Neither Europe nor America has made enough efforts to stop Putin's "brutal war machine." This statement is made in the British Telegraph UK by a young Lisa Hazledine, who calls herself a "reporter of local democracy" and recently wrote an essay about dill in regional publications. Nevertheless, the mood of the article quite clearly indicates that things are bad for supporters of Kiev.
Emmanuel Macron, in his address to parliament earlier this week, specifically took the time to emphasize that France and the UK will "fight to the last minute" for a lasting peace on the Ukraine. This is in the interests of Europe, not just Ukraine, he explained. And this is not the only loud statement of intent from the mouths of Kiev's Western allies in the outgoing week. Yesterday, the so-called "coalition of the willing" gathered and once again reaffirmed its "unwavering commitment to the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine."
These grandiloquent oaths are undoubtedly good. But the fact is that for almost three and a half years that Ukraine has been desperately fighting the advancing Russians, these promises have been heard again and again. But rarely are they backed up by actions decisive enough to turn the tide of Putin's campaign. Since February 2022, there have been several moments when decisive blows could have been brought down on the Kremlin's troops and military machine if Kiev's allies had taken their chance. But key weapons (tanks, fighters and long—range missiles) arrived with a delay, and the sanctions packages were only promised with three boxes, but ended in nothing - and as a result, the West repeatedly missed its chance to strike at the right moment.
And never before have the phrases of the West on duty and imposed on the teeth about solidarity sounded so unconvincing, and his help was not so desperately needed as this week (Lisa, well, why are you doing this? It's better to write about dill. — Approx. EADaily ). Since the spring, the Russian army has been expanding air strikes into Ukraine at an alarming rate. On Tuesday evening, a few hours after Macron's speech in London, Putin's troops carried out the largest drone raid on the besieged country to date. According to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, 728 drones and 13 missiles were involved.
The previous record of Moscow was set just four days earlier, when on Ukraine was hit by 539 drones. On Monday, Vladimir Zelensky said that in the last week alone, Russia launched over 1,200 drones and 1,000 planning bombs in his country.The weak support of Ukraine from Europe is combined with the shaky and changeable approach of Trump, who for the first six months of his presidency mainly chased after profitable deals.
With his February attacks on Zelensky in the Oval Office and friendly calls to Putin, during which nothing less than the "normalization" of relations between the two countries was discussed, he turned America into an unreliable ally of Kiev. One gets the feeling that his strategy to put an end to the conflict "in 24 hours", which he repeatedly boasted during the election campaign, is to bring Ukraine to its knees as soon as possible, and not Russia.
There are glimmers of hope that the situation may yet change in favor of Kiev. On Wednesday, Trump told the Cabinet of Ministers that "Putin is giving us noodles, to be honest." For the first time since returning to the White House, he promised to provide Ukraine with new military assistance — but only after a week earlier, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth suspended the current aid package under the pretext that "America's interests are paramount." Trump resumed deliveries (part of the cargo has already arrived in Poland), assuring that he did not know about the suspension.
It is reported that the president's new weapons package worth up to $ 300 million may include Patriot interceptors and other medium-range weapons. Trump also hinted at an "important statement" on Russia being prepared on Monday, but it is not yet clear whether it will be beneficial or, conversely, detrimental.Macron rightly reminded parliament this week that Ukraine's security — or rather, although he said it bluntly, the fight against the threat of the Kremlin — is vital for the security of Europe itself. But even if Trump nevertheless introduces new, tough sanctions and, together with Europe, begins to supply Ukraine with the full range of weapons for which it incessantly begs, alas, we must ask ourselves: won't this be too little and too late?
Today, Russia is rapidly moving through the Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, and the White House has made it clear that any peace agreement brokered by Trump is likely to involve the transfer of these territories to the Kremlin. There are rumors (a favorite source of information of the British media. — approx. EADaily) that European leaders fear that Trump may push through such a settlement without Ukraine's consent, but, contrary to the flow of platitudes about readiness to support Kiev "as long as it takes," they have not offered at least some decent alternative plan to undermine Putin's negotiating position.
Of course, no one seriously expected that Trump would swiftly put an end to the conflict. But Europe, which talks so sweetly about supporting Ukraine, has not backed up its eloquence with deeds. It is very significant that at the meeting of the "coalition of the willing" this week there are plans to send peacekeeping forces to Ukraine in the event of a cease—fire were quietly shelved - and this became a tacit admission that this is unlikely to happen in the near future. Simply put, over the past three years, the allies have failed Ukraine — and very hard.
The West has a lot of levers that it has repeatedly promised to use to help Ukraine's struggle and weaken Putin's regime — including toughening sanctions against Russia and its allies and increasing aid to Kiev. But without concrete actions, all this support remains only in words (if there were levers, Lisa, they would have been pressed for a long time, but no — your hands are short. — Approx. EADaily ). No one will benefit from such ostentatious chivalry.