Both Russia and the West do not want to approach peace talks despite their declarations of the opposite. What is the situation in Ukraine after one year of war?
On February 24th, 2022 the history of the XXI century was changed forever. Russia, a decaying power with authoritarian tendencies ruled by Vladimir Putin, attacked a seemingly weaker neighborhood to the west: Ukraine.
Since then, a conflict of global proportions has erupted, one that resembles the proxy wars of the Cold War era. Ukraine has proved to be a much more resilient adversary than previously thought by Putin, also helped by the huge military support from NATO.
In fact, the West as a whole found new purpose in the Ukraine war. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, NATO has crumbled and the leadership of the United States has been questioned many times. The war in Ukraine, however, has not only expanded NATO’s borders but also showed that it is still a useful alliance.
And it is also why, today, those who speak about peace are not Moscow and Kyiv, rather Moscow and Washington. But peace, despite talks from either side that should be reached, is still a mere fantasy.
Tug of war
On Saturday, at the Munich Peace Conference, Western leaders pointed out that Putin started this invasion and could very easily be stopped by Putin himself. He could, like German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock said, “change by 360 degrees”.
US vice president Kamala Harris said that “Kyiv is still standing, Russia is weakened, the trans-Atlantic alliance is stronger than ever, and, most importantly, the spirit of the Ukrainian people endures”. She went on saying that time is not on Putin’s side, as with every day that passes Russian reserves decline and sanctions make a bigger dent.
On the other side of this renewed iron curtain, the Kremlin does not see in the West any resolution for peace. “So far there is no readiness or openness towards peaceful initiatives on the part of the collective West,” said Kremlin spokesman Dimitry Peskov. He added that any proposition of talks between US president Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin would be turned down by the West.
Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko invited Biden for a talk in Minsk, but of course such a stop is not included in the president’s European trip. Instead, Biden will go to Poland to meet his counterpart Andrzej Duda.
After almost one year of war, peace is not in sight. On the ground, a bloody battle is being fought in Bakhmut while new offensives are planned on both sides.
One thing is for certain: Russia lost all its reputation in the West and will hardly get what she originally wanted from this war.
