Unless Ukraine is able to achieve a major breakthrough in its counter offensive against Russia in the near term, the pressure will grow on them to accept a ceasefire negotiation with Russia, the experts say.
Even as Russia’s war in Ukraine has entered the 11th month some top-level US experts believe that Vladimir Putin will eventually be able to hold on to the Donbas regions of Ukraine he annexed late last year.
Former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and former US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates wrote a join oped in The saying that Ukraine is totally dependent on western aid and that unless Washington and its allies increase the military support and financial assistance Kyiv will not be able to hold off against the Russian assault for long.
They say that ceding control of the annexed eastern territories is not an option for Putin and that he will keep the war alive for the next whole year to achieve his objectives. They add that much of Ukraine’s industrial and mineral wealth is in the Donbas region. Kyiv’s strategy of relying on western aid to carry on the war with Russia isn’t sustainable in the long distance.
«For [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, defeat is not an option. He cannot cede to Ukraine the four eastern provinces he has declared part of Russia. If he cannot be militarily successful this year, he must retain control of positions in eastern and southern Ukraine that provide future jumping-off points for renewed offensives to take the rest of Ukraine’s Black Sea coast, control the entire Donbass region and then move west,» the article said, according to Sputnik News.
