French General Michel Yakovleff considers Ukraine's army the best in Europe
At the beginning of the full-scale war of the russian federation against Ukraine, few people believed in the victory of Ukraine since the russian armed forces were considered almost invincible as the "second army of the world" for a long time. But for more than a year of military operations, Ukrainian soldiers have been convincing with their deals that the Armed Forces of Ukraine is the best army in Europe.
The French general, ex-deputy commander of NATO forces in Europe, Michel Yakovleff, said this in an interview on the YouTube channel of former naval aviation crew member Xavier Tytelman.
Yakovleff also named several scenarios for the end of the war.
"Suddenly, it turned out that the russian army was a team everyone thought was playing in the Champions League, but it appeared to be from the third league.
[…] The Ukrainian army, in my opinion, is the best army in Europe today," the general said.
Photo: Telegram/ 10th Separate Mountain Assault Brigade (Ukraine)
According to Yakovleff, in the future, the processes taking place inside the military formation of the russian federation will lead to an even more deplorable condition. And this will prevent it from becoming a powerful army. Instead, he says, the russian military will only be able to defend itself.
According to the expert, artificial military formations such as private armies lead to this. They only complicate the coordination of units of the occupying forces.
Photo: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
Michel Yakovleff also stated that there are three scenarios for the end of the war in Ukraine:
- the victory of Ukraine;
- the victory of russia;
- the halting of both armies on those borders that they could capture or reconquer.
However, the French general stressed that to win, the russian army must show the required level of military professionalism, including target selection, logistics, fire coordination, quality of equipment, and troop interaction, which is unlikely to happen.
"But they (russians – ed.) still haven't shown anything of the abovementioned. russians also need Ukrainians' operational and tactical mistakes," Yakovleff emphasized. But he added that there wouldn't be any such mistakes.
The ex-deputy commander of NATO forces in Europe believes that the announcement of another mobilization or the recruitment of mercenaries for the "Wagner" Private Military Company (a network of mercenaries, or a de facto private army of russian president Vladimir Putin – ed.) without solving the existing problems will not help the russian federation to defeat Ukraine.
Photo: Official page of the Strategic Communications Directorate of Ukraine's armed forces
The general stressed that the smaller Ukrainian army contrasts the quantity of human resources with the quality. So, in the end, Ukraine will return all its territories to the last kilometer, together with Crimea and Donbas. Moreover, it is a condition for lasting peace.
"To win peace, it is necessary for all russians to understand that they did not gain anything from the war. Ukraine must regain Donbas and Crimea, all its territories down to the last kilometer. This will show russians that 2014 and 2022 brought just rivers of blood and impoverishment to the country; they did not gain anything from the war. Not a single square kilometer. This is what needs to be shown. This is a condition for lasting peace," concluded Michel Yakovleff.
