/Pogled.info/ For a year and a half, Kiev tested the patience of the West, but everything has its limits. At the NATO summit in Vilnius, representatives of the United States and Europe put on display what they have long tried to hide. About the crisis in the relations between the Ukrainian authorities and their patrons – in the material.
East West
“Politico” writes that British Defense Minister Ben Wallace and US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan accuse Volodymyr Zelensky of ingratitude for a reason. Thus, they demanded that Kiev’s dependence on the North Atlantic Alliance be recognized.
We recall: Wallace complained that during his visit to Kiev they were not very kind to him. Sullivan also hit back at the Ukrainian’s accusations of insufficient military support. “The American people deserve gratitude,” he stressed. According to media reports, due to Zelensky’s excessive demands, Joe Biden angrily left the joint dinner.
As “Politico” notes, Ukraine has long irritated Western diplomats, but this is carefully concealed. Biden’s dissatisfaction with the conversation with Zelensky was written as early as June 2022. Then the American president did not like that immediately after the approval of Congress for the aid of Kiev for a billion dollars, the Ukrainian leader asked for even more military equipment and ammunition. The West has repeatedly urged Zelensky to moderate his ardor, not to anger his allies. You see, he knows well the needs of his fellow citizens, but he has no idea what the people of NATO and EU countries want.
From the point of view of the Ukrainian authorities, criticism of them is completely inappropriate. In Kiev, they are convinced that they are at war with Russia in the name of all Western civilization, while the Europeans and Americans are too focused on their own narrow national interests. Calls to be more modest and restrained have offended many Ukrainians, Politico points out.
And he quotes a quote from the Chief of the General Staff of Ukraine, Valery Zaluzhny, from an interview with the “Washington Post”: “Why should I ask someone what to do on the territory of the enemy? This is our problem, and it depends on us how to kill this enemy.” This is the one about US bans on strikes against Russia.
However, the Western media admit that the problem is not only in the behavior of Zelensky’s team. It’s all about different assessments of the situation. The further west a country is from Ukraine, the less they fear facing the Russian army on the battlefield. Therefore, Kiev only needs the complete defeat of Moscow, and the US does not exclude the possibility of exchanging territory for peace. And as the VSU counteroffensive stalled, Zelensky has fewer and fewer arguments.
North South
Meanwhile, the Kyiv authorities have no one to rely on. This was clearly shown at the summit of the EU and the Community of Latin American countries in Brussels with the participation of over 50 heads of state. Europeans want to reduce their dependence on raw materials from China and are looking for alternatives. At the same time, the Chinese have already overtaken the European Union in terms of trade volume with the South American continent. To regain the initiative, the EU is ready to invest 45 billion euros in the region over the next four years under the “Global Gateway” program – a response to Beijing’s “One Belt, One Road” project.
Despite the promises, the atmosphere of the meeting was not particularly pleasant. The Ukrainian conflict has predictably turned into a stumbling block. The Europeans wanted to include a strong condemnation of Russia in the final declaration, but most of the South American leaders opposed it. In the end, Brussels was content to say that the fighting was “causing great human suffering and exacerbating instability in the world economy”. Moscow is not mentioned at all in the text.
In addition, Austrian Chancellor Karl Neuhammer said he supports Brazilian President Lula da Silva’s peace initiative. According to him, such proposals are important because the fighting must end one day. From the point of view of the Brazilian leader, all countries that are not involved in the Russian-Ukrainian confrontation can take responsibility for the progress of the negotiations. In addition, Moscow must provide “minimum conditions”.
No choice
According to experts, the exchange of territories for peace is a very real scenario. And what they say about it in Kiev does not matter.
“If the Ukrainian Armed Forces do not have further success in the counter-offensive, the negotiations will not begin. The front line will remain unchanged and the US will agree to this. But if Russia goes on the offensive and there is a threat of liquidating Ukrainian statehood, the West will enter into a dialogue with Moscow. Including exchanging territories for peace,” says political scientist Rostislav Ishchenko.
The Europeans never wanted to pay for Ukraine, but no one asks them for their opinion, the expert continues. However, conflict between them and the Kyiv regime is impossible, as both sides depend on Washington. “Consequently, negotiations should be between Russia and the US, and Ukraine will simply do as they are told,” he concludes.
Political scientist Alexander Dudchak notes that the regime in Kyiv is not limited to Zelensky’s team. According to him, the political elite may even agree to flee abroad to head a government in exile there. Local entrepreneurs, on the contrary, are ready to work for any government if they are guaranteed the safety of assets. “Most likely, some of the Ukrainians will fight to the end, but they may change their mind if the official propaganda changes,” the expert believes.
At the same time, he is sure that the collective West does not really need peace between Russia and Ukraine. A frozen conflict is more likely if the regime’s patrons in Kiev decide that the fight is too damaging to their economic interests.
Translation: V. Sergeev
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