Russia-Ukraine: What could lie in store for this swiftly changing conflict?

CGTN Europe

It has been a very different week with claims and counter-claims and the arrival of new types of weaponry.  What is the latest on the Ukraine conflict with Donald Trump soon taking over as U.S. President? What does the future hold?   The views of Jamie Shea, former NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary General and now Senior Fellow at the Friends of Europe think tank.  #ukraine #russia #us #trump #nato

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00:00Obviously, not easy times for Ukraine, no sense in hiding this, as you just pointed

00:05out in your introduction, the Russians are advancing, not spectacularly, 100 metres,

00:11200 metres a day, and a great cost to them in terms of loss of life and material, but

00:17they show no signs of being ready to give up, and of course those 100, 200 metres a

00:22day eventually turn into kilometres and tens of kilometres and significant advances.

00:27The other worry I think for Ukraine is that the Russians are now on the threshold of capturing

00:32some significant towns, coal mining, minerals, coal and steel, transport hubs, significant

00:40towns in the Donbass area, and that also would open up the possibility of pushing their advance

00:48further.

00:49European foreign ministers hold talks next week, what might we expect to come out of

00:55that?

00:57Well, if you're looking for an optimal scenario, Jamie, from a Ukrainian perspective, you're

01:02clearly hoping that they will show resolve.

01:05I mean, we've seen in the last week Putin going into a propaganda overdrive in an attempt

01:12to really intimidate the West to stop supporting Ukraine, but against this background, yes,

01:19I think for the meeting of the European foreign ministers what Ukraine would want to see is

01:22number one, resolve.

01:24We're not being intimidated, we're not going to be browbeaten, we've heard these threats

01:30before, it's not going to stop us helping Ukraine.

01:33I think that first and foremost will be crystal clear.

01:38Number two, that it's obvious that we have to do more in Europe to help Ukraine with

01:42its air defences to try to intercept and shoot down these ballistic missiles.

01:47It can be done, and even in the past Russian hypersonic missiles have been shot down by

01:53Patriot and other Western air defence systems, despite what Putin says about their invincibility.

01:58I think obviously how we can get Ukraine through a difficult winter in terms of energy, for

02:04instance, and emergency civilian aid.

02:07Can we tighten the screws on Russia further?

02:10Lots of sanctions already, but the fact that, Jamie, the US have put sanctions on the Russian

02:16Gazprom bank last week, even two and a half years into the war, shows that there's still

02:21quite a few areas, particularly when it comes to LNG gas, for example, gold, nuclear materials,

02:27where those screws can be tightened.

02:30But I think above all, with the Trump administration soon to come into office in Washington, one

02:34of the key debating points is how far are we Europeans willing and able to keep supplying

02:41Ukraine and help Ukraine to defend itself, even if the American assistance, which has

02:46been so vital up to now, suddenly comes to an end.

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