Putin Made Two 'Profound Miscalculations' In Ukraine Invasion: Historian

Russian President Vladimir Putin has made two critical mistakes in his quest to invade the former Soviet republic Ukraine, one historian said.

Yaroslav Hrytsak, a Ukrainian historian and professor at the Ukrainian Catholic University, said Putin made two grave errors when he was planning to invade Ukraine, noting that the Russian president miscalculated the Ukrainian resistance and the West's response.

“A master tactician but inept strategist, he has made his most profound miscalculation,” Hrytsak wrote in an opinion piece published in The New York Times.

“First, he was hoping that, as had been the case with his war against Georgia, the West would tacitly swallow his aggression against Ukraine. A unified response from the West was not something he expected. Second, since in his mind Russians and Ukrainians were one nation, Mr. Putin believed Russian troops needed barely to enter Ukraine to be welcomed with flowers. This never materialized.”

Hrytsak added that Putin could be defeated if he is shown a “waking nightmare,” which is Ukraine fighting with the help of its western allies.

The opinion piece comes nearly four weeks after Putin first launched “special military operations” in Ukraine, which has led to the deaths of 902 civilians as of Sunday. It has also injured 1,459 civilians and displaced 6.5 million people in Ukraine, according to data from the United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner.

Russia has bombarded the Ukrainian city of Mariupol on Sunday with rockets and bombs, forcing thousands of residents to flee. Among the targets was an art school where approximately 400 residents were sheltering. The number of casualties remains unclear.

The city council of Mariupol also accused Russia of forcibly taking residents to camps where Russian troops check their phones and documents. Some of the residents were then allegedly redirected to remote cities in Russia. It is unclear what happened to the others.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has since signaled that he is open to negotiations with Putin. However, he noted that should attempt at negotiation fail, it may mean the beginning of World War III, the Ukrainian president told CNN.