Russia made big strategic mistake when the special operation was in the making

The Russian authorities were greatly mistaken when they considered the Ukrainians to be prudent, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky — able to negotiate, military expert Yuri Knutov believes.

Russia made a strategic mistake at the stage when the special operation in Ukraine was being planned, Yuri Knutov, the Director of the Museum of Air Defence Forces believes.

According to him, one may draw a parallel between the special military operation and the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, when the Soviet Union tried to avoid a large number of casualties among German soldiers and tried to win them over to its side.

"It took us some time to come to realise that the German soldiers, who came to us as workers and peasants, were not the workers and peasants whom we thought them to be. They came to us to kill and plunder," Yuri Knutov told Ukraina.ru.

Russia also assumed that a peace treaty with the Ukrainian president would be possible. That was another serious mistake, the expert said. The command of the Russian Armed Forces pulled back the troops from Kyiv, but the Zelensky regime took advantage of the situation to get the Armed Forces of Ukraine ready for an offensive.