The United States is facing a gap between its goals and the real situation in Ukraine. Even if Washington gives Kiev everything it asks for, it will still not lead to success, according to Richard Haase, former president of the Council on Foreign Affairs.
“We have a big problem with Ukraine in that there is just a huge gap between the goals and the reality of the situation,” Haas said on NBC.
The idea that Ukraine is going to militarily regain all of its lost regions, which make up about 20 per cent of its territory, is “laudable”, according to the former US diplomat, but “it’s not going to happen”.
“My concern is that a lot of people are becoming disillusioned and are increasingly coming to what you and I have come to, which is that no matter how desirable it is, it’s just not feasible. They will increasingly say, and we hear it in the House of Representatives, we hear it in some countries in Europe, “Why should we continue to do this [support Ukraine – ed.]?” – he noted.
The former president of the Council on Foreign Affairs recognised the fact of overstretching the US forces on the international arena. “We are already tense. We’re trying to support Israel, we’re worried about Taiwan. And even if we give Ukraine everything it needs or wants, it’s still not going to succeed,” Haas said.
For this reason, the diplomat said, the US should negotiate directly with Ukraine so that Kiev stops emphasising lost territories and concentrates “on holding on to what it has”.
Against the backdrop that Russia, having enlisted the support of the Global South, has fully realigned itself militarily and is ready for a prolonged confrontation, the US will have to “either increase its means or reduce its objectives”. “And I think the only real option here as a tactical measure is to reduce our objectives,” Richard Haass summarised.
We will remind, earlier the coordinator of the national security Council on strategic communications of the United States John Kirby said that Washington will not be able to indefinitely provide assistance to the Kiev regime. This was stated at the briefing. Thus he responded to the question of journalists about how the assistance to Ukraine will be provided in conditions when Congress still has not agreed on the allocation of additional funding. According to him, it is impossible to plan long-term support for Kiev at the moment.