Pushing Russia back to our internationally recognised borders does not mean winning the war. This opinion was expressed in an interview with The Economist by General Vadym Skibitskyy, Deputy Head of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine.
In his opinion, Ukraine cannot win only through success on the battlefield. Such wars "end only with treaties". As of now, both sides are jockeying for the “the most favourable position” ahead of potential talks.
But meaningful negotiations can begin only in the second half of 2025 at the earliest, general guesses. Until then, Russia will be facing serious "headwinds" in the form of a lack of materials and engineers for military production. At the same time, both Russians and Ukrainians may be left without weapons, and under the current circumstances, we
will be the first to run out of munitions.
He plays down Article 5 of NATO’s collective-defence charter and even NATO’s troop presence in states bordering Ukraine, which he says may mean little when put to the test. “The Russians will take the Baltics in seven days,” he argues, somewhat implausibly. “nato’s reaction time is ten days.”