Ukraine can win the conflict between it and Russia with “the right equipment”, the Pentagon chief said on Monday, remarks doubted by experts who see it rather as a public relations strategy from the Americans.
Posted at 5:33 p.m.
Monday, day 61and of the conflict, the Secretary of Defense of the United States, Lloyd Austin, wanted to be reassuring the day after a meeting with his counterpart in diplomacy, Anthony Blinken, and the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky.
“The first thing to win is to believe that you can win. And they (the Ukrainians) are convinced that they can win,” said Lloyd Austin. “They can win if they have the right equipment, the right support. »
However, everything depends on the scope of the victory implied by these remarks, indicates the full professor of political science at UQAM and co-director of the Strategic Analysis Network (RAS), Justin Massie.
I do not believe that Ukraine, no matter how many weapons the United States or other NATO members could provide […] be able to defeat Russia in its entirety
Justin Massie, full professor of political science at UQAM
Such a scenario would imply, according to him, the reconquest of the entire country by the Ukrainian army, including the territories lost in 2014, namely Crimea and the “so-called separatist republics of Dombass”. However, this seems “difficult” to consider for Justin Massie.
What’s more, despite the announcement by the Americans of new direct and indirect military aid for Ukraine of 700 million dollars on Monday, they remain for the moment on the sidelines of the conflict, adds the assistant professor at the Military College Royal of Saint-Jean, Yann Breault. The expert rather decodes in these remarks of the Secretary of Defense of the United States, an escalation of the American discourse about Ukraine.
“We are in an indirect confrontation with the power in place in Moscow. The purpose of this visit [de Blinken et Austin]the intensification of arms deliveries is to exert maximum pressure,” he said.
A former chancellor in the hot seat
Voices are rising in Germany to demand the exclusion of the former German Chancellor Gerhard Schörer, who led the country from 1998 to 2005, from the Social Democratic Party (SPD). Highly criticized for months because of his ties of friendship with Russian President Vladimir Putin and his responsibilities in several large Russian groups, the controversy took on greater proportions this weekend. In an interview granted to New York, the ex-chancellor declared that he had no intention for the moment of renouncing his mandates in Russian companies unlike most of the former European leaders present in the governing bodies of Russian companies before the war in Ukraine.
Russian economy is stabilizing according to Putin
After being hit hard by a wave of sanctions at the start of the conflict in Ukraine, the Russian economy is “stabilizing”, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday. According to what he explained during a meeting of the Russian government devoted to economic issues, two factors would be involved. The good health of the rouble, which has “actively strengthened lately” to return to pre-crisis levels and consumer demand returning to normal after a peak in February and March. Economists, however, say the worst is yet to come as the impact of the sanctions becomes increasingly visible.
Lavrov warns of the “real” risk of a 3and world War
While evoking the “real” danger of a third world war, Moscow assured Monday that it was ready to continue peace negotiations with Kyiv, accusing Ukraine of “pretending” to discuss in the same breath. “Goodwill has its limits and if it is not reciprocated, it does not contribute to the negotiation process,” said the head of Russian diplomacy, Sergey Lavrov, according to Russian news agencies. “But we continue to conduct negotiations with the team delegated by [le président ukrainien] and these contacts will continue,” he added.
No “agreement” for the evacuation of Mariupol
After a weekend of continued shelling of the vast Azovstal metallurgical complex in Mariupol, where Ukrainian fighters are entrenched with, according to them, nearly a thousand civilians, Moscow unilaterally announced a ceasefire on Monday . The truce, supposed to allow the departure of civilians, was however quickly denied by Kyiv. “No agreement” has been reached on a humanitarian corridor, said Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk. “The advertised corridor does not offer any security, so there is no evacuation,” she added.