He described the Russian military effort as "a complete failure," in referring to how Putin had appointed Chief of the Russian General Staff Valery Gerasimov, to take charge of the Kremlin's campaign in Ukraine.

"Everything is going on the same path as it was in the summer," said Girkin, a time when Russian forces suffered setbacks in the teeth of a successful Ukrainian offensive, "only instead of Peski, we have Bakhmut."