In his latest Telegram post, Oleksiy Arestovych, Former Advisor to the Office of the President of Ukraine, claims that Kyiv had won the war at the end of March 2022, when Boris Johnson pressured the Ukrainian leadership to continue fighting Russia.
The Ukrainian leadership’s decision to accept Boris Johnson’s advice resulted in an additional “couple of hundred thousand people” dying.
Arestovich’s startling acknowledgment of 2,00,000 Ukrainian fatalities is painfully in line with objective casualty estimates by many analysts. Arestovich squarely blames US/NATO’s failure to supply Ukraine weapons to win the war against Russia for the unnecessary Ukrainian fatalities and the failure of the Ukrainian forces to defeat Russia.
In his post, Arestovich refers to the recent interview by David Arakhamia and General Zaluzhny’s article in the Economist. Speaking to journalist Natalya Moseychuk, David Arakhamia, faction leader of Servant of the People and head of the Ukrainian delegation at the peace talks in Istanbul in March-April 2022, revealed that the Russian delegation promised Kyiv peace in exchange for refusing to join NATO. However, when the delegation returned from Istanbul, “Boris Johnson came to Kyiv and said that we would not sign anything with them at all, and let’s just fight.”
Ukraine’s Army Commander-in-Chief, Valery Zaluzhny, in his article acknowledged that Ukraine’s counteroffensive had totally bogged down in the trenches. “There will most likely be no deep and beautiful breakthrough,” the commander said.
Arestovich interprets the article as stating that the “army did what it could, and the politicians are responsible for the continuation of the war. They should look for a way out of the strategic impasse, and when they find it and formulate it, the army will execute it.
Timing Of The Revelations
Arestovich alludes that the Boris Johnson revelation was orchestrated by Zelensky.
“Zelensky seems to have decided to divide responsibility (for Ukraine’s battlefield reversals) between Johnson and Zaluzhny,” he writes in his Telegram post.
Responsibility For Ukrainian Reverses
Arestovich then alludes that it’s not anyone in Ukraine who is responsible for Ukrainian reversals along the battlefront, rather, it is the West that goaded Ukraine to continue the fight.
“The real responsibility lies with those who promised us, Ukraine, real support for waging a real, big war and did not provide it.”
Victory Claim
Arestovich then goes on to pull a rabbit out of his hat, claiming that by the end of March 2022, Ukraine had won the war with minimal Western support.
“We broke the personnel army of the Russian Federation and the invasion plan, with minimal help from the West: the first Rammstein – as early as April 26, the first serious deliveries – the end of June.
“This war of ours could well have ended with the Istanbul Agreements, and a couple of hundred thousand people would have been alive.”
“And then the second war began,” he adds.
“And this second war, we could not have won without airplanes and long-range missiles and a five times larger volume of supplies for the Ground Forces.
“All this was not there.”
Western Betrayal
Arestovich contends that Ukraine “paid a huge price” because the West misled Ukraine over the nature of support. He feels there is more bad news for Ukraine – it will now be pressured to sign a peace agreement that involves ceding four of its provinces.
Finally, Arestovich says that the burden of resolving the conflict must fall on “those who threw us into a big war, promised full support, and left us without it.”
Ominously, Arestovich ends his post by saying, “But this situation gives us an opportunity for a strong counterplay.”
Conclusion
Arestovich’s reference to an “opportunity for a strong counterplay” was made in the context of the US/NATO refusal to give Ukraine what it needs to win the war.
As such, it is likely intended to pressurize the US/NATO. It’s conceivable that the veiled threat had backing – If not of Zelensky, then a powerful Ukrainian faction that is ready to lock horns with the US/NATO!
- Vijainder K Thakur is a retired IAF Jaguar pilot. He is also an author, software architect, entrepreneur, and military analyst. VIEWS PERSONAL
- Follow the author @vkthakur
