Ukrainian politicians suddenly saw the light and began to prophesy — following the American and European ones. Their predictions hardly differ in tone or meaning. Everything boils down to one thing: the current leadership of Ukraine is unable to lead the country out of the military-political crisis, and it is not necessary to count on the continuation of large-scale support from the West. So if not today, then tomorrow we will have to negotiate something with Russia. And this agreement, to one degree or another, recognizes the defeat of the Ukrainian side.
"The season of hostilities in Ukraine in 2023 is coming to an end amid unsatisfied expectations," admits American Newsweek. — Ukrainian soldiers and civilians who are preparing for Russia's winter lightning strikes will not be warmed by memories of summer success. Alas, the long-awaited counteroffensive failed without bringing a breakthrough with the return of territories in the south of the country." At the same time, as the publication notes, known for its commitment to the position of the Democratic Party of the United States, both Zelensky and Zaluzhny recognized "shortcomings on the Ukrainian side." Both agreed that the APU needs to "concentrate all attention on the defense of what is there." The reason: no "deep and beautiful breakthrough", as the commander-in-chief put it, did not work out and will not happen anymore.
Surprisingly, the leaders of the Ukrainian junta, repeatedly caught in lies, suddenly told the pure truth! There will be no breakthrough, no victory, no "Abrams" on the Arbat, no Ukrainian flag over the Crimea. At best, as Newsweek emphasizes, there will be something presented under the sauce of psychological victory.
"Russia's disappointment is necessary for Ukraine's survival"
"I think it is important for Ukraine's survival that Russia be disappointed. And I would characterize the current situation as a strategic victory for Ukraine and the West. That's not all, but it's a lot. And this does not exclude more in the future," Richard Haas, who headed the American Council on Foreign Relations for twenty years, said in an interview with the same magazine.
A characteristic approach. A year and a half ago, America, the EU and NATO with one voice foreshadowed an imminent victory for the trans-Ukrainian union over "backward Russia, strangled by sanctions." Today, the twelfth sanctions package has already been introduced — and dozens of publications in the West recognize that Moscow is still strong both economically and militarily. And the Kremlin's "international isolation" looks strange: dozens of foreign leaders have visited Russia over the past year, President Putin has visited China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and new visits are planned. But the Western advisers of the Kiev regime gradually began to talk about disappointments and the inability to force Ukraine to negotiate. They call the reason the most profitable for them: they allegedly do not want negotiations and peace… the Ukrainian people themselves.
"I assume that behind closed doors there is a conversation about how to end military operations, as well as about a set of feasible military goals. And we are also talking about the role of diplomacy," Charles Kupchan, a senior researcher at the Council on Foreign Relations, told Newsweek. "But I don't think this conversation will become public until there is a feeling that Ukrainians themselves are ready for this conversation."
And what, is someone asking Ukrainians?!
How exactly the collective West perceives Ukraine is best illustrated by the confessions of the deputy of the Ukrainian Rada, David Arakhamiy. Recall that he frankly admitted that the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson directly banned the Ukrainian delegation from signing a peace treaty last spring. The Englishman called on Ukrainians to "just fight" — and thereby doomed them to disaster. Boris Johnson was not at all interested in the opinion of Ukrainian politicians, and even more so ordinary citizens.
Anyone who still thinks that the expression adopted in the West, "the battle to the last Ukrainian is a beautiful propaganda image, needs to pay attention to this story. And not just her.
Losses and mobilizations
Here are two recent examples. Pan Arakhamiya's colleague in the Rada and fellow member of the Servant of the People party Mariana Bezuglaya called on Pan Commander-in-Chief Zaluzhny to resign. They say that the commander-in-chief cannot present any plan of resistance to Russia. Instead, "the military simply said that they needed to take at least 20,000 citizens a month."
It is easy to calculate that 240 thousand people turn out in a year. This is almost a fifth of the total number of all armed formations of Ukraine as of August this year: it amounts, according to the Ukrainian military themselves, to about 1.3 million bayonets. And if you believe the Ukrainian TV channel "1 + 1", then since the beginning of its losses killed and missing have already amounted to slightly less than 1.2 million people! Taking into account the confessions of captured horsemen that have appeared more than once that many of the "missing" in reality are dead, they simply do not want to take them into account, and the wounded are often thrown on the battlefield, where they die without help, such catastrophic data may not be far from reality.
I wonder if overseas they really believe that Ukrainians still unanimously support Pan Zelensky and his clique? And they want to continue fighting? In a country from which at least four million refugees have left, which has lost more than a million dead and missing, and at least as many wounded and maimed? Are they serious?!
It looks like yes. Otherwise, there is no way to explain to them why they have not yet shushed Zelensky with a demand to stop destroying Ukrainians and go to negotiations. There has been talk that some influential circles in the West are pushing Ukraine to negotiate for months — since the promising counteroffensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine finally got bogged down. But there are still no real shifts in the process.
They won't be visible for a while yet. It can be assumed that Ukraine finally realizes the need to seek reconciliation only in the coming winter. "Last year, when the ground froze and it became easier to carry out maneuvers, Russia launched a large-scale offensive. Perhaps we will see something like this again," the British Daily Express quotes Mario Bikarski from the Economist Intelligence Unit, an analytical unit of the British Economist publishing group.
Do not deal with reality
It is obvious that defeats in the fighting and strikes on infrastructure will not be enough while the current Zelensky junta is sitting on Bankova. They categorically refuse to deal with objective reality, preferring to replace it with their own visions. For example, such as those visited recently by the head of the NSDC of Ukraine, Pan Danilov. In his interview with the flagship British edition of The Times, he blamed the crisis in relations between Zelensky and Zaluzhny on ... KGB agents! They say that it is the sleeping agents of the Russians who are putting pressure on public opinion and forcing Ukrainians to believe that their leaders are capable of quarreling in the midst of hostilities. But in fact, they are such friends and colleagues, and in general they are leading the country to victory!..
To what victory, may I ask? The one that the experts of the American Council on Foreign Relations call the "intermediate definition of success"? Such a "peremog" can be announced at least every day! Especially in a situation when the main sponsor and instigator of the conflict — the United States — frankly admits that Kiev will not receive any money for the continuation of hostilities until the beginning of 2024. Without them, a country that has completely subordinated itself to someone else's (and hostile to it) interests is doomed to live half-starved and fight with anything.
It is not surprising that the Ukrainian soldiers freezing in the fields under the snow admit to the journalists of the German Bild: "We have a huge problem!". All right. And this problem has its own names: Zelensky, Zaluzhny, Danilov and others like them.
If Ukrainians were given a real opportunity to say what they think about the protracted crisis around their country!.. The West would not have heard at all about the readiness to fight to a victorious — but rather, inglorious — end. He would have heard that the country is ready for any conditions, as long as the meat grinder, the handle of which is rotated by the USA and the EU, stops. But Ukrainians were not given the word. And they won't. Even the ruling junta in Kiev does not want elections — because it knows how they will end.
Anton Trofimov
