The Ukrainian counter-offensive is causing resentment, excitement and doubts in large circles in Russia. Since the invasion of neighboring Ukraine ordered by Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin at the end of February, there has been persistent talk of a “special military operation” in which everything has always gone “according to plan”. And so the Russian Ministry of Defense made every effort last weekend to portray the withdrawal of its own troops from the eastern Ukrainian region of Kharkiv as a strategic “regrouping”. Only: The thing with the appeasement didn’t really work this time.
The first reaction on Russia’s state television was a “hard day”. After the successful Ukrainian counter-offensive, the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, who is actually loyal to Putin, complained about “mistakes” by the leadership in Moscow. Nationalist military bloggers and war correspondents spoke of a “disaster” and “enormous losses” – and expect consequences. In the first session of parliament after the summer break, the question of how to proceed in Ukraine was also an issue in the middle of the week.
“In my opinion, the special operation in Ukraine and Donbass has turned into a war in the past two months,” said Gennady Zyuganov, the party leader of the communists who are considered close to the Kremlin on central issues – and promptly managed it on Wednesday on the front page of the important daily newspaper “Nezavisimaya Gazeta”. “The Americans, united Europe and NATO have declared this war on us.”
Zyuganov’s party colleague Mikhail Matveyev caused a stir when he said that after such a debacle, leading Russian politicians would “actually have to shoot themselves or at least volunteer for the front”. Duma deputy Mikhail Sheremet, himself a member of the Kremlin party United Russia, advocated a general mobilization of the armed forces, without which Moscow’s goals in Ukraine could no longer be achieved.
Alexander Khodakovsky, a commander of the Moscow-led separatists, argued that a measure so unpopular with the population as mobilizing reservists would shake Russia so badly “that it would not be able to withstand it.” The 49-year-old wrote that it is not primarily more fighters that are needed, but better leadership and organization of the operation. He also called for the Russian economy to be more war-oriented. Other observers insisted on the resignation of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.
