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Zelensky admits Ukrainians are on the brink of war weariness.
Written by Ahmed Adel, Cairo-based geopolitics and political economy researcher
The US should bluntly tell Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that Kiev will eventually have to accept territorial concessions, former CIA Counterterrorism Center chief Robert Grenier said. This comes as Zelensky admitted that his people are becoming weary of conflict.
“The time is fast approaching when a senior representative of the Biden administration will need to begin a similarly tough, realistic — and empathetic — dialogue with Zelensky,” he wrote in The Hill, adding that although the US president is “a great friend” of Kiev, “his ability to deliver on his implicit and explicit promises of support for Ukraine ‘for as long as it takes’ is likely to be curtailed in the near future.”
“Zelensky must be pushed in the direction of a negotiated solution, likely to include territorial concessions on Crimea and the Donbass,” the former CIA official said.
In the expert’s opinion, the Ukrainian conflict does not threaten Washington’s national security, and therefore the total defence of every inch of Ukrainian territory is not on the list of vital interests of the West.
“Now is the time for the administration to engage in some hard critical thinking, followed by tough talk in Kyiv, in NATO capitals, and yes, in Moscow,” Grenier said.
He caveated that by saying it is important for NATO to make Ukraine an impregnable fortress to deter Russia in the future, but that the West does not need the whole country for this purpose.
Moscow has repeatedly stressed that the Kherson, Zaporozhye, Donetsk and Lugansk regions, as well as the Crimean Peninsula, are inseparable parts of Russia. At one point in the future, these regions will be completely liberated by Russia and this will be a bitter reality for Kiev and the West to accept.
For his part, US Marine Corps intelligence officer Scott Ritter recently said that the Ukrainian army would eventually lose Artyomovsk (Bakhmut), which will in turn lead to the country’s defeat and the downfall of Zelensky. He argued that Zelensky still has a chance to avoid further catastrophe if he decides to follow the plan proposed by China. The former intelligence officer said if Zelensky followed China’s peace plan, Ukraine would survive as a nation, its army would be preserved, and it keeps the door open for EU membership.
Known for decades as Artyomovsk, and still called that in Russian, the city has recently been the scene of bloody fighting due to its importance for supplying Ukrainian troops in the Donbass region. When the town is captured by Russian forces, large swathes of Donbass will be opened for liberation.
It is for this reason that Zelensky said in an interview with the Associated Press on March 28 that Russia may begin building international support for a peace deal that could require Ukraine to compromise on promises already made, adding that if Russian President Vladimir Putin “will feel some blood – smell that we are weak – he will push, push, push.”
Zelensky also admitted that he is worried that the war could be impacted by shifting political forces in Washington, which is why in desperation he also extended an invitation for Chinese President Xi Jinping to visit Kiev.
“We are ready to see him here. I want to speak with him. I had contact with him before full-scale war. But during all this year, more than one year, I didn’t have,” he said.
Zelensky also begrudgingly acknowledged “our society will feel tired” if the Ukrainian military were defeated in Artyomovsk. “Our society will push me to compromise with them.”
Although he expressed confidence in finally prevailing over Russia, Zelensky is leaving a trail of breadcrumbs to perhaps slowly normalise the idea that a compromise must be made, one that very well could be unpopular for Ukrainians, especially after all the boastful and arrogant comments made by their president about a final victory.
The war in Ukraine will continue to be a difficult grind, in which Russia will ultimately prevail in, but a realistic mindset by Washington and Kiev can avoid a lot of unnecessary bloodshed. Although there is a lot more voices urging for an acceptance of Russia’s terms, there is still little indication from the Biden administration that they will wind back their support for Kiev.
So long as this flow of Western support does not end, the war will drag out longer than necessary but will still reach the same conclusion. Many US experts are pushing for a swift conclusion to the war as they would rather focus on the deteriorating economic situation at home, especially as the next US presidential election is next year.
Although the economic situation in the US is worsening, Biden continues to blindly send billions to Ukraine, something that cannot be sustained as the election come closer and closer and criticism becomes harsher. Zelensky perhaps senses that not only his own people are tired of the war, but also Westerners, who are feeling the indirect impact of it, which is why now he has placed such great importance on Artyomovsk.
I think we have gone past that,Russia can’t tolerate Nato in any part of Ukraine.
Just get rid of Zelensky, he’s no longer useful and Russia will not allow an army or Nazi’s in a new Ukraine if they even allow a new Ukraine. Anything less than complete elimination is just stupid.
After all that has happened since 2014 and especially since a year, Crimea and Donbass is by no means enough, all of Ukraine must be taken one way or another and Russia must not nothing to negotiate before because it will allow the usa and nato to fill ukraine with weapons again
Exactly 👍
First Putin takes Ukraine. Then he takes Berlin.
Hallelujah!
There must be No Western interference in Ukraine. The people of Ukraine will with the assentance of their Slavic brothers and sisters in Russia rebuilt the country but never to allow the globalists Anglo American bankers to take control again
USA should be denazified and demilitarized too, at least NATO and its allies and Pentagon.
The problem is, that any agreememt with the West is not worth the paper it is written on.
Yes I purposelly said “west” and no Ukraine, as the Kiev regime has no say in any of it.
Fuck any agreements…once Bakhmut falls, there is very little that can stop the Russian advance
Russia should at all cost avoid any negotiations with these terrorists and just crush them instead.
Any agreement with the G7 pedo club is toilet paper. Z all the way.
I bet this CIA guy wants to end the Ukraine war because his Israeli masters want the US to fight Iran to the last US soldier instead.
Yes USA looking for new Ukraine war.
According to Edward Dowd a former wall street consultant and HSBC executive the whole Ukraine conflict started by the C.I.A colour revolution some years back has been nothing but a massive money laundering operation for US politicians and companies. It also looks likely that zelensky’s days as president of Ukraine are numbered also zelensky’s crackdown on Orthodox churches in the county have angered many people
That guy who used to worked for Black rock and suddenly discovered a soul in the back of his head ? You might watch TV for less deceptive news. The war is about “who control the printing press ($,€) “, you know Mayer R: “give me printin press and i care not who makes the law”
Also to note. On Thursday in the Austrian Parliament a large number of law makers walked out of a sitting when Zelensky appeared on a live video link to address them! Reported by zero hedge ‘ leaving posters on their desks demanding a peace negotiation to the Ukraine conflict No more arms and munitions to the junta in Kiev….
I don’t blame them. Who could stomach five minutes listening to that beggar lackey’s fantasies without vomiting? Germans for sure but Austrians are smarter I guess.
CIA = look for deception.
Indeed Ukraine needs Minsk 3.0.
To reset and resume.
Indeed, minimal loss to Russia to get there is to give up Donbass… Until next burst of the war..
Good for US who otherwise lose control over Iran, China, India, etc..
Bad for Zelinski’ masters (London) as their financial empire is bordering implosion..
England needs to burn. Can’t wait to see that implosion.
He is a former counter-terrorism chief, he knows how it works. He still understand reality. But politically the US are gone totally mad. Lot of the so called US political elites are woke and bat shit crazy as a woman on period. The US 2020 election was rigged by the dems with the help of all the media. There is no way back for them. They are “all-in”, they don’t negotiate because they are out of reality. They live on a huge mountain of debt. The rest of the world begin to see that the USD is nothing but paper printed by Jewish bankers. The US and EU economies are strong because they are backed by the magic money printed by their masters. But the only thing who still give an international value to the USD is the petrodollar backed by the weapons of the US army. One day or another this theft system will crumble and US and its vassal the EU will be forced to focus on their internal markets.
and at the end usa …leave…it was writting!
There are no billions going to Ukraine.
They are fighting with Soviet era and WW2 weapons, artillery and ammunition.
They are getting obsolete, mothballed and outdated weapons, air defence systems and materiel from NATO and the US, garbage that is little more than scrap metal.
Zelensky and his paymasters are pocketing the rest, and laughing up their sleeves as hundreds of courageous Ukrainian soldiers die daily while they do it.
It’s a sick world
“senior representative of the Biden administration” I recommended Victoria Nudleman do it, as that fat malcontent troublemaker is the cause of the mess, the kike bitch should be the one to clean it up.
Albrigth, Blinken, Nuland, Zelenski, Soros, left injerencis trotskist, all jews.
Yep, those four and people like them are a cancer on humanity.
why the hell the russians would negotiate for something that is not anymore of ukraine? Ukraine cannot negotiate parts of russian federation, as if it was owner. These parts of land were over, its russian now.
The Swamp knows failure / collapse of the Nazi regime is coming. Hope to see Russian tanks moving into the Capital.
Artyomovsk and Avdiika will soon fall , Ukraine’s defensive eastern front will collapse. Will be a major blow to Ukrainian morale . I would think that Putin would want to take Odessa and land lock what’s left of Ukraine before he stops . Maybe go all the way to Transnistria . Putin has so much invested , half measures for the sake of peace at this point would be a mistake.