Weeks into Ukraine's counteroffensive, political turmoil in Russia has raised new questions in the war and what it means for Vladimir Putin's invasion.
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Members of the Wagner Group military company sit atop of a tank on a street in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, June 24, 2023, prior to leaving an area at the headquarters of the Southern Military District.The 24-hour mutiny marked the most significant challenge to Russian President Putin's authority in his more than 20 years of rule. In response, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia appeared to be suffering "full-scale weakness.
Whether Ukraine has the equipment and manpower to make a major breakthrough against those fortified defenses will be pivotal in the direction of the war -- and its possible end, Ganyard said. The static battlefield during the winter has given Ukraine time to train soldiers with new equipment from the U.S. and NATO -- "theoretically it's a better military than it was, say, 12 or 14 months ago" -- though in some ways, Russia has an advantage being on the defensive and protected behind the multiple layers of trenches, Ganyard said.
A Ukrainian serviceman sits atop a tank, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine, June 12, 2023.with the BBC last week that progress has been "slower than desired."Gen.
Prigozhin had clashed for months with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Gen. Valery Gerasimov, chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, over the conduct of the ongoing war in Ukraine. Prior to the rebellion, Prigozhin, once a close ally of Putin, accused the Russian military of deliberately shelling his fighters in Ukraine.
"The most important thing that comes out of all of this with a disillusion or whatever happens to the Wagner troops, is that they get taken off the battlefield. It's the only thing that's good for the Ukrainian fight," Ganyard said. "The Wagner troops were among the most effective and among the most capable on the battlefield."
"Russia has accumulated a lot of internal problems, but they are not ready to accept defeat because it would put an end to two decades of its domination in global processes," he added. "It would mean the end of Russia's ambitions, because I always said that the end of war must not mean just a victory for Ukraine. It should bring about reformatting Russia itself."
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