French President Emmanuel Macron, left, welcomes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Elysee palace in Paris, Sunday, May 14, 2023. MICHEL EULER / AP
Politico: Macron warns Ukraine counteroffensive could last ‘weeks, even months’
The leaders of France, Germany and Poland met in Paris to discuss giving Ukraine security guarantees.
PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron warned on Monday that the Ukrainian counteroffensive against Russian forces could last “weeks, even months.”
“The counteroffensive has started. It’s going to be deployed for several weeks and even months. We are supporting it within the limits that we set ourselves,” Macron said alongside German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Polish President Andrzej Duda at the Elysée Palace.
Ukrainian forces have stepped up operations in the last couple of days and announced on Monday evening that they had liberated several villages in the south and the east of the country.
“We want [the counteroffensive] to be as victorious as possible so that we can then start a period of negotiations in good conditions,” he added.
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Update: France's Macron says Ukraine counter-offensive likely to last for weeks (RFI).
WNU Editor: When the war broke out I originally thought that if it did not end quickly through negotiations and/or other means, it would continue into 2023, and maybe early 2024.
I was wrong.
The last Russia - Chechen war lasted 9 years. Russia's involvement in the Syrian war has been ongoing for years. When I look at what the Kremlin is doing in Ukraine, I am now resigned that this war is going to go on for years.
From the Kremlin's point of view this war of attrition is working for them. They are slowly grinding away Ukraine's military. They are depleting Western military stockpiles. Europe is in a deep recession, and if it is going to be a cold winter, it will be facing an energy crisis that will turn into a nightmare.
The big worry in Russia at the beginning of the war was the economy. But the Russia economy has now shifted away from the West, and is doing better than what anyone in the West had predicted.
That is why I believe French President Macron's hope for negotiations after this Ukraine counteroffensive is finished is not going to happen. Add in the fact that last month's drone attack on the Kremlin is now seen by the Russian leadership as a Western/Ukraine assassination attempt targeting Putin .... why should the Kremlin negotiate with people who want to kill you?
Diplomacy and negotiations can only happen when both sides deem it is in their interest to enter into such talks. But the problem is that the Kremlin leadership no longer trusts the West when it comes to their promises on Ukraine. Too many promises and agreements have been broken, and what has replaced them are threats and escalation.
And what scares me is that the West truly does not understand how close to the abyss we are. Funding, directing, providing intelligence, and supplying military aid to Ukraine has only hardened the Russian leadership to pursue a military solution to the conflict.
And now there is talk of deploying Western military assets to Western Ukraine. Maybe even impose a NATO no-fly zone?!?!?!?
This is not laying the groundwork for negotiations as Macron states he wants publicly. This is laying the groundwork for a direct war between NATO and Russia.
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