The Kursk operation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has placed Kyiv’s Western partners in a very uncomfortable position, according to Valerii Pekar, a Ukrainian futurist, as well as an entrepreneur, well-known public figure and distinguished lecturer at the Kyiv-Mohyla Business School.
“Previously, they [Western partners – ed.] had a universal objection: it’s not allowed because it would lead to escalation. Now it’s clear that there will be no escalation. In fact, our partners currently have no counterarguments and are asking for a short timeout to come up with a new universal excuse,” Pekar observes.
The problem is that the West appears reluctant to contemplate the possibility of Russian defeat. “This is a certain superposition of two incompatible statements: ‘this can’t happen because Russia is powerful and cannot be defeated,’ and ‘this is very likely and poses unacceptable risks to the world,'” Pekar argues.
Ukraine’s task is to explain to the world that Russia’s defeat is not only possible but desirable. “That the benefits of it outweigh the problems and risks,” Pekar concludes.
Previously, Timothy Snyder, an American expert on Central and Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union, and the Holocaust, recently expressed his assessment that Russia can and must lose the war against Ukraine.
Cover: open sources
