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Scott Ritter: Pentagon’s ‘Ukrainian Fantasy’ Is Falling Apart

© AFP 2023 / MANDEL NGANUS President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrive to hold a press conference at the White House in Washington, DC, December 12, 2023.
US President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrive to hold a press conference at the White House in Washington, DC, December 12, 2023. - Sputnik International, 1920, 11.03.2024
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On Friday, French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné met with his Baltic and Ukrainian counterparts in Lithuania on Friday. The visit comes days after French President Emmanuel Macron raised the possibility of French troops being deployed to Ukraine, angering some of his more powerful allies in Europe.
The US Pentagon’s fantasy in Ukraine is falling apart, former UN weapons inspector and commentator Scott Ritter told Sputnik’s Fault Lines on Monday.
Speaking on reports in US media that said there are growing tensions between Kiev and Washington because Ukraine reportedly did not listen to tactical advice offered by the Pentagon, Ritter said he believes the assertions are not based in reality but instead are designed to shift the blame away from the United States.
“The Pentagon is definitely trying to create political cover for itself because their huge Ukrainian fantasy is falling apart,” Ritter asserted, explaining earlier that Ukraine had little choice but to hold Avdeyevka for as long as possible so that defensive lines could be built behind it, noting however, that Russian airpower prevented even that goal from being achieved.
“It’s easy to play armchair quarterback and just sit back there and pick apart. But the reality is what other choices [did] Ukrainians have but to try and hold onto the last defensible position they [had]?”
The Kiev regime is “waking up to the reality that their so-called friends and allies are abandoning them and leaving Ukraine to its own fate” Ritter explained earlier while discussing Macron’s comments that French troops may be deployed in Ukraine, a hypothetical that Ritter says is only being discussed because of the position Ukraine is in.
“To understand why Macron would be even talking about this, you have to understand how dire the situation is for Ukraine right now. They are facing military collapse, right now as we speak the last reserves of Ukraine are being thrown into the battle outside the village of Orlovka,” Ritter explained. “This is to buy time for a miracle to happen and the Ukrainians are hoping the miracle will be the arrival of a French battlegroup.”
That possible “miracle” would not change the outlook on the battlefield, Ritter argued, saying that their ability “to deploy a military meaningful force to Ukraine is very slim,” with or without the Baltic State allies Macron is reportedly seeking.
Президент Франции Эммануэль Макрон и президент США Джо Байден после их ужина на саммите G7 в Эльмау, Германия - Sputnik International, 1920, 11.03.2024
Analysis
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Meanwhile, Ritter argues, the election season is forcing the United States to step back from the conflict. “Biden is in a presidential election cycle, we’re coming up on the final sprint to November. … Biden will do whatever is necessary to minimize his political exposure.”
“We fired [Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs] Victoria Nuland, the architect of [the Ukraine] policy, and we [took] a step back.”
That has left Europe “sitting there, realizing that, frankly speaking, they are nothing without American money. This is a hard pill to swallow and meanwhile, on the battlefield, the Ukrainian army is in absolutely desperate straits.”
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