‘Goal is destruction of Ukraine’: ex-defence minister warns west of Putin’s aim

This has been my understanding of the conflict. Ukraine has been steadily and openly moving toward greater integration with Europe / The West, and therefore away from Russia's control.

Trying to understand "Why is Russia doing this?" , the initial invasion, destruction of power infrastructure, dams, occupation of power plant, mining farmlamd, destroying schools and malls, every time the answer is simply: If we can't have it, no one can.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Reznikov – who was removed from his job on Sunday by president Volodymyr Zelenskiy – likened calls for Ukraine to make territorial concessions to international demands in 1938 that Czechoslovakia give up Sudetenland to Nazi Germany.

Despite some recent successes, its troops have yet to liberate a large swathe of southern Ukraine, occupied by Russia since last year’s full-scale invasion.

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken – who visited Kyiv on Wednesday, pledging $1bn (£800m) in new military aid – has said there is little prospect of “meaningful diplomacy” with Moscow.

“Letting Russia obtain Ukraine’s resources … will only increase the Kremlin’s ambitions and lead to a new big war in eastern Europe, which will inevitably involve Nato – with all the resulting risks,” he writes.

He wants Ukraine’s integration into security pacts and “amendments to international law” to prevent “similar aggressions” in the future.

Ahead of the US presidential election in 2024, and the possible return to the White House of Donald Trump, Reznikov calls on friendly defence ministers to continue their military support to Ukraine.

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