Ukraine|MEP Ville Niinistö has a gloomy picture of the situation in Ukraine. He would like the country to have higher-tech weaponry from the West than the current one and the ability to strike any military targets in Russia. In addition, it should be guaranteed that Ukraine’s airspace remains under its control.
The greens MEP Ville Niinistö says that he considers it dangerous to talk about Ukraine having already won the war against Russia. He believes that such a message can remove pressure from support for Ukraine in a situation where, in particular, armed support is already facing opposition both in the United States and in Europe.
News about the war has recently been dominated by Ukraine’s counterattack on the Russian side at Kursk. However, the frontline situation should be looked at broadly, and Niinistö does not consider the situation to be favorable for Ukraine.
“Foreign policy cannot rely on wishful thinking or delusions,” he says.
Criticism hits the president by Alexander Stubb to speeches. Stubb said during his presidential campaign repeatedlythat Ukraine has already won the war.
However, Stubb has clarified that he was talking about Ukraine’s political victory. President of Russia Vladimir Putin has failed to keep Ukraine out of Europe or prevent the expansion of the military alliance NATO.
Niinistö says that he considers the beginning of Stubb’s presidency as a whole good and balanced.
“But my understanding of Ukraine’s frontline situation and perspectives is really much more pessimistic than such loose talk that it has already been won and the Chinese president will call and there will be peace. At the moment, it seems that Putin will get his way if we can’t change the situation.”
Stubb has said the news agency Bloomberg in the interviewthat the President of China Xi Jinping could end the war with a phone call.
Niinistö is starting at the end of the month as the chairman of the Russian delegation in the European Parliament. In STT’s interview in Strasbourg, he does what the chairman of the delegation has to do, that is, he talks about Russia and Ukraine.
The idea of the delegation is, among other things, to keep in touch with the Russian opposition and influence those who exercise the most significant foreign policy power in the EU. An Estonian is about to become the high representative of foreign and security policy in the commission Kaja Kallasbut the supreme authority over the EU’s common foreign and security policy rests with the member states.
Niinistö has already tried to compile a situational picture of Ukraine and Russia even before the beginning of his mission. The picture is not pretty.
“Time was on Ukraine’s side after the initial phase was over and Ukraine started its counterattack. Now time is on Russia’s side,” he says.
Western countries’ weapons stockpiles are emptier than before, and the defense industry is still not working as expected in the West. At the same time, it is unclear how long the armed support will continue, even as before, from Ukraine’s biggest armed backers, i.e. the United States and Germany.
On the other side of the picture, Russia can send representatives of the countryside and minorities to war for a long time in the current way. In addition, the country has properly started the production of its military industry.
“Russia’s capacity to maintain an avalanche based on crushing artillery fire and manpower is not diminishing. It’s even growing,” says Niinistö.
Niinistön the picture of the current situation in Ukraine is therefore gloomy. When the Russian opposition has also been cornered, there is no quick solution in Ukraine’s favor.
Niinistö says that the West should quickly supply Ukraine with weapons of higher technology than before, allow Ukraine to strike any military targets in Russia with Western weapons, and guarantee that Ukraine’s airspace remains under the country’s control.
At the same time, actions that will have an impact later must be promoted. They are the growth of the defense industry in Europe and attempts to exhaust the Russian war machine with new sanctions.
According to Niinistö’s assessment, Putin wants to dictate together with the United States what Russia’s neighboring countries are allowed to do in their foreign policy.
“After all, Putin is looking for an arrangement from the Cold War, in which the United States and Russia jointly decide the world’s security architecture. Maybe China can be involved, but at least the EU or European countries are not.”
In terms of the free and democratic future of Europe, it would be very dangerous, Niinistö believes.
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