The analyst compared what the leaders of Western countries said in New Year's greetings about the war in Ukraine.
British historian and writer Timothy Garton Ash does not see the prerequisites for freezing the conflict in Ukraine or resolving it through negotiations with the Russian Federation, as the West naively hopes.
He wrote about this in his opinion column in The Financial Times.
“Vladimir Putin is determined to defeat and destroy an independent Ukraine. Ukraine is also determined to resist… We are rather in the middle of a long and complex war that will likely last until at least 2025, if not longer “Neither side is giving up. One of them can still win, but not both,” he briefly described the current state of the war.
The historian listed the advantages that Putin has in this war – scale, ruthlessness and dictatorship in the Russian Federation, as well as support for the authoritarian regimes of Iran, North Korea and China.
Ukraine is preparing to draft many young men into the army to restore “its tired and exhausted strength” and hopes for the support of Western partners.
According to Timothy Garton Ash, Western countries are doing enough to prevent Ukraine from being defeated, but not enough to help it win.
He called for Ukraine to be given more air defense, more long-range missiles, particularly the German Taurus, as well as the US ATACMS, so that Ukraine could continue to push back Putin's Black Sea Fleet and target “his strategic and symbolic stronghold in Crimea”.
At the same time, the publicist recalled that of the one million artillery shells that the EU promised Ukraine by March, less than a third was delivered.
What European leaders said about the war
According to the historian, Europe should feel greater responsibility for the outcome of the war in Ukraine, because, in the end, we are talking about protecting European countries. In this context, Garton Ash suggested comparing the New Year's messages of European leaders.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak did not even mention the war in Ukraine in the report on the successes of his government, which was apparently written for the current parliamentary elections .
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz remembered it only in passing before moving on to the sacred topic of the German economy.
The new Prime Minister of Poland Donald Tusk devoted his speech entirely to the renewal of democracy in his country.
French President Emmanuel Macron, focusing on the theme of French pride, proposed “rearmament of European sovereignty”, in particular, “in order to stop Russia and support Ukrainians.”
But the most important message, according to the historian, came from the lips of the President of Finland Sauli Niiniste: “Europe must wake up.”
The Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen also showed excellent straightforwardness when she recalled that Ukraine does not have enough ammunition, and Europe does not supply what is needed.
“We will insist on increasing European production. This is urgently needed. And the Danish F16s will soon take to the skies. The war in Ukraine is also a war for the Europe we know,” she said. < /p>
Garton Ash writes that this is the kind of rhetoric now needed.
Recall that the commander-in-chief of the Belgian army, Michel Hoffmann, says that the Russian occupation army in the future may open a second front in Europe by attacking Moldova or the Baltic countries.
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