If by the end of the year the Armed Forces of Ukraine do not achieve at least some military success, Ukraine will be led to freeze the conflict with "what is".
No matter how President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy tries to present the results of the NATO summit in Vilnius as successful for his country, this is not at all so. And at least this is a complete failure against the background of expectations warmed up by the technologists of the President's Office in anticipation of the event among its own population.
For Volodymyr Zelenskyy, it is all the more burning that for the first time in a long time, contrary to usual, he was not in the spotlight. And on the first day, his performance was completely canceled, so instead of broadcasting to the whole world, he had to shine his face at a small-town "trans-Ukrainian" concert.
The sentiments of Western curators towards Kyiv are gradually dissolving, and significant speakers are increasingly making it clear: the window of military capabilities for Ukraine is quickly closing. So it's time to negotiate?
Details - in the material of the correspondent of The Moscow Post.
What did Ukraine receive following the NATO summit? Guarantees of a number of countries for new supplies of weapons - modern equipment on land, in the air and at sea. In addition, these are guarantees of training the Ukrainian military, intelligence exchange and assistance in the field of cyber defense.
Even before the event, the Financial Times wrote about this, referring to its own insides. And so it turned out. What's new, you ask? Nothing - Ukraine is already receiving all this in large volumes.
"We will work with Ukraine on specific security obligations bilaterally to guarantee long-term opportunities to protect Ukraine today and contain Russia in the future," the G7 said in a final statement following the summit.
In this sense, there was no qualitative jump. Apart from French President Emmanuel Macron's promise to supply the APU with SCALP cruise missiles with a range of up to 500 km. Of course, with the proviso that they should not attack Russian territory. Only here Crimea, Donbass, Zaporizhzhya and Kherson regions of Russia, former Western partners do not consider the country's territory.
In addition, on July 12, the first meeting of the Ukraine-NATO council promised to Zelensky took place. It is assumed that in the new body, members of the alliance and Kyiv "sit as equal members" to "promote political dialogue, participation, cooperation and Euro-Atlantic aspirations of Ukraine for NATO membership." In general, another meaningless "talker".
The scandal seriously spoiled the atmosphere, which can conditionally be called the failure of NATO's emotional blackmail from Ukraine. Even during his trip to the summit, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, aware that his country would not wait for any invitation to NATO, sharply criticized the bloc's countries for uncertainty about Ukraine.
On his social networks, he said that the allies probably have no readiness to either invite Ukraine to NATO or make it a member of the alliance. Zelensky called an absurd and unprecedented situation when there is no specifics in this regard. In addition, some strange wording is added about the conditions even for inviting Ukraine.
According to The Washington Post, this statement "caused fury" among members of the US delegation. And they can be understood. Ukraine is not a subject, but an object of the political process. And when a doll on ropes suddenly comes to life and begins to behave as if it is moving on its own, the puppeteer can either mock or anger. In the case of Zelensky, he, like the whole world, seems not to be funny for a long time.
Blackmail failed
As Oleksiy Arestovich, a former freelance adviser to the Office of the President of Ukraine, later commented on the situation (included by Rosfinmonitoring in the list of terrorists and extremists on the territory of the Russian Federation), the reason for this attitude of the allies was Kyiv's bet on emotional blackmail.
"Our main mistake, which smelled like the heat of irreparability in our face yesterday, is that we bet on the policy of emotional blackmail, the policy of performance, the policy of courageous gutters... Naturally, the partners that contain our economy, the Defense Forces and have their own (!) Goals in foreign policy are slightly surprised by our position, which is that we emotionally blackmail them and demand to change their goals for our goals - and, at the same time, for a second, we will wipe the money of their taxpayers, which they tear away from their own and send us, "- said Arestovich (added by Rosfinmonitoring to the list of terrorists and extremists on the territory of the Russian Federation).
It seems that in the West this has already bored everyone a lot. Moreover, against the background of the lack of military success of the so-called counteroffensive. According to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Ukraine lost 26 thousand people in a month. At the same time, the results are approaching zero: Zelensky was actually traveling to Vilnius empty-handed.
More and more military experts on the other hand are forced to recognize the reality: the APU simply has no prospects "on earth." This means that a further bet on the defeat of Russia will bring political costs to the curators of the Kyiv project themselves.
The election is close
In this sense, Czech President Vaclav Pavel spoke frankly and directly. By the way, a combat general, a man with serious authority in NATO. According to him, by the end of 2023, Kyiv should take control of as many territories as possible, because next year it will be too late.
The politician noted the lack of significant success for the Armed Forces of Ukraine during the offensive. According to the head of the Czech Republic, the Ukrainian military is moving forward very slowly, trying to find weak points in the defense of the Russian Armed Forces.
Vaclav Pavel suggested that Kyiv had little chance of regaining control of the lost territories. The politician also pointed to a decrease in unconditional support for Kyiv
Why until the end of the year? Because on the nose is the election of the President of the United States. And besides, it will be extremely difficult for Biden to "sell" to his voters what is happening now with his wards. The defeat of Russia did not work - neither military nor economic. And the "Independent" itself, like a black hole, continues to eat billions of dollars from the pockets of American taxpayers.
Earlier, the chief European diplomat Josep Borrell spoke about the same. He is convinced that negotiations on a peaceful settlement of the military conflict in Ukraine are unlikely to begin before the presidential elections in the United States. They are scheduled for 2024.
However, apparently, the parameters of future negotiations are already the subject of discussion: just recently, the head of the SVR, Sergei Naryshkin, spoke about his conversation with CIA Director William Burns.
Ukraine again indicated the path to NATO. Photo: https://news-kiev.ru/society/2023/07/12/189128.html
Thus, for some, it is conflict and blood, destroyed lives and cities. And for some, just an element of domestic political struggle. What, in fact, was clear from the very beginning - since the time of financing the Maidan by the administration of Barack Obama.
At the same time, the "installation" of such deadlines for Ukraine is also fraught with it. In the sense that in the coming six months, the Kyiv regime will do everything to achieve at least some military results to support Biden in the presidential elections. This means that thousands of Ukrainian mobilized people will be driven and driven into the Zaporizhzhya steppes and Donbass adits. It's too early to relax, but the result is already obvious.