Trump’s latest stance on Russia ‘has managed to produce some movement on the lines’, expert says

Trump’s latest stance on Russia ‘has managed to produce some movement on the lines’, expert says

Let’s go straight to our guest, Alexander Vulk, scientific director at the Center for Military History and Perspective in Geneva. Alexand is a former battalion commander experienced in peace support operations which Alexand at some point uh one might perhaps expect to see at some resolution of this conflict peacekeepers perhaps deployed on Ukrainian soil. Uh but I also suspect that is something that Vladimir Putin would be dead set against. Yes, this has already been stated. It is the official Russian position that no European troops uh peacekeepers uh should be deployed in Ukraine. And as you have mentioned, this has happened before in 2014 2015. um at the time of the Crimea incidents um there were if eventually international or international peacekeepers OCE peacekeepers that were present in terms of what is happening right now we’re two weeks down the line from that peace summit if you call it between Trump and Putin and of course famously no Ukrainian presence in the room which some people just don’t understand but those two men of course you’ve got to just basically let them get on with it to a certain degree I suppose thinking that there may be some kind of development The only development that seems to have been, Alexander, is more bombing and more death in Ukraine. So clearly, what is what is Putin playing at right now? What do you think his game plan is? uh presumably gaining time because at the uh moment these negotiations were taking place in Alaska uh there was a very strong uh a very potent uh Russian uh ground assault that was taking place which eventually um resulted in territorial gains. So I think um we have this very idealized uh vision of politics on one side, diplomacy on one side, words on one side and military on the other. Um we should uh simply know that in the Russian military doctrine um politics, diplomacy, words, information is part of warfare. It is one of the lines of operation of uh of this special military operations. There is going to be a get together between uh Chinese leaders, North Korean leaders. Uh uh Putin avail will be going there as well. No western leaders will be present. And of course on the other side of the equation, Trump wickoff thinking there’s going to be some kind of development. Alexander, do you think that Trump and Wickoff are genuinely looking to resolve this this war or do you think they’re looking beyond that as what they can for what they can get out of it financially, their business, their investments, those kind of things? I hear a lot of criticism about uh Trump decisions and policies but at the same time um what he is what he has managed to produce is some u movement in the lines uh because all of these countries that you have mentioned uh which are directly or indirectly supporting uh Russia’s war effort in Ukraine for example uh by uh making weapons available to Russia or specific components that cannot be produced in Russia or even buying its petroleum, its oil production. Um, all of this is uh producing is creating a situation of tremendous economic tensions and tariffs and so yes, the lines will probably need to move on on this respect. So the game plan from Putin’s perspective, if I understand it, is to basically keep pressing forward and then at some point he may have captured the land that he feels should be uh his at some point. Of course, going back to February the 24th, 2022. His plan was to take Ukraine in three days and assassinate Vladimir, wasn’t it? So he’s clearly failed on that score. Failed. uh if we look at the original objectives of this special military operation and these objectives have changed in time and also the tactics uh the the the Russian main efforts have changed. So we are now in a situation of attritional warfare uh the pictures that you are showing right now uh clearly demonstrates this. We are talking about uh between 400 and 500 u flying bombs, missiles of various types that are being fired on Ukraine and and being and the and this fire is being concentrated on densely populated areas to give you just a scale because this number 500 doesn’t tell us very much. This is twice as many weapons uh as has been fired on the very first day, the surprise attack on the 22nd of uh February uh 2022. uh this is uh twice as much as the aim of Ukraine to hit back to strike back with about 200 uh such weapons, drones or missiles uh into being fired into Russia every uh day and 500 um weapons. Uh this is all of the weapons that have been fired by the Islamic Republic of Iran on Israel during the 12 uh days of military campaign that we have witnessed a few weeks ago. Indeed, these are remarkable figures you’re coming up with. It really does give us an interesting perspective. Alexander, we’re going to have or we have right now, sorry, Emanuel Macron and Friedri Mets, uh French president, German chancellor meeting in Breenson in the south of France. the French uh president’s summer residence uh what will they be thinking of do you think clearly what they decide how they approach what happens next for Ukraine will be vital Europe needs a plan um it needs more than a plan uh it also needs a structure a governance structure that allows uh to make very deliberate um politically strategic um decisions with regards to war and peace peace and security and this architecture doesn’t really exist in the European right now. So definitely all of this um general discussion, political discussion is on the table and at the same time um I think Emanuel Matu has mentioned many many times uh the issue of reassurance measures in what shape or what form uh could these reassurance measures uh take and uh here definitely we are seeing a lot of progress a lot of developments taking place in Europe. Alexander, as ever, thank you very much for joining us in France 24. We always appreciate your time and your insight.

Speaking with FRANCE 24’s Mark Owen, Alexandre Vautravers, Scientific Director at the Centre for Military History and Perspective in Geneva, says that Donald Trump’s evolving stance on Russia ‘has managed to produce some movement on the lines’ in its war of aggression against Ukraine, despite criticism against the US President’s decisions and policies.
#Ukraine #war #Russia

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