Russia will stop war when EU buys 2 million shells for Ukraine – diplomat Bryza

Diplomat Matthew Bryza expressed his opinion on Espreso TV.

“Putin will wage war against Ukraine for as long as he can, and I think the signals are that he is less and less able to do that. So, he has mobilized supposedly 300,000 people, sent them to the front since the mobilization in September, and they have not been able to make any significant progress in the offensive.  Yes, they have completely destroyed Bakhmut, but this is not a strategic gain. The cost was enormous, and Ukraine has been surprisingly successful in draining all that military power from Russia, and it will continue to do so. Russia will never defeat the Ukrainian military,” he said.

According to the diplomat, Russia's budget deficit is growing and it can no longer produce more accurate guided missiles, which are already running out. That is why the occupying Russian forces began to use S-300 air defense rockets to shell civilians. Matthew Bryza also noted that Russia has a lot of artillery shells and will use them to destroy as much of Ukraine as possible.

“I think Putin will stop when the European Union is able to buy 2 million artillery shells for Ukraine, when they hit the battlefield, and when the US is able to give Ukraine more equipment. Eventually, we will see more fighter jets after Poland took the bold step of handing over its old MiG-29s, and I hope we will eventually see American F-16s. But regardless of how the fighter jet situation turns out, more and more powerful Western weapons are entering Ukraine's arsenal. It will take time to undermine Putin's desire to continue fighting, but if the United States and its allies continue in this vein, providing Ukraine with more and more powerful weapons, eventually Putin will simply not be able to continue this war. At some point, he will also run out of human resources. Not right now, we need to wait, but that time will definitely come,” Matthew Bryza emphasized. 

• On March 20, EU foreign ministers agreed to jointly purchase 1 million shells for Ukraine.