The capitulation of Ukraine has been predicted in the USA

Ukraine will be defeated by Russia on the battlefield and will accept demilitarization and denazification, according to pro-Kremlin propaganda, citing pro-Russian specialists in the US.

Propaganda: Americans believe that Ukraine will be denazified and demilitarized by Russia

NEWS: Former US scout Scott Ritter has said that Kyiv’s surrender to Russia is imminent. "A capitulation is imminent, but on good terms for Ukraine because Russia does not want any kind of cruel revenge, but they will be tough," he said.

Ritter mentioned demilitarization, abandoning the NATO accession path and denazification. According to him, Ukraine missed the chance to conduct negotiations with Russia, which is on a strategic path to victory.

Earlier, the former scout said that Ukraine risked losing more territories. The more the armed forces of Ukraine resist, the more territory will be lost.

NARRATIVE:  US experts predict the imminent capitulation of Ukraine

WHY THE NARRATIVE IS FALSE: American security or international relations experts do not predict an imminent surrender of Ukraine, nor is such an opinion dominant in the US political environment. Russian state media quotes a former American scout and presents his statement as the opinion of the whole society or a large part of the expert community. It is an older technique of Russian propaganda, used in presentations for the public opinion in France, Germany or other states in the West.

William Scott Ritter is a longtime Russian state media contributor and one that’s been very critical of the US foreign policy. He has been  paid by Russia Today for pro-Russian and anti-American articles or statements published in various media outlets of the Moscow trust. Ritter is one of the most invited and quoted American experts commenting on the war in Ukraine. In most cases, he praises Russia and predicts the defeat of Kyiv. He has repeatedly justified the large-scale invasion by repeating Russian propaganda messages about the need to denazify and demilitarize Ukraine. There is also a page containing Ritter's anti-Western articles and statements in Russian. Ritter's page can be financially supported through two bank accounts to which Russian  rubbles can be transferred .

Ritter’s claims in the Russian press do not reflect the reality on the ground. The commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valerii Zaluzhnyi told The Economist that the armies of both states are fighting a war of positions, with the parties having similar resources and technologies. He admitted that Ukraine needs the support of the West to continue the counter-offensive. At the same time, the Ukrainian press, as well as the Russian one, wrote that the Ukrainian military crossed the eastern bank of the Dnieper River. It is a military operation in Kherson announced by the Presidential Administration in Kyiv and presented as a consolidated support on the eastern bank of the Dnieper River.

Specialists from Kyiv claim that Ukraine is successfully defending itself , both in the Kupiansk area and in Avdiivka, planning offensive operations in the south. At the same time, the intensity of the fighting will decrease during the winter, which means that Ritter's forecasts of an imminent capitulation of Kyiv are devoid of any logic. The other statements regarding the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine are a repetition of Russian propaganda narratives that do not represent the view of American society or the expert community.

Veridica has dismantled a series of false narratives by the Moscow media regarding the nature of the war in Ukraine. According to the Russian propaganda, peace in Ukraine depends on the US  and Zelenskyi’s departure. The Russian press has also written that the US experts believe that the Bucha massacre  was made up by the Ukrainian propaganda, while the US is studying the Russian weaponry  captured in Ukraine in order to copy its ultra-modern technology.