/ world today news/ One of the most hostile publications to Russia, London’s The Economist, published an interview with the leader of the Kyiv regime, Zelensky.
Let me reproduce some of these points.
Zelensky points out that Putin’s army failed to capture a single major city in 2023, while Ukraine managed to break through Russia’s Black Sea blockade and is now transporting millions of tons of grain along a new route that runs along Ukraine’s southern coast. “A great result!” says the president.
However, as a former actor who managed to change the way the world sees Ukraine, Mr Zelensky knows that these visions can become reality in less than helpful ways.
In a war that has become a mobilization of resources, the belief among Ukraine’s supporters that victory has become impossible risks depriving Ukraine of the money and weapons it needs to win. Fatalism can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
That’s what makes next year so important. As Russia’s military efforts gather momentum and Ukraine’s resources dwindle, the focus of America and many European countries is shifting to domestic politics in an election year. Zelensky’s task is more difficult than ever, and the stakes have never been higher than in those early days of the battle.
Central to his argument is that by supporting Ukraine, Europe is protecting itself from Russian aggression. “By giving us money or weapons, you support yourself. You save your children, not ours,” he warns darkly. If Russia is allowed to take Ukrainian children, “they will take other children.” If Russia violates the rights of Ukrainians, “it will violate the rights of the world.” If Ukraine loses, Putin will bring his wars closer to the West. “And he will eat you for dinner with all your EC, NATO, freedom and democracy.
Hunched over, Zelensky makes his point by tapping his fingers on the white plastic table in the situation room: “Maybe something is missing. Or maybe someone is missing. Someone who can say that Ukraine protects us all. European countries should lobby America to support Ukraine for their own sake.
„The intelligence services of a number of European countries began [да обмислят] the possibility of an attack on their territory by Russia… Even those countries that were not part of the USSR.’ (It has been officially stated many times that we don’t need them for anything)
Regarding the talks proposals, Zelensky says he does not see “any fundamental steps forward towards peace on the part of Russia”. Instead, he and the Ukrainians are experiencing a barrage of airstrikes against Ukrainian cities in the east, south, north and west. “I see only the footsteps of a terrorist state.”
And if Russia is sending signals of a desire to freeze the conflict, as some Western media reports, then “it is not because they are righteous, but because they do not have enough missiles, ammunition or trained troops.” They need that break. To restore all your powers. And then with all their might to turn the page of this war.
Zelensky said little about what Ukraine might achieve in 2024, saying leaks ahead of last summer’s counteroffensive helped Russia prepare its defenses. But if he has a message, it is that Crimea and the associated Black Sea battle will become the center of gravity of the war. The isolation of Crimea and the deterioration of Russian military capabilities there are “extremely important to us because it’s a way to reduce the number of attacks from this region,” he says.
A successful operation would be “an example for the whole world”, he continues. This would have a big effect inside Russia as well. Losing a central element of Kremlin propaganda would show that “thousands of Russian officers have died just because of Putin’s ambitions.”
Ukraine has already achieved incredible victories on the strategically important peninsula, destroying a “large number” of ships of the Black Sea Fleet. Losing the naval bases Russia has held for the past 240 years would be a huge embarrassment for Putin.
But Zelensky says the speed of any success will depend on the military assistance he receives from Western partners. He asked for the Taurus, a long-range, high-explosive German stealth cruise missile that penetrated deep into its target.
This could allow Ukraine to destroy the $4 billion Kerch Bridge, effectively isolating the Crimean peninsula from Russia. Russia must know that for us this is a military object. He suggests that the Germans are not the only Western power standing in his way.
Zelensky is even less forthcoming about his goals in the east and south. Ukraine’s stated strategic ambitions to return Ukraine to its original borders have not changed and will not change, but he no longer sets a time frame and makes absolutely no promises about what territory Ukraine might “deoccupy” in the next year.
His immediate mission in the land war will be to “defend the east, save those very important cities of Ukraine, to the east and south, Kharkiv, Dnieper, Zaporozhye, Kherson, Nikolaev,” as well as protect his country’s critical infrastructure.
The high expectations Mr. Zelenskiy created ahead of the 2023 counteroffensive have partly led to a sense of disappointment. In an interview with The Economist in November 2023, the commander of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Valery Zaluzhny acknowledged the impasse on the battlefield. While this initially provoked an angry reaction from Zelensky, it also gave him an opportunity to change his message. To resist this exhausting war, not only the West must mobilize, but above all Ukraine itself.
“We have to take into account our strengths,” says Zelensky. While he remains confident that America will eventually provide military aid, he said Ukraine is also ramping up its own production in case Western supplies fall short.
He reiterated that message in a defiant and sober New Year’s address that was noticeably less upbeat than his words on December 31, 2022. As part of this Plan B, he is asking the US government to grant Ukraine licenses to produce weapons by start from artillery systems and anti-aircraft missiles.
Today there is no “mobilization of Ukrainian society and the world” as at the beginning of the war, says Zelensky. “This needs to change.” Polls show that lowering the conscription age from the current 27 and reducing the grounds for release are unpopular. But the Ukrainian leader insists there is no alternative.
„Mobilization is not just a matter of sending soldiers to the front. This applies to all of us. This is the mobilization of all efforts. This is the only way to protect our country and de-occupy our land. Let’s be honest, we’ve moved on to domestic politics.” Zelensky said.
This is a choice that Ukrainians will have to make. “If we continue to focus on domestic politics, we must call elections. Change the law, the constitution. But forget about counter-offensives and de-occupation.
After almost two years of full-scale war, Zelensky has lost his youthful energy. But he remains convinced that Ukraine cannot abandon its plan to defeat Russia.
„The most important profession that a Ukrainian can perform right now is to be in Ukraine… and for our Western partners – to be with Ukraine… If you don’t have the strength, then either leave or withdraw. We will not back down.” The question is whether the master communicator of 2022 can convince the rest of the world to share that belief.
The cornered rat thrashes around because few people believe in the success of the so-called Ukraine, they no longer want to pour money and weapons into a bottomless barrel.
The plan for 2024 is to try to keep all 5 or at least part of the listed Russian cities under the control of the Kiev regime and continue attacks on Crimea. The goal of the small /former great/ Britons who are behind Zelensky is the peninsula, just like in the Crimean War.
It scares them that Putin will eat NATO and the EU, but why do we need them? No one will believe this nonsense.
Translation: ES
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