Here are four key points from his interview.
Putin’s “partial mobilization” doesn’t make sense
“Putin’s announcement of partial mobilization lacks clarity and will not have much impact. President Putin justifies it by saying that NATO and the West are attacking Russia and trying to dismember the Russian Federation. If so, why is he ordering only a partial mobilization and not a general mobilization? That doesn’t make sense,” Hodges told BILD.
Russia may fall apart because Russian leadership experiencing crisis of reliance – US General
With Russia’s diminishing artillery support, newly mobilized Russians would be cannon fodder
Asked if the mobilized Russian troops could still turn the tide of military action in Ukraine, Lt-Gen Hodges answered:
“Without massive artillery support, these new soldiers will be mere cannon fodder, sitting in cold, wet trenches this winter as Ukrainian forces continue to advance. Unfortunately for these soldiers, Russian artillery is becoming less and less effective with Ukrainian attacks on the logistic system that brings ammunition to the guns.”
The Washington-based Institute for the Study of War also suggested that Russia’s ongoing mobilization won’t have an impact on the course of the war. In June, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov noted that the ongoing Russian invasion was an artillery-driven war of attrition.
Ukraine needs the capability to attack Russian airfields – former commander US Army Europe
Hodges doesn’t rule out that Russia may use nuclear weapons
Answering a question about the possibility of the use of nuclear weapons in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, Ben Hodges said that he doesn’t want to rule that out, but “nuclear weapons are most useful when you’re not using them.” The retired US general believes that Putin knows well that “the US would then have to get fully involved in this war. The Pentagon has already provided President Joe Biden with a list of options for such a case.”
In his interview with CBS News, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy commented on Putin’s nuclear blackmail saying, “I don’t think he’s bluffing. I think the world is deterring this threat.”
Putin resembles late Hitler now
Asked whether he sees Putin’s downfall on the horizon, Ben Hodges commented:
“Putin’s current conduct actually reminds me of Hitler, who was training young and old men for the Wehrmacht in the last days of the Third Reich. The irony of fate: Putin is doing what the Nazis did,” he told BILD referring to official Russia’s claims that its full-scale invasion fo Ukraine is meant to “denazify” Ukraine.
Read also:
- Russian man sets himself on fire to protest mobilization – VIDEO
- Russia closes oblast border amid mobilization – Ukraine’s General Staff
- Anti-mobilization protests break out in Russia’s Dagestan
- Russia likely to reinforce its national guard using mobilization – British intel
- Some Russia’s regions see total mobilization: all men mobilized in Siberian village
- Mongolia welcomes Russia’s Mongols fleeing mobilization – World Mongol Federation President
- Now Crimean Tatars disproportionately targeted in Russia’s mobilization drive – official
- Russia could draft up to 1 mn reservists under classified clause of Putin’s mobilization decree – media
- Putin’s “partial mobilization” unlikely to resolve Russia’s problems in faltering invasion in coming months – ISW
- Putin announced mobilization in Russia
