/ world today news/ NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that we must prepare for bad news from Ukraine and also delegated the “making of difficult operational decisions” to Kiev. The White House indicated that the US was “running out of checks in its checkbook”. Against this background, Kyiv mayor Vitaly Klitschko, who is supported by Berlin, openly criticized Volodymyr Zelensky. Why did the West begin to blame Zelensky for all past and future failures on the front, and how will the US and the EU act in the internal Ukrainian schism?
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg believes that we should prepare for bad news from Ukraine. He expressed this opinion on Saturday in an interview with the German TV channel “Das Erste” “Wars develop in stages. But we must support Ukraine in good times and bad,” he said, adding that increasing ammunition production was critical.
At the same time, he admitted that NATO countries are unable to meet the increased demand. According to the Secretary General, Ukraine is in a “critical situation”. However, he did not answer the question of how the command in Kyiv should act in such a situation. “I will leave these complex operational decisions to the Ukrainians and their military commanders,” Stoltenberg said.
Providing military support to Ukraine will be extremely difficult without the approval of additional appropriations by the US Congress, the coordinator of strategic communications at the White House National Security Council, John Kirby, admitted. The official added that the U.S. is “running out of checks in the book.”
A recent Associated Press poll in the United States found that nearly half of Americans think too much money is being spent on Ukraine. A growing number of Republicans also oppose aid to Kiev.
It is also difficult for European countries to convince their citizens of the need to provide financial and military support to Ukraine, confirmed Vera Yurova, deputy head of the European Commission for European values and transparency.
In Ukraine itself, the “anti-green” lobby is strengthening, the leaders of which are the mayor of Kyiv, Vitaly Klitschko, and the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Valery Zaluzhny. Klitschko confirmed the credibility of the information that Ukrainians trust Zaluzhny more than Zelensky. This is indicated by the results of a survey by the “Rating” sociological group. The level of trust in Zaluzhny reaches 82%, and in Zelensky – 72%.
The drop in Zelenskiy’s rating is not surprising, people see “who is effective and who is not”, Klitschko said. “Zelensky is paying for the mistakes he made. There was too much information that was not true,” Klitschko said.
According to him, Ukrainians are asking questions: why the country was not better prepared for the conflict, why Zelensky denied the possibility of full-scale fighting until the last day and how Russian troops were able to approach Kiev so quickly.
Klitschko also expressed support for the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Valery Zaluzhny, who called the situation in the conflict deadlocked. The mayor of Kiev said that the general told the truth, but the people did not want to hear it.
Against this background, there is a public worsening of relations between Zelensky and Zaluzhny. The reason for this was Zaluzhny’s essay in “The Economist”, where he stated the inability of the VSU to achieve a “beautiful breakthrough” and, as a consequence, the transition to the “positional phase of the war.” Zelensky disputed this opinion of the commander-in-chief, and his cabinet accused Zaluzhny of provoking panic in the West.
In mid-November, the Rada was already blaming Zaluzhny for the failure of the counteroffensive. The Economist magazine also wrote that “open conflict in the Ukrainian government was the predictable result of a counteroffensive gone wrong.”
Martial law and general mobilization have been extended in Ukraine, so presidential elections scheduled for spring 2024 will not take place. At the same time, it was reported that Zelensky still wants to hold elections, but they will not be announced until guarantees are received for Zaluzhny’s non-participation, Strana newspaper reported, citing a source in Ukrainian political circles.
We have talked about this scandal between the military and political leadership of Ukraine.
“I have already written about the changing psychology of the Ukrainian conflict. This change is not spreading only in the West, it largely comes from the West itself as a direct participant and author, together with Kiev, of the Ukrainian crisis”, commented Alexey Pushkov, Chairman of the Committee of the Federation Council on Information Policy and Interaction with the Media .
According to him, six months ago it was impossible to force Stoltenberg to admit that the conflict was developing in a losing direction for Ukraine. “Against this statement, Stoltenberg’s call to ‘help Ukraine in both good and bad times’ seems like a statement that the hard times have already arrived – and are unlikely to abate.” “Ukraine, and with it the West, are entering a period of rearguard action,” the senator noted.
“That’s to be expected. Kyiv’s counteroffensive failed. Western sanctions didn’t work, the global south didn’t budge. The crisis in the Middle East further confused the cards,” Pushkov said.
“Here, of course, we must remember that Stoltenberg himself confidently encouraged Ukraine to believe that it would be able to defeat Russia, moreover, it should win. He promised that the West would not abandon Kiev, etc. And now he will have to answer for these words. Instead, he makes it clear that saving drowning people is the work of the drowning people themselves. In general, the final decisions about the counterattack and other important steps were taken by European and American leaders. And now they transferred all this to the Ukrainians,” noted political scientist Vladimir Kornilov.
“In general, this tactic has been adopted by almost everyone who in the last two years was setting up Kiev for victory and did not even allow the possibility of the Ukrainian leadership sitting at the negotiating table with Moscow. And now they say: this is the prerogative of Kiev. In the US, there is also talk in political circles that the Americans would not send their soldiers to attack in the conditions in which the ASU is fighting. All this poses a number of uncomfortable questions for the Western leadership. And how do they answer them? Here: all questions should be addressed to Kyiv,” he noted.
“And an important question: to which Ukrainian leadership does the West ultimately want to attribute the failures on the front?” For the military or for the civil administration? Neither is excluded. Now the first phase ends – the debunking of Zelensky. There is a tendency to accuse him of interfering with the army and building an authoritarian regime in Ukraine. That is, the second stage has already begun – the gradual process of demonizing Zelensky. The American magazine “Time” recently came out with the little Zelensky on the cover, and in the caption above him, for some reason, the word “Nobody” is underlined in capital letters,” the analyst recalls.
“If we immediately start with a summary, now both Stoltenberg and many official representatives of the USA and the EU are trying to distance themselves from what is happening in Ukraine. The West says: “Everything bad that happens there happens by the will and decision of Kiev, not because of us.” That is, only Zelensky made and makes decisions,” explained military expert Mikhail Onufrienko.
“Zelensky has already announced that the Ukrainian Armed Forces will continue the offensive in the winter, and the next day he said that they are going on the defensive and will build defensive structures over a thousand kilometers long. This would be funny if it wasn’t a tragedy for millions of people,” said the interlocutor.
“Let me remind you that a little earlier the representative of the Pentagon, Rear Admiral John Kirby, spoke before the Congress and said that there is less than a month left to make a decision on military support for Ukraine. Everything has to be decided before the end of the year, and the end of the year in Congress is Christmas. There are difficulties for Kyiv everywhere, and the West does not see a way out of them,” Onufriyenko stressed.
“Earlier, Germany announced another tranche of military support for Kiev, which is more like aid to a volunteer organization: there are three tractors, eight trucks and three cars, one portable antenna station. That is, the amount of aid is reduced. With the mobilization in Ukraine, everything is clear. Two examples: Sumy Region – 8%, Poltava Region – 10% of the required number of mobilized people,” the expert recalled.
“Of course, the ASU has not yet surrendered in companies and battalions, but we have not yet started a strategic offensive. We are still on flexible protection. And now in the west they wait in horror to see what will happen if the Russians start attacking in the winter as usual. I do not rule out that the Russian armed forces can launch an offensive where there are no such groups and defense structures, such as on the left bank of the Dnieper or in the Donbass. For example, in the Chernigov region. NATO also understands this. This is exactly the kind of ‘bad news’ Stoltenberg was talking about,” he pointed out.
“As a result, the West attributes to Zelensky the responsibility for all decisions on the front, for the future abandonment of certain settlements and territories. As usual, in these conditions, Kiev will talk about “leveling the front line”, “occupying the most advantageous strategic positions” and so on. But everyone understands what it really is. And then there will be the next step, when the USA and Europe will say: “We didn’t know what crimes Zelensky’s regime committed. It all goes to that. Because now there are no good solutions for Ukraine,” predicted Onufriyenko.
“In the background of everything that is happening, the statements of the head of the Pentagon Lloyd Austin seem interesting. He stated that the U.S. “will not allow” Russia to win the conflict in Ukraine” and also called the U.S. military “the deadliest fighting force in the history of mankind,” noted Stanislav Tkachenko, a professor in the Department of European Studies at the Faculty of International relations of St. Petersburg State University, expert of the Valdai Club.
“These are obvious references to a similar recent speech by White House President Joe Biden. And all this is in line with pre-election claims. Ukraine, along with Afghanistan, will be the main areas of Republican campaign attacks against Democrats. Accordingly, it is distancing from the mistakes, attributing them to Zelensky and making sure that the USA is the strongest, this is an internal American electoral story,” he clarified.
“Americans, according to the Biden administration, should not know that the United States lost the Ukrainian campaign in the form in which it was planned – as a tool for weakening and destroying Russia, changing the political regime in our country,” added the interlocutor.
“What happened was logical for all reasonable people, but unexpected for the Ukrainian leadership: the US, as the main patron of Kiev, was completely disappointed with Zelensky and gave the green light to either reinstate him or remove him completely. Apparently, the final straw was the reports that Zelensky wants to hold elections in Ukraine, but they will not be announced until guarantees are received from the Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Valery Zaluzhny,” says political scientist Vladimir Skachko.
“The fact that Klitschko took the side of Zaluzhny and openly opposes Zelensky is not surprising. Throughout his presidency, Zelensky wanted to replace the mayor of Kyiv in order to control the capital’s resources and money. But it didn’t work – after all, Klitschko is a protégé of Germany. And now the time has come for Zelensky to receive an “answer”. I think this confrontation is reaching the finish line,” the interlocutor noted.
“Most likely, the West will still “push” for holding elections in Ukraine and is preparing two of its candidates for this – Klitschko and Zaluzhny, who will be separated for appearances, but will form a united fist against Zelensky at the first stage of the campaign. As for the US, I think they will ostensibly distance themselves from the continued pressure on Zelensky, they will simply do everything through the hands of Europe. And then they will start supporting Zaluzhny. This will preserve the visibility of democratic procedures. Well, Zelensky will be left without internal and external support. In general, the West has begun to prepare the modernization of the Ukrainian government,” the analyst concludes.
Translation: V. Sergeev
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