OUR INTERVIEW. General Polko: Ukrainians will not surrender. They have shattered the myth of the invincible Russian army

wPolityce.pl: Cities in Ukraine are being razed to the ground. Russia is sending more and more soldiers and equipment to Ukraine. It is evident that its aim is destruction; yet these plans of the Kremlin are so far unsuccessful. How do you assess the situation? What can we expect?

General Roman Polko: As we can see, Putin, the Russian command and the Kremlin do not care not only about the lives of Ukrainians, who are not guilty of anything, but also about the lives of their own soldiers who are dying in this senseless war, and he is pressing on with all his might. He sends out more troops and is not at all concerned about the fact that someone has died. He is simply carrying out his insane plan at all costs; the plan which actually has no real chance of succeeding. In fact, Russia has already lost this war. This is also an expression of frustration, because many of Putin’s previous friends have turned their backs, and in the face of the murders that have already been committed, I don’t think anyone in the world would want to do business or speak to a genocidal figure.

What was Putin trying to achieve by murdering civilians?

Putin first and foremost intended a rapid takeover of Ukraine. I do not know whether these two years in isolation, in a bunker, and this way of governing, namely listening only to one’s own voice and not even talking properly to one’s direct subordinates, have caused him to conceive of some absurd thesis, which he proclaims before the world about some Ukrainian fascists or Nazis who have come to power by means of a military coup. Now, in one picture, we can see that Ukrainian society is giving its own blood to protect its motherland, and those Russian soldiers who come to Ukraine can observe this too. It is a pity that they have not yet voiced any strong opinions, but their families will certainly do so when the corpses are returned to Russia. These will be voices speaking out against this policy, because there is such a thing as human instinct. However, apart from that, I think that those commanders who have families and can clearly see what is happening should say ‘enough’, because they are accountable not only to Putin, but also to their subordinates, whom they are now leading to the slaughter.

Why has Putin not changed his strategy so far, even though it has failed to bring him victory?

I think that Putin was already a loser on the third day of the war, because the objective was not achieved, and at the moment, since he has no further alternative, he is expressing his frustration and threatening the world with nuclear weapons, as if he wanted to force the Western powers or the West to tell Ukraine to surrender, because Putin is angry, which is a frightening thing in general. He has become so detached from reality that he does not understand the opposition. All his pipe dreams and tricks have so far succeeded. The annexation of Crimea went off without a hitch, as did the destabilisation of Donbass and the attack on Georgia. And he probably still fails to understand what is happening and why. Up to now, everyone has given in to him and moved out of the way, because you cannot upset the Russian bear, and suddenly such a small country as Ukraine has stood up to him.

What, in your opinion, should be expected in the near future in terms of the further development of the war in Ukraine?

We can still see additional forces arriving. Ukraine has already truly proved to the world that it is now courageously defending its own territory. Everyone is checking in the morning whether Kiev is or is not under siege, but we must be aware that with such fierce resistance, such a will to fight and with such losses, which unfortunately Ukraine has already suffered, there will be no victory. There is no chance of that. Even if Russia did manage to take the administrative centres and cities that it has not yet conquered, namely Kiev, there will be strong resistance, and the Ukrainians will certainly not give up. What remains are informal actions, partisan warfare. Let us hope that this stage will not come to pass, because it appears that the Ukrainians have already shattered one of the greatest myths in Russia about its invincible army, which can do whatever it wants in a short blow. And here it turns out that this smaller nation, which is practically insignificant in the eyes of the Russians and, frankly, even in the eyes of some of the world’s countries, or the Ukrainian army, is able to put up such fierce resistance, and the territorial defence forces, which were also ridiculed in Poland at the time when this formation was created, with weapons such as Stingers or Javelins, with their morale, will to fight, determination and intelligence, are able to stand up to a far more numerous professional army.

Tłum. K.J.