Investment banker James G. Rickards, a former CIA strategic advisor, who has previously written about Ukraine's huge losses, still expects the collapse of Ukraine. Now he also added that in the event of a Ukrainian collapse, the United States would send soldiers to Ukraine, which could have unforeseeable consequences, index.hu wrote.
Rickards wrote a long op-ed in early January about what he believed to be the Ukrainians losing about 8 to 10 times as many soldiers as the Russians and ultimately collapsing because of that loss of life.
The former CIA consultant has now written another opinion piece about the war, in which he also wrote that the losses of the Ukrainians are unsustainable. According to his claim, "authentic" reports show that the loss of Ukrainians could be around 500,000.
It remains unclear what reports Rickards is basing this statement on. At the end of last year, American intelligence estimated the number of Ukrainian soldiers killed in the conflict at around 100,000, as well as Russian ones (EC President Ursula von der Leyen also spoke about these Ukrainian losses at the time). Since then, one of the leaked reports of the German intelligence even indicated that the Ukrainians may have significant, daily three-digit losses in the city of Bahmut alone.
Source: AFP
Returning to the article, the former CIA adviser believed that the report about 100,000 Russian soldiers was an exaggeration, and then added that the mainstream Western press is in vain writing about the fact that Ukraine can win with the help of the American Abrams, British Challenger and German Leopard tanks in war, this does not happen.
As he wrote, it will take several months for the British and German tanks to arrive, and there is a good chance that the Abrams will be able to enter service in Ukraine in 2024 at the earliest (all this was confirmed by news published in the foreign press). James Rickards also added that the American tanks will have to undergo several modifications, and their combat systems and armor will not be as advanced as the originals, because the Pentagon does not want the Russians to hijack them.
"If NATO tanks do arrive, the Russians will likely destroy them fairly quickly with artillery, anti-tank weapons and precision missiles. These are good tanks, but nowhere near invulnerable. The Russians are not particularly worried about them,” Rickards wrote.
James Rickards also pointed out that if the city of Bahmut falls - which could happen within weeks - it will be a much more significant blow to Ukraine militarily than most of the Western press suggests. As he wrote:
“Ukraine's entire 800-mile defense line will begin to collapse then, and they will have no fortified position to retreat to. The Ukrainian soldiers, brave and competent as they are, are exhausted and running out of supplies."
He also added that a collapse in Ukraine could have a terrible endgame, because after Ukraine, the United States could be the biggest loser in the war, and it could lead to desperate measures.
According to James Rickards, the chances of a nuclear war breaking out are increasing, the United States' involvement in the war, as well as Russia's countermeasures, are also strengthening the escalation. As he wrote: we are still many steps away from a nuclear conflict, but neither side shows a willingness to reduce the conflict, which is a cause for concern.
“A desperate Biden may be ordering troops to move into western Ukraine and prevent Russia from taking over the entire country. You can imagine the consequences of this. Then this proxy war could turn into a direct war between the United States and Russia," said James Rickards, who says that this scenario seems increasingly likely.
Source: Magyar Hírlap
Featured image: Getty Images
