These are some of the questions testing the international alliance that quickly rallied around Ukraine in the days following the Russian invasion, but which, three months after the war, is strained, officials and diplomats told Reuters. As Western governments grapple with rising inflation and energy costs, countries such as Italy and Hungary have called for a speedy ceasefire. This could pave the way for a reduction in sanctions and end the blockade of Ukrainian ports exacerbated by a food security crisis for the world’s poorest. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register However, Ukraine, Poland and the Baltic states warn that they should not trust Russia and say that a ceasefire will allow it to consolidate territorial victories, regroup and launch more attacks on the line. The Russians “spread the rumor that this would be an exhausting war, we must sit around the table and seek consensus,” a senior Ukrainian official told Reuters. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has said he wants Russia to be “weakened” and President Joe Biden has called for Putin to be prosecuted for war crimes. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says Kyiv must not be heavily armed to accept a bad peace deal and that Ukraine “must win”. read more Germany and France have remained more ambiguous, pledging to prevent Putin from winning instead of defeating him, while backing tough new sanctions. “The question is whether we will return to the Cold War or not. That is the difference between Biden, Johnson and us,” an ally of French President Emmanuel Macron told Reuters. Russia launched what it calls a “special operation” in Ukraine in February, saying it was necessary to rid the country of dangerous nationalists and to undermine Ukraine’s military capabilities – targets the West has denounced as unfounded. Moscow has since argued that military support from Washington and its allies is prolonging the war and preventing Ukraine from holding peace talks. In March, the Kremlin called on Ukraine to suspend military action, change its constitution to establish neutrality, recognize Crimea as Russian, and recognize separatist-held eastern territories as independent states. Irene. Ukrainian and French sources, as well as officials in other countries consulted by Reuters on the story, called for anonymity in order to speak freely about sensitive diplomatic and security policies. The divisions could intensify as sanctions and war weigh on the world economy, jeopardizing internal reactions and playing into Putin’s hands. “It was clear from the beginning that it would become more and more difficult over time – the fatigue of war is coming,” Estonian Prime Minister Kaya Callas told CNN. “There may be a difference between those countries that have much better neighbors than us, and those that have different histories like us, the Baltic states and Poland.”
DEALING WITH MR. PUTIN
Macron has warned that any peace should not “humiliate” Russia as it did for Germany in 1918. He, like German Chancellor Olaf Soltz, has kept open channels of communication with the Kremlin, sparking unrest in more hawkish countries. The President of Poland compared the calls with the conversation with Adolf Hitler during World War II. read more “We have to face Mr Putin at some point, unless there is a coup in the palace. And even more so because this war must be as short as possible,” said Macron. Solz said his and Macron’s talks with Putin had been used to convey a firm and clear message, and stressed that sanctions on Russia would not end unless Putin withdrew his troops and agreed to a peace deal acceptable to Kyiv. However, one of Soltz’s team told Reuters that Macron’s wording was “unfortunate”. Some French diplomats have also expressed private reservations about Macron’s stance, saying he risks alienating Ukraine and its Eastern European allies. While grateful for the West’s support, Ukraine has backed proposals to grant territory as part of a ceasefire agreement and sometimes questions whether its allies were properly united against Russia. Macron’s warning not to humiliate Russia has prompted Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba to warn that France is only humiliating itself and that Kiev’s relations with Soltz are frozen. read more “We do not have a Churchill in the whole of the European Union. We have no illusions about it,” said a senior Ukrainian official, referring to wartime British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. A French presidency official said “there is no room for complacency with Putin or Russia over what the president is saying.” France wanted a Ukrainian victory and the restoration of Ukrainian territory, the official said, and the dialogue with Putin was “not for compromise, but to say things as we see fit.” A US government official said Washington was more skeptical of Russia’s good faith, but denied there was a “strategic difference” between the allies. A State Department spokesman told Reuters that the US allies were “surrendering” to Ukraine – with sanctions, arms transfers and other measures – despite denials before the invasion that cast doubt on the alliance’s unity. The goal, the spokesman said, was to put Ukraine in a strong position to negotiate.
DESTRUCTION OF RUSSIA?
Referring to Austin’s comments, the first official said that Washington had no intention of changing Russia’s leadership, but wanted to see the country weakened to the point where it could not carry out such an attack on Ukraine again. “Everyone focused on the first part of what Austin said, not the second part. We want to see Russia weakened to the point where it can not do that again,” he said. A German government source said Austin’s goal of weakening Russia was problematic. It was unfortunate that German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, one of Scholz’s Green Partners, had supported this goal, the source said, because it complicated the question of when sanctions could ever be lifted, regardless of whether Ukraine agreed to a peace agreement or not. . German government sources also said they were concerned that some in the West could push Ukraine towards unrealistic military targets, including the recapture of the Crimean peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014, which could prolong the conflict. Baerbock has publicly stated that sanctions should remain in place until Russian troops withdraw from Crimea. Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany, meanwhile, has repeatedly criticized Germany for delaying the shipment of heavy weapons to Ukraine, although Berlin has strongly defended its history of support. read more Senior adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy Mykhailo Podolyak signaled Ukraine’s frustration: “Russia must not win, but we will not give up heavy weapons – it can offend Russia. Putin must lose, but let us not impose new sanctions. Millions will starve, but we are not ready for military escorts with grain,” he wrote. on Twitter. May 31. “Rising prices are not the worst thing that a democratic world can expect with such a policy,” he said. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Reports by John Irish and Michel Rose in Paris, Humeyra Pamuk and Andrea Shalal in Washington, Andreas Rinke and Sarah Marsh in Berlin, Elizabeth Piper in London. written by Matthias Williams. Editing by Frank Jack Daniel Our role models: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
