Press TV’s correspondent in Ukraine says it seems that NATO is just trying to prolong the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, adding that the US-led military alliance has no interest whatsoever in peace.
“I don’t think NATO has any regard whatsoever about the Ukrainian soldiers dying in this war. They are completely outmatched by the Russian army. I have no doubt for example if it was a British army there who was outmatched on the battlefield, NATO would withdraw that army, but they are not doing that in Ukraine. The NATO... they are pushing the Ukrainians to continue to fight,” Johnny Miller said in an interview on Thursday from the center of Donetsk.
“Many analysts have said some time ago, and increasingly are saying now, that Ukraine can’t win this war… So it’s civilians who are dying, Ukrainian soldiers are particularly dying. Of course there are Russian figures that they are dying as well. It seems that NATO is just pushing to continue the war,” he added.
Miller’s remarks came after NATO officially declared Russia the “most significant and direct threat” to the security of its members at a summit in the Spanish capital, Madrid, without mentioning anything about a peaceful solution in Ukraine.
In a document that defines the alliance’s strategic outlook for the next decade, titled Strategic Concept 2022, NATO said Russia’s military offensive against Ukraine “has shattered peace and gravely altered our security environment.”
The military bloc also said members had decided to increase their military presence in Europe in response to Russia’s offensive against Ukraine, even though Moscow has repeatedly cited the Western military alliance’s eastward expansion as a security concern.
Miller further noted that NATO’s statement showed that Western countries’ policy is to continue the fight in Ukraine with the hope of “damaging Russian power,” adding that they are trying to destroy Russian army “by sending Ukrainians to fight and die for that aim.”
He said NATO didn’t really have the interest of Ukrainian soldiers or the wellbeing of Ukrainian cities in mind and simply didn’t seem to be interested in peace at all.
Elsewhere, Miller said that most of the fighting is happening in Ukraine’s strategic city of Lysychansk, predicting that Russians may seize it more quickly than expected due to Ukrainians’ withdrawals.
He said that shelling had stopped in Dontesk over the last few days, after Russia hit the artillery positions on the outskirts of the city.
Miller further said Russia was certainly making huge advances though the Donbass region, adding that it was just a matter of time until Moscow wins this war.
Russia launched the military offensive against Ukraine in late February.
At the time, Russian president Vladimir Putin said one of the goals of what he called a “special military operation” was to “de-Nazify” Ukraine.
The military operation has led to heightened tensions between Russia and the West, with the United States and its allies slapping unprecedented sanctions on Moscow and flooding Ukraine with advanced weapons.
Russia has said that the Western flood of weapons into Ukraine and the sanctions would prolong the ongoing war.