Ukrainian Diplomat to Al-Estiklal: Western Weapons Turned the Scales of the War and Putin Fell Into the Trap

Ukrainian diplomatic and political expert Vladimir Shumakov called on Turkiye to make a greater effort to help his country stop this absurd war by Russia, stressing that Ankara has become an important regional player and has significant military, political and economic power.

In an interview with Al-Estiklal, Shumakov expressed his disappointment over NATO's approach to the war that has been going on since February 24, 2022, stressing that in reality, it is a paper tiger.

“Turkiye's closure of the Bosphorus Strait to Russian military ships is a more courageous position than what the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is doing,” he pointed out.

But at the same time, Shumakov pointed out that the West has provided Ukraine with advanced weapons and high-precision missiles that can undermine the Russian occupation and inflict losses on it, so their flow must continue.

He noted that the Ukrainian army is steadfast, and its morale is higher than its Russian counterpart, which loses daily heavy losses in equipment and fighters, but he did not deny that this war will be long.

Shumakov worked in the Ukrainian diplomatic corps in several positions, including an advisor at the Kyiv embassy in Libya between 2004 and 2007, and he currently holds the position of Ukraine's delegate to the Arab League.

 

Field Situation

• What is the nature of the current situation on the battlefield?

Vladimir Shumakov: Now, very violent battles are taking place in eastern, southern, and northeastern Ukraine, especially in the regions of the Donbas region.

Due to the arrival of highly advanced Western weapons in the city of Severodonetsk, the Ukrainian forces in a counter-attack regained more than 50 percent of the areas occupied by the Russian forces in the city.

Note that the Russians controlled 80 percent of the city before the arrival of Western weapons.

In the city of Kharkiv, the same thing was repeated through a successful tactical attack, as Ukrainian forces regained control of important areas there.

The Ukrainian army was also able to kill the Russian Major General Roman Kutuzov, who led the campaign to attack the Ukrainian forces himself in the city.

 

• How do you see the resilience of the Ukrainian people in the face of the Russian soldiers?

Vladimir Shumakov: In about 100 days, we saw tremendous endurance by the Ukrainian forces, which succeeded in expelling the Russian occupation from northern Ukraine and the vicinity of the capital, Kyiv, and now the battles continue in southern and eastern Ukraine.

However, what concerns us is the ability of the Ukrainian army to stop the advance of the Russians in southern Ukraine.

We resorted to trench warfare and artillery in those areas, which hindered the progress of the Russian soldiers.

 

• What is the truth of what Russia is promoting about the imminent collapse of the Kyiv government?

Vladimir Shumakov: The fall or collapse of the government of Volodymyr Zelenskyy will not happen, on the contrary, the Ukrainian people are now valiantly defending their country against the Russian occupier who destroyed our country.

Since the beginning of the war, we have asked the United States and the West to provide us with all the advanced weapons we need to stop this brutal occupation.

There must be open dependence on the provision of high-quality and heavy weapons to Ukraine, including missiles, multiple launchers, long-range and short-range artillery, and air defense systems to protect our country from the threat of Russian missiles that do not stop bombing us and destroying infrastructure.

We have obtained high-precision missiles that can undermine the Russian occupation and inflict losses on it.

The Ukrainian forces will never surrender, no matter what it costs them, something our fighters have declared since the beginning of the war, even though the situation was much, much more difficult than now.

Despite Russian brutality, Ukrainian soldiers did not retreat, today their situation is better, and arming the West has turned the situation around, retaking some cities and sites, and their spirits are now much higher; they look forward to victory at the end of the war.

 

• How do you see the future of the situation in Ukraine in light of Western financial and military support?

Vladimir Shumakov: We are fighting valiantly in the field against the Russian occupation. We set our eyes on efforts to end this war and expel the Russian occupation forces from all the country's lands.

We need more than a trillion dollars in compensation from Russia for the losses it has caused to our country.

As well as we need the International Criminal Court to try Vladimir Putin for his heinous crimes in Ukraine against civilians, and there are committees working to collect evidence against him.

We need the Marshall Plan from the United States for economic support, as it did before when it presented such a project to Western countries in Europe after the Second World War, for economic reform.

 

 

Tremendous Endurance

 

• What is the fate of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in the current situation?

Vladimir Shumakov: Today, the Russian soldiers are exhausted and do not know why they are fighting Ukraine, and Russia's losses are very huge.

The number of dead in 100 days exceeds 30 thousand soldiers and 40 thousand wounded, while the losses of the Soviet Union in Afghanistan for ten years did not exceed 15,000 soldiers.

Hospitals in Belarus and in Russia itself are full of wounded Russian soldiers.

Also, the massive losses in modern military equipment forced Moscow to use old T62 tanks from the 1960s.

Russia suffers from a shortage of military leaders, because Ukraine killed a significant number of the Russian military elite, including 12 Russian brigades during the 100 days, while the Soviet Union lost only 5 generals in ten years in Afghanistan.

Ukraine destroyed more than 1,300 Russian tanks and 200 warplanes, but Russia still has great power.

Unfortunately, Ukraine is hostage to the confrontation between the West and Russia, and because of Putin's foolish policy, he became embroiled in the quagmire of the war in Ukraine and fell into the trap set by the West for the Russian bear to clip its nails.

 

• What is the truth about the possibility of Ukraine's victory in this battle?

Vladimir Shumakov: Ukraine will win at the end of this battle, but the question is when will that be?!!

I think this war will be long because it is closer to a war of attrition for Russia than a war between Moscow and Kyiv.

Ironically, we find that Russia's losses in this war approach about one billion dollars per day.

 

• What are the implications of Ukraine's request to join NATO in this war?

Vladimir Shumakov: Ukraine is not a member of NATO and has been willing to join it since 2008 when Russia attacked Georgia, since that time we have been aware of the Russian mentality and its readiness to attack us.

We resorted to NATO, which rejected Ukraine's accession, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel was one of the staunch opponents of our accession.

In 2014, Russia attacked us and occupied Crimea, and we resorted again to NATO to guarantee its membership, but it also refused for the second time.

A year ago, NATO said that Ukraine would not enter the alliance for ten years, and Russia took advantage of this argument and attacked us again.

Ukraine still wants to join NATO, but frankly, the alliance has provided very little support to Ukraine and has been unable to close its airspace to Russian warplanes.

However, Turkiye was not afraid and closed the Bosphorus Strait to Russian military ships. I send my thanks to Ankara for this stance, which is more courageous than NATO.

 

• How do you see the attempts of Sweden and Finland to join NATO?

Vladimir Shumakov: These two countries will enter NATO and Russia will not attack them.

Historically, in 1939, the Soviet Union attacked Finland, the war lasted for a year and was lost, and the Soviet Union fled from Finland after losing about 200,000 soldiers during the war, most of them died because of the severe cold.

Today, Finland is not weak militarily and wants to join NATO in order to have a guarantee and protection from Russian aggression.

The British Prime Minister also called for the establishment of a new alliance that includes Ukraine, Poland, Britain, Bulgaria, and the United States to protect those countries from Russian aggression.

Frankly, I am disappointed with NATO, which is in fact a paper tiger, because when Putin threatened Ukraine to use nuclear weapons, it did nothing except empty statements.

I do not know if a Russian attack occurred on any NATO member country, would it respond and target the Russian depth? Or will it only threaten and provide military support?

I think it is necessary to reform NATO as soon as possible.

 

 

Important Topics

 

• What about the crisis of exporting grains and oils from Ukrainian ports?

Vladimir Shumakov: Russia threatens and realizes genocide not only in Ukraine but desires genocide in all countries of the world; by disrupting the export of grain and food from Ukraine.

 

• How does the ICC deal with Russia's crimes against civilians in Ukraine?

Vladimir Shumakov: We started documenting crimes by investigators from Ukraine, the ICC, and international human rights organizations to document crimes of rape of women and children to death, torture crimes in prisons to death, and mass graves in Bucha and other Ukrainian cities.

We are also preparing to prosecute Putin and his military leaders for the crime of genocide on a global scale by causing a global food crisis with this war.

 

• How do you see Turkish mediation?

Vladimir Shumakov: At the beginning of the war, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was very active, closing the Bosphorus to Russian warships, and coordinating negotiations in Turkiye between Kyiv and Moscow.

Currently, Turkish military ships are preparing to help the world and Ukraine together by escorting convoys of Ukrainian merchant ships carrying grain and agricultural products to various countries of the world, after clearing mines from the Black Sea region.

Turkiye has now become an important regional player and has considerable military, political and economic power.

I call on Ankara to make a greater effort to help Ukraine and stop this pointless war by Russia.

We welcome businessmen from Turkiye for the reconstruction, revitalization of the Ukrainian economy, and the rebuilding of Ukrainian cities destroyed by the Russian aggression.

 

• Will the United States succeed in breaking the thorn of the Russian bear?

Vladimir Shumakov: We are watching the West implicate the Russian bear in the Ukrainian war, and a new alliance will be born in Europe similar to the European Union.

Experts say it is possible that there will be a new European Union in which Ukraine will enter.