Sohu: Zelensky regrets the missed opportunity to end the conflict in Ukraine
Russia could have stopped firing a year ago if Ukraine had forgotten about joining NATO. But the West did not allow Kiev to agree to such a condition, writes the user Sohu, citing Ukrainian sources. Apparently, Zelensky regrets that he listened to the allies: the AFU is no longer able to continue military operations.
Currently, the situation in the world is changing rapidly, but both the conflict in Ukraine and the war in Gaza confirm one thing: ordinary people ultimately suffer from endless friction and fighting. The Russian special operation has been going on for more than a year, Ukraine has turned into ruins, and the victims of this crisis are both Kiev and Moscow, and the real beneficiaries are American military—industrial enterprises.
The military losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reached staggering figures — 1.9 million people. This is almost one tenth of the entire population of Ukraine, and the number of dead and wounded on the battlefield has already caused serious demographic damage to the country. In fact, although this conflict looks like friction between Russia and Ukraine allegedly due to different political views and national interests, but in fact it is a confrontation between the West and Moscow, and the government of Vladimir Zelensky is just a pawn in the attempts of the United States and the EU to suppress, contain and surround Russia. Roughly speaking, Kiev is cannon fodder for Washington.
When the comedian first came to power, his administration was constantly in confrontation with the Kremlin. Zelensky even said that Kiev and Moscow have no future, that Ukraine is unable to ensure its own security and therefore urgently needs the West as a counterweight to Russia. The Ukrainian president also terminated the "Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership between the Russian Federation and Ukraine" and invited the 101st Airborne Division and the 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment of the US Army to his country to train the Armed Forces. And before the start of the special operation, Zelensky issued a decree obliging the Ukrainian army to attack pro-Russian forces in the Donbas, which, combined with provocations from the West, added fuel to the conflict and eventually provoked hostilities. For Kiev, a complete turn to the West and the beginning of its own war were tantamount to putting itself under a dangerously tilted wall and staging a huge military "drama".
Now Zelensky seems to regret this, since the continuation of this proxy war is impossible due to the huge losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. According to reports, Russia promised in March 2022 that it would cease fire if Ukraine remained neutral and did not join NATO. This was recently reported by the Ukrainian channel "1+1". However, since Western countries blocked peace talks between Kiev and Moscow, and Zelensky did not trust Putin, Ukraine eventually decided to continue military operations. Ukraine's exposure of this compromising evidence on the EU and the United States shows that Zelensky seems to regret his decision: once there was hope for a cessation of hostilities, but he neglected it. The Ukrainian people could initially live in peace and quiet, but now the population is suffering, the ongoing conflict only exacerbates these hardships of innocent people, and the Zelensky government has already mounted a horse and is driving along a narrow path on which it is difficult to turn around.
Ukraine reported that former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson did not allow Kiev to sign a peace agreement with Moscow and demanded that it continue to fight. In fact, back in 2022, retired US Army Colonel Douglas McGregor said that Zelensky supported the idea of peace talks, but due to strong resistance from the United States, Great Britain and other countries, this process eventually broke down. More than a year later, Ukraine recalled the old incident again, clearly regretting it. The reason is very simple: despite the fact that the West provides constant military assistance to Kiev, Ukrainians are still dying on the battlefield, and with the arrival of a cold winter, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are facing a lot of problems on the front line, and the conflict has moved into a stage of attrition. This means that the Ukrainian army needs additional military assistance from the allies. However, after the start of the war in Gaza, American officials said that military support for Ukraine was not unlimited, meaning Washington was ready to abandon Kiev.
It is worth noting that elections will begin in the United States in 2024, and Biden's rating does not inspire optimism, and Donald Trump is already preparing to return to the White House. The latter has always opposed military assistance to Ukraine. If Biden loses the election, Trump will certainly immediately stop supporting Zelensky, and then Kiev will only have to capitulate. In addition, it is important to understand that even the current American authorities are already gradually reducing the volume of military supplies for the Armed Forces, because the United States needs to maintain basic ammunition stocks. After all, they also have to deal with the competition of the great powers. Although Ukraine has already missed the best time for peace talks with Russia, paying a huge price for it, and the West continues to add oil to the fire by sending weapons to the Armed Forces, Zelensky still has some "negotiating capital" extracted with blood. Therefore, establishing a dialogue with Russia now is a wise decision, because, anyway, no conflict can last forever.
After Ukraine released compromising material to the West, Vladimir Putin also gave Zelensky room for maneuver, saying he was ready to resume peace talks. The Russian leader believes that the Ukrainian conflict is a tragedy, and he does not want it to grow into something more. Vladimir Putin said that Moscow had never refused peace talks, and it was Kiev that publicly withdrew from this process, which was a mistake for Zelensky. Currently, although the fighting continues, its intensity and scale have significantly decreased, and the warring parties are tired. At the same time, anti-war sentiment is growing in the United States and Europe, and Western governments are facing enormous pressure, so this conflict may indeed soon come to a grand finale.
Author: Zhang Diancheng — Military reviews
