National guard officer says General Zaluzhnyi told Economist what ordinary soldiers say on frontlines
Ukraine’s commander-in-chief, General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, in recent comments to UK news magazine The Economist, was simply echoing what ordinary soldiers on the front say, National Guard officer Volodymyr Rashchuk has told Radio Svoboda
Rashchuk, an officer of the Rubizh Operational Purpose Brigade's 3rd Freedom Battalion section S3 in the Ukrainian National Guard, was speaking on Nov. 9.
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"He (Zaluzhnyi) simply said what is constantly said among ordinary soldiers on the front, and said it out loud," Rashchuk said.
Rashchuk said, "we do not have the resources, forces, and means to fight like Russians," so "we need to deceive them."
Read also: Three important messages from Zaluzhnyi in the article and interview in the Economist
The officer underscored the need for crucial assets like drones, electromagnetic warfare capabilities, and a strategic approach to demining and mining akin to practices in Israel and the United States. He pointed out a significant deficiency in these aspects within the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
“(Zaluzhnyi) simply voiced what we truly need. That we need aviation, we need to change tactics and everything else," Rashchuk added
The officer described Zaluzhnyi 's article in the Economist "fantastic."
"First, it is about being aware of your own mistakes,” Rashchuk said.
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“And this means that he made conclusions, that he admitted where he was wrong. This means that he has a solution for how to fix it, and he gives good examples. That we, unfortunately, and he, first of all, as the commander-in-chief, made many mistakes."
Rashchuk added that Zaluzhnyi "did not think that a large Soviet army was fighting with a small Soviet army."
"As in Sun Tzu, the art of deception is needed – you need to come up with some other actions, instead of just a frontal attack, instead of simply charging into battle," Rashchuk said.
Zaluzhnyi outlined his programmatic vision for the further course of the war and the risks for Ukraine in several articles in the Nov. 1 issue of the Economist.
In particular, he stated that the war has turned into a positional one instead of a rapid, maneuverable one. Simultaneously, the general proposed several steps that could help Ukraine avoid an exhausting "trench war" – the most favorable option for Russia.
Zaluzhnyi also noted that, based on preliminary estimates by the command, the Ukrainian army was intended to advance at a speed of 30 kilometers per day after breaking through Russian defensive lines. The estimates showed that within four months, the Ukrainian forces would have been able to enter Crimea.
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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
