The head of the US State Department, Anthony Blinken, noted that the refusal of military and other support for Ukraine will free the hands of the Kremlin dictator and war criminal Vladimir Putin for further aggression around the world.
Blinken warns of the consequences of refusing to support Ukraine
We must ensure that Ukraine continues to succeed. We must ensure that Russia continues to be defeated. If we do not do this, Putin will be allowed to act with impunity, which will open a Pandora's box of aggression around the world, the head of the US State Department said .
He emphasized that other world dictators are carefully analyzing the reaction of the world community to the criminal actions of the Kremlin regime under the leadership of Putin in Ukraine and in different regions of the world.
Why Ukraine cannot give up the fight against Russian aggression
According to Bloomberg journalists, how brutal this winter will be for Ukraine currently depends on the USA and EU countries.
As the author of the material, Mark Champion, notes, Russia is currently increasing the potential for its air attacks on Ukraine, in particular, on energy infrastructure facilities. At the same time, Kyiv's Western partners seem to have lost their way.
The author emphasizes that the criminal war launched by the Kremlin against Ukraine should not be determined by the success or failure of one of the parties' offensive during one season.
This is important because many current considerations about what to do next take the failure of Ukraine's summer counteroffensive to provide a breakthrough as a starting point.
According to the author of the material, the actual state of affairs is such that the negotiations will currently depend to a greater extent on Russia.
For now, however, Kremlin dictator Vladimir Putin shows no sign of being ready for a long-term ceasefire.
Russia's actions, not to mention the Kremlin's still escalating rhetoric and announced annexation of territories it does not yet control, suggest the opposite.
The article notes that the USA and the EU came to Ukraine's aid not to defeat Russia but to help defend itself because the Kremlin's further aggression threatened Europe with chaos.
These are still vital interests, even without affecting the protection of democracy or international law.
In addition, they are more achievable than they seemed immediately after the Russian invasion of 2022.
The author emphasizes that one should not expect Putin to abandon his own goals in Ukraine now when funding and military support for Ukraine are under threat on both sides of the Atlantic.
The White House warned this week that it would run out of money to support Ukraine by the end of December unless Republicans in Congress change their stance, which would "bring to its knees" Ukraine's ability to defend itself against Russian invaders.
Meanwhile, Putin's ally, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, has clarified that he intends to either use or derail the creation of a 50 billion euro European Union fund for Ukraine and the EU's plan to negotiate EU membership with Kyiv.
From the Kremlin's point of view, the most encouraging is that Donald Trump is leading in opinion polls ahead of the US presidential election in a year. Putin also has his political agenda. Next year, he will face elections, which are still crucial for strengthening his power and legitimacy, no matter how unfree and unfair they may be. A deal now might make the Russians wonder what a huge price they have had to pay.
Many people in the West do not understand, says Mykola Beleskov, a researcher at the National Institute of Strategic Studies in Kyiv, that "Russia will not reconcile with Ukraine" and still believes it can win by force. They "increased the production of weapons, are mobilizing new forces, and need a result."
As a result, it turns out that Ukraine cannot stop the struggle, no matter what happens to its financing and arms supplies from the allies. The only question is how many additional lives and territory will be lost if Western resolve weakens, denying the Ukrainians the ability to fight back with enough force to convince Putin that he has nothing more to gain.
