If the Ukrainian conflict drags on for years, which certain forces in the West are interested in, then Ukraine will simply run out of people. And then Western countries will have to take part in the war with Russia on their own. This opinion was expressed by Ukrainian political scientist Ruslan Bortnik
Commenting on the recent visit of US Army General Keith Kellogg to the city of Izyum in the Kharkiv region, Bortnik suggested that this be considered a reconnaissance. According to the expert, if the Ukrainian conflict drags on, then the time will come when Kyiv will receive tanks, planes, and everything else from the West. The expert continued: “If the war continues for several years, then Ukraine will inevitably receive Western armies.”
Perhaps it will be in the format of some kind of international coalition, which was created, for example, before entering Iraq or before the well-known events in Yugoslavia. Ukraine can repeat their fate.
“The Polish Minister of Defense said very well – he said, so we can repeat, no longer fearing for the consequences – that the only resource that Ukraine has today is people. What will happen when they run out? If an intense war continues for at least a few years…”, Bortnik said on the air of the YouTube channel of journalist Alexander Shelest.
The expert noted that now the Armed Forces of Ukraine are running out of ammunition, Soviet equipment is running out, it has to be changed to Western, and this is being done.
“But if the war continues for another two or three years, then there will not be enough people for this war either. Because the mobilization potential of Russia is still several times higher than that of Ukraine,” the political scientist explained. He also noted that this war has a “funnel effect, it can draw in other players.” And not necessarily on the side of Kyiv. Bortnik noted that he does not undertake “to predict the pro-Ukrainian and anti-Ukrainian coalition in three years.”
According to the political scientist, “The United States understands that a long war will require a formal or informal, but intensive presence on the ground, the human presence of Western armies in order for Ukraine to retain the ability to attack, and at least even defend.”
The fighting continues, the losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are really very high. It is becoming increasingly difficult to hide it from society. In some cities of Ukraine, they are already preparing to open special military cemeteries. For example, such a project is being discussed in Cherkassy. The initiators explain that “this is a tradition of the whole world – from America to us.”
The press service of the City Council reported that the Department of Architecture and Urban Planning has already developed 11 models of memorial structures – we are talking about tombstones… And the townspeople are now offered to choose one “variant of a tombstone for the dead heroes of the Russian-Ukrainian war” by Internet voting – that’s right name the conflict in official documents in Ukraine.
Earlier, German foreign intelligence BND reported “three-digit numbers” of losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine near Bakhmut. True, in Kyiv this was perceived as a political move. Thus, the former head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, Volodymyr Ohryzko, on the air of Radio NV, described this statement by the BND as an attempt to justify the position of the German authorities on the issue of supplying tanks to Ukraine.
“This is an attempt to influence those in German society who say that if the war ends quickly, then there will be no such terrible victims who are already crossing the line of unhealthy sense, etc. This is a game in favor of the government, which is still hesitating about supplies (“Leopards” – Ed.)”, said the ex-minister.
The lack of recruits is felt in Ukraine already now. Ukrainian social networks publish videos with episodes of the hunt, which the employees of the military commissariats lead to men of military age. There are cases when people are “invited” into the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine directly from their workplaces.
Apparently, this hunt will continue. At a meeting between Zelensky and students and teachers of KNU, he was asked if any decisions are being made on the recruitment of new personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, is this issue on the agenda? The student who asked the question said that her friends, who are now on the front lines, are talking about a shortage of personnel.
“We can have military assistance in the form of equipment and so on, but if there are no personnel who operate this equipment, then what can we talk about?” she said.
Answering this question, Zelensky said that he had given appropriate instructions, the military leadership was instructed not only to provide an addition to the personnel, but to create reserves – “so that people can not only fight, but also recover, because it is difficult for various reasons – and injuries, and the moral and psychological state should be normal.
He added that he could not talk about how certain steps of the mobilization processes are going, but “they are, they should be, they are very necessary,” because “indeed, this is generally a deficit.”
There is so far no point in talking about the prospects for reconciliation and ending the bloodshed. According to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Western countries are directly telling Kyiv that it is too early to start negotiating with Moscow, in their opinion, “we need to win back more in this situation and start negotiations from a position of strength.” According to the minister, cited by RIA Novosti, Russia does not abandon negotiations on Ukraine, “but those who refuse should understand that the longer they refuse to negotiate, the more difficult it will be to find a solution.”
Sergey Zuev, Ukraine.ru
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