"The purpose was to survive": The US had never promised Ukraine to return the occupied territory - Time
Since the beginning of the full -scale invasion of the Russian Federation in Ukraine in February 2022, US President Joe Biden has decided three goals as a response to the Kremlin's actions, and the victory of Ukraine over the Russians and the return of the occupied territories was not among them. About it reports Time. Journalists write that the phrase from the mouth of the White House - to maintain Ukraine "as much as it will be needed" - intentionally had such a blurry wording.
According to US National Security Council, Eric Green, which is why this phrase was not about "territorial parameters". Green explains this as follows - according to the White House, even with the powerful assistance of the West, Ukraine is unable to deduct and return all its territories in eastern Ukraine and Crimea, which have been occupied since 2014. "After all, this was not to become a history of success.
A more important goal was to survive Ukraine as a sovereign, democratic country, free in their desire to integrate with the West," the White House representative stressed. Journalists note that this was one of Biden's three goals - to leave without a clear answer to the territories, to avoid a direct conflict between the Russian Federation and NATO, and to preserve their leadership in assistance to Ukraine, which will "form his inheritance as a statesman".
But success on these limited conditions does not bring pleasure even to some of his closest allies and advisers. "Unfortunately, this is the type of success when you do not feel pleasure in it. Because there are so many suffering in Ukraine and there is so much uncertainty about where it will eventually land," Mr Green said. The media emphasizes that the disappointment of Ukrainians in Baiden's actions has grown since the invasion of the Russian Federation.
In particular, the Ukrainian Head of State Volodymyr Zelensky stated this in an interview with Friedman's Lex that the United States did not sufficiently to impose sanctions against Russia and to give Ukraine weapons and security guarantees. " Also, the Ukrainian leader and some Washington allies indicated that the United States was "too cautious in confrontation with the Russian Federation", in particular on NATO membership.
During the last visit of Zelensky to the White House, the Ukrainian side handed over the "Victory Plan" - from a call to an invitation to NATO to providing long -range weapons with the ability to strike deep into the territory of the Russian Federation. It was then that after Baiden's refusal to go for the second term, he would be able to decide on certain steps.
But the appeal to Biden did not change his views on NATO membership, but he agreed a number of steps that were considered dangerous in the White House earlier: in November, the United States allowed to strike in the Russian Federation with Western weapons, and in January they imposed rigid sanctions against the Russian energy sector and The "shadow fleet" of Russia.
"Although these decisions did not meet Zelensky's desire, they helped Biden during his last foreign policy speech during his stay in office prove that the United States had achieved its goals, protecting Ukraine. However, it remained careful not to promise that Ukraine would return some other territory Or even the end of this war. The same as winning Russia. Earlier it became known that Biden was afraid of an attempt from "Ukrainian radicals".