Retired general predicts how Russia’s war will change in the winter months

Retired Maj. General James "Spider" Marks and former US Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor join CNN's Alex Marquardt to discuss how Russia's war will change in the winter months, and Vladimir Putin's recent meeting with mothers of soldiers killed in Ukraine. #CNN #News

60 comments

    1. @Steven Marriott Unfortunately so…. Putin’s is practicing “Total War”, which BTW, ‘Merica’s own General Sherman first ‘popularized’ during the Civil War, with Sherman’s infamous ‘March to the Sea’. Less than 4 months later, the Confederacy surrendered at Appomattox. So Zelenskyy’s advice for Ukrainians to ’emigrate’ might be shrewd in more ways than one.

    2. @Mr. Osis I agree with you. The Ukrainians will fight with whatever they have. Putin’s resupply lines will be vulnerable to longer range weapons and infra-red detection from space.

    1. @True Fact Orange man would have sent American troops to help Putin. Orange man would have gleefully participated in Putin’s genocidal war because Putin and Trump are in a deep bromance.

  1. Fun fact, most of those women have been identified by the internet community, and so far they all just so happened to be government employees, lol

  2. These women at Tsar Vladimir’s table are not soldiers’ mothers. This scenery is fake. Because these women were nice to see more often in public appearances.

  3. Lately, even with his longtime Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov or his friend Sergei Shoigu, Putin puts a lot of distance in between them during face-to-face meetings. Putin seldom takes any food in public because he is afraid of being poisoned. Because of the aforementioned, meeting with these women does not add up, hence it becomes very likely that the Putin that we see is not Putin himself, but a double, or all the women are loyal followers previously screened and/or trusted actresses to prevent any harm to Putin.

  4. Why do news guys keep saying “when winter sets in? It’s winter now, freezing and snowing. Stop going by what the calendar says

    1. In war, true Winter is when the mud freezes deep enough to support the weight of a tank. Then, they can maneuver and attack.

  5. I have to respect General Marks opinion, but when this special operation began most so-called experts predicted the Russians would declare victory within 3 months. The western experts seem to underestimate the fighting prowess of non-traditional warriors when opposing professional armies. The USSR and the USA both expected walkovers against the Mujahideen/Taliban in Afganistán, both forces were involved in protracted warfare against tribesman who caused both professional armies to withdraw.
    Asking the opinion of western military experts about the fighting qualities of guerilla fighting forces will not result in a fair assessment, due to a bias toward modernity.
    The Ukrainians will determine when this special operation will end as long as the Russians don’t use NBC (nuclear/biological/chemical) and the west continue to supply material support and weapons to the Ukrainians.

    1. @chris kerwin Respectfully sir: Guerilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, raids, petty warfare, hit and run tactics, and mobility to fight a larger and less mobile tradition military. I’m not on the Battlefield but the form of warfare described above is an accurate description of the form of warfare that the Ukrainians are wagering against the Russians. It would be pointless for the Ukrainians to attempt to match the Russians unit for unit, thus guerilla warfare. To the second point western military experts and media always underestimate the potency of non-traditional fighting forces in comparison to tradition standing armies. Who besides you thought that a country the size of Texas could withstand the might of the red army?

    2. Given that more than one poll (reported on by Newsweek) has shown most independents and Republicans don’t want to fund the war in Ukraine, I imagine that the new Republican House will cut aid to Ukraine. If that doesn’t grease tte skids for the 4 areas voting to join Russia becoming permanent, the winter of December through February most likely will.

    3. @Lord Vadar We’ll have to wait and see. If an EO could accomplish that, I imagine that Biden wouldn’t have been asking for more and would have just done it himself.

  6. Well, General Marks, what message does that send? If the weaker countries can not rely on the international system which guaranties the borders, then the only option is a worldwide nuclearisation, and, honestly, if I were a small country, I would be working on the nuclear arsenal day and night.

    1. @Tim McPherson 1. On the territory of modern-day Ukraine, between 1917 and 1921 existed and co-existed 22 “Ukrains”. Which one did you have in mind?
      2. The USSR could not have invaded “Ukraine” in 1919 for two very simple reasons: 1) the USSR was formed on the 30-th of December 1922; 2) Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was one of the four republics that signed Treaty on the formation of the USSR.
      3. Finland. Four days after the Mainilsky incident, the Red Army crossed Finish border and Finland declared war on the USSR. It has not been proven whether the Mainilsky incident was a false-flag operation by the USSR or a genuine attack by Finns.
      4. Poland. By the 17-th of September Poland was no more. Polish government done a runner and the Germans ended up just outside of Lvov (which is Ukraine). The Red Army stepped in to reclaim West-Ukrainian and West-Belorussian territories annexed by Poland in 1922.
      Btw., Polish general command did NOT consider the Red Army an invading force: Edward Rydz-Śmigły, serving as the Supreme Commander, gave the general order not to engage at all with the Red Army.
      5. Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia. In 1919 – 1920 US, UK, France helped the local antidemocratic forces to overthrow soviets of people’s representatives and to re-establish the rule of bourgeoisie. In 1939 democratically elected parliaments of the three republics proclaimed their republics Soviet and renewd their application to become part of the Soviet Union.
      6. Hungary and Czechoslovakia became the first states where US and UK tried to organise the first “coloured revolutions”; in Hungary US sided with the remaining local nazis. The Soviet Union, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria and Germany prevented the overthrow of the legitimate governments plotted by the US.
      7. In Afghanistan the Soviet Army was invited by a legitemate Afghan government, while the US and UK were arming, training, financing and supporting Taliban and Osama bin Laden.
      8. Chechen Halifat attacked Dagestan (part of the Russian Federation), Russia returned control over Dagestan and destroyed Halifat. After that, Chechnya re-entered the Russian Federation.
      9. Prompted by the US, UK and France, Georgia attacked South Osetia killing Russian peace keepers. Russia retaliated and fulfilled its obligations towards South Osetia.
      10. In 2014 US, UK and EU organised an armed coup in Ukraine and brought to power Ukrainian nazis who proceeded subjugating Eastern Ukraine, committing genocide in Donbass (8 years of genocide conveniently ignored by the West!), allowed US to build biological laboratories, allowed UK to build its naval base, announced their aim to join NATO and twice in three months prior to 24-th of February threattened to take over Donbass, and allowed themselves to be used by US and UK in their war against Russia.
      In the words of US senator Richard Black: “We don’t care, United States and NATO, we don’t care how many Ukrainians die, not civilians, not women, not children, not soldiers. We do not care. We are… It’s become a great football game: you know, they’ve got their team, we’ve got our team, we want to get the biggest score… and we don’t care how many of our players got crippled on a playing field as long as we win…”

    2. @elena dunn
      I get it: if you ask 🇫🇮(Finnish),🇱🇻(Latvians),🇱🇹(Lithuanians),🇪🇪(Estonians),🇵🇱(Polish),🇺🇦(Ukrainians),🇬🇪(Georgians),🇭🇺(Hungarians),🇨🇿(Czechs) ,🇦🇫(Afgans),and 🇸🇰(Slovaks), they’ll all say Soviets/🇷🇺 are/were “great” liberators who only wanted what’s “good for them”. 🙄

    3. I agree with you Damir. North Korea is not depending on China. It’s making its own bombs. Iran is catching up. Israel has already theirs.

    4. @Tim McPherson You don’t “get it”. To “get it” one needs a brain, you haven’t got it. Just remember: the USSR and Russia do not start wars; they end them.

    5. @elena dunn hello Elena. Thank you for your long fine essay. Now both sides are arguing with weapons. Both sides are determined to win the arguments on the battlefield. The West is determined Putin is not going to win in Ukraine. Putin is equally determined to win against the West. Hasn’t Europe seen this tragedy twice before in the last century? Reminder, Nazi Germany twice went to war against the world. Who is fighting against the world now?

  7. Feel sorry for all the mothers of fallen soldiers for being used by his own benefit while his children enjoying luxury life outside russia.

  8. Despite being used to the Russian winters for the soldiers, it will be tough . They haven’t fought in winter maybe nor since Second World War, not sure maybe other wars too. But these young boys being sent out and not properly trained may not be able to handle the cold. Ukraine gets as cold as Russia too. Russia has lost a lot of military equipment in summer time, winter won’t be any different. It actually may be more to Ukraine s advantage, if Russian soldiers not prepared for cold winter.

    1. @Bert NL I was watching the news the other day when it was reported that the % of the electrical grid in Ukraine destroyed had climbed to 50% and that blankets were being sent to Ukraine. So how much goes to civilians and how much to the Ukrainian soldiers?

    2. @Brookman I have no idea why you want to know that. I am not an Ukraïnian and when I knew it I would not say it. You agree with me it is Putin who is to blame for every casualty in Ukraine and for every dead Russian, aren’t you?

    3. “Bankers will make sure we are in debt, pharmaceutical companies that we feel bad, arms manufacturers will make sure we fight each other, the media that we don’t find out the truth, and governments will make sure everything is legal ….
      Show, the payment is made at the end … “

  9. They are all seated before he arrives. First thing he does is remove the teacup and starts delivering a speech. Not talking to anybody at the table.

    1. They don’t see it that way,he also claim Russia sabotage the Nord stream 2 and 1 and yet know challenges was made against him but now the true has comes out and he never apologize for the lies he spread on wide news channel.

  10. Student of basic world history comments on repeat of Stalin’s war: thousands will freeze to death. No one stops it.

  11. I wish for Ukraine, to be able to reinstate their territorial integrity (meanin pre-2014 borders). Slava Ukraini!

  12. This brutal war will go on for some time. The conditions on the front line are going to freeze soon as winter approaches and temperatures drastically drop.

  13. General Marks opinion comes from what he sees on the ground and Ukraine’s objectives, and he doesn’t see any resolution any time soon. That is fair enough. He also indicates that he believes that Russia will achieve some of its goals. That is fair enough if — a huge “if” — support for Ukraine does not continue and increase. The former ambassador shakes his head apparently in disagreement. I do not believe that the ex-ambassador is disagreeing with general Marks about the situation on the ground. Nor do I believe that he is necessarily disagreeing with the former general that Ukraine does not have enough to achieve its aims. I believe that the ex ambassador believes that Ukraine will receive enough resources to meet its goals. The former general is warning what he believes will happen if things do not change, while the ex ambassador assures us that things will change and that Ukraine will receive what it needs.

  14. Attacking the electricity grid is not a war crime per se. But Russia has attacked hospitals, churches, shools and so on so there is no lack of war crimes. There are parts of the electric grid that is a warcrime attacking, for example destroying electric conection for a nuclear plant, destoying the grid for small vilages that has 0 military importance. The winter war is not harder than a summer war if the army is trained for it. Infact winter can be a very good friend for a trained and well equipped army.

  15. Being a general doesn’t mean you know what will happen, time after time they have been wrong. Winter will be a big advantage for Ukraine. Yes, Russians are used to the cold but they don’t have the necessary equipment for a winter war. My prediction is that the Russian army will collapse due to (already) low morale and the freezing of soldiers. I live above the Arctic Circle I know how paralyzing the cold can be.

  16. The conflict there was always going to end as a result of some negotiated settlement. As it stand Ukraine has been able to hold out only because of the continuous supply or funds and weaponry from various NATO nations. This was never about respecting the sovereignty of Ukraine or its “freedoms” it was a way to degrade and or weaken the military and economic capabilities of Russia. Ukraine was just the mechanism we chose to achieve that aim. First world nations do not have Allie’s they have interest, and it serves our interests to support Ukraine and the second it no longer serves our interest to support them we will stop doing so. When that happens will be when we have reached the point where logistically it becomes untenable for us to continue at the rate we currently are.

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