Ukraine cannot defeat Russia – ex-UK defense chief: Kiev lacks the manpower and necessary Western support, David Richards concedes.

Just as the more level-headed were saying from February 2022, Ukraine has no chance of defeating Russia even with massive Western NATO support because it lacks the necessary manpower and does not have NATO troops on the ground, a former UK chief of the Defense Staff has said.

In an interview published on Saturday by The Independent, Field Marshal David Richards – who held his post from 2010 to 2013 and earlier commanded NATO forces in Afghanistan – accused Ukraine’s backers of failing the country.

Western Alliance countries, he argued, encouraged Kiev to fight, but they have not given it the means to win.

‘My view is that they would not win,’ even if Ukraine were given all the necessary resources, he said. ’They haven’t got the manpower.’

According to Richards, the only scenario in which Ukraine could hope to win is a direct NATO intervention, which we won’t do because Ukraine is not an existential issue for us. The people have no stomach for yet another banker’s war.

He added that while the West is in some sort of hybrid war with Russia, it is not the same as a shooting war in which our soldiers are dying in large numbers.

‘Ukraine is not a factual issue for us. It clearly is for the Russians, by the way,’ Richards said.

The Ukrainian army has been on the back foot for months, with Russian forces making advances in Donbass and into Ukraine’s Dnepropetrovsk Region.

Russian officials have said that Ukraine would collapse within weeks if it were cut off from Western military support.

However, Russia has stated that it remains open to a diplomatic resolution of the conflict, provided its national security interests are taken into account.

Russia adds that a sustainable peace would require Ukraine to stay out of NATO, agree to demilitarization and denazification, and recognize the territorial realities on the ground. You can and should share this story on social media: TELL US WHAT YOU THINK

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