President Volodymyr Zelensky believes that Ukraine’s partners “are afraid of Russia losing the war” and would like Kyiv “to win in such a way that Russia does not lose,” Zelensky said in a meeting with journalists attended by the Kyiv Independent.
Kyiv’s allies “fear” Russia’s loss in the war against Ukraine because it would involve “unpredictable geopolitics,” according to Zelensky. “I don’t think it works that way. For Ukraine to win, we need to be given everything with which one can win,” he said.
His statement came on May 16 amid Russia’s large-scale offensive in Kharkiv Oblast and ongoing heavy battles further east. In a week, Russian troops managed to advance as far as 10 kilometers in the northern part of Kharkiv Oblast, according to Zelensky.
Unfortunately even that wouldn’t solve it. There is no successor. This is on purpose so there’s no motive to hang Putin from a light pole. If he goes, it’s nuclear-armed Yugoslavia, or at least musical chairs coups, because there’s so many people with an equally legitimate claim to the throne.
Short of time travel there’s no obvious way to keep things normal. The “lose nicely” thing is basically fueled by wishful thinking that maybe, if the West is nice and measured enough, we’ll get lucky. (Which you could argue is what got us here)
oh well, guess we should all roll over and just let putin fuck everyone right?
NAH. I’d rather go out fighting.