Putin is more upset that Ukraine has 'really bloodied' his military than about any Biden statement: former ambassador
On Monday's edition of CNN's "The Lead," former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor pushed back on anchor Jake Tapper's suggestion that President Joe Biden's speech, saying that Vladimir Putin "cannot remain in power," is unlikely to matter in terms of Putin escalating his offensives in Ukraine.
"Ambassador Taylor, Ukraine's military intelligence head said Vladimir Putin could be looking to carve Ukraine into two, like North and South Korea, occupied Ukraine maybe to the south and east, free Ukraine to the west," Tapper said. "Do Biden's comments about who should be in power embolden Putin in any way, do you think?"
"Jake, I don't think so," said Taylor. "I don't think that those comments had anything to do with the decision to try to carve out a part of Ukraine. Putin carved out a part of Ukraine in 2014 when he first invaded. He carved out Crimea. He carved out a place we call Donbas."
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"And if that's what they are going back to, that's actually a reduction in what they had planned to do, but that was an early effort and if they're going back to that now, that probably reflects the problems they're having on the battlefield," added Taylor. "That reflects the Ukrainian military has really bloodied the Russian military and, of course, Ukraine's military is fighting for its own land, its own people, its own freedom. So if Putin is going to go back to just the Donbas and Crimea, that has nothing to do with anything Biden said."
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