Vladimir Putin’s stripped-down Victory Day parade is a sign that Russia is preparing its people for a mighty loss in their war against Ukraine, a former Nato commander has said.
What should have been a spectacular show of Russia’s military muscle was instead reduced to the “extraordinary” sight of a lone T-34 Soviet-era tank rolling down the road.
Moscow said that the events were scaled back as a result of security concerns over what it claimed was a recent attempted Ukrainian strike on the Kremlin.
However, military consultant Hamish de Bretton-Gordon said the single tank symbolised the battering Moscow has taken as the conflict rumbles on.
Speaking to The Independent, the former commander of the 1st Royal Tank Regiment of the British army, said: “I subscribe to the view that the Russians are preparing their people for failure.
“The parade was a great parody of a desperate tyrant clinging on by his fingerprints – one more Ukrainian boot could well be the end.”
The military expert said “things are at a tipping point” in Russia as the Kremlin is now failing to control social media and Mr Putin’s reputation as a “great winner” has been destroyed.
He said: “All the mothers of those hundreds of thousands of men being slaughtered are beginning to understand what is happening. Ultimately, the great Red Army has really failed Putin. Their violent rhetoric has been found to be a great paper tiger.”
According to leaked US intelligence documents posted online last month, Russia has allegedly suffered 189,500-223,000 total casualties, including 35,500-43,000 killed in action and 154,000-180,000 wounded.
This compares to 124,500-131,000 total casualties for Ukraine, including 15,500-17,500 killed in action and 109,000-113,500 wounded in action, according to an assessment collated by the US Defence Intelligence Agency.
Russia has also lost 2,300 of its more advanced T72 and T80 tanks, according to estimates from the International Institute for Strategic Studies in February. “Their military is being absolutely decimated,” Mr De Bretton-Gordon said. “They don’t have any kit left. The whole thing is just going badly.”
Explaining why Russia is tearing a hole through its ammunition, he said: “Ukrainians are using artillery on precision targets, but the Russian army is just firing mass ammunition with no effect and they can’t sustain those numbers.”
Moscow’s anti-climatic Victory Day Parade also took place against the backdrop of increasingly rocky relations between Wagner’s chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and the Kremlin.
The leader of the pro-Putin Russian mercenary group had threatened to withdraw his troops from Bakhmut after claiming Moscow failed to supply his men, resulting in catastrophic losses.
On Saturday, Russia eventually conceded that Ukraine had launched an assault north of Bakhmut with more than 1,000 troops and up to 40 tanks, a scale that would amount to the biggest Ukrainian offensive since November.
Russian defence ministry spokesperson Igor Konashenkov said troops in one area had fallen back to regroup in more favourable positions near the Berkhivka reservoir. But Mr Prigozhin was quick to refute this claim, saying: “What Konashenkov described, unfortunately, is called ‘a rout’ and not a regrouping”.
Commenting on the public military spat, Mr De Bretton-Gordon said: “The argument between Prigozhin and the Russian army is unbelievable. This sort of stuff is just not usually allowed. The logistic heart of the Russian army is being strangled. Putin’s edifice is crumbling. It’s difficult to see how Russians can get anything positive out of this.”
