Officials and political scientists, invited to the set of Russian television, began arguing live about the culprits of the collapse of the Kharkiv front and what to do next.

Boris Nadyedin, a former deputy of the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, says that “the people who convinced President Putin that the special operation will be quick and effective, that we will not hit the civilian population, that we will introduce the Guard, our national team together with the Kadyrovs will restore order … these people pulled us all on a string.”

When asked by the host of the show whether these people exist, Nadeidin answers that “of course, President Putin did not sit and think, why shouldn’t they start a special operation?”.

“Someone told him that the Ukrainians would surrender, that they would flee, that they wanted to join Russia. Someone must have told him that. They also said this on television,” insists the ex-MP, adding that Russia is now at a point where it must realize that it is facing a huge army in Ukraine and that it will be impossible to defeat it with limited methods and resources. “special operation”.

It will be recalled that President Vladimir Putin did not officially declare war on Ukraine on May 9, when Russia celebrated Victory Day in the Second World War, which would have allowed him to announce a decree on general mobilization.

When asked if he proposes a general mobilization decree, Nadeytin replies that he proposes “peaceful negotiations to end the war” and a transition to solving political problems.

The counteroffensive in Kharkiv warms the mood on Russian television

“There can be no negotiations with Zelenskyi’s Nazi regime,” interjects deputy Serhii Mironov, head of the Just Russia party, which is considered part of the nominal opposition controlled by the Kremlin.

“Zelenskyi’s Nazi regime must be destroyed,” he adds, before being interrupted by Nadezhdin, who insists that Russia must declare a general mobilization or leave Ukraine.

“Volodymyr Volodymyrovych [Putin] he recently said that “I haven’t even started.” We will start when it is necessary. We don’t need mobilization,” Mironov continued.

“Excuse me, but what are we waiting for?” – interjects political scientist Viktor Olevych. “You say that everything is going according to plan. Someone actually thought 6 months ago that we were planning to go [orașul] Balakleya, let’s repel the counteroffensive near Kharkiv, can’t we take Kharkiv and leave Balakleya?”, he asks.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense announced on Saturday that it had decided to withdraw troops from areas effectively conquered by Ukrainians to “regroup” in the Donetsk region south of Kharkiv. This was reported after the successes of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were widely reported by Russian military bloggers in their Telegram channels, where hundreds of thousands subscribed to them.

“Remember, we are fighting against the NATO bloc. This is a serious army, and their weapons are serious,” insists Mironov on the air, again interrupted by a political scientist who says that Russian intelligence should have foreseen this.

In mid-March, the director of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, Serhiy Naryshkin, said that President Vladimir Putin made the decision to invade Ukraine based on an “extremely accurate” assessment of the situation in Ukraine and the world.

“War is war, you can’t predict everything, but we have to continue until we win,” sums up People’s Deputy Serhiy Mironov.

The accusations were made public by guests of Russian television

“War is a very complex concept, it has political and psychological components. Over the past few days, we have been dealt a serious psychological blow. As for Nadezhdin, who is not our friend, I again ask you to be careful with your language,” intervened another member of the State Duma Oleksandr Kazakov, accusing the interlocutor of talking about “colonial wars” unacceptable to Moscow.

In an effort to expand its influence in Africa, Russia began to assert more loudly that, unlike Western powers, it had never had colonies or a policy of colonization. Historians do not completely agree with this assessment of the situation.

“As a politician with such experience, can’t you look at the entire theater of military operations, which includes both Western Europe and the United States? Do you really think that we rushed across the border and are trying to bite off a piece of their (Ukrainians’) territory?” Kazakov continued his accusing questions.

“There is a global war, this is only part of it,” he continues.

Nadezhdin contradicts him: “I hope that the global war will not start, but if it starts, the balance of power will not be in our favor.”

Disputes last several minutes.

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