Counterattack fails, President Zelensky faces harsh choices

“Ukraine now has a choice of “two doses” – accept peace, accept Russia’s territorial demands, forever abandoning the dream of becoming a full member of NATO; or continue fighting with the result of losing more territory and destroying Ukraine” – Former US intelligence officer Scott Ritter expressed his opinion.

According to Mr. Ritter, the tragedy of the Ukrainian conflict lies in the fact that the lives of Ukrainian soldiers and people are the price Kiev must pay to join the “Western club”. According to the analyst, although Ukraine has accepted losses and trade-offs, the West’s goal – to defeat Russia strategically – has also failed.

“When the sacrifices did not bring the desired results, the door to NATO, which had only been open to tease Ukraine, was slammed shut,” said former US intelligence officer Scott Ritter.

Mr. Ritter also believes that after the Russia-Ukraine conflict ends, NATO's challenges will not stop, instead, the alliance will have to face another existential crisis - fighting for NATO's existence in the emerging world order.

“The NATO summit in Vilnius (Lithuania) on July 11-12 was the pinnacle of the old European order. The summit was a way to soothe the nightmares that Europe itself created,” expert Ritter affirmed.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has stressed that Russia is not seeking to escalate the conflict in Ukraine, but is seeking to end it. However, Western countries have repeatedly mentioned the need to prolong the fighting, increase the supply of weapons and training of soldiers to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Moscow has repeatedly stated that Western military support does not bring “good luck” to Ukraine, but only prolongs the conflict.