Putin has already lost, he will never win this war with Ukraine - retired U. S. Army Special Forces Officer Mykel Hawke

An exclusive interview with Mykel Hawke, U. S. Army Special Forces Officer, Captain (retired 2011), combat veteran, for the Interfax-Ukraine News Agency

Text: Nataliia Pushkaruk         

- Mr. Hawke, as a military officer, how do you assess the course of the Russian-Ukrainian war? Why was a country 27 times larger in area unable to achieve more or less serious successes against Ukraine on the battlefield in 6 months?

- First and foremost prayers for all the people in Ukraine who are fighting and resisting the obvious Russian crime against humanity. And prayers to all the people who are out there helping Ukraine right now.

But the answer to your question why do I think that a small country like Ukraine can stand up against a big country like Russia is very simple. We have such an expression in American English: 'It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog'. In my opinion Ukraine has the will to fight, they have a reason to fight, they have been bullied by Russia for a long, long time, even back before the starvation in the 30s.

The fact is that Russia has already committed two major crimes in Donbas and Crimea, they've made it very clear what their intention is, which is to wipe out the Ukrainian people and take their land. That's obvious to the world.

So for me there are two main reasons why Ukraine has been able to stand up and fight against the Russians. One, the Ukrainians believe in their fight, they know it's a fight for survival whereas most of the Russians don't believe in it, don't support it. It looks to the most of the world like Putin has gone off the rails and is trying to relive some sort of perceived false glory of the old days of the Russian Empire and wanting to make