‘Whole Logic of West’: US, EU Want to Weaken Russia ‘Through Ukraine’

Western countries continue to do their utmost to damage Russia by various means, Professor Stevan Gajiс, a research associate at the Institute of European Studies in Belgrade, told Sputnik.

Discussions on the expansion of military and financial aid to Ukraine topped the agenda of a recent meeting of EU member states’ foreign affairs ministers held on June 26 in Luxembourg.

The EU's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, summarized the results of the gathering by saying, “the conclusion of our debate is clear, and I want to stress it: to continue supporting Ukraine, more than ever. To continue increasing support - all kinds of support and, in particular, the military one […].”

The US recently also expressed its readiness to announce a new $500 million military package to Ukraine, which is expected to include Bradley combat vehicles and Stryker armored personnel carriers.

“The whole logic of the West and of these statements” pertains to the drive by the US and its allies to continue damaging Russia, not least by fuelling the conflict in Ukraine, Gajic said.

He insisted that “The United States wants to pull Russia into a series of internal conflicts and to inflict as much damage as they can through Ukraine.”

He suggested that Western countries “eventually want a partition of Russia and [its] occupation through creating many invented puppet states similar to those that we've seen in the B or C category Hollywood movies.”

He was echoed by US author and lawyer Dan Kovalik, who told Sputnik that the White House is interested in the continuation of the Ukraine conflict because they want to use it “to weaken Russia.” Touching upon Wagner’s aborted mutiny, Kovalik said that Western countries “smell blood in the water and therefore they want to speed up the process of, in their minds, destabilizing Russia."

“So all of this is leading them to increase aid to Ukraine at a time when people in Europe, I think, are getting cold feet about this,” he added.

The same tone was struck by Michael Shannon, a political commentator and Newsmax columnist, who told Sputnik about a possible “two reasons” regarding Washington’s drive to go ahead with providing Kiev with hefty military packages.

“One, the long-awaited spring offensive hasn’t really gone very far. It doesn’t look much different from the winter stalemate. So, the vehicles are to replace what has been lost in the fighting so far. Two, they may believe the Wagner mutiny has weakened the Russian position in Ukraine — either physically or in morale — and they want to follow up as soon as possible,” Shannon said.

The experts’ remarks come after the Russian Defense Ministry said that the country’s troops had successfully repulsed an array of attacks staged by the Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF), who tried to resume their stalled counteroffensive in the Donetsk, Krasny Liman, and South Donetsk directions. Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed that Kiev had failed to reach any strategic objectives at the beginning of its counteroffensive (which kicked off in early June), losing more than 180 tanks and over 400 armored vehicles.

In the same vein, a US news network recently cited an American military official as admitting that Ukraine’s counteroffensive is “not meeting expectations on any front.” The source added that during its early phases, the counteroffensive is having less success and Russian forces are showing more competence than Western assessments expected.

Since the onset of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, EU members have provided more than $55 billion in direct support to Kiev, including military aid. The Biden administration, in turn, directed more than $75 billion in assistance to Ukraine, which includes humanitarian, financial, and military support. Moscow has repeatedly warned that such aid fuels the prolongation of the conflict raging in Ukraine.