Russian propagandist Vladimir Solovyov is spending a weekend on the front lines of supporting and promoting Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine. Unfortunately for the Kremlin, all that time and the grim reality he’s facing is teaching Solovyov just how bad this war is going.
In a wild rant on Thursday, Solovyov attacked the entire strategy, claimed that the Russian Army was failing miserably to suppress its enemies, and said he had first-hand evidence of foolish tactical errors on the front line. .
During his Full Contact show, Solovyov was excited about the recent announcement that Ukraine would soon be receiving Abrams and Leopard-2 tanks from NATO countries. The host began his monologue with a deep sigh, asking, “So, we lived long enough to see this?” He urged the audience not to trust the number of tanks scheduled for the upcoming deliveries, predicting that they will send even more: “They will deliver everything. I’ve been saying it for a while, these bastards will rehabilitate Hitler too in our lives… this is where everything is going… WWII is on and the West has returned to its Nazi roots. Germany grew tired of hiding its Nazi nature and America finally openly admitted its own Nazi ways.”
Calling the Americans “slackers who surrendered,” Solovyov said that Russia itself is to blame for their arrogance: “We are not creating any threats against them. We are not carrying out strikes against New York, we are not pressuring Washington, we are not threatening Miami, we are not doing anything to endanger Americans. They blew our pipelines, we were just cleaning our faces. They are delivering heavy tanks, we are cleaning our face. Stop talking about red lines! It’s a completely empty phrase that means nothing!”
Angry, Solovyov screamed: “Berlin, Paris, Madrid, London, Washington should be on fire! The capitals of the Nazi countries that decided to go to war with Russia… Why was Kyiv not wiped off the face of the world after the Nazi nation of Ukraine made a strike against our strategic aviation base? Stop resorting to empty, worthless words!”
The host then said: “Strikes are being made against our cities! Against our land! Russian soldiers are dying! The Russian people are dying! The Nazis rejoice! How do we plan to respond? By crying that the most important thing is to avoid nuclear war? Then why do we have a stockpile of tactical and strategic nuclear weapons? To be afraid to use it? So that a great decorated general could hear, “Do you want nuclear war?” Do you want to destroy Russia with conventional weapons, which NATO countries have 3 and a half times more than we have?”
Solovyov claimed that destroying Ukraine’s infrastructure was not enough. He demanded to know: “Why are Odesa, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk [Dnipro] still there?” He shouted angrily: “We are not located near Kyiv anymore! Was it a damn goodwill gesture? A sign of good will? And Kharkiv was a sign of goodwill? No one was executed by shooting for [surrender] Kharkiv! No one was fired, at least not publicly. The association did not receive any response to its questions. I am asking you, why did you move the front line closer to Belgorod? We haven’t come back to those posts yet! In response – silence. Silence.”
Solovyov demanded that enemies be destroyed “on their soil”: “Citizens of NATO countries should not feel peace, while the Russian man suffers… Citizens! War has been declared against us. Wake up! Wake up.”
Solovyov’s guest, the military correspondent Alexander Kots, revealed one of the reasons for the helpless rage of the host: the blatant incompetence and mismanagement of the invasion forces by their military leadership. Discussing new items to be delivered to Ukraine by NATO countries, Kots said: “Although we have this list, only on paper so far, we should start thinking about what we will do when or if it’s all the front line. Somehow, we have to fight their artillery systems and their tanks. In the past month, during the holidays, as a member of the Presidential Council for Human Rights, I have been receiving alarming and worried messages from [the soldiers’] relatives. We have trained—I won’t say how many, but a good number of the artillery battalions, but they were all sent to the infantry. This is a large number of people, we have been training them for three months, spending ammo, spending money to settle them, great instructors from our military universities – including the Mikhailovskaya Artillery Military Academy – who have given their time and knowledge to them to train. . As for our artillery, it is a very sad story… we have no artillery school left! There were eleven of us and now only Mikhailovskaya remains.”
Solovyov said he was aware of this problem because of his initial visits. Kots added that the same issue is occurring with the anti-tank divisions, describing them as “the very units that should have been the ones for this Armada tank, burning the Abrams and Leopard tanks that. Instead, for some reason, they are being moved to the pedestrians as well. I don’t understand why this is happening… We trained specialists professionally, we trained them well, but they sit without giving them proper tasks… As we face the threat of these deliveries from the West to the front line at Spring, it’s a huge waste for our party.”
Solovyov said the following: “I understand that you do not fight tanks with tanks, that you use other methods. Our anti-tank fists should be ready.” Kots hit him over the head with more bad news: “The first line of defense serving these tanks will often consist of mobilized men. Our soldiers are mobilized on the front lines armed only with Kalashnikovs. Unfortunately, there are no anti-tank weapons on many areas of the front line.”
Solovyov returned to his favorite topic, claiming that it is only a matter of time before NATO gives the Ukrainians tactical nuclear weapons. He said, “I believe that the use of tactical nuclear weapons is inevitable. The question is who will do it first: us or them.” Playing along, Kots said: “The tanks being delivered have depleted uranium.” After Solovyov noted that depleted uranium is not radioactive, Kots suggested: “It could still be used as an excuse, to use our tactical nuclear weapons.”
But his trademark act of threatening Russia’s enemies with nuclear mayhem failed to bring even a modicum of ordinary satisfaction to the embittered philanderer. Introducing his next guest, Solovyov complained bitterly: “I’m sad. This is all very sad.”
