The war in Ukraine will drag on for at least another year, TIME reports. The West is tacitly inclining Zelensky to negotiations in exchange for joining the EU and rebuilding the country. However, he resists: the people will not forgive him for the loss of territory.
It appears as if things are looking up for Vladimir Putin. Ukraine’s lauded counteroffensive has made little headway on the battlefield, heightening fears in the West that U.S. and European taxpayers are throwing tight wads of banknotes into an increasingly costly stalemate. Russian counterattacks have also yielded little, but the ability of well-strengthened Russian forces to repel Ukrainian strikes without retreating allows the Kremlin to control about 18 per cent of the country’s territory. This year, Russia has stepped up its missile strikes on Ukraine to the highest level of the war and dramatically increased domestic production of missiles and ammunition.
All the attention of the US and Europe is drawn to the bloodbath in the Gaza Strip, which is stirring up their domestic politics. Western aid that could have been channelled to Ukraine is now being diverted to military support for Israel and humanitarian aid to the Palestinian civilian population, which is on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe. The situation is exacerbated by the fact that the governments of Washington and European countries have seriously divergent views on the Middle East conflict, unlike the Ukrainian conflict, and disagreements among Western countries only complicate the situation. The war in the Gaza Strip also helps Russia prove that America is run by neo-colonialist hypocrites who make righteous speeches about human rights in Ukraine while giving the green light to Israel’s brutal attacks on Palestinians who cannot flee the conflict zone as the Ukrainians have done.
Western leaders are quietly warning Volodymyr Zelensky that time is not working on his side. Additional US aid will probably still be received by Ukraine, despite battles in Washington over funding for Kyiv. President Biden will still be able to get Ukraine a decent share of the $60 billion in foreign military aid he has requested from Congress. But uncertainty about the future of US support for Kyiv is growing.
However, Western attempts to push Zelensky to start negotiations with Russia have so far come to nothing. The Ukrainian president is unable to give up the Ukrainian land for which tens of thousands of AFU soldiers died. This is especially true at a time when other voices are finding favour with the Ukrainian public and when Zelensky is facing increasing pressure to drop his objections to holding military elections in 2024.
