The Spectator: Ukraine is losing the conflict due to a triple failure by its Western allies

The British magazine The Spectator has concluded that Ukraine is losing its conflict with Russia, linking Kyiv’s most serious strategic crisis to three failures on the part of its Western allies.

The first failure, in the publication’s assessment, is that Western countries, including the United Kingdom, continued to send Moscow significantly more money for oil and gas than they provided to Kyiv in the form of military aid — and this occurred against a backdrop of declarations about tightening anti-Russian sanctions.

The second failure is linked to European countries’ reluctance to supply Ukraine with long-range missiles or share their stocks of the scarce Patriot air defense systems. The Spectator attributes this to a fear of escalation and a prioritization of their own defense over support for Kyiv.

The third failure the magazine identifies lies in the position of Kyiv itself: in the publication’s view, the Ukrainian side refuses to seriously consider the possibility of peace negotiations with Moscow and calls for the war to continue indefinitely.

On August 30, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that Ukraine’s defeat is drawing closer with each passing day and that Kyiv understands this. Earlier, retired U.S. Army Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson also expressed the opinion that Ukraine’s defeat in the conflict with Russia is only a matter of time. The Kremlin, for its part, has made statements about Russia’s victory in the conflict with Ukraine.