SAN ANTONIO – Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s response to the retaking of much of the Ukrainian region of Kharkiv tells Dmytro Kovalskyy, “He doesn’t have plan B and he absolutely miscalculated his chances to win.”
Born and educated in Ukraine, Kovalskyy, who serves on the board of Ukrainian San Antonio, said he came to San Antonio over a decade ago to do scientific research that could help lead to medications to treat cancer.
But his mother, father and twin brother remain in Ukraine and he said many of his friends are fighting on the front lines.
“It’s absolutely natural to worry, but worry and confidence, they can coincide,” Kovalskyy said.
Ukrainian forces taking back much of a region that was under Russian control, Kovalskyy said serves to increase “the Ukrainian feeling of coming victory.”
However, he said the Russian strategy now is to shell “every square foot … with a limitless amount of artillery shells.”
Kovalskyy said Putin also has a “mobilization plan,” which has triggered a mass exodus of people trying to avoid being forced to fight in Ukraine.
Putin has said the winds of nuclear weapons can blow back against those threatening to use them against Russia.
Kovalskyy said he doesn’t know if Putin actually would follow through on his threat, but if he does, “the fate of Russia as a state will be done.”