VOU: This is an interesting and thoughtful article that puts reality in perspective. NZZ is a Swiss based think tank that is one of the preeminent news sources in the German speaking world.
If Ukraine loses the war, Russia’s president will be tempted to continue his conquests. The Baltic republics are under particular threat. And in Western Europe, disruptive operations and politicians paid by the Kremlin will unsettle citizens even more.
From: NZZ by Stefan Scholl, Moscow
Galina Yanko says Russia’s victory is inevitable. «Even our Western enemies realize that they can no longer stop the Russian bear they have awakened.» In the mass-circulation newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets, the fortuneteller predicted recently that the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv would «return home,» as would Odesa and Mikolayiv. And very soon. «Active hostilities will end in a year and a half,» she said. She is not allowed to say the word war.
For more than two years, Russian politicians and propagandists have been celebrating victory over Ukraine as near and certain. Now, however, five months with almost no American weapons deliveries have genuinely put Kyiv in a tight spot. In the absence of anti-aircraft missiles to stop them, the Russians are destroying Ukrainian power plants one after the other. There are no defenses against the heavy guided bombs they are using at the front.
Even the American commander-in-chief in Europe, Christopher Cavoli, recently had to admit Russia has rebuilt its army faster than initial estimates had suggested. Since the beginning of the attack on Ukraine, the army’s size has even grown by 15%, he noted. Russia has also boosted its arms industry. The country can now produce at least 3 million artillery shells and rockets per year, Cavoli said – «more ammunition than all 32 NATO allies put together.»
And if Donald Trump wins the presidential election in November, the United States may even drop Kyiv as an ally altogether. So what does Putin have in mind for the Europeans?
Voice of Ukraine 