Last week, Russia attacked a public building in Vinnytsia (‘Venice’), a Ukrainian city spared during the war. The missiles killed at least 23 people, including three children, and Moscow claimed it had managed to eliminate high-ranking Ukrainian air force officers who were said to be meeting with “representatives of foreign arms dealers”.
Ukraine spoke of an “open act of terrorism” and did not confirm this information. then, A Berdichev Municipality expressed condolences over the death Vinnytsia of Lt. Col. Konstantin Buzyrenko from that city, were killed in the attack; And “Dnepr Operational” portal published information about the funerals of Colonel Dmitry Burtyko and Colonel Oleg Makharchuk. All three were senior officers of the Ukrainian Air Force’s weapons and logistics service. No reliable information was provided about the foreign delegation present at the site.
In an interview with Expresso, Major General Agostinho Costa had no doubts: these officers were indeed killed in Vinnytsia, and “a serious breach of security could be a catalyst” for Zelensky to dismiss the Attorney General of the Republic and the head of the Security Services (your childhood friend). And he offers a hypothesis: the meeting will help Ukraine agree to send US F-16s.
assumes a connection between the attack on Dismissals of Vinnytsia and senior Ukrainian government officials?
According to the sources I consulted, it is plausible that the attack on Vinnytsia was the catalyst for the Attorney General’s resignation. [Iryna Venediktova], Head of Ukrainian security services [Ivan Bakanov, amigo de infância de Zelensky]60 more employees. The meeting was shrouded in secrecy, about 40 km from the Moldovan border. Add to this the assumption that foreign delegations were present, and this is no small reason. [para as demissões].
What will be the reason for the meeting?
The meeting may be related to air force logistics and air mobility, delivery of Western aircraft to Ukraine. This is speculation, but probably a deployment of American F-16s. It has been talked about for some time, even Ukrainian pilots are trained in the US, but there is no evidence.
Does that make sense?
Sent by Poland [jatos] MiG-29s were sent to Ukraine, Slovakia, and even the United States with Soviet models purchased from Russia for the war in Afghanistan, but left unused. However, material erosion has occurred on a very large scale from both sides. Soviet supplies were running out, and countries that were part of the Warsaw Pact had already emptied their magazines [locais onde é armazenado equipamento militar], and as Ukraine has requested – the time will come to send in Western aircraft. This meeting could be important in that sense, but there are no concrete confirmations yet.
So, do you believe that the impeachment was a political decision motivated by a military defeat?
A Ukraine had to take political consequences. It was a serious breach of security, and Zelensky did what any political leader should do. Indeed, something like this already happened in Portugal, as we know: in 1983, a Palestinian representative [Issam Sartawi, membro da Organização para a Libertação da Palestina] Killed during a high-level meeting at a hotel in Albufeira [congresso da Internacional Socialista organizado sob a liderança de Mário Soares]. It was this phenomenon that led to the creation of the Special Operations Group (GOE) of the PSP, and it is understandable: it is something very serious and affects the external image of a country. Imagine what it would be like for a Portuguese delegation to visit another country and its members return in plastic bags.
But investigations into treason and dismissals on the part of Ukraine have been ongoing since the beginning of the war.
Yes. This is reactive work as is normal in these situations. But these measures were sufficient, and Zelensky took them decisively whenever he was not satisfied with his political representatives. For example, it did this in Kherson and Karkiv.
He spoke of the possibility that representatives of other countries attending the meeting might have been killed. Are there any symptoms for this?
I don’t have that information. But our job is to decode the propaganda and draw conclusions from what we find plausible. From the sources I consulted, they are open source and everyone can access them…
Are there no good contacts in Moscow?
[ri-se] No, no, that’s what’s missing. I am not affiliated with any particular company. Sources are open. What I did was research the news and the credibility of the sources and try to clear the smoke.
Some analysts said the dismissals showed that Zelensky was trying to consolidate his power at the expense of separation of powers.
I’ve seen analyzes along these lines that even point to an internal struggle for power. But I think this is not true. If anything, it is a sign of tension between Zelensky’s hard core and the military leadership.
Isn’t this a cause for concern for Ukraine?
Clashes between politicians and the military are normal and have happened before. But military power is always subordinate to political power. The layoffs were for operational reasons, not to stop an attack on power. Zelensky’s position is too strong internally and externally, and the Russian secret services cannot remove him. Before the start of the war, Putin called on the Ukrainian armed forces to overthrow the government – which did not happen.
