President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky. Telegraph photo
According to Colonel Richard Kemp, that is no longer the case. The growing public split between Mr. Zelensky and other political leaders, such as former President Petro Poroshenko and Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko, appears to be a blame game built on failures in war so far. Worse still, the relationship between Mr. Zelensky and Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi also seems to be in conflict. When Tuongsg Zaluzhnyi admitted that the war had reached a stalemate, Mr. Zelensky publicly reprimanded him.
Apart from the most important need for national unity during the war, this shows that Ukraine lacks a clear strategy to resolve the future conflict. President Zelensky continues to insist that Ukraine will regain all territory seized by Russia, although, after promising so much about the summer offensive, he appears to no longer be talking about timelines. Dismayed by the failure of that countermove, some are now talking about some kind of peace agreement. There is even talk that a potential peace deal could be put to a referendum.
British Colonel Richard Kemp said: “The last time I was in Kiev, there was certainly discussion among some political leaders about the idea of a peace agreement in which Russia would accept NATO membership of Ukraine in exchange for assurances that Ukraine would make no attempt to retake occupied territory. Such talk may have been just exasperation, but it was energy from heaven for Biden and many European leaders who want nothing more than such a peace agreement, and as soon as possible.”
Any serious consideration of peace talks could guarantee Ukraine’s failure. Putting aside domestic politics in the US and the EU, which, at least for now, has essentially limited military aid, Biden and the Europeans have so far refused to equip Ukraine to win the war.
With any hint of possible peace talks from the Ukrainian side, it will add new fears that Russia will refuse to accept or, if it does, withdraw. Supplies of “provocative” weapons will be depleted in the long run. Putin is all too aware of that, which is why he has repeatedly said that he would be ready for peace negotiations.
Zelensky needs to stop this. With this year’s election unlikely to take place amid conflict, he should form a national unity government to help control the increasingly corrosive domestic dissent that can only further weaken the country. weakened Ukraine’s war effort. He should also set out a unified strategic vision for his country.
So far, he has not offered any real strategy – other than suggesting that the focus would shift to Crimea and the Black Sea while defending against potential Russian advances in the east, which is not the case. Good enough if he expects the West to continue to put itself in its place.
It is also not enough to tell the West that Ukrainians are fighting not just for their country but for all of Europe, which will be threatened by Moscow if Putin succeeds in this war. That is certainly true, but there is no sign that the US president or Western European leaders actually believe it. If they did, they would have long ago used every measure to restrain Putin and provide Ukraine with the large number of weapons needed to defeat Russia.
President Zelensky may be exhausted after nearly two years of war, but now he must focus on regaining the initiative.
