Savik Shuster: Mariupol may become bad news for Putin
The renowned journalist and anchor of Schuster Live political talk show, Savik Shuster, came back from a visit to Mariupol besieged by the Russian regular army.
Speaking to Gordon on Oct. 24, he said:
“I returned to Kyiv at night. I’ll have to more deeply analyze the results of my visit, but I was absolutely impressed by three things.
First, I saw the powerful, organized and committed Ukrainian army there. We are incessantly led to believe that the Ukrainian army is weak and demoralized. I didn’t have the impression in Mariupol. On the contrary, Ukraine military are ways above what I had seen during my visits to Chechnya, Ossetia, Abkhasia or Karabah. Ukraine army in Mariupol is well-organized and powerful.
Second, the servicemen are all avid patriots. Living in Kyiv, you do not realize this, same as you cannot fully imagine the conditions under which the servicemen live and fight.
Most important, Putin is faced with a big problem. The Russian president cannot realize that his ‘Russian world’ concept he expects to implement in Donbas and Mariupol will not work and will only backlash against him.
The majority in Mariupol speak Russian, but they are absolutely pro-Ukrainian. I think, it will be a big surprise for Putin as he still seems to be convinced that he has Ukraine’s south and east in his pocket.
The Russian-speaking Ukrainians are against Putin, his militants and Moscow’s aggression,” Savik Shuster said.