to answer who is winning is hard, as both sides are losing.
There is a super interesting interview with a former Zelensy's advisor - Oleksii Arestovych, who is not advisor since he started pointing Ukrainian flaws (what good advisors should do if you ask me), it was published today for one of the largest Polish papers (equivalent to Times in England):
author:
Ruslan Shoshin
You are the first person on the Dnieper to reveal his presidential ambitions during the war. Isn't it premature to talk about elections in Ukraine?
Elections are not my goal. I treat it as an opportunity to reflect and think about the situation we find ourselves in. To put it mildly, we are stagnating. To get out of this, we must look for ways to provide society with reliable information. We don't have much room for maneuver under martial law and when all power in the country has been monopolized.
What do you want to convince Ukrainians to do?
War has several stages. The first one lasted from February 24 to April 2, 2022. We won this stage, crushing Russia's plans. We won the battle of Kiev and managed to unite the nation. The second stage of the war lasted until November 1, 2023, until the publication of an article by the commander of the Ukrainian army, General Valery Załuzhny, in "The Economist" (he wrote, among others, about "positional" war and static, exhausting fighting - ed.). During this stage of the war we drew with the Russians. We couldn't win, even though we had ambitious plans. Why? Because our country is corrupt and disorganized. When the Russians lost the first stage of the war, they rushed to invest and develop their arms industry, learned to bypass sanctions and dragged China, North Korea and Iran into the conflict. We, in turn, have done nothing but force help from the West. We have not made any fundamental decisions to change the economic situation or develop the arms industry. We naively assumed that we would defeat a country that invests several dozen times more in its arms. Western aid is not sufficient, the competences of our rulers are running out, the counter-offensive has failed.
Are you suggesting that the third, decisive stage of the war has begun on the Dnieper?
Yes, but we are not prepared for it. Supplies from the West are decreasing because no one knows what direction Ukraine is heading. In theory, we are the country of the greatest freedom, but in reality, human rights are violated in Ukraine, and even a native version of Putinism appears. Americans are reducing our aid and are debating about it not because they don't have money, but because they don't have an answer to the question "why?" Because we ourselves don't know "why". There is less and less freedom in Ukraine and I felt it myself. The actions and threats from the authorities forced me to leave the country. So what are we fighting for? A small dictatorship will never win against a large dictatorship.
In November 2022, as an advisor in the office of the President of Ukraine, in an interview with "Plus Minus", you compared Volodymyr Zelensky to Napoleon. What changed your views?
A year has passed and a lot has changed. Russia made many decisions and bet on a long war, and we did not make these decisions. Moreover, countries consumed by corruption and lawlessness, which persecute people for their views, do not win wars. Napoleon began to transform into a tiny Putin.
In January 2023, you told the media that the Russian missile that hit a residential building in the Dnieper could have been shot down by Ukrainian anti-aircraft defense. Later, the air defense forces denied this information, and you explained that you were tired. Was this the reason for your departure from Zelensky's team?
No, it wasn't about that statement. The actions against me began in March 2022, just a month after the outbreak of the full-scale war. I participated in the work of the Ukrainian delegation during the negotiations in Istanbul (short Ukrainian-Russian peace talks at the end of March 2022 - ed.) and I was part of a group of ten people who made the most important decisions in the country. Already then, paid information attacks against me appeared in the Telegram messenger. Even then, many people in Kiev knew that the president's office was attacking a man from the president's office. I knew about it and I endured it for a long time because Ukraine's interests are more important to me.
President Zelensky didn't have more important things on his mind than attacking you?
Who in the president's office could attack the man who was the face of this office without the consent of the head of state? I think the decision was made at the very top. I also have other reasons to think so. It so happened that in September 2023 I was in the United States and Zelensky was there on a visit at the same time. I gave an interview, critical fragments of which were shown to the president. From what I know, he ordered them to "put me in order." I don't know what this means, but our Western partners have warned me not to return to Ukraine for security reasons. I laughed, but I was convinced that the matter was serious. In the meantime, an employee of my online school (Arestowycz conducts online training - ed.) was wiretapped and they even began to openly follow her. Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine dressed as policemen came to my apartment.
I have a schedule of meetings and events planned until spring, I have something to do abroad. I will have time to consider returning. Especially when the ruling party's deputies are demanding my arrest from the rostrum of the Verkhovna Rada.
Are you suggesting that President Zelensky considered you a political competitor?
Of course. In March, April, June and even July 2022, I was second after the president in the ranking of people in whom Ukrainians had the greatest trust. I endured a lot and did not react for a long time. But at some point I came to the conclusion that Zelensky and his team had reached the peak of their competences. Especially after the NATO summit in Vilnius and Zelensky's September visit to the USA. The turning point for me was also the quarrel with Poland and the deterioration of our relations. I was shocked by this madness. I realized that they were doing everything to make us lose this war. I know these people very well, I worked with them for two and a half years, after all, we sat in a bunker together.
Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of the Presidential Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, without mentioning your name, suggested in October that you may be exploited by Russia. And later he also suggested that the SBU was examining you.
I treat it as persecution for political reasons. Persecution of a man who began to speak the truth. I would like to know what conclusions the SBU will reach. I held positions that required constant verification of my person by the services. I served in intelligence and was an employee of the president's office. Counterintelligence verified me many times. Did they ever find anything? These are just false accusations, completely baseless. I am considering taking legal action in this matter.
When you started criticizing the government in Kiev, a recording from 2005 from a press conference in Moscow appeared on the Internet, during which, sitting at one table, among others, . with the ideologist of Russian imperialism, Alexander Dugin, you discussed the consequences of the Orange Revolution for the pro-Russian forces on the Dnieper. Can you explain that?
You can easily check what I was doing there. Just send an inquiry to the Main Directorate of Military Intelligence of Ukraine (GUR) on this matter. At that time I was a GUR officer. Do you think a military intelligence officer can just go to Moscow, attend a press conference and talk to Dugin? The answer is obvious.
Some of your critics question the fact that you served in intelligence and your participation in the anti-terrorist operation in the east of the country (ATO), which has been ongoing since 2014 after Russia's aggression.
I served in GUR from 1999 to 2005, leaving with the rank of captain. In 2014–2015 I participated in the ATO as a volunteer, and in 2017–2019 I served under contract. First in the 72nd Land Forces Brigade, and later in the Intelligence Directorate of the Land Forces Command. I then received the rank of major. And after the war started in 2022, I was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel. I won't say why. I have been awarded many state awards. People who demand my arrest can access this information and submit inquiries to the appropriate state institutions.
For now, the Ukrainian police, at the request of one of the deputies of the Verkhovna Rada, have started criminal proceedings regarding one of your lectures, during which you allegedly called for the "strangling of women".
First of all, it was a closed training, it was not a public event. Secondly, during this training I improvised and played the role of a man who hates women. I showed the type of man who is not worth imitating and I directly said that such behavior is unacceptable. Someone took the piece out of context and gave it to the police. Later, I published the entire recording so that people would see that it was manipulation and slander. This once again shows what deputies do in times of war. This is the atmosphere in our country.
to be continued
Sheiks are happy as they have a cut from the revenue pushed through Emirati banks.
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