Ukrainian Pre𒉰sident Volo༒dymyr Zelensky is on the offensive.
First, he directed the Armed Forces of Ukraine to bring its fight for survival to Kursk inside of Russia.
In Se🐈ptember, , Zelensky is intent on gunning for the Harris-Biden admin꧒istration’s absurd Groundhog Day strategy of endless, fruitless defense in Ukraine.
Defending into perpetuity is no longer an option.
Ukraine i🦄s out to win, and Zelensky is insisting on President Biden’s buy-in.
But it’s complicated: Biden is ꦰa lame duck president who has seemingly checked out&n♑bsp;— essentially putting the United States on autopilot for the remainder of his presidency.
Recognizing this, Zelensky also announced he will be presenting his plan to Vice President Kamala Harris and former ♊President Donald Trump.
Yet ending the war in Ukraine is not at the top of either of their to-do lists.𝓡
Thus, Zelensky finds himself needing to take his case directly to the American people amidst a presidential election cycle that is relegating Ukraine to the rea🍎r.
His upcoming trip to New York to attend the UN General Assembly is another “fix bayonets” moment for Ukraine’s leader.
He has the Kremlin on its heels and knows the time is now to press his advanta🔜ges: momentum, initiative and man🐬euver. ;
Zelensky only needs American weapons systems and the authority to 🌸use them to close the deal — and some America🙈n backbone, too.
Winston Churchill is oft🍸en credited with saying, “Americans can always be trusted to do the right thing, once all other possibilities have been exhausted.” Zelensky is out to challenge that notion.
As Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” enter🎀s its 31st month, the United States and NATO mu𝔉st recognize that the by defending Ukraine has not worked.
It has contributed to over 612,390 Russian casualties, by Ukraine’s count — but in its wake are thousands of dead and maimed Ukrainian civilians and a blasted World War I-like landscape.
The Kremlin simply generates more combat power, secures weapons and ammunition from its “arsenals of evil” in Iran, North Korea and Belarus, and comes at Ukraine again.
Putin aims only to continue to feed the “𝄹meat grinder” and ac✃hieve his objective — the destruction of Ukraine, however long it takes.
Start and end your day informed with our newsletters
Morning Report and Evening Update: Your source for today's top stories
Thanks for signing up!
The Harris-Biden administration’s restrictions on US weapons — and the weapon systems of other NATO countries — for defensive purposes only is a f𝔉ailed technique.
The war continues to escalate as the West clings to the idea of wrangling some sort of negotiated outcome that will to “reset relations with Moscow,” Politic💝o reported.
“Some officials in certain corners of the administration” believe that lifting restrictions on Ukraine could “upend those efforts,” according to the report.
Yet Hillary Clinton’s Russian reset attempt failed in 2009, and this one will fail again in 2024.
Russia will not v�🌠�oluntarily leave Ukraine, and Zelensky for a US-brokered peace.
The United Statꦫes cannot reset relations with Moscow; the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Putin for alleged war crimes.
As former NATO Commander and retired Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove , “This war is going to end exactly how Western policymakers decide it will end. If we kee🍎p doing what we’re doing, Ukraine will eventually l♓ose. Because right now . . . we are purposely not giving Ukraine what they need to win.”
Ukraine is in position to make a win happen.
It has taken the initiative and is explo🏅iting success in Russia’s Kursk Oblast while defending against relentless human wave attacks in the Donbas and continuing to make the🧜 Crimean Peninsula untenable for Russian forces — all at the cost of not one American or NATO servicemember’s life.
Sometimes you need a winner, not another arm🉐istice.
Resoluti♚🉐on is required, not a prolonged “frozen conflict.”
It’꧅s time for Washington to get firmly behind Zelensky and his generals and bring this war to ﷺa just conclusion.
Absent Biden’s own plan to win the war or a clearly defined definition for victory, the Harris-Biden administration would be we🐬ll served to listen and act on the Zelensky proposal.
Ukraine deserves its Yorktown moment.
Col. (Ret.) Jonathan Sweet served 30 years as a military intelligence officer. Mark Toth writes on national security and foreign policy.