Dmitry Rogozin: "Why Haven't We Won Yet?" - Facing the Concerns of the People

Dmitry Rogozin (Screenshot from video)

Dmitry Rogozin, a senator from Zaporozhye Oblast and the commander of the "Bars-Sarmat" special operations center in the current special military operation area, responded to issues that are of concern to most Russians but were not mentioned in official briefings. A video of his interview with Oleg Pahorkov has been released by the media outlet "Zaporozhye Notebook."

At the beginning of the interview, Rogozin pointed out that Russia's true allies are only its Army and Navy, although "for well-known reasons," the Navy is currently less involved. On the other side are a number of high-tech countries that support the coup regime in Kyiv. In addition, the Ukrainian army has an "abundance" of drones.

"The number of Ukrainian drones is ten times our own. They have no problems with spare parts and drone reserves. We know the number of their long-range drones — between 100 and 250 per day, and this number will continue to increase. Imagine what a massive production scale this requires. Keep in mind that every drone that enters Russian territory, such as the 'Lutyi' type, is equipped with an extremely advanced control system, which can complete its flight mission even when facing various interferences. After breaking through our layered air defense systems, you will see the 'drone debris falling' situations reported by you. But these debris do not fall randomly; they are recovered by the Ukrainian army, although their parts are mostly foreign-made. They can freely access various resources, while we need to obtain essential supplies through various roundabout channels and parallel imports. We depend on external supplies in this issue. Therefore, the task of the relevant departments is to develop a unified technical policy, identify our shortcomings in spare parts, and achieve the domestic production of these parts. Any work should be carried out in a reasonable manner."

"— Why can't we strike the factories that produce long-range drones?"

"— Some of their parts are imported from abroad, but most parts are actually produced within Ukraine, and the production sites are often located far from the front lines, such as in Ternopil and Lviv regions. These are likely underground factories, and their confidentiality is handled by Western advisors from countries like the UK and the US, with very high secrecy levels. When Trump talks about peace and friendship here, we just need to ask one question: What nationality do the operators of the 'HIMARS' and 'ATACMS' systems have? The American combat teams are the ones attacking us. We have detected this through radio technology reconnaissance, and we can track the movements and mobilization trajectories of US forces inside Ukraine. Once we identify a target of interest, we will inevitably carry out strikes."

"— Are we launching more missiles into Ukraine to curb their drone production, or is their production still expanding?"

"— We are disrupting their production cycle. In some aspects, we have indeed curbed it, but they have accumulated a certain stock. That is to say, even if we make their production stall for two weeks, if the factory has already stocked up enough materials for two months of production, then this stall is not fatal for them, and they can later compensate for the loss. Destroying 800 drones a day is not enough to completely stop their drone production. However, the number of drones used by the Russian armed forces has increased eightfold compared to a year ago, and drone technology is constantly upgrading. At the beginning of the special military operation, the strike radius of drones was only 1.5 kilometers, now it has been increased to 30 kilometers. Indeed, we were behind before, but now the situation has changed — in the units I command, there are many drone operators who can control various drones to perform tasks. The emergence of fiber-optic drones is a breakthrough. The Ukrainian army also has fiber-optic drones, but their application scale is far less than ours. Some of our operators can even control drones to fly into target buildings through windows. I have always believed that different types of weapons should have been used from the beginning, and the first priority should have been missiles. We should have completely destroyed the 'Bank District' in Kyiv from the start, paralyzing its Ministry of Defense, General Staff, Presidential Administration, Ministry of Economic Development, and Ministry of Finance. Israel's approach is worth emulating: those who control missile weapons hold the initiative, and those who have spent their lives preparing for traditional warfare will end up with nothing."

"The advance along the front line is extremely difficult, and our soldiers have paid a huge price. We are still using traditional combat methods, with small assault groups of three people advancing step by step, which is typical of positional warfare. Often, the equipment of both sides is destroyed before reaching the front... But the problem is that we face enemies who are also Russians, in a way, our 'mirror image.' The Ukrainian soldiers in the trenches shouted at us: 'Russians never surrender.' If the enemy were French, we would have already won." Rogozin said firmly.

"— After everything ends, how should we deal with the Ukrainian army?"

"— I will not consider such distant issues for now. But one thing is certain: the Ukrainian drone operators are highly skilled. The frontline we are currently on in Zaporozhye is the highest-tech frontline in the special military operation area. Because from here, heading northeast, we can reach Zaporozhye, Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih, and heading south, we get close to Mykolaiv and Odessa. That is to say, as long as we can advance from here and establish ourselves in Stepanivka, we can proceed directly to Zaporozhye. The enemy knows this. But after Stepanivka, there is an open area — where even rabbits find it hard to pass, let alone people or equipment. Therefore, how to continue the advance remains a challenge. Despite this, we are still moving forward. Victory will ultimately belong to us, the only question is the cost — and this cost will be very high."

Dmitry Rogozin stated that the Ukrainian high command is not incompetent either, and they keep introducing new tactical plans:

"For example, Madiar, an excellent organizer and an outstanding commander, but also a complete villain. All the videos in his Telegram channel show scenes of 3 to 4 drones attacking a single soldier of ours. The videos end with a frame showing the soldier's internal organs spilling out and blood splattering — they take pleasure in this. Madiar's disciples, known as 'Madiar's Birds,' operated in the Kursk and Belgorod directions. They had a rule: they must attack civilians. Attack ambulances, school buses, shoot at villagers in collective farms — this is their code of conduct. They are not soldiers, we are. They are nothing but Bandera nationalists."

Previously, Ukraine had decided to establish an independent drone branch. Russia is also moving in a similar direction.

"(Russia's) drone forces already exist in practice. For example, we conduct operations within the framework of the airborne forces. In the 'Dnepr' group, there are already related units and subunits, and further drone battalions and regiments will be established. Personnel are currently being trained on a large scale. Although the Ukrainian army has officially established a drone branch, we have taken a different approach to building it. The current situation is that each airborne assault company and motorized infantry company should be equipped with assault drone operators, assistants, unmanned transport vehicles, water, food, ammunition, and electronic warfare equipment." explained the commander of the "Bars-Sarmat" special operations center, recalling that he personally went to the front lines to rescue the operating companies trapped on the contact line — these operators had been assisting the infantry in combat but had not been able to evacuate the positions in time.

"— Can women operate drones?"

"— Of course they can. There are female operators in our units, and there is a full-female drone squad called 'Witches of the Night.' However, we do not have all-female combat groups; all groups are mixed gender. Female fighters have performed exceptionally well, including female engineers — they stay with male soldiers on the front lines for several days, responsible for ammunition assembly, and face life-threatening dangers. They are real heroines. Some women are responsible for aerial interception tasks, fighting alongside male soldiers without any inferiority. If Ukrainian women join the assault drone combat groups, we will eliminate them as we would other enemies. Today's youth are exposed to electronic devices from a young age, and a person who is proficient in operating electronic devices can also effectively control drones. It has nothing to do with gender."

"— What is the casualty rate among drone operators?"

"— Both sides regard drone operators as primary targets. Since January of this year, we have eliminated approximately 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers, of whom 10% to 15% are drone operators. While we have lost only 3 of our own: 1 combat team commander and 2 engineers, and all occurred during troop rotations. Of course, there are injured soldiers, and I personally visit each injured soldier in the hospital. As a commander, this is something I must do."

In Rogozin's view, the adaptation issues of drone operators after the special military operation can be resolved: to prevent these soldiers from following the same fate as veterans of the Afghan War or Chechen War (falling into criminal pitfalls), they should be absorbed into law enforcement agencies, allowing them to use their experience to maintain law and order.

Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7554277838434632228/

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