As Russia’s troops have retreated from the Kyiv region and Ukrainians are successfully fighting back Russian troops in northern Ukraine, Vladimir Putin’s planned invasion appears to be stalling on many fronts. US intelligence officials have determined that logistics and misinformation are harming Russian troops’ advance. Top Russian military officials and advisers are lying to Putin about how badly troops are doing on the ground, leaving Putin misinformed and with very few options. “Right now, he (Putin) has three options”, exiled Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky told CNN.
He said: “[The] first way out is to continue pressuring Ukraine and probably losing troops in this process because the Ukrainians are fighting back even more strongly every day.”
Another option for Putin would be using “weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in the hope that this would force the Ukrainians to retreat”, Mr Khodorkovsky said.
He added: “And the third option is to start actual negotiations”.
What seemed a retreat of Russian troops from the Kyiv region turned out to be a redeployment to Ukraine’s eastern region of Donbass, according to the Institute for the Study of War.
Ukrainians have been clashing with Russian troops and Russian-backed forces in eastern Ukraine since 2014.
The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United States have warned of potential chemical assaults in Ukraine, as Russian tanks are carrying chemicals.
Both the WHO and US are already anticipating that possibility with plans to respond to the threat.
During the Cold War, the US and the Soviet Union built stocks of tens of thousands of nuclear bombs, missile warheads, and artillery shells.
READ MORE: Ukraine LIVE: 24,000 Russian troops flee as US sends in new lethal switchblade drones
The only way to have Putin seriously sitting at the negotiating table is when NATO and the US threaten with a military response, Mr Khodorkovsky said.
“We must understand that in his head, Putin is at war not with Ukraine. He’s at war with the United States and NATO.”
NATO allies met today with Ukraine to discuss the Kremlin’s war on Ukraine. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken tweeted: “NATO will “hold Putin to account for his unprovoked and unjustified war against Ukraine.”
If a NATO country is under attack, all the other members of the alliance have the obligation to take actions, meaning a Russian invasion of the Baltic states would be tantamount to a Third World War.