CAs if the campaign for the November 5 presidential election in the United States was not surreal enough, the man arrested on Sunday, September 15, because he was prowling, armed with an assault rifle, on the golf course where Donald Trump was playing his favorite sport, had to turn out to be a staunch supporter of the Ukrainians in their war against Russia, to the point of having tried to join their ranks – in vain.
This may seem anecdotal to Americans, who are no longer afraid of a new development. For Ukrainians, it is an additional difficulty in an uncertain American political landscape, yet crucial for the outcome of a war that is bleeding them dry. This outcome is becoming more and more pressing. “Concluding this war is a necessity for usnoted President Volodymyr Zelensky on September 13 in kyiv, opening the Yalta European Strategy conference. Vladimir Putin, however, does not need to put an end to it.
The next day, at the same podium, a man with an imposing build, a grey beard and close-cropped hair, said nothing else, but in his own words: “We know how to fight, but we are tired… In fact, we have been exhausted for a while now. We have no right to stop. You have to help us.” Ukrainian officer Serhii Varakine commands the drone unit of the 58the brigade. He talks about the war, about the Russians, whom he cannot “not to be considered as brothers after what[il a] seen “then suddenly he speaks about himself: “I haven't stopped since 2016. I'm 44, I should have a family, children, take pictures of barbecues instead of taking pictures of the forehead…”
And there he falls silent, because tears well up in his eyes. As they had welled up a little earlier in the eyes of a sturdy forty-year-old in fatigues, Pavlo Palissa, commander of the 93e mechanized brigade, when he spoke of the loss of his men.
Provide another major military effort
It is necessary to end this, but not at any price. After two and a half years of high-intensity fighting, the Ukrainian leaders can boast of standing up to an invader reputed to be so powerful, but they fear an endless war. The incursion carried out since August 6 into Russian territory, in the Kursk region, has boosted their morale in the short term by showing that they were capable of regaining the initiative.
Now we need to go further, to make another major military effort, to strike a major blow to put pressure on the Russian population and its president, and to get him to negotiate an end to the war. Hence the incessant insistence that recalcitrant Western allies – mainly in Washington – allow Kiev to use their weapons to strike deep into Russian territory. Since Ukraine’s allies say they want to help it to be in a position of strength when the time comes to negotiate, it is time to put words into action.
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Source: Lemonde
