Ukrainian Captain Tregubov from the Bakhmut war front for The Geopost: Victory is ours, Russian propaganda has been destroyed by its own lies

Ukrainian captain Victor Tregubov from the war front in Bakhmut, in an exclusive interview for The Geopost, said that they are preparing a counter-offensive against the Russian forces in this city.

Tregubov emphasizes that undoubtedly the victory in Bakhmut will be Ukriana’s.

“Our main goal is to buy time and damage them as much as possible, because the next offensive will be ours, we want to counterattack, but to counterattack we have to prepare a whole new army with Western weapons and with troops trained to use Western weapons,” Tregubov emphasizes.

According to him, it is a matter of weeks or months when there will be a counter-offensive.

“Right now we probably have the technical superiority, maybe we have more experienced soldiers, but when it comes to battle in urban areas, numbers matter, so we just try to buy our time, to counter-attack and maybe it’s a matter of a month or maybe weeks,” he adds.

Captain Tregubov claims that Russian propaganda has already been destroyed by its own lies.

“It’s hard to believe the country that attacked you and says it’s your fault, so I guess the Russian propaganda machine has been destroyed, but it wasn’t destroyed by us, it was destroyed first of all by the Russian lies themselves, because they just went too far into those lies, they just get too creative within the fakes and I think they destroyed their credibility,” the Ukrainian captain claims.

In the end, he says that the Russians are colonizers and aggressors in the Balkans.

“I understand that many people in the Balkans see the West as a colonizer or as an aggressor and Russia as a protector, but Russia cannot be any protector, Russia simply sees every country as a vassal country or an enemy, you cannot be really a friend of Russia, you can be a vassal of Russia, and Ukraine paid a really big price for accepting that, and maybe it will be useful to learn from our mistakes,” he concluded.

Full interview

The Geopost: One year after the Russian aggression in Ukraine, how do you describe general situation in Ukraine and current situation in Bakhmut?

Situation in Ukraine, for now there is a Russian turn, because we are in defense and they are in offense and they are trying to attack, and Bakhmut is spear point of their attacks right now.

Our main goal is to win time and to make them as damage as we possibly can, because next storm will be ours, we want to counterattack, but to counterattack we need to prepare an entirely new army with western weapons and with troops trained to use western weapons.

So, for us now, maybe in this month and maybe in the beginning of next month, its defense period.

For us is just time to hold on, to hold the line and to make as many damage as we can on Russia and of course it’s not so easy because they destroyed everything since they got into Bakhmut and they use literally human lives, they want to make the most from their numerical advantage for their numbers and it’s hard for us because, for now, we maybe have technical superiority, maybe we have more experienced soldiers but when it’s about battle in urban areas, its where numbers matters, so, we just try to win our time, to counter attack and maybe it’s a question of one month or maybe weeks.

The Geopost: Does EU and US support enough Ukraine?

Well, I say the question it’s not the number of this help but the time of this help, it’s good but it’s late, the biggest problem now it’s not the arms weapons we got from the west, but time is the most crucial, because if we could get these weapons maybe half a year ago, I suppose our war could be already over and won by Ukraine, and we got get these weapons only now, many announced still is not delivered to Ukraine, so, that is the problem, not numbers, because in numbers it’s really great number, hundreds of tanks it’s absolute massive force, but the question is when these tanks will be in Ukraine and when we will prepare our tankman to use that so that is maybe most crucial for now.

So, we are actually happy for western help even when we talk about amount number, we are just not really happy when it’s not coming in time, to actually speed these deliveries.

The Geopost: Another form of fighting is Russian propaganda; how do you fight this form of propaganda in your country?

It was much harder during the initial stage of the war, I don’t mean the year 2022, I mean the year 2014.

During the year 2014 when Russia first invaded Ukraine, it was really hard because Russia had really powerful propaganda machine, and maybe the world wasn’t just ready for this amount of lies, and when Russians tried to lie and Ukrainians tried to tell what really happened, west tried to find some middle ground “Ok, maybe the boy in Slovyansk was not crucified but was just killed…”.

So it was just fakes and wont acknowledge that Russians are just lying, they don’t exaggerate, they just lied from zero level, and when the world understood it, it became much easier for Ukraine, because for now, I suppose in most European countries or in United States no one really believes what Russian media are saying, maybe there are exceptions of course.

I suppose in Asian in African in south America maybe people still buying what Russian state media trying to sell them but it’s not about Europe anymore, it’s not about United States anymore and for us is a major victory, and of course it’s not about Ukrainians, yes, because many Ukrainians believed what Russian TV was saying, but that’s not the case.

When all Ukrainians are target of missile attacks it’s hard to believe the state that caused the attack in you and saying that is your fault, so I suppose that Russian propaganda machine is destroyed, but it isn’t destroyed even by us, it is destroyed first of all by Russian own lies because they just gone too far in that lies, they just go too creative inside fakes and I think they destroyed their own credibility.

The Geopost: Do you have any message for the Balkans on how to protect from Russian propaganda?

I understand that many people in Balkans seen west as a colonizer or as an aggressor and Russia as a protector, but Russia cannot be any protector, Russia just views any country like either vassal or enemy, you cannot be friend of Russian really, you can be vassal of Russia, and Ukraine paid really great price to acknowledge that and maybe it will useful to learn from our mistakes. /The Geopost/