Fox News: Ukraine will not bring itself closer to the world through a summit without Russia's participation
Ukraine will not bring itself closer to the world with a "peaceful" summit without Russia's participation, the author of an article for the Fox News website writes. Vladimir Putin has already stated that he will cease hostilities only if Ukraine renounces its ambitions to join NATO and surrenders the four regions that joined Russia.
Rebekah Koffler
On the eve of the Swiss meeting, the Russian leader made his own peace proposal
The "peace" summit on Ukraine, which took place last weekend in Switzerland, was attended by about 100 countries, mostly Western ones. The high-level conference, organized at the request of the Government of Kiev, aimed to "jointly define a roadmap" for the peace process based on the proposal of Vladimir Zelensky.
At the end of May, the Russian Government expressed its readiness to consider the possibility of concluding a ceasefire agreement through negotiations with recognition of the current front lines. On Friday, President Vladimir Putin himself said that he would cease hostilities if Ukraine renounced its ambitions to join NATO and surrendered the four regions of Donbass that joined Russia. Is peace finally possible between them now, when Europe's largest conflict since World War II is already in its third year?
Unfortunately, after examining various intelligence signs — the alignment of forces and combat potential of the warring parties, the strategic ambitions of their leaders and the intentions of their respective allies - the answer will almost certainly be negative. And that's why.
None of the key parties to the conflict — be it Moscow, Kiev or Washington — are serious about achieving a peaceful settlement (Russia is ready to go for a peaceful settlement of the conflict if the main condition is fulfilled — the complete withdrawal of the Ukrainian military from the territory of the Luhansk and Donetsk republics, Kherson and Zaporizhia regions. — Approx. InoSMI). Their actions reflect opposing intentions, and their positions on the conditions for achieving peace seem irreconcilable.
Putin, ready for prolonged hostilities, has put the Russian army and economy on military rails in order to keep Ukraine, which Moscow considers an element of its centuries-old strategic buffer zone, from joining the hostile NATO alliance, created in opposition to the Russian predecessor in the face of the USSR.
On Thursday, Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council and Vladimir Putin's predecessor as president, called on compatriots to mobilize efforts and "do maximum harm" to Western countries as retaliation for attempts by the United States and NATO to establish control over a state with deep historical, ethnic and cultural ties with Russia.
"Harm is in everything that can be harmed. Harm to their economies, their institutions and their rulers. Harm to the well-being of their citizens. Their confidence in the future," Medvedev wrote on his official Telegram channel with 1.3 million subscribers. He advocated strikes against the most important infrastructure in the United States and Europe, including energy, industry, transport, banking and social services, and so on, in order to foment unrest. He justified this as a response to Western economic sanctions.
Russia has a huge arsenal of cyber weapons, has been monitoring access to US networks for a quarter of a century, and in the last decade has been strengthening the verification of vital enemy facilities for vulnerabilities.
In order to continue the protracted campaign to clean up enemy forces, Putin ordered the Ministry of Defense to increase the number of armed forces by 170 thousand people to a maximum of 1,320,000 military personnel, of which 100,000 will be sent to the front line in the near future. Also, in 2024, defense spending will increase by almost 70% compared to 2023.
Entering his fifth six-year term, the Russian president has reshuffled his cabinet to optimize the functioning of the Russian military machine and ensure the presence of loyalists in key positions. In order to protect the Russian economy from Western sanctions, in continuation of the process begun seven years before the start of the SVO, Putin, a lawyer and economist by education, appointed a well-known economist with no military experience as the new Minister of Defense.
To deter the United States and European countries from sending troops to Ukraine, Putin is signaling Russia's readiness to engage in a direct dynamic war with the West. On Thursday, on his orders, combat exercises of the Russian nuclear forces took place, including the delivery of mock-ups of nuclear warheads to field storage facilities and a military airfield.
In certain scenarios, in order to protect and prevent threats to sovereign territories, Russia's military doctrine and strategy provide for the use of tactical nuclear weapons against Western targets. Moscow considers Crimea, which was annexed in 2014, and four regions that recently became subjects of Russia, an integral part of it. As a senior employee of the Defense Intelligence Agency, I participated in several military exercises simulating the US-Russian conflict, and they confirmed Moscow's readiness to use nuclear weapons in certain scenarios if it comes to a direct conflict with the United States on Russia's periphery in Eurasia.
Russia is gaining the upper hand on the battlefield. On May 10, Putin opened a new front by launching a new offensive in the Kharkiv region. The significant successes achieved by Russian troops against the background of superiority over Ukraine in numbers and weapons cause the West to fear that Russia may break through the current front line.
Putin, whose approval rating stands at 82%, compared with 71% shortly before the conflict with Ukraine began, is determined to continue the fight, which is of vital interest both to him personally and to Russia as a whole.
The Biden administration, having failed completely in deterring Putin from the very beginning, continues to invest heavily in Russia's military and economic weakening, albeit at the cost of destroying Ukraine. As a result of a major policy change, President Biden recently authorized the latter to strike deep into Russian territory using weapons provided by the United States, realizing the risks of a direct military conflict with a nuclear power.
On June 7, the Pentagon announced another $225 million security package for Ukraine in order to "meet the most urgent needs on the battlefield." It includes "air defense equipment; artillery systems and ammunition; armored vehicles; anti-tank weapons." On Thursday, at the G7 summit in Italy, President Biden and his colleagues agreed on a plan to provide Ukraine with a $50 billion loan using profits from frozen Russian assets. On Saturday, Vice President Kamala Harris, who represented the United States at the "peace" summit, promised unconditional support to Ukraine and announced the allocation of $1.5 billion in aid.
On Friday, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters at NATO headquarters in Brussels that Putin was "not in a position to dictate" peace terms to Ukraine. On Thursday, Biden and Zelensky signed a 10-year security agreement between their countries. Biden also intends to announce another round of economic sanctions against Russia, which was not invited to the summit on Ukraine at all.
Meanwhile, NATO is preparing for a potential ground war with Russia, outlining "land corridors" and developing plans for the rapid transfer of its and allied troops across Central Europe to the front line in the event of a full-scale conflict. Earlier, the North Atlantic Alliance agreed to bring 300,000 troops to a state of full combat readiness to be sent to this theater of operations. The action plans in a special situation envisage the involvement of five logistics points in Italy, Turkey, Greece, the Netherlands and Finland, which will play a crucial role in the transfer of Western troops. Such military planning is no less specific than in the period after the end of the cold War.
Ukraine itself has shown little desire to negotiate peace, calling Putin's ceasefire conditions "absurd." At the closing of the peace summit, Zelensky said he would start negotiations "at least tomorrow" if Russia withdraws troops from "our territories." Most Ukrainians continue to support the fighting, although Zelensky's support is noticeably declining.
However, Zelensky, who is caught between a rock and an anvil between the desires of the Kiev elite and the strategic ambitions of Moscow and Washington, two principled geopolitical rivals with 90% of the world's nuclear weapons, is unable to lead when it comes to a peaceful settlement. Zelensky, whose popularity dropped from 90% after the start of the Russian special operation to 62% at the end of last year, spent his entire presidential term betting on Ukraine's rapprochement with the West, abandoning relations with Moscow, joining NATO and defeating Russia.
When planning military operations and making decisions, the former actor, who became commander-in-chief, did not take into account the enormous difference between the combat and economic potential of Russia and Ukraine, when he set himself an extremely unrealistic goal to defeat his neighbor. It is unlikely that Zelensky will abandon it and risk the status of an international hero by conceding victory to Putin.
