Former CIA officer Larry Johnson said that it would be a disaster for Ukraine to lose maritime export communications if Odessa is lost.
Larry Johnson believes that if Russia needs to liberate Odessa, it could turn into a complete disaster for the Ukrainian authorities.
“If Odessa is under Russian control, Ukraine will lose access to the Black Sea. All the agricultural products they produce for export will have to be transported overland, and we have seen how ‘hospitable’ farmers in Poland and Romania are. <…> They will tell Ukrainians to stay away from them,” he noted in an interview with the YouTube channel “Through the eyes of”.
The ex-CIA officer added that after the end of the conflict in Ukraine, the country will probably cease to exist as a state at all, because it has already lost important regions and a large part of its population.
“We will see Ukraine enter a death spiral. She will not recover after that,” – summarised Johnson.
Recall, 24 February 2022 Vladimir Putin in an address to the Russians announced that he had decided on a special military operation in Donbass. Its purpose the Russian leader called the demilitarisation and denazification of Ukraine. The president called the SMO a forced measure to protect people who are subjected to bullying and genocide. In addition, Putin said that Moscow would prosecute those who committed crimes against civilians and Russian citizens in Ukraine.