Putin Seeks ‘Achievements’ in War by 9 May but Has Nothing to Brag About, Expert Says

Putin's deadlines are no longer so much military and political as psychological.The dictator needs to demonstrate ‘achievements’ to his guests at the 9 May parade in Moscow. 

But Putin has nothing to brag about. This was stated by Pavlo Lakiychuk, head of military programmes at the Centre for Global Studies ‘Strategy XXI’.

The Gaze reports on this with reference to the broadcast of the FREEDOM TV channel on YouTube.

‘I think that these so-called deadlines of Putin's are not even of a military and political nature, but of a psychological nature. Putin will have guests - [DPRK leader] Kim Jong-un, apparently the Chinese, and possibly Orban (Hungarian Prime Minister - ed.). And he has to brag about something. And Putin has nothing to brag about. Putin can only boast of successes on the frontline. And there are few successes at the front,’ said Pavlo Lakiychuk.

The expert reminded that before the ‘Easter truce’ Putin ordered the Russian military command, and Gerasimov personally to report on the displacement of Ukrainian forces on the Kursk and Belgorod directions. 

‘This means that this ‘thorn in his side’ is not giving him life. He cannot confidently talk about the successes at the front in Ukraine when there are battles on the territory of the Russian Federation. Therefore, the fighting is intensifying on all fronts. By 9 May, Putin would like to boast about something, but he is unlikely to succeed,’ Lakiychuk is sure. 

As for the military component, it hardly correlates with the negotiations that the Americans are conducting with the Russians and, on the other hand, with Europe and Ukraine, the expert believes. 

‘Because the subject of negotiations in this case is broader than positions on the front line. Moscow is demanding political concessions, or rather Ukraine's political surrender. But the outcome is known in advance,’ the guest summed up.

As The Gaze reported earlier, according to Dmytro Gromakov, a Ukrainian sociologist and communications expert at the International Centre for Countering Russian Aggression, Russian President Vladimir Putin's recently declared 30-hour Easter ceasefire was not a genuine peace gesture but rather a political move aimed at gaining favour with Trump and leveraging U.S. diplomatic influence to pressure Ukraine.