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The Russian army is not doing well on the battlefield in Ukraine. Despite the heavy losses, the Russian invaders are trying to achieve any advance on the front.

ThisChannel 24 was told by Advisor to the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Mykhailo Podolyak. Western media and intelligence warned that Russia was preparing a major offensive against Ukraine.

However, according to Podolyak, in fact, the Russian occupation army is already on the attack.

“What we see at the front is the offensive itself. That” big “offensive of Russia is really already going on. Just a word “large” is ironic,” the adviser to the head of the President's Office emphasized.

Russia has a completely different army than a year ago

He noted that now is not February 2022. Russia has a completely different army, completely different from the one that broke into Ukraine a year ago. After all, the invasion force in February 2022 was made up of a professional army that had been trained for years.

And now it's just mobilized. Yes, there are many. But now the Russians don’t have the same equipment as they had at the beginning of the invasion,” Podolyak said.

However, according to the adviser to the head of the Presidential Administration, the Russians still have enough weapons, including 152 and 122 caliber artillery millimeters.

Ekaterina Solyar's interview with Mikhail Podolyak: watch the full video

The purpose of the infidels at the front

As Podolyak noted, the occupiers want to “move” the Ukrainian army a little in one direction or another. In particular, we are talking about:

• Luhansk direction – towards Kharkiv region;
• Donetsk;
• Zaporozhye.

“In all these directions, the Russians will conduct certain military operations,” Podolyak said.

The main problem for Ukraine

The adviser to the head of the President's Office stressed that Ukraine today also has a completely different army than it had a year ago. Ukrainian fighters have much more technologically advanced equipment. However, Russia creates some problems for Ukraine.

Russia has a lot of conscripts, which it spends regardless of whether it wins something or not. The main thing for the enemy is to be able to move 1-2 meters forward. This is the key shortcoming of this stage of the war,” Podolyak emphasized.

He noted that the main thing for Ukraine is to prevent our army from being drawn into contact-type combat clashes with small arms.

“And for this we need to increase the supply of artillery shells in order to move Russian manpower away from our first orders of magnitude. That is, push the enemy back to a distance of 10-20 kilometers with artillery,” the adviser to the head of the Presidential Administration explained.

What the Armed Forces need to stop offensive attempts enemy

Also, as Podolyak noted, it is important for Ukraine to reduce any offensive capabilities of Russia. For this, the Armed Forces of Ukraine require long-range missiles capable of hitting targets at a distance of 150 kilometers or more.

The accumulation of the enemy's main resource for contact battles takes place at a distance of 150 – 200 km. We need to destroy them there and thus significantly reduce the ability of the Russians to move forward. – stressed the adviser to the head of the OP.

He added that this is the key problem that the Ukrainian authorities are now conveying to Western partners. According to Podolyak, the Allies are also aware of the danger. Therefore, Polish President Andrzej Duda said that Ukraine needs to send the necessary assistance urgently, and not in a month.

The conflict between Prigozhin and the Russian Ministry of Defense

< p>Meanwhile, Yevgeny Prigozhin again criticized the Russian Ministry of Defense. The leader of the PKK “Wagner” accused the Russian army of the fact that Bakhmut has not yet been captured. Podolyak is convinced that this is a continuation of Prigozhin's competition with the classic Russian generals.

According to the adviser to the head of the Presidential Office, this conflict has been going on for a long time. Events could develop according to 2 scenarios:

• either Prigogine had to win and totally dominate Vladimir Putin’s entourage,
• or the classic generals, including Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov, head Ministry of Defense Sergei Shoigu and others would have “eaten” the owner of the Wagner PPK.

In Russia, prisoners for the war will be recruited because of the Ministry of Defense

According to Podolyak, now the situation is not in favor of Prigozhin. All this affects the recruitment of Russian prisoners in PIK “Wagner”.

Prisoners from Russian prisons will continue to be recruited, but this will already be done because of the Ministry of Defense. This is the same technology as Prigozhin's, only less money and fewer guarantees (for prisoners – Channel 24). And there will be much fewer prisoners, because they understand what it is like to play with the state,” said the adviser to the head of the OP.

He added that Russian prisoners went to the Wagner PPK because they hoped they could get a second chance in life, and then “disappear” somewhere in Russia. Because of the Russian Ministry of Defense, this will not work. Podolyak suggested that because of this recruiting in the Russian colonies there will be much less. concerned about Russia's plans to destabilize the situation in Moldova. Alexei Danilov said that these fears are not unfounded.

The Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council noted that the enemy may start some activity in the Belarusian or Moldovan direction. Thus, the invaders seek to divert the attention of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to one direction or another.

Ukrainian intelligence has previously warned that Russia is planning a new offensive against Ukraine. The Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense says that the occupiers can make a big bet on the airborne troops.