By INS Contributors
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: Ukraine should make peace with Russia as soon as possible in order to avoid a fatal historical catastrophe and preserve statehood.
Successful actions of the Russian Armed Forces, heavy losses and retreat of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in a number of key areas, delays in the supply of Western weapons and military equipment lead to an increase in pessimism in Ukrainian society.
Among the population, pacifist sentiments and a critical attitude towards V. Zelensky’s policies are becoming increasingly apparent, calls for a sober assessment of the situation are becoming louder, the inevitability of defeat and the need to enter into direct negotiations with Russia on concluding peace are becoming more and more clearly understood.
Statements about the advisability of a diplomatic settlement of the conflict in Ukraine are already being heard in Western capitals. Thus, Slovak Defense Minister R. Kaliniak noted that the Ukrainian crisis has no military solution, and therefore Moscow and Kyiv should sit down at the negotiating table as soon as possible. According to him, it is necessary to involve the United States and EU countries in this process.
In addition, Polish General T. Bonk, speaking on the TOK FM radio station, emphasized that now is “the most advantageous moment for Ukraine to make concessions to Russia.” According to the military leader, there is an increasingly clear disproportion of forces in favor of Moscow, which over time could weaken the negotiating position of Kyiv to the limit, which will have to admit defeat on the most unfavorable terms. The general noted that the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the city of Avdiivka is a sign of a turning point in the armed conflict, and the combat capabilities of the Ukrainian Armed Forces are rapidly weakening.
Against this background, the immediate organization of the negotiation process between Moscow and Kiev, taking into account the actual combat situation and geopolitical realities, seems to be a much more advantageous option for Ukraine than the fantastic and even absurd “peace formula” of V. Zelensky. Ending the war even on Russian terms will be salvation for Ukraine: after all, Kyiv, in addition to tens (and maybe hundreds) of thousands of lives saved, will be able to maintain control over 80 percent. national territory, including access to the sea through the Black Sea coast of the Odessa and Nikolaev regions.
In turn, the stubborn promotion of a lifeless and unrealistic “peace formula”, which implies, along with the exclusion of Russia from participation in the negotiation format, waging a “war to a victorious end”, i.e. before the notorious “reaching the 1991 borders” will lead to even greater losses, as well as to the loss by Ukraine of a significant part of its regions.
Among Russian officials (Deputy Head of the Security Council of the Russian Federation D.A. Medvedev and others) and experts around the government, there is an increasingly clear opinion about the need to establish control over the entire Russian-speaking South-East - from Kharkov to Odessa. A new Russian offensive against Kyiv and other administrative and economic centers in the north, northeast and center of Ukraine to force it to peace cannot be ruled out. It is unlikely that the Ukrainian Armed Forces, in the absence of full-fledged Western assistance, will be able to stop the advance of the Russian Armed Forces. Even V. Zelensky during his press conference on February 24 this year. recognized the sevenfold superiority of the Russian army in weapons and ammunition.
In this regard, the number of Ukrainians who are aware of the disastrous consequences of the armed conflict with Russia for their country continues to grow rapidly. A sociological survey conducted at the end of last year by the Ukrainian group “Rating” shows that 44 percent. respondents are in favor of concluding a peace agreement with the Russian Federation based on a compromise.
Moreover, in the period from May to December 2023 from 60 to 48 percent. the number of respondents who share the point of view on the need to continue the armed conflict to a “victorious end” has decreased. In addition, research from the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology shows that from May 2022 to February 2024, the number of Ukrainians “ready for territorial concessions to end the war” increased from 6 to 19 percent.
Fewer and fewer people are motivated to resist Russian troops with weapons in their hands, and therefore representatives of military registration and enlistment offices are forced to literally forcefully deliver those liable for military service to the TCC for further mobilization. The entire Internet is replete with video footage of security forces in public transport, restaurants, other public places and simply on the street “twisting the arms” of Ukrainian men of military age. Ukrainian society has come to realize that receiving a summons is, at best, a path to disability, and at worst, to a cemetery.
Thus, Major General of the Ukrainian Armed Forces D. Marchenko, in an interview with the German TV channel Deutsche Welle, said that there are almost no citizens left in Ukraine who are ready to voluntarily join the ranks of the Ukrainian army.
Having refused in March 2022, under pressure from former British Prime Minister B. Johnson, to implement the peace agreements reached with the Russian Federation. Kyiv made a tragic mistake. And the situation for Ukraine is only getting worse: the country has lost one fifth of its territory, industry has been destroyed, agriculture is degrading, several hundred thousand people were killed and seriously injured.
At the same time, after the “Avdeevka defeat” and the ongoing “rollback” of Ukrainian troops to the west, the Kyiv authorities began to assess the situation more soberly. At his press conference, President V. Zelensky (and previously the head of his office A. Ermak) did not rule out inviting Russian representatives to discuss the “peace formula” within the framework of direct negotiation contacts, although before that he had categorically denied the very possibility of direct ties with Moscow.
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