(Dan Tri) – A former US military advisor said that NATO countries can only prevent Ukraine’s losses to Russian forces by deploying troops to conflict areas.
US strategist Edward Luttwak appeared on an Italian television program in January 2013 (Photo: Getty).
`This calculation is inevitable: NATO countries will soon have to send soldiers to Ukraine, otherwise they will have to accept catastrophic defeat,` military strategist Edward Luttwak wrote in an editorial published on the website.
`Britain and France, along with the Nordic countries, have quietly prepared to send troops, including small elite units and logistics and support personnel, who may be far away from the front,`
Mr. Luttwak argued that Ukraine cannot win a conflict with Russia without NATO deploying troops directly, because regardless of the quantity and quality of weapons sent to Kiev, Ukrainian forces will still be attacked.
`This means that unless (Russian President Vladimir) Putin decides to end the war, the Ukrainian army will be pushed back again and again, losing irreplaceable soldiers,` Mr. Luttwak,
Mr. Luttwak’s statement came after weeks of continuous offensives by the Russian army on the battlefield in the Donbass region.
`If Europe cannot provide enough troops, Russia will prevail on the battlefield and even if diplomatic measures are successfully taken to avoid complete defeat, Russia’s military power will return
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov this week warned that NATO-Russia relations had dropped to the level of direct confrontation.
President Vladimir Putin previously warned that NATO risks causing a nuclear conflict if its members send troops to Ukraine.
Russia has repeatedly criticized NATO’s expansion of its presence closer and closer to Russia’s borders, which Moscow considers a threat to national security.
Earlier this week, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev accused NATO of essentially fighting Moscow in Ukraine.