Russian President Vladimir Putin was expecting to intimidate Ukraine, the European Union and NATO by amassing troops at the Ukrainian border, but received a backlash instead, a U.S. expert said during a Kyiv Security Forum online discussion on Feb. 16.
The expert, former U.S. Presidential Advisor for Russia and Europe Fiona Hill, said Ukraine “is in a state of siege,” and the world community has no confidence that the Kremlin’s head would decide to not launch a new attack in the coming days.
“They thought that by deploying such a large number of troops in such an unprecedented format for conducting exercises… that they would thus intimidate not only Ukraine, but also NATO and Europe,” Hill said.
According to the former U.S. official, Russia thought that it could gain some sort of capitulation with its military buildup.
“But they got a backlash… Putin miscalculated. What he received was a rebuff from all partners, from the United States, from our other allies.”
Hill said the demands Russia had put forward to the United States and NATO concern not only Ukraine, but also the current world order and security opportunities both in Europe and the United States.
After deploying over 100,000 troops near the borders of Ukraine, Russia issued a demand for so-called “security guarantees” to the United States and NATO, among them a demand for a “written promise” that Ukraine would never join the alliance.
On Jan. 26, the United States and NATO delivered a written response to Moscow’s demands of “security guarantees.” They reaffirmed their commitment to the “open door” policy for new NATO members, refusing to rule out Ukraine and Georgia joining the alliance at some point in the future.
At the same time, the United States and NATO said they were ready to discuss other issues with Russia, such as arms control and confidence-building measures.
Meanwhile, NATO continues to strengthen its eastern flank by sending additional forces to Europe.
On Feb. 16, the U.S.-based CNN television news channel reported, citing a Ukrainian intelligence report, that the total number of Russian troops at the border had increased in recent days to more than 148,000, including more than 126,000 ground troops.
However, Ukrainian military experts at the Center for Strategic Defense have stated that they believe this number to be insufficient for a full-scale assault on Ukrainian territory.
Estonian foreign intelligence has indicated that they believe that Putin is unlikely to commit to a full-scale further invasion of Ukraine, but instead attempt to broaden the current conflict in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region to Ukraine’s southern territories.
Editor: Veronika Melkozerova
Apart from the usual suspects with no backbone, the West didn’t capitulate. Putin got nothing at all, except some media attention, and now we are back to square 1, with Putler again threatening if his demands are not met. Is he thinking the answer will be different this time?
“Is he thinking the answer will be different this time?”
Children usually think so. It’s called naging.
Yeah, followed by a tantrum.
No doubt, behind closed doors he’s ranting and raving … maybe like Adolf used to?
Maybe that’s why he isolated himself in his Hitler style bunker, so none of his slaves could witness his meltdowns. 😀
I would pay just to watch him in one of his temper tantrums.
Yeah, the West showed strength by advising everybody to leave Ukraine asap and not declaring willingless to defend Ukraine…
Good point.
And telling the enemy we will not send US troops. The words United States Marines puts fear into dictators probably more than any other 3 words you can say and Mr. Magoo took that off the table in 5 minutes. The nazis were fierce fighters and even they referred to the US Marines as “Devil Dogs.” They’ll eat right through your helmet if they’re told to.
U.S. Marines are a brotherhood of the worlds biggest, meanest, most badass, deadliest killing machines ever devised by God. They are the only branch of the military to become an official branch in a bar. When God made the first Marine, he took one look at his creation, shit himself, turned around, and ran back up to heaven. God left this earth because Marines rule it now.
Bhaaaaaahaaaaaaaahaaaaaaaaaa!
Oooorah!
Pointless if you have a german puppet in the White House. The krauts love their Hitler in Moscow. Biden’s job, as Germany’s puppet, is to clear the way for Putin. We should kick Germany out of Nato and pull our troops out.
I think that the rat is getting cold feet and won’t attack … at least not in full-scale.
My biggest worries right now is the beating that Ukraine’s economy is getting and the cancellation of flights.
On the other hand, Ukraine’s military is getting a flow of weapons. Each day that goes by is a chance to strengthen its defenses and to integrate the new weapons in front-line units.