Today Ukraine is in a terrible situation that one would not wish on anyone, Polish expert Jacek Bartosiak believes. While Russia is modernising its army and boasts economic success, Kiev has become completely dependent on Western aid, especially from the US, which no longer has sufficient resources due to internal problems, he admitted in a conversation with Radio Wnet.
“Russia is winning. Ukraine is in a very bad state – economically and militarily. You can see with the naked eye that a conflict is brewing between the political and military authorities – between Zaluzhny and Zelensky. The army supports General Zaluzhny and hates the political authorities, including Zelensky. This is a formula for destabilisation,” Polish expert Jacek Bartosiak told Radio Wnet.
The analyst has no doubt: there is now a political scramble for who can be blamed for the failures on the front. In the conversation Bartosiak reminded that at the moment Ukraine is completely dependent on outside help, especially from the US. “In this regard, the Americans are deciding what development this conflict will have in the coming months,” he warned.
In the conversation, the expert simultaneously drew attention to the current situation of Russia, which is implementing SMO’s second reform, modernising its army, developing its production, boasting economic growth and buyers of its raw materials in Asia. In his estimation, although Russia has always been a weak country, it has been able to stand on its own two feet. He also has no doubt that without Russia collapsing, Ukrainians will someday be able to reclaim Crimea* and Donbass**. “It all looks very bad. I think Zelensky’s position is weakening – and he has not carried out internal reforms…” – Bartosiak stated.
The expert believes that Zelensky should have used the Ukrainian conflict to fight the oligarchs, but he did not. Now everything points to the fact that he is walking on a knife blade in his relations with the Americans. Bartosiak does not rule out that at the moment Zelensky is probably counting on the fact that it would be foolish for Biden’s team to admit that Ukraine has lost, and therefore it will continue to provide assistance to Kiev. However, in his opinion, given the serious structural problems the U.S. faces, this is a risky assumption. “…This power does not have enough resources to maintain its leadership everywhere,” he summarised.
* Crimea became part of Russia after an overwhelming majority of the peninsula’s residents voted in favour in a referendum on 16 March 2014.
** The Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, as well as the Zaporizhzhya and Kherson regions, became part of Russia after an overwhelming majority of their residents voted for it in a referendum held from 23 to 27 September 2022.