Russian State TV Guest Admits War Was a 'Disastrous Mistake'

A guest on Russian state television has expressed an opinion not often heard on the airwaves in his country as he criticized Moscow's invasion of Ukraine as leading Russia to a "dead end."

Wednesday's episode of current affairs show Mesto Vstrechi (Meeting Place) on the NTV channel discussed the latest situation in Ukraine, a clip of which was tweeted by Ukrainian internal affairs adviser Anton Gerashchenko.

The studio screen title "winter of anxiety" outlined the theme of the show in which the guests discussed whether Kyiv is preparing for an offensive, whether military service should be mandatory for Russian officials and the fate of Duma deputies on the front line.

Boris Nadezhdin, an opposition politician and Moscow municipal deputy who has opposed the invasion of Ukraine, then gave his take.

"Certainly the personal courage and heroism shown by Russian MPs, soldier officers absolutely does not justify the fact that the special military operation was a disastrous mistake and that it is a senseless situation leading the country to a dead end," said Nadezhdin according to a transcript accompanying the clip.

The on-screen graphic described Nadezhdin as president of the institute of regional projects and legislation. He said although there was "courage" on display, "at the front, the other story is the catastrophic mistake of the political leadership."

In comments accompanying his tweet, Gerashchenko wrote that the "'special military operation' was a disastrous mistake and it is a senseless situation leading the country to a dead end.' Are they trying to tell the Russian population something?"

Nadezhdin was an ally of the opposition leader Boris Nemtsov who was murdered in 2015 in front of the Kremlin. He has previously criticized Russia's actions in Ukraine and called for peace talks aimed at halting the war.

Separately, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded on Thursday to reports that the U.S. might facilitate Kyiv in making a strikes on Crimea. It follows a New York Times report suggesting that the Biden administration was becoming open to the idea that Kyiv target the peninsula that Moscow illegally annexed in 2014.

"This will mean raising the conflict to a new level that will not bode well for European security," Peskov said, adding that any such strikes would be "extremely dangerous."

Peskov also said that the sooner Kyiv accepts Kremlin demands, the sooner the conflict will end and that Moscow would achieve its goals in Ukraine "one way or another," Reuters reported.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has outlined a 10-point peace plan to end the war, starting with Russia removing troops from occupied parts of Ukraine. Moscow has said it is open for negotiations, but has not publicly outlined details of its negotiating position.

Ukraine's allies are due to meet at the U.S. airbase in Ramstein, Germany on Friday amid calls for Berlin to allow the delivery of German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.