Russian President Vladimir Putin will not agree to freezing the war because that would mean acknowledging the Kremlin’s failure of its so-called “special military operation,” which has achieved none of its objectives. Instead, he will continue dragging out time.
This opinion was expressed by General Volodymyr Havrylov in Ihor Dolhov’s program on Ukrinform’s YouTube channel.
Commenting on Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov’s statement that Russia is supposedly ready for any format of a meeting between Putin and Ukraine’s President, provided “appropriate preparation” is made, Havrylov noted: “These are Putin’s and the Kremlin’s maneuvers simply to buy time, with the intention and hope of resolving the issue militarily on the battlefield.”
According to Havrylov, the Kremlin counted on achieving strategic successes over the summer — breakthroughs, the destruction of Ukrainian forces, and advancing deep into regions such as Dnipropetrovsk or even Poltava.
“But they received no good news from the front. Huge resources were wasted, tens of thousands of Russian soldiers were killed, their infrastructure is suffering, their economy is slowly collapsing, and by August they found themselves with no strategic gains on the battlefield,” he explained.
The general predicted that Russia will continue stalling, waiting for some kind of results from the front lines. “But things will only get worse for them, because their army is exhausted, and they have no reserves.”
“They cannot agree to conditions that would create problems inside Russia itself. They must present their population with a story of victory — that the operation’s goals were achieved. But not a single goal has been met. Agreeing to a freeze or security guarantees for Ukraine would mean admitting the ‘special operation’ has failed,” Havrylov said.
He added that Putin would also have to explain where a million people have gone, what to do with a fully militarized economy that cannot sustain society.
“These things are brewing in Moscow right now, alongside hopes that through the Americans they can pressure Ukraine into some kind of deal that could be sold to their population as a victory,” Havrylov remarked.
In his view, Putin’s actions are actually pushing Europe and the United States toward decisions that could ultimately bring down his regime.
“Sometimes it is hard to understand the dictator’s logic, but clearly his obsession with destroying Ukraine is so strong that it keeps forcing him to look for new options. But it’s too late — they’ve missed the point when they could do anything to us. Now the whole world is with us. That’s why this autumn will be an interesting period of reckoning, including in Moscow,” Havrylov predicted.
He assessed the chances of a meeting between the Ukrainian and Russian presidents in the near future as “very low.”
As Ukrinform reported earlier, following the landmark meeting between Presidents Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump, Ukraine is coordinating next steps with its allies to develop concrete security guarantees and prepare conditions for a possible meeting with Putin aimed at achieving a just peace.
