For the military parade on May 9 in Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin may receive a huge gift. The US is already giving indications that they may recognize Crimea as Russian [and put pressure on Kiev to do so].
This was stated to Oboz.ua by Ukrainian military expert and former SBU officer Ivan Stupak.
„In this case, Putin can say: we achieved our goal, we stopped Ukraine from joining NATO, we forced it to recognize Crimea as Russian. And the rest, as I understand it, he is not interested. But he is a dictator, so no one knows what is going on in his head“, Stupak said. According to him, to date, Russia does not have enough forces to make a breakthrough on the front, but if Putin gets Crimea, this will be a huge victory for him.
„After all, Putin started the war in Donbas not to „protect“ the miners and the Russian-speaking population, but to divert attention from [the annexation of] Crimea. And this whole war is also connected with Crimea. Therefore, Putin can consider this a huge victory. In addition, he is offered the resumption of gas trade on the European market and the restoration of oil flows,“ the Ukrainian expert pointed out.
Stupak believes that the United States has the necessary weapons to help Ukraine win the war against the Russian aggressor, but for political reasons they are not giving them to Kiev.
„Currently, Ukraine is like a patient lying in a hospital. Although the hospital has modern diagnostic equipment, materials and medicines to treat the patient, they are not given, because that is the hospital's policy. Yes, Ukraine is not dying, the Europeans are helping us, but they do not have the breakthrough weapons that the Americans have. The Europeans need time - by my calculations 5-7 years - to do something big and serious and replace the Americans in the armament. But we do not have that much time. And the US does not want to give it to us, precisely because of political motives,“ he said.
Stupak points out that it could be disastrous for Ukraine if the Donald Trump administration withdraws from the negotiations and turns its back on Kiev, as there have been indications in recent weeks.
„Imagine that the Americans withdraw from the peace process and not just withdraw, but take everything with them. They can say: Ukrainians, we prohibit you from using our weapons, and if you do, we will impose sanctions on you. It is also possible to put pressure on the French, Germans and British not to help Ukraine with weapons due to the threat of sanctions. Therefore, this issue must be approached very carefully,“, Stupak emphasized.