US expert: If armed conflict with Russia, Ukraine can only hold out for half an hour

The New York Times quoted the comments of Professor of King's College London and veteran of the US Marine Corps Robert Lee.

Expert Lee assessed: "They can destroy the Ukrainian army in the East very quickly, within the first 30-40 minutes."

Illustration photo. Photo: AP

According to the newspaper, some officials in Kiev also share the same view. The head of the Intelligence Service ofMinistry of Defense of Ukraine, General Kirill Budanov believes that in the event of a full-scale conflict without support from Western countries, pushing back Russia is unrealistic. The Ukrainian general also believes that Ukrainian soldiers will be quickly destroyed, and the military leadership will not be able to coordinate a defense strategy. As a result, frontline commanders will have to fight alone, but without the allocation of reserves, "no army in the world will survive."

Moscow has repeatedly denied these allegations and accused NATO of wanting to deploy more military equipment near Russia's borders, as well as lobbying for its own interests./.