War started by Russia against Ukraine may continue throughout this year - Rajevs

RIGA - The war started by Russia against Ukraine can continue this year and end only at the beginning of next year, admitted the parliamentary secretary of the Ministry of Interior, former military officer Igors Rajevs (Joint List) in an interview with Latvian Television this morning.

The military expert admitted that, as the anniversary of the war approaches, the probability of a new Russian offensive against Ukraine this week is very high. Currently, Russian troops are attacking in virtually all directions, but, as Rajevs assessed, it is not that everything is hopeless. Ukraine is even capable of counterstrikes and recover some territories.

Assessing what a possible Russian offensive could be, Rajevs noted that the problem in this regard is that it is not really known how many and what kind of Russian forces are gathered around the northern border of Ukraine. The only thing that is clear is that the Russians have been able to gather an army again.

Rajevs does not see any major mistakes in the actions of the Ukrainian army during the past year, because by repelling the aggressor's attack, more was done than most Ukrainians expected.

"Nothing has been lost in this war," said Rajevs, "but there is no reason to talk about easy times and we still have several hard months ahead of us."

The expert estimated that the continuation of the war could be expected throughout this summer and autumn, and that the war could end next year. In this regard, it will be important how strong the Russian attack that is currently expected will be, and the ability of the Ukrainians to repel it.

On the other hand, speaking about arms deliveries, Rajevs emphasized that not only the fact of delivery is important, but also the quantity, for example, if Leopard2 tanks are delivered to only one battalion, then this is not enough.

Rajevs thinks that Russia has changed its attitude and is currently not trying to conquer large territories of Ukraine, but rather the goal of the Russian army is to destroy or significantly weaken the Ukrainian army. That is why we do not see much progress territorially, the expert added.