How bad will things get for Russia in Ukraine? The truth is finally starting to get out to the people of Russia about the war in Ukraine. A few days ago, on 1945, we posted the story of Russian bloggers who, for the first time, posted critical stories of the Russian invasion.
The news has now spread to Russian national television. In a country where only the government’s version of the news is allowed – with no criticism allowed by the law – of the war in Ukraine, retired Colonel Mikhail M. Khodaryonok stunned Russian viewers with his take on the events on Russia’s western border.
Outspoken Retired Colonel Tells the Truth on Ukraine
Khodaryonok appeared on the Russian television show 60 Minutes with anchor Olga Skabeyeva. The twice-daily show parrots the Kremlin’s line on everything. Skabeyeva, who has been characterized as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “propagandist-in-chief,” has been promoting Russia’s “special military operation” as a success. Khodaryonok, however, shocked his co-hosts with a damning assessment.
“The situation, frankly speaking, will get worse for us,” he said. “We are in total geopolitical isolation, and the whole world is against us, even if we don’t want to admit it,” he added, stressing that “the situation is not normal.”
A History of Speaking Out
However, this isn’t the first time Khodaryonok to be critical of the war in Ukraine. Before Russia’s invasion, he was publicly against it, stating that the invasion was not in Russia’s national interests. He added that the rosy predictions about a very short war were pure fallacy. But at the time, his objections were swept aside in the buildup to invade Ukraine once again.
But this time the criticism shocked his co-hosts, who usually shout over one another into silence. He urged Russians not to take “informational sedatives” regarding the situation with Ukraine’s military. He characterized the reports that the Ukrainian forces faced a morale crisis as false. “None of this is close to reality,” he said.
Khodaryonok added that Ukraine would be able to mobilize one million people and would benefit from the massive influx of Western arms. Skabeyeva continued to perpetuate the myth that Russia’s force is a professional military and that they have a decided advantage over a “conscript army,” ignoring the fact that most of Russia’s forces inside of Ukraine are just conscripts themselves.
However, Khodaryonok swept those arguments aside with more scathing commentary. He said that it did not matter if Ukraine relied upon conscripts; what mattered the most was their willingness to “fight to the last man,” something evident throughout the war, especially in Mariupol.
He scoffed at the saber-rattling directed at Finland as well. “Let’s look at this situation as a whole from our overall strategic position,” he said. “Let’s not swing missiles in Finland’s direction — this just looks ridiculous,” he added.
The video from the 60 Minutes show between Khodaryonok and Skabeyeva went viral on the Russian social media website VKontakte and had been viewed more than 3.8 million times by Tuesday morning. It was an extraordinary moment because the Kremlin and Putin have smothered independent news organizations, especially on television, where most Russians get their news from … carefully scripted by the government.
Putin enacted laws at the outset of the war, outlawing any criticism of Russia’s “special military operation,” and anyone who disobeys the official narrative can face jail time. Analysts are unsure of this recent spate of criticism as being either legitimate cracks in the Russian firewall of true information or whether it was deliberately planned to prepare the citizens for a long, protracted blood conflict that goes far beyond the “days only” operation that was touted?
Steve Balestrieri is a 1945 National Security Columnist. He has served as a US Army Special Forces NCO, and Warrant Officer before injuries forced his early separation. In addition to writing for 19fortyfive.com and for another military news organization, he has covered the NFL for PatsFans.com for more than 10 years. His work was regularly featured in the Millbury-Sutton Chronicle and Grafton News newspapers in Massachusetts.
