The former Russian colonel contradicts previous statements criticizing Russian military operations in Ukraine

Retired Russian Colonel Mikhail Khodarinok said any talk of Ukraine’s ability to launch a counterattack is a “great exaggeration”, just a day after criticizing Russia’s military operations in Ukraine saying the situation for Russia could “get worse”.

He also said that it would be impossible for the Ukrainian Armed Forces to gain air supremacy in the next few months, and regarding gaining naval supremacy, he said, “While our Black Sea Fleet is in the Black Sea, the Ukrainian Black Sea Fleet having sovereignty is out of the question.”

But on Tuesday, Khodarenok said information being published about the “moral or psychological collapse” of Ukraine’s armed forces was not “close to reality”. He also said that Ukraine could arm a million people, and that Russia needed to take this into account in its operational and strategic calculations.

“The situation for us, frankly, is going to get worse,” he said on Tuesday. He also criticized Russia’s geopolitical isolation from the world, and warned before the invasion that waging war in Ukraine would be more difficult than many expected.

Previous reports from Tim Lister, Anastasia Graham Yule, and Taras Zadorozhny of CNN.