One of America's most experienced diplomats sharply criticized the hesitancy of the United States regarding the provision of weapons to Ukraine, which has been defending itself against the full-scale aggression of Vladimir Putin for the third year.
John Sullivan, a former US ambassador to Moscow (who served in both the Trump and Biden administrations), told Newsweek that Washington overestimates “red lines” of Russia and out of fear does not allow Kiev to deploy its full military potential.
The United States is the largest provider of military aid to Kiev, totaling $56 billion so far, but that aid has been marked by constant fears of escalation over how Putin might respond, especially given his threatening nuclear rhetoric. NATO countries have significantly delayed the delivery of certain weapons, and are also preventing the Ukrainian army from attacking targets on Russian territory with Western missiles, compromising Kiev's military efforts.
„The US has failed to support the heroic resistance of the Ukrainians. Whether we are talking about M1A1 tanks, F-16 fighter jets or missiles. Delay, delay, delay...“, said the American diplomat.
According to John Sullivan, Western countries have overestimated the point at which Putin will do something “catastrophic”. “I have always thought it unlikely that he would use nuclear weapons. Putin already believes that he is at war with the United States and that we are the enemy of the Russian Federation. Not a competitor, not an adversary, not that nice diplomatic language we use in the State Department – we are enemies and he treats us as such. However, he does not want a nuclear war with the United States – no one in their right mind would want to. And he (Putin) is not crazy,” said the former American ambassador to the Russian Federation.
John Sullivan also said that another Donald Trump presidency may not be a boon for Vladimir Putin and his full-scale invasion of Ukraine compared to a Democratic administration in the person of Biden. Many believe that in Moscow they want Trump to win and military support for Kiev to decrease, but Sullivan disagrees. “There may be a greater appetite in the Trump administration to act much more forcefully against the Russians than there was in the Biden administration,” he said.