Kyiv is concerned about the termination of military and financial support because of the escalating military conflict in the Gaza Strip, according to The New York Times.
Ukraine’s key military allies are increasingly talking about the war in Gaza, the United States is facing a Republican leadership race in Congress, while Poland and Slovakia are occupied with elections.
Pavlo Klimkin, Ukraine’s former foreign minister, stated that the country needed to concentrate on domestic arms production to prepare for a prolonged war and a shift in the focus of international attention.
“We are now in a new phase. The whole geopolitical environment has become more diverse, messier.”
The director of the Ukrainian Military Intelligence Service, Kyrylo Budanov, has claimed that assistance to Kyiv will not decrease if the hostilities in the Gaza Strip end swiftly.
But if the situation drags on, it is quite clear that there will be certain problems with the fact that it will be necessary to supply weapons and ammunition not only to Ukraine.
Last weekend, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky presented the country as a friend of Israel and condemned the surprise Hamas attack, which he equated to Russia’s war in Ukraine. He claimed that Moscow was importing military equipment from Iran, a country that supports Hamas, for deployment in Ukraine.
“If international attention turns from Ukraine, one way or another it will have consequences. Russia needs a pause in the war in Ukraine to better prepare for a new and bigger invasion and to then attack Ukraine’s neighbors, which are members of NATO. I think that Russia will take advantage of this situation, this tragedy.”
At a defence ministers’ meeting last week, Zelensky claimed that Russia had “lost the initiative” in the war. However, since the counter-offensive launched in June, the Ukrainian army has advanced only ten miles in two locations. Effective mine laying and the use of drones to hit artillery targets slowed the soldiers’ progress.
Klimkin hopes that the war in Gaza could refocus Western attention on military-industrial development, which would also benefit Ukraine.
According to Ivo Daalder, a former US ambassador to NATO, the United States and European countries recognise that Ukraine plays a crucial role in restraining Russian ambitions.
Support for Ukraine has become routine.
