Threatening Russia’s control of Crimea—and inflicting grave damage to its economy and society—will, of course, be difficult. But it is a more realistic strategy than the proposed alternative: a negotiated settlement while Putin is in office.
Putin has never agreed to respect Ukrainian sovereignty—and never will. If anything, Russia’s rhetoric about the war has become more annihilationist, invoking the Russian Orthodox Church and suggesting that the conflict is something like a holy war, with existential consequences.
Any negotiation in the current circumstances would at best leave Ukraine crippled, partitioned, and at the mercy of a second Russian invasion. At worst, it would eliminate the country altogether.
No sustainable, long-term peace can emerge from negotiations with an aggressor that has genocidal intent.
Ukraine and the West must either win or face devastating consequences.
(EXACTLY!)
The fact that Ukraine and its partners lack a strategy for victory, three years into the war, is a serious problem.
Without an end in mind, leaders in Kyiv, Washington, and Brussels are making key decisions on an incremental and ultimately incoherent basis. Ukraine may achieve local successes, but not a comprehensive defeat of the enemy; for their part, Kyiv’s Western partners tend to think only about the next tranche of supplies.
And without a strategic picture, it will be difficult to sustain morale and the will to fight in Ukraine and beyond.
ATACMS are Ripping Apart Russian Forces
by #JakeBroe
23:58
The helicopter crash site of #Iran's President has been found and there were no survivors.
Given Russia's attempt to exploit the West's rule of not using Western weapons on Russian territory, there might soon be a policy change given Russia's tactics in #Kharkiv.
🇺🇸 🇺🇦
Jake Broe is a US Air Force veteran covering #Russia 's war in #Ukraine several times a week since February 2022.
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