US Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations Kurt Volker believes that Ukrainians will not be able to take back the territory already occupied by Russia.
“There’s no way the Ukrainians can take the territory back, which has already been taken by the Russians. Russia is just too powerful, but the cost to Russia for a further advancement has already increased and will continue to increase. And if that’s the case, then you have to ask yourself if you’re sitting in Moscow: ‘What are we getting out of this? We are getting Russian casualties, soldiers being killed fighting in Ukraine, for what?'” Volker said in an interview with the Ukrainian Service of the BBC, which was made public on May 17.
He also expressed hope that Russia would agree to a UN peacekeeping force as a way to end the war in Donbas.
“If they [Ukrainians] are not able to hold the line, that’s just an invitation to further advancements. What this does is that it tells the Russians very clearly: ‘You are not going to get any more without it being very costly to you’,” he said, when asked whether lethal weapons supplies to Ukraine will contribute to peace.
