Ukrainian Forces Use Civilians as 'Shields,' Just Like Islamists in Middle East – Ret. US Colonel - Sputnik International

As Russia continues its military operation in Ukraine enters its second week, Ret. Col, Douglas Macgregor, former senior adviser to the US defence secretary, compared the tactics currently employed by Ukrainian forces with those used by extremists in the Middle East.

Speaking with Fox Business earlier this week, Macgregor noted that Ukrainian forces are "taking refuge in population centres, cities, because they have no mobility, no air defence, no air cover, no logistical infrastructure."

"They are now mingling with the population, much as we’ve seen in the Middle East whenever we drove the Islamists out of business – they ran into cities, used people as shields, the civilian population, and tried to avoid being annihilated," he said. "And I think that’s essentially what’s happening today with the population being used by the Ukrainian forces to avoid destruction."

When the host asked Macgregor whether Russian President Vladimir Putin would attempt to "flatten Ukraine," Macgregor replied that Russian forces "worked hard" to keep the country intact.
"Surprisingly little damage, frankly, Stuart," he told the host. "Much less damage than we inflicted on Iraq when we went into it, either on 1991 and again in 2003."

As Macgregor explained, in his opinion, the Russian troops in Ukraine are merely surrounding Ukrainian forces and are "annihilating them," with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy merely "postponing the inevitable in the hopes that we are going to rescue him, and we are not coming – President Biden has made it very clear."