Oleksii Reznikov, Ukraine’s Defense Minister, outlined his breathtaking ‘counteroffensive without an army’ project, which should be studied for its clinical symptoms. “The Atlantic” ran a feature entitled “The Counteroffensive,” where, as reported by Ukrinform, Reznikov explained, “Crimea we will take without a fight.”
It starts off, somewhat sanely, with the important recognition that Crimea can’t be defeated militarily. Then, Reznikov explains that they were not talking about a purely military counteroffensive, but the “political military” liberation of Crimea. To start with, the explosion of the Kerch Strait Bridge last year already showed that some Russians in Crimea will flee. More explosions (and sabotage) will chase off some more, especially recent immigrants. Water can be cut off to the peninsula, and then whatever roads and railroads can be hit will finish off the willingness of Russians to live there. And, meanwhile, military establishments can be hit with drones.
Today, Oleksiy Danilov, the head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) was asked about Reznikov’s approach of taking Crimea “without a fight.” Appearing on Radio Svoboda, as reported by Ukrinform, Danilov did his best: Ukraine will liberate the temporarily occupied Crimea in such a way that it finds necessary at the moment of making the decisions. “It is difficult for me to say whether they will give something without a fight. We will liberate in such a way that we consider necessary at the time of making certain decisions.” Then he seems to have given up and resorted to form: “And if there is a need for us to use slightly different means of influence, they will definitely be used, and we will not ask anyone for permission.”
He did concur with Reznikov’s reasoning for the utility of the recent spate of sabotage in Crimea: “God occasionally gives signals to the rashists that they should get out of this land. Those people who have at least some common sense understand that they need to get into a car, or whatever they have, and get off the peninsula,” Danilov stressed.
