NATO faces ‘catastrophic defeat’ in Ukraine – ex-Pentagon adviser — RT World News

A former US Army adviser has claimed that NATO countries can only prevent the inevitable loss of Russian forces in Ukraine by deploying their forces in the former Soviet republic.

“There is no escape from the arithmetic of this matter: NATO countries will soon have to send soldiers to Ukraine, or else accept catastrophic defeat,” he added. wrote military strategist Edward Luttwak in an op-ed published by British online media on Thursday Unbound. “The British and French, along with the Nordic countries, are already quietly preparing to send forces – whether small elite units or logistics and support personnel – who can stay away from the front.”

Luttwak said the conflict could not be won without a direct deployment of troops, because regardless of the quantity and quality of weapons sent to Kiev, Russian forces were outnumbered. “This means that unless… [Russian President Vladimir] If Putin decides to end the war, Ukrainian forces will be pushed back again and again, losing irreplaceable soldiers in the process.

Luttwak's comments come weeks after the battle Progress Russian forces in the Donbass region. Western leaders insist they can ensure Ukraine's victory by providing aid to Kiev, but French President Emmanuel Macron suggested in February that troops could be sent directly to Kiev. Deployments This cannot be ruled out by NATO members.

European NATO members face a 'A very important decision' With U.S. forces facing a growing threat of a possible Chinese attack on Taiwan, it will be up to them to provide the manpower Ukraine needs, Luttwak said. “If Europe cannot provide sufficient forces, Russia will have the upper hand on the battlefield, and even if diplomacy intervenes successfully to avert complete disaster, Russian military power will have returned triumphantly to central Europe.” he added.

Relations between NATO and Russia have deteriorated significantly amid the Ukrainian crisis in which the Western alliance has already entered “Direct confrontation” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday that the talks were with Moscow. Putin warned that NATO risked sparking a nuclear conflict if its members sent troops to Ukraine.

Luttwak suggested that by providing support forces for tasks such as training troops and repairing damaged equipment, NATO countries could free up more Ukrainians to work on the front lines. “NATO soldiers may never engage in combat, but they don't have to in order to help Ukraine make the most of its scarce manpower,” he added. He said.

Luttwak, who was born in Romania and raised and educated largely in the United Kingdom, has been an adviser to the Pentagon, the US State Department and the White House National Security Council, among other entities in Washington. Profile of Luttwak December 2015 by Watchman Describe it as “Machiavelli Maryland.” Now 81, he is said to have advised clients from the Dalai Lama to the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan.

Although a supporter of Western intervention in the conflict, Luttwak was placed on a Ukrainian blacklist in 2022 for his view that Kiev could not realistically hope to outright defeat Russia and remove Putin.