Announcing the delivery to Ukraine of 14 Challenger 2 heavy battle tanks, 42-year-old U.K. Prime Minister Rish Sunak renewed his commitment to help Kiev’s goal of evicting Russian forces from Ukraine. Other countries, including France and Poland have also committed to sending heavy tanks to Kiev, with Germany not yet joining the bandwagon. German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht, 57, resigned today, creating some uncertainty where Germany stands in sending its heavy Leopard battle tanks to the Ukraine battlefront. Kremlin Spokesman Dimitri Peskov said the new tanks will “burn” on the battlefield, not change anything in Ukraine other than escalating misery for Ukrainian citizens. Ukraine’s 44-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky is committed to expelling Russia from Ukrainian territory, a mission that wasn’t happening before the Feb. 24, 2022 Ukraine invasion.
Russian had troops in Donetsk, Luhansk and Crimea before the Ukraine War started, marking a change of policy from Kiev. Zelensky thinks with advanced U.S. and NATO weapons he has the resources to continue battling the Russian Federation nearly one year into a conflict that’s seen much of Ukraine’s infrastructure destroyed by Russian air strikes. Peskov thinks that U.S. and NATO arms shipments to Ukraine prove that the Western Alliance is trying to break up the Russian Federation. President Joe Biden, 80, said March 26, 2022 in Warsaw, Poland that he didn’t think 70-year-old Russian President Validimir Putin could stay in power. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, 69, said April 26 in Ramstein, Germany that the aim of the U.S. proxy war in Ukraine was to degrade the Russian military. So, when Peskov says the U.S. and NATO try to topple the Russian Federation, it’s not that far off.
Peskov said adding tanks to the Ukraine battlefield would not change the situation on the ground. “They are using [Ukraine] as a tool to achieve their anti-Russian goals,” Peskov said. “These tanks are burning and will burn just like the rest,” Peskov said, showing that there’s no movement to a negotiated settlement. Ukraine’s top general Valery Zaluzhnyy said the new tanks would push Russian forces back to the lines before the Feb. 24, 2020 invasion. Kremlin officials see the war as one between the U.S.-NATO and the Kremlin, not between Kiev and Moscow. Peskov says that the U.S. and NATO are using Ukraine to wage its battle to break up the Russian Federation. Putin has said in the past that if the Russian homeland is threatened by the U.S.-NATO war, all bets are off for nuclear weapons. Adding new heavy battle tanks to the Ukraine theater only increases the changes of unexpected consequences.
Adding heavy battle tanks to Ukraine battlefield escalates the conflict, prompting more countermeasures by the Russian military. Last weekend’s Cruise Missile strike on Kiev and other Ukrainian cities shows that Kiev’s military steps are met with strong countermeasures. Whatever tanks the U.S. gets from the U.S. and NATO, it only continues the battle, does nothing for a political settlement. White House officials led by Biden and his 60-year-old Secretary of State Antony Blinken have pressured NATO countries to pony up cash-and-arms to Kiev. No peace plans come from Washington or Kiev, only more threats to the Russian Federation. Only French President Emmanuel Macron, 44, has tried to play peacemaker, keeping communication open with Putin. Peskov is right saying that more war materiel won’t solve the fundamental issues to end the Ukraine War.
Putin has asked Biden for new security arrangement with Ukraine and Eastern Europe, all rebuffed by the White House. If trends continue, more Ukraine can expect more destruction and carnage by escalating the war. Battling the Russian Federation has been a colossal miscalculation and blunder by Washington and Kiev. Zelensky keeps asking for more cash-and-arms, thinking that the bankrupt Kiev government can defeat the Russian Federation. Kiev gets its bravado from the White House where there’s no effort to end the conflict except by military combat. Yet the U.S. and NATO refuse to set up a no-fly-zone or commit troops to the Ukraine War. If the U.S. and NATO really thought the Kremlin were such a menace to world peace, you’d think they’d put some skin in the game, more than just sending military hardware. Biden says he doesn’t want to start WW III, but it’s already started.
Peacemakers at the U.N. must apply pressure to the White House and Kiev to stop the escalation because it doesn’t lead to anything good for Kiev, Washington or Brussels. No one in the EU wants war with the Russian Federation, despite supplying cash-and-arms to Kiev. Kiev’s current mission is counterproductive expecting with all the U.S. and NATO arms to vanquish the Russian Federation. Peskov echoes Kremlin policy that the war is one between Moscow and the Western Alliance. Putin isn’t about to surrender to the Western Alliance, no matter how much Ukraine continues to battle to reclaim its lost sovereign territory. U.S. peacemakers should pressure Kiev and Washington to take a fresh look at a nearly one-year-old war that does nothing to promote peace on the European Continent. Putin isn’t about to surrender to the U.S. or NATO, instead escalating the conflict.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
