Antony Blinken stands, at least in words, in the front row for peace Ukraine. The American Secretary of State, at the end of his tour which saw him arrive first in Chinese and then into Middle Eastspeaking with the president of the World Economic Forum, Borge Brendea Riyadaccording to reports Radio Libertyhe held out his hand towards Vladimir Putin: “As soon as the Russia will demonstrate that they sincerely want to negotiate, we will certainly be there and I believe that the Ukrainians will also be there,” said the head of diplomacy of the Biden administration.
It remains to be understood what the starting conditions intended by are Washington. At the moment Russia is advancing very slowly but steadily on Ukrainian territory and next month, according to the military leaders in Kiev themselves, risks being complicated for the army loyal to Volodymyr Zelensky. American aid has recently been released and has yet to be made available, while the shortage of men to be sent to the front is starting to be a tangible problem. Thus, Vladimir Putin’s army risks breaking through at several points on the front. According to the think tank ISWfinanced by the arms industry that receives contracts from the US Department of Defense, Moscow’s forces have the opportunity to choose between multiple tactical directions for their future offensive actions near Avdiivkathe village conquered months ago in the region of Donetsk, but it’s unclear where they will focus their efforts in the near future. According to experts, Putin’s soldiers have two choices: to continue pushing west towards the declared operational objective a Pokrovskor try to push north to conduct possible further offensive operations around Chasiv Yar. Further marginal tactical gains were secured northwest and southwest of Avdiivka on Monday.
A situation that could keep Putin away from the negotiating table at the moment, in an attempt to capitalize as much as possible military and numerical superiority which he enjoys above all at this moment. For this reason, the offer made by Blinken must necessarily include concessions. However, if we want to find a first step forward in his words, it is certainly that of Kiev’s willingness to negotiate. The end of the war, he continued, “depends largely on Vladimir Putin and what he decides. I hope you get the message and demonstrate your willingness for sincere negotiations in accordance with the fundamental principles that underpin the international community and the United Nations Charter: sovereignty, territorial integrity, independence“.
According to the US Secretary of State, Russia’s aggression has turned into a strategic fiasco for Moscow which has had to make enormous efforts to evade controls and sanctions on exports and has been forced to reorient its economy – a situation that cannot be sustained in the long term, he says. In his opinion, the country is now weaker economically and militarily, while Ukrainians are united “like never before” and “the Nato it is stronger and bigger.” Europe meanwhile “freed itself from dependence on Russian energy resources in an extraordinary way in just two years. All of this, in my opinion, represents a huge strategic failure for Russia.”
It remains to be seen whether this reading fully reflects reality and above all whether it is shared by Moscow. The Italian Foreign Minister, Antonio Tajaniremains convinced that the epilogue of this conflict must come only with a “just peace“, which translated means a just peace for the Ukrainians. But according to Zelensky’s latest statements, there will be no peace until all the territories of Donbass and the Crimea they will not be controlled by Kiev again. Italy’s first strategic objective at the helm of the G7Tajani said in an interview with Corriere della Sera“it is peace, a just peace in Ukraine with the withdrawal of the Russians from the occupied territories”.
Returning to the field, Kiev’s raids on Russian positions do not stop. Raids that could increase in the coming weeks with new shipments of long-range missiles ATACMS, capable of striking beyond the borders of the Federation. According to some Telegram channels that monitor the evolution of the conflict, residents reported explosions during the night Simferopol, Gvardeysky e Dzhankoy, on the Crimean peninsula. For this reason, the Russian authorities closed the Crimean bridge for about an hour.