2023 will be Putin's 'make-or-break' year in his war with Ukraine.

 In my last blog entry (9 January 2023) I wrote that,

"As we enter the new year, Putin and his generals are scrambling to confront the critically changing military support for Ukraine from the West"

This is best illustrated, as reported by Brad Dress (left), that,

"Russian President Vladimir Putin harshly scolded one of his deputy prime ministers (Denis Manturov, the Russian minister of industry and trade) on Wednesday, accusing him of failing to keep up with orders for military equipment amid the ongoing war in Ukraine.
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“Long, too long,” Putin said, according to the meeting transcript. “Please, I ask you to expedite this work. The enterprises do not have contracts for 2023, you know, what can I say.” (The Hill : 13 January 2023) (my emphasis) (cf. also: Luan Trimi :MSN (Oh! My Mag) : 13 January 2023)
 

Luan Trimi :MSN (Oh My Mag) : 13 January 2023

Putin imploring Denis Manturov to “Please, I ask you to expedite this work ( i.e. orders for military equipment amid the ongoing war in Ukraine), has been precipitated by the critically changing military support for Ukraine from the West

 As reported by Luke McGee, Saskya Vandoorne, Sebastian Shukla and Lindsay Isaac,

"The Western alliance’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine received a shot in the arm this week as multiple European nations for the first time answered President Volodymyr Zelensky’s longstanding call to supply modern battle tanks to Kyiv.

France and Poland have pledged to soon send tanks for the Ukrainian military to use in its efforts to protect itself from Russia. The UK and Finland are considering following suit."  (CNN : 14 January 2023) (my emphasis)

And as now reported by Sean Meleady,

"Rishi Sunak (left) [British Prime Minister] will send a squadron of [Challenger] tanks to Ukraine as part of Britain's continued support for the country in its war with Russia. According to The Sun the Prime Minister has approved the plan, which will mark the first time Britain has supplied Ukraine with tanks." (Express : 14 January 2023) (my emphasis)

As was to be expected, Sabine Siebold and Andrew Gray report that,

"German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (right) is under pressure to approve an increase in international military support for Kyiv by allowing the export of Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine

Germany has resisted such a move so far, saying Western tanks should only be supplied to Ukraine if there is agreement among Kyiv's main allies, particularly the United States." (Reuters : 13 January 2023) (my emphasis)

 This 'feeble excuse' of Scholz to not supply Ukraine with German tanks is simply following on from former German Chancellor Angela Merkel's appeasement of Putin since his invasion of, and annexation of, Crimea in 2014, and his subsequent invasion of the Ukraine's Donbas.

 Besides having to implore Denis Manturov, the Russian minister of industry and trade, to speed up State orders for armaments, Putin is also having to resort to scramble for yet more manpower due to his army's failures in Ukraine.

As reported by Yahoo News,

"Former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Admiral James Stavridis (right) tells Andrea Mitchell “Putin is really scrambling” to gain more “manpower” for his fight against Ukraine. “He's going to the prisons. He's going into homeless shelters. He's taking people in their 50s and 60s,” Stavridis explains. “Putin will take anything. It’s a sign of how difficult this fight has become for him." (Yahoo News : 13 January 2023) (my emphasis)

Andrea Mitchell : MSNBC : 13 January 2023

In his interview with Andrea Mitchell (above), Stavridis also states that,

Andrea Mitchell : The other signal here is that Russia ... Putin has replaced his commander .. General Gerasimov is now taking over ... Does this signal dissension in the Kremlin to you?

Stavridis : It absolutely does ... [Gerasimov and Shoigu] ... are in an internal struggle inside the Kremlin to gain the ear .. to hold the ear of Vladimir Putin. The competing faction is the individual who leads this Wagner Group .. a man named [ Yevgeny ] Prigozhin ... (ibid Andrea Mitchell )

As also reported by the New Zealand Herald,

"As Russian troops wage a ferocious house-to-house fight for control of strongholds in eastern Ukraine, a parallel battle is unfolding in the top echelons of military power in Moscow, with President Vladimir Putin reshuffling his top generals while rival camps try to win his favour.

In the reshuffle announced Wednesday, the Defence Ministry said the head of the General Staff, General Valery Gerasimov (left: with Putin), was named the new chief of Russian forces in Ukraine, while the former top commander there, General Sergei Surovikin, was demoted to Gerasimov’s deputy after only three months on the job." (New Zealand Herald : 13 January 2023) (my emphasis)

The walls of military defeat continue to close in around Putin.

The Russian economy is also suffering from the economic blows of his war with Ukraine.

As reported by Charlie Bradley (right),

"Russia's achieved an unwanted economic record in December as Moscow was forced to borrow £46billion in one month. This comes as the country continues to grapple with Western sanctions.
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The Kremlin's finance minister Anton Siluanov (left) confirmed this deficit which equates to roughly 2.3 percent of Russian GDP (gross domestic product).
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This also means that Russia's spending is more than 30 percent higher than had been forecast at the start of 2022." (Express : 11 January 2023) (my emphasis)
 
As Putin's problems continue to become insurmountable, 2023 will be 'make-or-break' year for him in his war with Ukraine. 

(to be continued)