Sir Simon Mayall claimed Vladimir Putin was “running out of options” and continuing to pursue his invasion of Ukraine is beginning to be an “existential” threat to him and the image of Russia. The retired officer warned that Russia’s recent show of military force was an attempt to try and threaten the West. Putin has been upping the ante in recent days by setting up a new committee to churn out new weapons in order to equip his soldiers on the battlefield, as he tries to gain leverage in Ukraine.
Sir Simon Mayall told Times Radio: “I think we shouldn’t be worried.
“He has really backed himself into a corner by the failure of his conventional attacks on Ukraine.
“He’s running out of options, and it’s quite an existential threat to both him personally and the image of Russia as a great power.
“The Russian Army has a great military force.”
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He added: “Therefore some of it is for show, undoubtedly, some of it’s definitely to threaten the West to back off support of Ukraine.
“And some of it in some of his twisted logic may be a rehearsal.
“If things really go badly for him on the battlefield of how he tries to force Ukrainians to some sort of negotiated settlement.”
Putin has been ramping up his war efforts in recent weeks by targeting civilians in Ukraine and valuable infrastructures.
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Putin has also made more threats of nuclear attacks on Western countries, in order to warn countries away from overstepping their mark by getting involved with his illegal invasion of Ukraine.
Putin’s new committee has been created in order to churn new weapons at a rapid pace for his soldiers.
Other military experts in the West have been dismissing Putin’s threats of possible nuclear strikes.
One such expert is Professor Francis Fukuyama who has dismissed his threats and claimed that he was heading towards a defeat in Ukraine.
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Prof Fukuyama told LBC: “I think that… First of all, I believe for some time that the Ukrainians will actually win this war.
“And I think that recent events have brought that out, obviously everybody right now is worried about nuclear escalation.
“I don’t think this makes sense from a Russian standpoint. And I do think that Putin is minimally rational and he will recognise that.
He added: “But he is heading towards a pretty humiliating defeat in Ukraine.
“That’s going to have very hard to calculate repercussions in Moscow itself, and for his own survival. But by and large, I think that it’s a desirable outcome that Russia be pushed back.”
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