NATO official sees Russia war entering a stalemate: ‘Neither side here can win’ PUBLISHED MON, MAR 21 20221:21 PM EDT Josh Lederman
BRUSSELS — The nearly monthlong Russian war in Ukraine is on the verge of entering a stalemate, a senior NATO intelligence official said Monday, with Ukrainian forces preventing Russia from making progress but Russian President Vladimir Putin showing no willingness to back down.
“If we’re not in a stalemate, we are rapidly approaching one,” said the NATO official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military assessments. “The reality is that neither side has a superiority over the other.”
Belarus, a close Russian ally, may soon attack Ukraine itself and is preparing to potentially let Russia position nuclear weapons on Belarusian soil, the official said. Belarus has already allowed Russia’s military to use its territory to invade Ukraine.
The ominous assessment comes as President Joe Biden and world leaders prepare for a NATO major summit on Thursday here in Belgium and other high-level meetings focused on Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The U.S. and NATO allies have been heartened by Ukraine’s surprisingly strong resistance and Russia’s lackluster military performance. But Western leaders have also warned that Putin appears unserious about diplomatic negotiations to end the war, predicting a protracted conflict with devastating consequences for Ukrainian civilians.
The NATO official said that despite making no significant progress in the past two weeks, Putin appears dug in and unwilling to admit failure, likely foreclosing the possibility he will back down.
The Ukrainians, too, have “made very clear they will not give up,” the official said, adding that Russia would likely find it very difficult to maintain control over territory it’s captured in the face of “what’s likely to be a persistent and significant Ukrainian insurgency.”
“So what happens when you have these two forces then grinding on each other in this way? The loss of life and the damage is going to be quite severe,” the NATO official said. “Neither side here can win. Neither side will capitulate.”
It remains unclear to NATO whether Putin intends to pursue a “maximalist” strategy to capture all or most of Ukraine, the official said, but asserted that Russia had clearly expanded its set of targets in recent days, including by hitting sites in Western Ukraine that had gone mostly untouched in the early days of the war.
BRUSSELS — The nearly monthlong Russian war in Ukraine is on the verge of entering a stalemate, a senior NATO intelligence official said Monday, with Ukrainian forces preventing Russia from making progress but Russian President Vladimir Putin showing no willingness to back down.
“If we’re not in a stalemate, we are rapidly approaching one,” said the NATO official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military assessments. “The reality is that neither side has a superiority over the other.”
Belarus, a close Russian ally, may soon attack Ukraine itself and is preparing to potentially let Russia position nuclear weapons on Belarusian soil, the official said. Belarus has already allowed Russia’s military to use its territory to invade Ukraine.The ominous assessment comes as President Joe Biden and world leaders prepare for a NATO major summit on Thursday here in Belgium and other high-level meetings focused on Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The U.S. and NATO allies have been heartened by Ukraine’s surprisingly strong resistance and Russia’s lackluster military performance. But Western leaders have also warned that Putin appears unserious about diplomatic negotiations to end the war, predicting a protracted conflict with devastating consequences for Ukrainian civilians.
The NATO official said that despite making no significant progress in the past two weeks, Putin appears dug in and unwilling to admit failure, likely foreclosing the possibility he will back down.
The Ukrainians, too, have “made very clear they will not give up,” the official said, adding that Russia would likely find it very difficult to maintain control over territory it’s captured in the face of “what’s likely to be a persistent and significant Ukrainian insurgency.”
“So what happens when you have these two forces then grinding on each other in this way? The loss of life and the damage is going to be quite severe,” the NATO official said. “Neither side here can win. Neither side will capitulate.”
It remains unclear to NATO whether Putin intends to pursue a “maximalist” strategy to capture all or most of Ukraine, the official said, but asserted that Russia had clearly expanded its set of targets in recent days, including by hitting sites in Western Ukraine that had gone mostly untouched in the early days of the war.
让美国大兵通讯用乌/俄语？
是基于人道主义的援助。就像中国也援助了500万人民币的物资给乌克兰一样。
美国希望俄打乌、于是普京就动手了。
原来普京说的“第五纵队”就是他自己呀
是美国不断上涨的股市，是国际上不断流入美国的热钱，是美国大军火商拿到手软的订单！ 所以只要美国钱没赚够，这场战争就不能停，明白了么？
有利，首先是团结了北约（欧美紧密团结在美国的领导之下）；其次才是长期的资金转移到美国（而且要在战争扩大延长的条件下）。
俄罗斯也是军火大国。