Quotes
If Ukraine can deny Russia from reaching the borders of Donetsk between now and Christmas, and Kyiv’s international partners are diligent in degrading Russia’s economy, Moscow will face hard choices about the costs it is prepared to incur for continuing the war,
Watling said
If it is more of the same, ... Russia can expect decisive action from the United States Senate.”
Graham saidThere’s a difference between pushing the Ukrainians back five to 10 kilometers at a time at high cost versus having the assembled manpower and armor behind that to exploit a breakthrough and to occupy and push through all of those obstacles, even though the Ukrainians are having issues,
Massicot saidThe Russians can continue fighting, but … the force will become more and more de-mechanized over time, and that does put a timeline on how long they can sustain the current way they operate,
Watling said
Russia is actually culminating in its ability to conduct an offensive,
Barrons said
The European Union is about to impose additional sanctions,
Rubio said,
With every such strike, the world sees more clearly that it is Moscow that’s prolonging this war,
Zelensky saidRussia is very gradually taking bits of territory still, but at an unsustainably high cost,
said Richard Barrons, the former head of Britain’s Joint Forces CommandRussia is not able to take any ground, and this is the situation pretty much since the end of the Ukrainian counteroffensive” in 2023
the Ukrainian official saidI think they overestimate the current success of Russia,
a senior European official saidPutin believes that time is on his side, and Ukraine is bleeding faster than Russia,
said a senior European officialHe has gut instincts, those instincts are OK, they are not always wrong, he zigzags, and in the case of Ukraine he is most governed by the tactics he needs to get a ceasefire,
the former diplomat said
Congress cannot force Trump to do anything, but they can be in a position to say we can pass legislation on sanctions to strengthen Trump’s position. The Republicans on the Hill are not portraying this as an alternative to Trump but saying ‘this is how we support his strategy’.”
The former US diplomat saidRussia wants what they do not currently have and are not entitled to, and Ukraine wants what they cannot regain militarily. And that’s been the crux of the challenge.”
That judgment was confirmed by Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, who told a Senate hearing this weekThe words ‘Trump’ and ‘orderly’ in the same sentence do not inspire confidence.”
Bruno Tertrais, an associate expert at the Institut Montaigne, saidTrump’s worldview is not far from what we saw in the 19th-century concert of powers – a big power era sometimes of competition and sometimes cooperation. We have to convince the US administration that free trade and common rules are better than transactional deals, and we show we are serious about defence in Europe and that we are security providers and not security consumers.”
Stubb added
Once again, this was a European matter and it should have remained a European matter.” ... This is not our war.”
He continued ... The vice-president, JD Vance, simply saidNato decisions on capabilities will be made without knowing the future US force posture in Europe,
said Torrey Taussig, of the Atlantic CouncilIt can be a managed process or chaotic and fractious,
said Jack Watling, of the defence thinktank RusiIf you start threatening sanctions, the Russians will stop talking.”
Rubio told the Senate foreign relations committee