Today at 01:04
Europe has enough power and resources to help Ukraine win, but it still lacks political will, which may result in an unfavorable “peace deal” being imposed on Kyiv.
This was stated by former Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis in a comment to Ukrinform.
Landsbergis noted it is evident that Europe, and Germany in particular, has enough resources to help Ukraine. Europe is a very rich continent with sufficient capacity to impose additional sanctions on Russia, provide substantial aid to Ukraine for its reconstruction, and help restore its industrial sector.
“We have forces that could fight alongside Ukrainians. We have all this. What we lack is the political will,” Gabrielius said.
In his opinion, during a German federal election, which is scheduled to take place in less than a week, or shortly after the election, when the current government will be left without a mandate and a new one has not yet been formed, “people with bad will” who are on Russia’s side will attempt to take advantage of the situation and insist that negotiations to end the war in Ukraine take place. This will generally be a very favorable moment for “Putin’s friends.”
Speaking about a peace deal that the new US administration is so actively promoting, Landsbergis did not rule out that the agreement will be concluded without Ukraine’s participation, not to mention the Europeans.
The former foreign minister also assumed that it may “not be a very good deal”. In fact, it may be on Putin’s terms, which would enable him to declare a strong victory, and not only against Ukraine but against the West and the United States.
Landsbergis added that Putin may actually be interested in concluding this deal very fast. Because Ukraine is not in a strong position and Europe is weak, and now, following the remarks from Washington, also shocked.
If Putin has a deal that is favorable to him and believes he has succeeded, he may get what he wanted: occupied territories, no NATO membership for Kyiv, which means neutrality of the state, and new elections in Ukraine, the former foreign minister said.
As reported, commenting on the upcoming talks between U.S. and Russian delegations in Saudi Arabia, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has emphasized that Ukraine will not participate. He also stressed that Ukraine will not recognize any results of the talks in Saudi Arabia that will take place without Ukraine.
Read also: Paris meeting confirms Ukraine deserves ‘peace through strength’ – EU
