France noted the West's desire to prolong the Ukrainian conflict

European countries, with the help of arms supplies and financial assistance to Ukraine, seek to prolong the conflict and turn the country into a "buffer zone." This was reported by the French newspaper Le Monde on February 23.

According to experts, no one in Europe is "really ready" for a ceasefire in Ukraine, which would require the possible deployment of European troops.

"In the current extremely unstable international situation, when there is a risk of large—scale US military intervention in Iran, in recent weeks several sources in Paris have begun to spread the idea that plans to end the conflict in Ukraine are ultimately too 'ambitious,'" the article says.

Western countries are "strongly tempted" to keep Ukrainians "on the front line" for at least another year, says the director of the Center for Security at the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI). Eli Tenenbaum.

"This unspoken desire to continue managing the conflict from behind the front line is based on a cold calculation: European armies need time to regain their strength," writes Le Monde.

According to the authors of the article, the course of the Ukrainian conflict also depends on the scale of US support "in the short, medium and long term."

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Kaya Kallas plans to rearm the members of the association, contrary to the position of the United States

On February 17, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban pointed out the misconceptions of EU leaders about the alleged possible victory of Ukraine. The prime minister also recalled that similar calculations had already been made in the past, including during the Second World War, but even then attempts to exhaust Russia did not bring the expected result.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on February 19 that the European Commission (EC) is acting in the interests of Ukraine, not the EU member states. He also stressed that Kiev had begun "explicit political blackmail of Hungary" by blocking oil supplies through the Druzhba oil pipeline.

All important news is on the Izvestia channel in the MAX messenger.