“Can we militarily overthrow Ukraine? At this time, and in the near future, no, “he said on a Telegram channel.
Jodakovsky thus assumes the narrative shown by other Russian warlords, now ousted, such as the leader of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhinor the former head of the pro-Russian forces in Donbass, who has become an ultra-nationalist critical of the Kremlin, Igor Girkinwho denounced on numerous occasions that Russia had failed in its “special military operation”.
They both lost their pulse against the Ministry of Defence Russian. Prigozhin was forced into exile, and Girkin was arrested.
With both gone, it seems that the new great warlord has become Jodakovsky.
For Jodakovsky, it is practically impossible to manage to conquer new Ukrainian cities. Therefore, he proposes to enter a “neither peace nor war” phase take advantage of a situation that is also unfavorable for an exhausted Ukraine and freeze the fronts.
The war would enter a new phase for Russia where the priority would be that the occupied territories “be recognized and that their sovereignty be officially assumed.”
According to Khodakovsky, Russia’s only option to unblock the situation in Ukraine is reach a truce with kyiv.
In this context, he assured that Moscow could exert a greater influence in Ukraine than with the current war.
The thesis of the truce is raised with less and less fear in Russia. freeze the conflict it would allow Russia to regain some political stability and offset the effects of international economic sanctions.
The words of Jodakovsky, whose militias operate mainly in the Donetsk and Zaporizhia regionsprecisely where the Ukrainian counteroffensive shows greatest intensity, occurs when the southern front is registering major setbacks for Russian troops.
Ukrainian forces have made significant progress in the areas of Robotyne (Zaporizhia) and Urozhaine (Donetsk) which has made it possible to cross several defensive lines and enter areas with less fortifications, which foresees faster advances in the coming weeks.
Who is Alexander Khodakovsky?
After the departure from the game of Prigozhin and Girkin, Alexander Khodakovsky It has become the main voice critical of the Kremlin’s strategy in Ukraine and the most uncomfortable single verse for the Kremlin right now in its forces.
Pro-Russian ultranationalist fanatic, cruel and skillful strategist, Alexander Khodakovsky He is a Ukrainian from Donbass, who, after serving in the Ukrainian secret services –specifically, in its special unit Alpha–, went over to the pro-Russian side after the Russian occupation of Donbass in the 2015 war.
Jodakovsky came to act as security minister of the fictitious Donetsk People’s Republicnow annexed by Russia.
The commander of the vostok battalionof neo-Nazi ideology, came to defend the use of nuclear weapons as the only way for Russia to win the war.
Like Prigozhin and Girkin before being purged, Khodakovsky has complained on numerous occasions about the disastrous logistics of the Russian forces.
He denounced the incompetence of the Russian command, the lack of ammunition and quality weapons to combat ukrainian forces less numerous, but better trained, better armed and more motivated than the Russians.
