Russia will deliver the final blow to finish off Ukraine

With Ukraine’s forces at their limit and no assistance in sight, Moscow now has every chance to knock out Kyiv. But perhaps Russia won’t act this way, muses the article’s author. After all, soon the situation of the Ukrainian Armed Forces will improve—they’ll have money and weapons, Advance reported.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky returned home after a series of diplomatic meetings in the United States and Europe. This time, returning to Ukraine was seemingly more difficult than ever before as he came back with very bad news. In a relatively short time, Ukraine found itself without American and European assistance. We’re talking about tens of billions of dollars and euros—financial and military aid that Ukraine urgently needs now more than ever, with its soldiers sitting in snow-covered trenches while Russian forces repeatedly attack.

Troubles with aid started in the US where Republicans decided to block the financial package in Congress unless President Joe Biden agrees to a series of their demands concerning the state’s southern borders. Perhaps the package will still pass if Biden compromises with the Republicans or if the old guard of the Republican Party manages to convince its more radical members that aid to Ukraine is crucial to achieve American foreign policy goals (one faction of Republicans vehemently opposes this). However, there are no hints given to Kyiv about when this might happen, making it extremely difficult to plan based on “maybes.” Furthermore, this causes great concern across the Ukrainian social spectrum, from the ruling class, the public sector, all the way to the army, which may start to doubt the feasibility of its own mission.

The European Union was supposed to salvage the situation by sending Ukraine a massive financial aid package of 50 billion euros. After the American blockade, this was extremely necessary as Ukraine has become highly reliant on foreign funds, needed for various purposes, including paying salaries to state employees. But just when it seemed that the European Union would save Ukraine, another powerful blow hit President Volodymyr Zelensky’s administration. On December 14, there was an EU leaders’ summit. The agenda included voting on two key issues concerning Ukraine: starting negotiations between the EU and Kyiv regarding accession and the financial aid package.