Popular nature of war on Ukrainian side, Russia's military contraction may be arguments in favor of ending it - Podoliak
Reasons for the Russian leadership to stop the war may be the realization of its national character on the Ukrainian side, as well as a sharp decrease in Russia's potential, adviser to the head of the President's Office Mykhailo Podoliak expressed this point of view in an interview with the Interfax-Ukraine agency.
"Obviously, there can be two approaches to finding arguments to end the war. The first is the situation directly in Ukraine, where the Russian invasion plan has already failed. Especially in its blitzkrieg performance. Russia was literally drawn into the people's war, which became the essence of Ukraine. Without a doubt, Russian occupiers are actually opposed by the whole people, and not just the political leadership of our country or the military. In a war against the people, the aggressor cannot win. This should be realized by the Russian side," he said.
The second approach to the arguments, according to Podoliak, is the situation in Russia itself.
"Every day of Russia's war against the people of Ukraine and the corresponding reaction of the world catastrophically reduces the potential of the Russian state, the Russian society, and the Russian economy. During the seven days of the war, Russia's potential has radically degraded in comparison with the potential of geopolitically comparable states and alliances (the United States, NATO, the EU, China). The longer Russia wages this war, the less Russia will have the opportunity to speak with anyone on an equal footing in the world," he said.
At the same time, he noted that "he absolutely would not like to comment on the nature of the decision-making by Mr. Putin."
"I can only say that the quality of general analytics of the Russian political elite as a whole, in my opinion, could be significantly higher. And this would clearly allow to initially take a different look at the risks from a full-scale invasion," he said.