Putin will ‘lose his life’ if he loses Crimea | Operator Starsky

Putin will ‘lose his life’ if he loses Crimea | Operator Starsky

with uh losing Crimea Putin will most probably lose his life as well um that’s why uh these strikes on strategic objects will continue and of course uh we expect that with the Ukrainian Army uh gaining access to aor Sea at least uh the the future of so-called Russian Crimea will be under big big question so hello and welcome to Frontline for times radio I’m James Hansen and today I’m delighted to be joined once again by operator stari Ukrainian veteran YouTuber and co-founder of the propaganda study Institute operator star skill is a pleasure Welcome Back to Front Line good morning it’s always a pleasure first of all I just wonder if you can give us your your current assessment of of what you think we are seeing at the moment in this conflict and and what what you make of of the current state of the War uh so we all heard that uh the aid that was promised uh from our allies uh will be delivered to Ukraine within uh quote hours right uh but of course we understand that it this is not so and it will take some time and Russians will try to use this window uh between the uh delivery of this a to Ukraine uh in order to uh attempt to gain as much territory as possible and this is what we see right now uh currently I can tell you that uh their attempt to uh gain tactical Advantage uh in the area of chivar particularly um is not successful uh we have plenty reports from the ground from our guys who say that even though uh the situation is very very hard Russians are attacking them every single day and and night uh and dropping gliding bombs uh which are nasty uh but they managed to deflect the attacks and CH luckily is uh currently under our control um so this is the current situation we do really expect this help the the aid to arrive to our guys as soon as possible because there are plenty of targets again which was reported by our guys for example in bont uh there are plenty of targets that are currently Out Of Reach for our artillery but luckily with new Weaponry that will be delivered we will be able to reach those targets and it’s interesting what you say there about anticipating potentially a fresh Russian ground defensive in the next few weeks which would make sense for Russia if they were planning on doing that to do it before the full impact of this new US military is is felt yeah well we already see this U uh attack happening uh I I would not call it fresh attack I would call it probably desperate attack because um they don’t have enough troops to conduct a fresh attack but they’re throwing everything they have uh at our positions trying to get Advantage just on the the US military aid what was your reaction when it was pass did you feel a mix of emotions on the one hand relief that it had finally passed through Congress but on the other hand frustration that it had taken so long uh of course I felt frustration that it took so long because personally I lost a lot of friends uh in the past half year uh but uh it was a big morale boost for our guys at the ground now they’re they’re saying that they will finally be able to work properly in proper conditions and with proper tools and just give us a sense if you can Opera just askas you the reality that troops on the front line in Ukraine have faced what your friends and colleagues have been telling you over the past six months you know whilst the supplies have been drying up whilst we’ve been waiting for this new Aid package to be approved uh well it was really really hard guys it um you have to understand we don’t have enough artillery to fight against Russian uh person Personnel on the first place um which is a big problem because uh Russian Artillery is probably their their main weapon on the battlefield because uh we know their tactic of so-called uh wall of fire um and uh we could not do anything to uh combat that to to respond to that we have one harer against 10 Russian harvers and of course with limited Supply uh we cannot uh conduct our uh defensive activities as as much as we had to right uh so that that’s a big problem and of course Russians have um their Aviation operating in the area um they’re gliding bombs again it’s a very serious weapon and places like chivar uh places like Le kator those areas they are being hit very very often because uh with lack of proper anti-air defense uh with lack of um you know interceptors uh jet fighters that uh could intercept Russian Aviation uh they can launch uh they can basically drop those gliding bombs at a range of approximately 70 75 kilometers away from uh the target uh which makes them I would say invulnerable um and it’s another problem and uh in this new Aid package hopefully we will receive uh proper anti-air defense we’re talking about uh Patriot systems nasams we’re talking about missiles for those systems uh and of course air-to-air missiles for our jet fighters and also I’m guessing just fresh ammunition rounds is incredibly important an on the front line yeah yeah absolutely I want to ask you about some of the tactics we’re seeing from Russia on the ground it was interesting on on yesterday’s episode of front line I was speaking to heish to Breton Gordon former UK Army commander and he said that he was getting reports that Russia increasingly are using CS gas on the front line to clear out Ukrainian trenches now I mean obviously it’s worth saying that would be a breach of of international law but not the first clearly from Russia in this entire conflict is that also what you were hearing uh yeah there were such cases but I got to tell you that Russians were using irritating um substances like CS gas that their analog uh for quite a while we had such uh reports since 2015 when Russians were trying to uh take control over the dones airport we know that the defense of this airport uh lasted for 2 42 days um and they were already back then in 2015 when this war was not full scale but it was uh a beginning of this war the hybrid phase of this War uh they were already using uh CS gas on Defenders of the Donas airport there’s plenty um Testaments of witnesses uh regarding this obviously one of the the most high-profile pieces of Weaponry believes to be included in this new USA package is the attacks these longer range attacks how do you think they will be used operationally do you think they’ll be focused for example on trying to destroy the Kirch Bridge do you think they’ll be used on Russian infrastructure well behind the line how do you anticipate them actually being used by Ukraine it’s really hard to use a attam missiles uh against targets like kch Bridge uh and the reason for that is because uh humankind builds bridges for thousands of years and we know how to build them uh properly okay I saw uh several bridges that were hit by uh much bigger missiles like Toka for example and they didn’t collapse that’s why um I’m sure that attacks will not be used against that bridge um we we also saw um eight aams missiles that were the result results of their of their strikes on for example antonovsky Bridge um so you probably understand that it’s not the kind of missiles that can be used to uh demolish Bridges like G bridge for example um so in order to destroy such Bridge you need um different equipment uh probably something like Tomah Hulk missiles uh and and not only one misso uh but I think that uh T missiles will undoubtedly be used uh to disrupt Russian Logistics hit their um command centers uh anti-air uh systems and uh other strategically important objects and that is an area where even though things have been incredibly stretched for Ukraine on the front line given the lack of supplies in recent months Ukraine has still had remarkable success at using longrange missiles to Target some of those Russian energy uh infrastructure pieces uh yeah and not only missiles also drones um uh another thing that we have to mention here is that uh of course Ukraine uses plenty of different types of drones uh on a tactical level on operative level but um Russians also use uh electronic warfare machines to suppress those drones and this is why artillery uh like primitive common artillery is so much useful uh at the front lines to uh strike Russian personnel and uh Russian vehicles and uh ammo storages and command posts how long do you think it will be until the full impact of this fresh US military aid is actually felt in Ukraine I think it uh depends on the uh time of delivery of this a to our positions on the first place uh because there’s uh already plan developed for uh our further steps right uh we only need tools to to make it happen so I think uh the first question is delivery and this is uh where we have to expect uh actions from Russian Invaders ERS who will obviously try to disrupt our logistic um Logistics and our attempts to supply this Aid to our guys on the front line and I think what we’re all hoping is that the West do not become complacent now that this military aid package has been approved by US Congress hopefully it’ll make a big difference but alone it is not enough and there needs to be more and I’m wondering in particular whether you think for example Germany granting access to the tourist missiles could be the kind of thing that that could actually make a further difference in Ukraine um I think Germany could have done it uh already right if they had political will and uh if um I’m talking about Mr Schultz of course uh if he had political will he would do that already uh but we don’t see that unfortunately and uh something tells me that it it will never happen we won’t seus missiles in Ukraine um we will see uh I believe other uh kinds of support and uh military aid uh there are already uh factories being built factories for producing artillery shells because likely our allies realized that this is very important uh nowadays for Ukrainian Defenders uh but unfortunately this takes a lot of time but on the other hand uh because our allies uh comparing to Russia even that produces plenty of shells on daily basis but uh they are very strong and um they have very powerful economy again comparing to Russia and they will be able to do that just on the tourist missiles one of the arguments that Olaf Schultz makes against providing them is he says it would be an escalation not only because of how they might be used by Ukraine against Russia but also because he believes it would require German soldiers to be on the ground in Ukraine helping to program the missiles now I know some analysts have disputed that and said that actually you wouldn’t need German soldiers on the ground do you think that Ukraine has has the the expertise already within its forces to program the missiles themselves well since we’re building our own missiles like Neptune for example those missiles that destroyed Russian Flagship mosa in the Black Sea of course we have capability to program foreign missiles as well the problem is uh lack of political willpower right uh if you really want to do something you’re looking for opportunity if you don’t want to do something you’re looking for reason to justify you’re not doing it and this is exactly what we uh can see because uh we already heard a lot of different reasons from ukrainians not being able to program those missiles to I don’t know you know Technologies getting in the hands of Russians and things like that um we must uh I think we we must understand that uh probably there is no uh will to pass those missiles to to Ukraine for whatever reason but I think it will not happen and when you hear allies of Ukraine in the west make the argument about not wanting to provoke Russia and escalate things further what do you make of that when you hear that argument because of course it’s very easy for someone who is not living in a country that’s currently being illegally occupied to make that argument and yet is a legitimate point that no one wants to see Vladimir Putin use tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine for example so when you hear people talk about the risk of escalation and not wanting to provoke Russia further what do you make of that uh there are uh two opinions one opinion is uh like escalation is general and it’s one of the Russian narratives that are being spread on the west it’s like uh Russians and ukrainians killing each other you know we should stop escalation because they are killing each other ukrainians are defending because it’s a proper thing to defend your home uh you don’t want to die because somebody just wants to kill you he doesn’t have that right nobody has we all have right to leave and we we have right to protect ourselves this is what we why we are fighting um and uh another opinion is of course um related to use of nuclear weapons because uh people are afraid that if there is a chance that uh Russian army uh will be engaged in direct combat against NATO troops this will inevitably lead to a nuclear war um on the other hand you know uh considering the uh intensity of uh talks about using nuclear weapons on a Rian television uh and all the attempts to scare the West I think they they understand the price of this and they will never do that of course that’s really interesting um in terms of what we may see from Russia over the coming weeks there has been speculation that they may launch a full-on assault on H do you think that is feasible and and how would you rate the defense of H at the moment uh at this point we don’t see any Russian assault groups or armies being concentrated on the direction of har or lean they have troops that they can use on operational level but not on on the level of uh taking cities talking about strategic levels there are no such groups and uh if if we will see them we will be talking about it but currently it’s it’s not the case uh the problem is Russians uh doing what they do best which is demolishing cities uh it’s it’s there fa T tactics that we could see in gry in chna in Georgia in Syria in aleo uh and this is exactly what they do here in Ukraine in Mar uple and currently we’re talking about har unfortunately so they’re trying to uh demolish this city completely um and I think they will uh concentrate their attempts on on destroying uh hariv in the nearest Future they they will raise the intensity of the strikes I mean um this is what we will see in the nearest Future just to go back to our conversation earlier about Crimea um Russian sources have claimed that Ukraine conducted a short range attack in strike against targeting crier on on Monday night do you see crime as the underbelly of Russia’s war effort that if you can undermine crime a if you can destroy or damage further the curch bridge if you can continue to strike Targets in Crimea that is where Putin is at his weakest absolutely currently there’s two soft underbells of the Russian Empire one is Brians K algar those regions uh because whenever they launch missiles at uh Ukrainian citizens from the territory of belg for example they receive a response and people who uh live in belgrad they realize that um it’s a game that two parties can play right and uh it’s as dangerous to shoot ukrainians uh for themselves as well and this is why they react and uh basically we really hope that they will be wise enough to uh call their authorities to stop this Insanity uh but unfortunately with Russia is not the case and of course the second uh soft underbelly is uh Crimea because we know that with losing Crimea Putin will most probably lose his life as well um that’s why uh these strikes on strategic objects will continue and of course uh we expect that with the Ukrainian Army uh gaining access to assor Sea at least uh the the future of so-called Russian Crimea will be under big big question so uh yes and on the um tactics that that we’ve seen from Ukraine of late have you noticed any significant shift in tactics since General seski replaced General zi or have they been following broadly speaking the same tactical objectives uh well currently we are talking about defensive actions about active defense uh and it it didn’t change much um so because of the ammunition starvation let’s call it this way uh we don’t have much choice but to uh defend our positions and if we cannot do that we should slowly move back inflicting as much casualties to the Russian personnel as possible uh this is exactly what we saw in places like AB Diva for example um and this is what we see in several other spans of the front line um not much uh time pass I think uh to to to talk about the differences in tactics but at the same time the commanders of the brigades on the level of brigades uh they’re the same they didn’t change they know their uh location they know their their ground uh and uh I I don’t think that we will see uh any dramatic changes uh in the current you mentioned AA there obviously we have seen further incremental gains by by the Russians in and around AAR over recent weeks How concerned are you about that um there were several uh concerning cases recently but um with the uh Aid coming to the Ukrainian Defenders I’m sure that we will be able to deal with them how would you say moral is among Ukrainian troops at the moment uh well again because of the this American Aid uh was approved the morale is boosting the morale is rising which is good uh I talked to different guys they always they they all say that uh we we we cannot wait uh until we receive our uh hiters or shells um so uh the other problem is of course exhaustion of the trop groups because uh I keep saying this the guys keep fighting for more than two years already and they feel exhausted uh but this is uh the price we have to pay for our freedom I think I just finally operator Stasi I asked this question of of heish to Breton Gordon yesterday and I’ll ask it of you as well because I think it’s insightful what would constitute a successful May we’re speaking now at the start of May what would constitute a successful month of May for Ukraine end of the war we all expect expect and uh this war to end tomorrow like literally but realistically speaking of course we understand that it’s impossible and it will end in several more years which is more realistic uh we know that Russia is uh capable of fighting for the next two or four years uh according to different sources like Institute for studying Warfare for example um successful May for us is uh I think uh probably increasing defense on our positions uh building new lines of defenses because this is this is something very important and cannot be ignored uh and then uh concentrating new resources for a new counter offense well Prest Tas you we always appreciate your time thank you so much for joining us today on Frontline thank you so much you’ve been watching Frontline for times radio my thanks to Lou Sykes our producer to support the work off front line hit the Subscribe button you can also listen to times radio throughout the day or read it at times.co.uk thanks for watching bye-bye

‘If Putin loses Crimea, he will lose his life.”

Operator Starsky discusses the US aid package for Ukraine and the situation on the ground and plans.

📻 Listen to Times Radio – https://www.thetimes.co.uk/radio

📍 Subscribe to our channel – http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTjDhFuGXlhx9Us0gq0VK2w?sub_confirmation=1

🗞 Subscribe to The Times https://www.thetimes.co.uk/subscribe/radio-3for3/

📲 Get the free Times Radio app https://www.thetimes.co.uk/radio/how-to-listen-to-times-radio/app