A RUSSIAN fighting for Ukraine has vowed to keep battling Vladimir Putin – even if Ukraine signs a peace deal.
Maximilian Andronnikov, better known as Caesar, is the leader of the Freedom of Russia Legion – a militant group of Russians seeking to overthrow the tyrant.
AFPCaesar, a Russian who joined the Freedom of Russia Legion to fight for Ukraine[/caption]
ReutersMaximilian Andronnikov has the call sign ‘Caesar’[/caption]
ReutersDonald Trump and Vladimir Putin, pictured in 2019, had a call about the Ukraine war as the US president repeatedly vows to end the conflict[/caption]
He spoke to The Sun to mark the third anniversary of Russia‘s brutal invasion of Ukraine – a war which could be heading for peace.
Caesar says the Ukrainians want peace, but tired Ukrainian troops would never give in and would continue fighting against Putin if talks fell apart.
He said: “When you’re working on the frontline for weeks, for months, you’re really tired.
“This war is kind of a Holy war for Ukrainians. It’s a war to defend their land and part of their land is occupied.”
But Caesar said his elite troops were not tired and he has vowed to keep fighting the tyrant running his country even if there is peace.
He said: “All my motherland is occupied with such b*****d like Putin for 25 years, and of course I want to go back to my country and throw him to jail or to The Hague and all his puppets.
“Me and my brothers in arms will continue our fighting, continue our resistance inside Russia to strike Putin’s regime.
“We will never surrender. I will be in the Kremlin, or I will be dead.”
Caesar said his Freedom of Russia Legion was growing in numbers inside Russia and with emigres in the rest of Europe.
“Our regiment is growing, it’s become more stronger even through the harsh battles,” he said.
“And the people in Russia, people in our resistance are growing more and more, more and more people in the Russian army, even officers, high ranking officers, come and support us.
“They understand that they can do nothing in Europe, that no one wants them to live in Europe and [no one] cares about them.
“When Russian people will fight for freedom, for prosperity, for peace, no one will stop them.”
This week, Russian and American diplomats and officials met for the first time since the beginning of the war as they look for a peace agreement.
AFPCaesar says the Freedom of Russia Legion is growing inside Russia[/caption]
AFPCaesar stands with fellow fighters in northern Ukraine near the Russian border[/caption]
AFPUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pictured in May 2024 amid Putin’s invasion of his country[/caption]
Caesar said it was important Putin achieved enough in the peace deal he could believably sell the war as a win to Russians.
“He will tell his people that denazification and demilitarization of Ukraine is done or going very well, but it’s not going very well.
“Ukraine has become much stronger. The Ukrainian army is now the most powerful, most experienced army in the whole of Europe.”
Caesar said: “For three years a lot of Russian people understand that this war was stupid, that this war was cowardly, that this war was bloody – and all for what?
“Putin ruined Bakhmut, ruined Avdeevka, a few hundred ruined villages in Ukraine, and now Russia will pay for renovation of this land.
“This money they take from Russian teachers, from Russian workers, from Russian social workers, from Russian business, also from Russian from any kind of Russian people.
We will never surrender. I will be in the Kremlin, or I will be dead
‘Caesar’
“They take money from them and give them to renovation and give this money to soldiers to pay them for war.”
Importantly, Putin would want sanctions to be removed from Russia so his wealthy oligarch supporters could return to a more normal life.
“They can use the yachts and villages and travel the world, and also renew these business ties with Western countries,” Caesar said.
“They can understand that as a victory.”
Putin, who Caesar said is a “fetishist” for dates, would look to ink the deal or celebrate it on May 9 – when Russia celebrates its win over Nazi Germany with a massive military parade.
The Russian tyrant has turned his country into a bloodthirsty militaristic state with a ruined economy, Caesar said.
“Putin stands now on the path of a war,” he said.
“He can strike at the Baltic States. Maybe he can strike on Poland, but he sees that where Western countries now are weak they they are frightened.”
But Caesar said Ukraine has shown in its three years at war how weak Russia actually was by pioneering a major military advancement – the use of drones.
With drones, Ukraine had been able to almost stop the far larger Russian army.
Drones have been able to kill Russians running across no man’s land, blow up vehicles, and get behind Russian lines and destroy key infrastructure.
“We understand that Russia has no more armored vehicles,” he said.
“They’re gone. We just destroyed everything. We can keep fighting. It will be hard, but we can stand our ground, and I believe that we can win.”
Wrong, Donald
The Sun Says…
DONALD Trump’s smearing of the Ukraine regime as scam artists who provoked a war using US taxpayers’ money is a rant beneath the dignity of his office.
Almost nothing in it is true.
It reads like a post on a forum for conspiracy theorists. It is an unprecedentedly shocking statement from the President of the United States.
Vladimir Putin has made no secret of his imperialist ambitions, nor his denial of his neighbour’s right to exist as a sovereign, free country.
He invaded Ukraine, butchered and raped its people, stole its children and bombed its cities.
President Zelensky — far from duping anyone or inviting the conflict, far from being a “dictator without elections” — has been a heroic wartime leader who needs Western aid to overcome staggering odds.
The idea he is riding a “gravy train” is laughable. And his people, with whom he remains highly popular whatever Trump claims, have resisted conquest with immense bravery.
It is troubling and short-sighted in the extreme for the so-called leader of the free world to have no interest in a war raging in Europe because he is separated from it by the Atlantic.
America is not a business where Trump, as CEO, has no task except to slash costs and maximise profits. It is the most powerful democracy on Earth with global responsibilities and — let’s be frank — a duty to discern right from wrong with absolute moral clarity.
Others in the White House should urgently point this out.
Drones have come to take the place of artillery, Caesar said, as Ukraine has not been able to produce or get enough shells from allies for the WW1-style grind.
Caesar said Russia was not strong on the frontline and was sending injured troops on crutches to attack and using donkeys to move supplies around.
“It’s a very hard time for the Ukrainian people, for Ukraine’s economy.
“Ukrainian forces are depleted also like Russian forces – and that’s why both sides need a peace treaty.”
The main thing for Ukraine, Caesar said, is security guarantees to stop another invasion by Putin.
He can strike at the Baltic States. Maybe he can strike on Poland. He sees that where Western countries now are weak, they they are frightened
‘Caesar’
But he said that were a second option to making the country safe – removing the Russian who started the war.
“But there is another way to do justice and to make a safe future for Ukraine – to change the Putin regime.
“And that’s our duty of Russian volunteers or Russian resistance inside Russia to strike and to shut down the Putin regime.”
Caesar said his group would use sabotage as they sought to cripple Putin’s “fragile” regime.
“We burned military infrastructure, some military plants, some railways, some bridges, some deports, airfields, military bases.”
Soon, Caesar said the time would come to overthrow Putin and build a prosperous Russia.
“But if we will begin our big move, our big operation… We will not stop, and they couldn’t stop us.”
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