Military expert warns Putin ‘will try and take Kyiv’ and he ‘just might pull it off’ – London Business News | Londonlovesbusiness.com

A military expert who is a former British Army officer has warned that Vladimir Putin will “try and take Kyiv” topple the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to end the war.

Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Crawford said that Russian forces could be preparing to attack and seize the Ukrainian capital in a new summer assault.

On Sunday Zelensky issued a warning that “thousands” of Russian troops are building up on the northern border and satellite imagery backs his claim.

President Zelensky has pleaded with the West to be allowed to use their long-range missiles as there is now new formations building up in Ukraine’s second largest city.

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Thousands of soldiers have “expanded activities” at warehouses at multiple areas in the city of Kharkiv, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

Lieutenant Colonel Crawford warned that this may well be in preparation to capture Kyiv in a new assault.

At the start of the war in February 2022 Colonel Crawford said that Putin had intended to take Kyiv which he said is “strategically and tactically sound” to do as it make sense.

On his Substack blog the former British Army officer wrote, “I think there is a distinct possibility that the Russians will try to take Kyiv in their forthcoming Spring/Summer offensive, seeking to do so before the promised western weaponry bolsters Ukrainian defences.

They may make demonstrations and feints elsewhere to distract the Ukrainian defenders, but Putin’s surest way to victory is to take Kyiv.”

Even though there is NATO surveillance in the region along with small Western military units on the ground, he warned that Russia could “pull it off.”

Colonel Crawford added, “The Russians are past masters at deceit, decoy, and deception. They just might be able to pull it off.”

The Deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, told Russian media agencies in February that Russian forces could now “reach Kyiv.”

He said, “Where to stop? I don’t know … Will it be Kyiv? Yes, probably it should be Kyiv. If not now, then … maybe at some other phase in the development of this conflict.”

Medvedev this “this regime [Zelensky] must fall, it must be destroyed, it must not remain in this world.”

Kyiv was once a “Russian city,” Medvedev said, he warned that in Ukrainian hands they are “a threat to the existence of the Russian Federation.”

“An international threat, because although Kyiv is a Russian city in its roots, it is controlled by an international brigade of opponents of Russia led by the United States of America, he added.

In Kyiv Oblast around 2,000 kilometres with almost 10,000 “dragon’s teeth” which are giant concrete pyramid blocks are being installed to fortify the region against a land attack, according to Ruslan Kravchenko.

The 2,000 kilometres of fortifications includes extensive anti-tank ditches, non-explosive barriers a sophisticated system of trenches and dugouts to protect the capital of Ukraine.

Kravchenko said, “Almost 10,000 concrete pyramids have already been installed, and an anti-tank ditch has been arranged.”

He said, “Under strict control” the construction is taking place and the Kyiv Oblast authorities are keeping the military informed to build “the most effective structures with the most reliable protection.”

The Kyiv Oblast governor added, “There is only one requirement: quality, meeting deadlines and efficient use of funds.”