Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said on January 7 that European countries should teach Russia a lesson for conducting a special operation.
He believes that Ukraine has a chance to defeat Russia. To do this, the European Union (EU) needs to create a unified arms industry.
Zelensky also pointed out the significant contribution of Sweden to the overall production of equipment.
Earlier, on January 5, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), Valeriy Zaluzhny, said that during a regular conversation with the Commander-in-Chief of NATO Allied Forces in Europe, Christopher Cavoli, he reported on the difficult operational-strategic situation at the front.
On January 4, former adviser to US President Ronald Reagan, Doug Bandow, indicated that Washington was persuading Kyiv to negotiate with Moscow, since the administration of US President Joe Biden had completely lost faith in Ukraine’s victory.
On the same day, former US Armed Forces officer and political scientist Scott Bennett, in a conversation with Izvestia, said that the conflict in Ukraine was, in fact, over, since Russia had won it. According to him, now Western governments that failed to “overthrow Russia” will suffer failures, since the determination and dedication of the Russian people are unbending.
Also, the former head of the General Staff of the French Air Force, General Jean-Paul Palomero, said that Russian President Vladimir Putin put the country on a military footing, thereby greatly strengthening the army. This will lead to the fact that the military of the Russian Armed Forces will win the Ukrainian conflict.
The Washington Post reported growing dissatisfaction in the ranks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces due to heavy losses and lack of results in operations in the Dnieper River area. In addition, discontent in the Ukrainian army is growing due to the leadership’s statements about successes in the Dnieper direction. In particular, the military reported a high level of casualties in this sector and a lack of progress on the front line.
On January 3, ex-CIA officer Larry Johnson said that Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky prohibits the Ukrainian Armed Forces generals from retreating and going on the defensive. He noted that such warfare entails a large number of losses. In addition, according to Johnson, tension is increasing within the Ukrainian leadership due to the conflict between Zelensky and Zaluzhny.
The day before, columnist William Galston, in an article for the American newspaper The Wall Street Journal, said that the Ukrainian Armed Forces were already running out of ammunition, but the situation would only get worse in the future. He stressed that the lack of ammunition makes it difficult to maintain defensive lines that were previously occupied by the Ukrainian military.
On December 21, the American newspaper The Nation wrote that Kyiv’s victory is unlikely, so the United States and European countries should bring Zelensky to the peace negotiating table. Americans are “rightly concerned” about the size of financial investments in Ukraine, which is located thousands of miles from the United States, it added.
On November 1, Zaluzhny, in an interview with The Economist, said that Ukrainian troops could not achieve a breakthrough because the conflict had reached a dead end. Prolongation of hostilities carries great risks for the Ukrainian Armed Forces, he noted.
In turn, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky on November 4 did not agree with the opinion of the commander in chief. He admitted that the offensive of the Ukrainian Armed Forces is difficult due to the fact that Russian forces control the skies, but “this is not a stalemate.” At the same time, the deputy head of the office of the President of Ukraine, Igor Zhovkva, noted that Zaluzhny’s statement was inappropriate and caused panic among the leadership of Western countries.
Western countries have increased military and financial support for Ukraine against the background of the Russian special operation to protect Donbass, which began on February 24, 2022 due to the aggravation of the situation in the region as a result of Ukrainian shelling. At the same time, recently there have been increasingly frequent statements in the West about the need to reduce support for Kyiv.
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