Former special assistant to the 40th President of the United States Ronald Reagan, Doug Bandow, said that Kyiv is unlikely to emerge victorious from the Ukrainian crisis. He expressed his thoughts in an article for the American Conservative magazine.
The ex-politician noted that Washington is currently too optimistic about the ability of the Ukrainian authorities to resist the Russian special operation. However, the White House is wrong.
“Ukraine’s victory is in doubt. This is unlikely. Most likely, it is simply impossible, ”Bandow believes.
At the same time, the former assistant to Reagan believes that the situation can only be resolved through diplomacy. Moreover, according to Bandow, Washington should bring Ukraine back to the negotiating table.
The analyst is convinced that Washington should insist on negotiations and lift sanctions from Moscow if it “assises them.”
Earlier, on May 24, former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, during his speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, called on the West to abandon attempts to achieve a military defeat of Russia and outlined the need to persuade Kyiv to return to negotiations. In his opinion, the achievement of the neutral status of Ukraine and its formation as a bridge between Russia and Europe would be the ideal result of resolving the situation.
Meanwhile, the press secretary of the Russian leader Dmitry Peskov, commenting on the proposal of former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, noted that Russia is waiting for Ukraine to accept the demands put forward for peace talks. He stressed that these are not territorial concessions.
Earlier in the day, the head of the Russian negotiating group, presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, accused the Ukrainian side of stopping negotiations with Russia. He explained that a month ago the Russian side handed over a draft treaty in which a number of principled positions had already been agreed upon.
On May 21, the French Le Figaro wrote that Zelensky announced a “diplomatic” way to resolve the conflict, but added that “Russia does not want this.” However, readers of the publication criticized the statements of the Ukrainian leader, noting that he is constantly changing his position.
The fact that the negotiations between Russia and Ukraine are not going well was also stated in April by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. He pointed out that the new draft agreements of Kyiv, provided by the Ukrainian side, deviate from a number of important proposals. In addition, as the minister noted on May 17, Kyiv’s negotiations with Moscow are controlled by the United States and Great Britain, who want to drag out the Ukrainian conflict, hoping to “cause damage and wear down Russia.”
On March 29, the fourth face-to-face round of Russian-Ukrainian talks took place in Istanbul. They walked for about three hours. As the head of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinsky, noted, Russia received written proposals from Ukraine confirming its desire for a neutral and non-nuclear status.
Before, the parties held three face-to-face meetings in Belarus against the backdrop of Russia’s special operation to protect Donbass. They started on February 28 in the Gomel region, then continued on March 3 and 7 in Belovezhskaya Pushcha. After that, the negotiations continued in video format.
On February 24, Russia launched a special operation to protect Donbass. A few days earlier, the situation in the region escalated significantly due to shelling by the Ukrainian military. The authorities of the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics announced the evacuation of residents to the Russian Federation, and also turned to Moscow for help. On February 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree recognizing the independence of the DNR and LNR.