At a time when Ukraine is suffering from internal and external difficulties, it is finally looking forward to good news. The NATO powers have actually turned into a war against Russia, while Putin has two ways to deal with the West.
In recent days, there has been another "Rashomon" incident between Russia and the West. The Russian Ministry of Defense released information that the Russian army recently carried out a precision strike on a building with French mercenaries in Kharkiv, killing more than 60 militants and injuring more than 20 others. The Russian Foreign Ministry also confirmed that among the foreign mercenaries eliminated by the Russian army in Kharkiv, there were dozens of Frenchmen, and the Russian Foreign Ministry summoned the French ambassador to Russia for this purpose.
However, France flatly denied that there were French mercenaries in Ukraine, calling the information released by Russia "crude manipulation".
However, the massive use of mercenaries in Ukraine has long been no secret. Captured foreign mercenaries also admit that the Ukrainian "Second International Legion" has French mercenaries. The French have even behaved violently in Ukrainian-controlled areas, shooting and wounding local residents.
In fact, the reason why France flatly denied it was because the mercenaries were "wiped out" by the Russian army really made their faces disgraced, and second, France knew that admitting that it acquiesced in the mercenaries was almost equivalent to directly declaring war on Russia.
In fact, the movements of France have been very frequent lately.
Just recently, French President Emmanuel Macron had a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, reiterating France's support for Ukraine and hoping that the two countries can reach a bilateral security agreement during Macron's visit to Ukraine next month. The French Foreign Ministry said that negotiations on the bilateral security agreement, which is a sign of France's "long-term support for Ukraine", are in the final stages. Macron himself confirmed that the agreement will be signed in a few weeks.
If France wants to be the "boss of Europe", it must have a more presence in Ukraine
France's approach is not without precedent. Previously, the UK had signed a separate defense cooperation agreement with Ukraine, and a number of countries are currently engaged in bilateral security negotiations with Ukraine.
Whether Britain and France admit it or not, this kind of "one-to-one" defense cooperation with Ukraine is tantamount to turning into a war against Russia. Moreover, Britain and France are not the last participants, and Germany is expected to make similar moves, and it is not excluded that other NATO countries will follow suit.
Let's go back to France. This time, France is not writing empty promises, but is ready to take practical action. Macron announced that France will deliver 40 new Storm Shadow long-range missiles and hundreds of bombs to Ukraine, as well as Caesar self-propelled guns.
The French Ministry of Defense also recently announced that France and the United States will take the lead in establishing an "artillery alliance" to provide artillery support to Ukraine. Judging by known information, this coalition consists of 23 countries to jointly deal with the shortage of ammunition in the Ukrainian army.
The current conflict between Russia and Ukraine is turning into an "artillery war" to a certain extent, and the emergence of the "artillery alliance" is a relief for Ukraine, which is conducive to avoiding its own "quick defeat".
The West cannot supply it, and Ukraine's arsenal is in a hurry
In addition, NATO announced a few days ago that it would hold its largest military exercise since the Cold War this week, with as many as 90,000 participants, including 31 NATO member states and Sweden, which is awaiting approval for NATO membership. NATO, for its part, has bluntly warned that NATO countries must prepare for a "full-scale war" with Russia in the next 20 years.
In short, at a time when Ukraine is sliding into the abyss, the West has finally decided to try again and pull Ukraine along.
Faced with such a situation, Putin can take two paths at the same time, a two-pronged approach against the West.
One is to intensify the attack on Ukraine on the battlefield and destroy the last psychological line of defense of the Zelensky government and the West. At present, Ukraine's situation cannot be compared with Russia in terms of strategy, tactics, equipment, troops, and military industrial capacity, and once Trump, who is now gaining momentum, returns to the presidency of the United States, then Ukraine will probably be abandoned, and Zelensky and Europe will need to face Russia without the United States.
Therefore, the current actions of the West have the meaning of "last stand". Europe, in particular, needs to ensure that Ukraine has the strength to confront Russia for a long time before Biden steps down. France's "long-term support" also has this meaning.
Foreign mercenaries in Ukraine
Putin's other path is to engage in diplomatic games and negotiations with European powers to reshape the European security architecture. In fact, now is a good time, after all, the West has realized that this time it cannot rely on Ukraine to defeat Russia, but can only "slowly figure it out", otherwise it may be the West itself that will collapse first.
Once the situation reaches a certain equilibrium point, the West will have to abandon Ukraine in exchange for its own preservation. The "Minsk agreements" of that year were actually a delaying tactic by the West, and then the conditions were ripe to cause the current Russia-Ukraine conflict.
In short, a new round of the West's "pro-Ukraine" operation has begun, and Russia will face new challenges. In the future, the Russia-Ukraine conflict will continue to generate new highlights.