Putin to be toppled if Ukraine prevails - ex-chief of UK’s General Staff

That’s according to Lord Dannatt’s interview with Sky News, Ukrinform reports.

"At some point in late spring or early summer, the Ukrainians can mount a really strong counteroffensive, utilizing modern equipment that we’re now giving them,” Dannatt said, adding that, if western weapons and ammunition keep flowing into Ukraine and if the counteroffensive is properly planned and implemented, there is a chance to achieve a decisive outcome on the battlefield as early as this year.

In his opinion, "a few decisive blows struck at certain points along this very extended front" against the Russian army may well break the morale of the Russian military and break the back of the Russian army.

"You don’t have to defeat an army in detail everywhere on the battlefield. You’ve just got to convince enough soldiers that they’ve lost, and when they think they’ve lost, they have lost," the general explained.

Analyzing the situation around Bakhmut, Dannatt noted that strategically it is not too important, but the battle for the city achieved its goal, having become an anvil on which many Russian lives were broken, and therefore it makes perfect sense for the Ukrainians now to retreat to a more protected line and continue the battle there.

Dannatt noted that senior generals may be unhappy with Putin's actions.

"I would like to think that if the counteroffensive by the Ukrainians is sufficiently well planned, supported and executed, then Putin won’t be able to do much decision-making himself. If his army crumbles and runs, then I think it is quite likely that he will be swept out of the Kremlin as well," he said.

According to the former chief of the General Staff, after Putin, "the group of people, the group of leaders who are most disaffected in Russia at the present moment are the senior generals," and that it’s they who may come to power.

They've seen Putin unleash a war that they probably don't agree with, Dannatt explained. They understand that their weapons are distinctly inferior to the West - largely due to corruption in the defense procurement process.

According to Dannatt, it is the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Federation, Valery Gerasimov, who could "make a sufficiently sensible plan and have the courage to see it through" in order to topple Putin in a joint effort together with other generals.

"There is going to be a lot of change in Russia over the next 12 months. I have got no doubt," he added.