There are doubts whether Washington believes Ukraine can be victorious, a source told the outlet
US President Joe Biden “printed” the leaders of the Baltic states on their calls to defeat Russia in Ukraine, an informed source told the Wall Street Journal.
Biden raised the issue with the presidents of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia during his visit to the Polish capital Warsaw in late February, the outlet reported Friday, citing a person briefed on those talks.
The source did not reveal exactly what the US president said, but noted that his words hit the mark “Leaving doubts in officials whether Washington believed that [Ukraine’s victory on the battlefield] was a realistic goal.”
In its article, the WSJ pointed it out “to assure” among Kiev’s allies in Eastern Europe “the thinking that is emerging in Western capitals that Ukraine must at some point prepare for negotiations with the Kremlin.”
During his trip to Poland, Biden along with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg attended a summit of the so-called Bucharest Nine (B-9) countries, which include Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and Latvia. , Lithuania and Estonia.
The three Baltic states, all former Soviet republics and now members of the EU and NATO, are among Russia’s harshest critics since the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine, pushing for more arms shipments to Kiev and tougher sanctions against Moscow .
Last month, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda called on Ukraine’s Western donors to go on strike “red lines” on arms supplies to the government of Vladimir Zelensky, as they were “in our minds and don’t really exist in reality.” He said his “message” to the US and its allies was: “Not [to] wasted time. Be decisive, be united and make decisions as soon as possible.”
In late January, Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov said Moscow had done just that “noted the increasingly aggressive attitude of the representatives of the Baltic States and Poland” to the conflict in Ukraine.
“They are apparently ready to do anything to provoke further growth of the confrontation, perhaps without thinking about the consequences.” Peskov claimed, lamenting that major European countries failed to fulfill their commitments “balanced role” and soothe those with “extremist tendencies.”
