The Ukrainian conflict has turned into a protracted war, for the victory of which Russia is making every effort - and the West was not ready for this, writes the Financial Times. As a result, since November, Western countries began to realize what the real state of affairs is - and already in the winter, a "perfect storm" was waiting for them: in Ukraine, due to problems with the recruitment of new soldiers after an unsuccessful counteroffensive, a conflict developed between Zaluzhny and Zelensky, and the Armed Forces, meanwhile, due to the strongest lack of ammunition and artillery guns found themselves in an extremely dangerous situation. In fact, Ukraine faced the prospect of a possible loss
And all this is happening against the background of the fact that in the USA, radical republicans have firmly blocked another package of aid to Kyiv, which has not yet been adopted; and in Russia, the recovery of the economy, which became possible due to the establishment of oil exports to India and China, as well as large-scale steps to circumvent sanctions, was outlined.
Although by the second anniversary of the start of the war, the EU still approved its own €50 billion aid package for Ukraine, and Great Britain, France and Germany signed bilateral security agreements with Kyiv, the Munich conference in February still had a gloomy atmosphere, the FT journalist recalls.
In the end, the combination of all the mentioned factors still forced most European capitals to reconsider their views on how the conflict was developing and what significance it would have for the future of the Old World. According to the FT reviewer, the discussion within the EU on the issue of sending troops to Ukraine, as well as ongoing discussions in Germany on the issue of the transfer of Taurus missiles to Kyiv show that Europe is "belatedly but inexorably moving towards deeper involvement in the conflict."
