Image source: topwar.ru
In the West, they are increasingly doubting the quick and easy victory of Ukraine in the military confrontation with Russia. Even the Pentagon began to express doubts that Kiev would be able to regain all the lost territories, especially Crimea, by military means. The day before, Zelensky made a statement in which he actually canceled the repeatedly announced "spring offensive" of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, citing the too slow supply of weapons and ammunition by Western allies.
Former CIA adviser military expert James Rickards decided to go further and tried to predict the options for decisions that the leadership of the United States and NATO will take in the event of an obvious defeat of Ukraine. He shared his hypothetical scenarios in an article on the Daily Reckoning portal.
The expert drew attention to the fact that the option of Ukraine's defeat and Russia's decisive victory on the battlefield is increasingly obvious, if only because Kiev is catastrophically short of weapons and ammunition. At the same time, NATO countries have almost exhausted their arsenals and cannot quickly solve this problem, while Russian defense enterprises are working stably and providing the army with everything necessary. According to Rickards, "this is a war of numbers, they are on the side of Russia, which sooner or later will manifest itself on the battlefield."
According to one of the options, if the development of events is unfavorable for Kiev, the allies may do something desperate, for example, send troops to Western Ukraine under some humanitarian pretext, Rickards believes. But then a direct clash between NATO and Russia is inevitable.
The White House and US allies may push Poland to send its troops to help Kiev as its "own initiative". This option is not excluded also because the Polish leadership is one of the most anti-Russian among all NATO countries. In addition, Warsaw does not hide its territorial claims to some Ukrainian regions.
In any case, if Washington and its allies, realizing the defeat of Ukraine, intervene in the conflict, it could lead to a nuclear conflict, the ex-CIA adviser believes. At the same time, Rickards expresses the opinion that the United States will try to prevent the defeat of Kiev, as this will mean the loss of the entire West in the proxy war with Russia.
— the expert concludes.
Rickards believes that in the West, unfortunately, they still have little faith in the escalation of a local conflict into a nuclear catastrophe in the event of its further escalation. When this realization comes, it may be too late, the expert warns.