Kiev asks West to take measures to combat 'war fatigue'

According to RT, the head of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Aleksey Danilov, in an article published last weekend in the Ukrainskaya Pravda newspaper, said that Ukraine faces the risk of its “carefully created foreign support network” slowly being dismantled due to a loss of optimism and growing frustration among the country’s Western sponsors.

The security official accused “reputable and influential” Western media outlets of publishing content suggesting that Ukraine’s much-hyped summer offensive is failing, that Kiev’s army cannot take back territory from Russia, and that Moscow’s resources are “infinite.” All such views, Danilov said, delay Western military assistance to Kiev and hinder Ukraine’s “peace formula.”

He believes that the only solution to the conflict that has been going on for more than a year and a half between Moscow and Kiev is a military solution. "The formula for peace is the formula for weapons," he asserted in the article.

Danilov urged the West to resist its own growing skepticism about Ukraine's prospects in the conflict. He said Western nations should create "a mutually agreed formula for Ukraine's victory" and also "legislate military assistance to Ukraine", adding that election cycles could affect the "stability of the partnership" between Ukraine and the West.

The US and its allies should also "develop and implement a series of measures to eliminate the so-called 'war fatigue'", Danilov stressed. He also admitted that short-term conflicts have been "replaced by long-term conflicts".

The comments come three months after Ukraine launched a counter-offensive that has so far failed to produce any significant changes on the front line, but has seen Kiev's army suffer heavy losses in its attempts to penetrate Russian defenses.

Several Western media outlets have reported growing skepticism among Western officials about the campaign’s prospects. The New York Times reported in August that US and British officials were said to be “perplexed” by Kiev’s tactics, while the Wall Street Journal said Washington planned to reduce military aid to Ukraine by 2024.

Meanwhile, Moscow has repeatedly expressed its willingness to participate in peace talks as long as its interests are taken into account and "facts on the ground" are respected.

However, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has banned all talks with Russia. He has also insisted on his own “peace formula” – the one Danilov mentioned – which includes the withdrawal of Russian troops from all territories Kiev claims as its own, compensation from Moscow, and a criminal trial of members of the Russian government.