"Russia needs all countries of former USSR and Warsaw bloc" Caliber.Az from Kyiv

"Russia's appetite is more insatiable than it may seem to some," former diplomat, Ukrainian international lawyer, and "Territorial Defence" volunteer battalion member Vadim Triukhan told Caliber.Az.

He expressed his attitude toward Moldovan Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita's statement that Chisinau fears a Russian invasion.

"She said nothing new. Russia's appetite is much more insatiable than it may seem. In fact, by giving the West an ultimatum last year, the essence of which was that NATO should go back to the borders of 1997, the Kremlin outlined its intentions. Russia needs all the countries of the former Soviet Union and the former Warsaw bloc. Therefore, no one can feel safe in this space, which was formerly controlled by the USSR. At least until Ukraine, with the support of its partners and de facto allies, forces Russia to capitulate," the expert stressed.

Vadym Triukhan touched upon the issue of the West's position on the Russian-Ukrainian war. He believes that the West has been helping Ukraine since the first days of the war, but this assistance is not enough to stop Russia's military onslaught.

In fact, Russia's military intervention, or rather aggression, against Ukraine began on February 20, 2014. And the so-called "special operation", as Moscow calls its large-scale military invasion, which began on February 24, 2022, is another attempt to destroy Ukraine, to regain control of at least of the space that was occupied by Soviet Russia until 1991, and to undermine the position of united Europe and in the broader context of the West. Unfortunately, there are still illusions in the West that it is possible to reach some kind of agreement with Moscow, perhaps even at the expense of Ukraine. Therefore, the assistance provided to Ukraine is still insufficient for Ukraine's armed forces to launch a large-scale counteroffensive. Nevertheless, Ukraine has already defeated Moscow's plans twice. First, we defeated Russian troops near Kyiv and Kharkiv, which forced them to retreat in panic from three previously partially occupied regions, Kyiv, Chernihiv, and Sumy. The blitzkrieg called "occupy Ukraine in three days" failed miserably. Then, Ukraine thwarted the Kremlin's plans to fully occupy the Donbas - Donetsk and Luhansk regions - before May 9. It is now August, and they still cannot boast of accomplishing this task. Meanwhile, Russia has only lost a large number of dead, it has at least 100,000 wounded, the AFU destroyed almost 12,000 pieces of military equipment, including the missile cruiser Moscow, which was sunk by Ukrainian Neptun missiles, the latest Su-35 aircraft, and a total of 223 aircraft, tanks, MLRS, almost 200 helicopters and so on. It would not have been easy to achieve such results without help from the West. However, in the autumn, when the Lend-Lease Act comes into force in the US, Ukraine expects to receive much more powerful weapons that will help break the back of the Russian military," the analyst noted.

Further, Triukhan noted that in case Russia attacks Moldova, Moscow will face a rather unpleasant situation for it.

"First, NATO will react to it, and Romania will become the main lobbyist for tough measures in Moldova's defence. Secondly, Russia's aggression will untie Ukraine's hands. Under Transnistria, the AFU has long ago created a powerful grouping of forces," added the political scientist.

Triukhan also drew parallels between the Transnistrian and Ukrainian conflicts.

"On the one hand, both Transnistria and the actions of Russia in Donbas for the past more than 8 years, as well as in Georgia (Abkhazia and South Ossetia) are the puzzles of one game that the Kremlin has been playing for more than 30 years, called "nightmare for neighbors to be feared". But on the other hand, each story has its own aspects. And, as most foreign experts admit, by its nature and its course the Russian-Ukrainian war, and in Ukraine, we call it "Patriotic war for independence from Russia," is not like any war mankind has known for the last 100-150 years. It began without the slightest reason or provocation on the part of Ukraine and is aimed not at obtaining any benefits for the initiator party - Russia, but at the physical destruction of an entire population of 40 million people, and an entire country, not the last by territory in Europe. At the same time, to achieve its goal, Russia uses all means, including those prohibited by the Geneva Conventions, including chemical weapons, phosphorus and cluster munitions, mines, thermobaric charges, and so on. In addition, we already know of thousands of cases of war crimes, including rape of children, mass murder of civilians, torture of prisoners of war and civilians, looting, and so on. In this war Russia crossed all imaginable and unimaginable red lines, it labeled itself with a disgrace that many generations of Russians won't be able to wash away for the next 100 years," our interlocutor concluded.