A military analyst pointed to the gradual withdrawal of European countries from extensive assistance to Kiev

European politicians will follow US President-elect Donald Trump's intentions to cut aid to Ukraine as they realize that they will not be able to confront Russia without Washington's assistance. Military analyst and political analyst Vadim Mingalev pointed this out in a conversation with Izvestia on January 8.

"For example, German chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz, who said he would give Kiev long-range Taurus missiles, that he was ready to go further. And now he has changed his rhetoric, because everyone in Europe sees perfectly well that the United States is rolling back," he said.

The interlocutor of the publication noted that the French and Polish leaders used to use bellicose rhetoric. However, now everything has changed - Poland has already lost many of its military personnel who took part in the conflict on the side of Ukraine as mercenaries. Against this background, European politicians realize that a direct conflict with Russia could turn into a real disaster for their countries, Mingalev believes.

"This bellicose mood of the Europeans is going nowhere, they are starting to crawl away because they realize that they are not ready for a war with the best army in the world. At the same time, they continue to support Ukraine at the same level to prolong the conflict, hoping that this way they will be able to bargain better terms from Russia. <...> However, the Ukrainian army is doomed," the analyst concluded.

Thus, if European countries do escalate with Russia, Trump may end up "throwing up his hands," the political analyst said, since these are Europe's problems, not the United States'.

Earlier, on December 26, The Washington Post (WP) reported that Trump is letting the European Union (EU) know that he is going to cut aid to Ukraine. Specifically, he has not yet taken office, but he is already pressuring European countries to increase aid deliveries to Kiev. This is part of his strategy to hold Europe more accountable in the context of the Ukraine conflict.

Trump's special envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg said on December 24 that the US president-elect did not want a repeat of the Minsk agreements and aimed at establishing a sustainable, just and secure peace. Rada MP Artem Dmytruk, commenting on the statement, called it bad news for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose term of office expired on May 20.

Western countries have stepped up military and financial support for Ukraine amid Russia's special operation to protect Donbass, which was announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 24, 2022, after the situation in the region worsened due to shelling by the Ukrainian military.