Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is on the offensive.
First, he directed the Armed Forces of Ukraine to bring its fight for survival to Kursk inside of Russia.
In September, at the United Nations, Zelensky is intent on gunning for the Harris-Biden administration’s absurd Groundhog Day strategy of endless, fruitless defense in Ukraine.
Defending into perpetuity is no longer an option.
Ukraine is out to win, and Zelensky is insisting on President Biden’s buy-in.
But it’s complicated: Biden is a lame duck president who has seemingly checked out — essentially putting the United States on autopilot for the remainder of his presidency.
Recognizing this, Zelensky also announced he will be presenting his plan to Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.
Yet ending the war in Ukraine is not at the top of either of their to-do lists.
Thus, Zelensky finds himself needing to take his case directly to the American people amidst a presidential election cycle that is relegating Ukraine to the rear.
His upcoming trip to New York to attend the UN General Assembly is another Gettysburg-like “fix bayonets” moment for Ukraine’s leader.
He has the Kremlin on its heels and knows the time is now to press his advantages: momentum, initiative and maneuver.
Zelensky only needs American weapons systems and the authority to use them to close the deal — and some American backbone, too.
Winston Churchill is often credited with saying, “Americans can always be trusted to do the right thing, once all other possibilities have been exhausted.” Zelensky is out to challenge that notion.
As Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” enters its 31st month, the United States and NATO must recognize that the strategy of “weakening Russia” by defending Ukraine has not worked.
It has contributed to over 612,390 Russian casualties, by Ukraine’s count — but in its wake are thousands of dead and maimed Ukrainian civilians and a blasted World War I-like landscape.
The Kremlin simply generates more combat power, secures weapons and ammunition from its “arsenals of evil” in Iran, North Korea and Belarus, and comes at Ukraine again.
Putin aims only to continue to feed the “meat grinder” and achieve his objective — the destruction of Ukraine, however long it takes.
The Harris-Biden administration’s restrictions on US weapons — and the weapon systems of other NATO countries — for defensive purposes only is a failed technique.
The war continues to escalate as the West clings to the idea of wrangling some sort of negotiated outcome that will allow Washington to “reset relations with Moscow,” Politico reported.
“Some officials in certain corners of the administration” believe that lifting restrictions on Ukraine could “upend those efforts,” according to the report.
Yet Hillary Clinton’s Russian reset attempt failed in 2009, and this one will fail again in 2024.
Russia will not voluntarily leave Ukraine, and Zelensky will not cede terrain for a US-brokered peace.
The United States cannot reset relations with Moscow; the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Putin for alleged war crimes.
As former NATO Commander and retired Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove described the situation, “This war is going to end exactly how Western policymakers decide it will end. If we keep doing what we’re doing, Ukraine will eventually lose. Because right now . . . we are purposely not giving Ukraine what they need to win.”
Ukraine is in position to make a win happen.
It has taken the initiative and is exploiting success in Russia’s Kursk Oblast while defending against relentless human wave attacks in the Donbas and continuing to make the Crimean Peninsula untenable for Russian forces — all at the cost of not one American or NATO servicemember’s life.
Sometimes you need a winner, not another armistice.
Resolution is required, not a prolonged “frozen conflict.”
It’s time for Washington to get firmly behind Zelensky and his generals and bring this war to a just conclusion.
Absent Biden’s own plan to win the war or a clearly defined definition for victory, the Harris-Biden administration would be well served to listen and act on the Zelensky proposal.
Ukraine deserves its Yorktown moment.
Col. (Ret.) Jonathan Sweet served 30 years as a military intelligence officer. Mark Toth writes on national security and foreign policy.
https://nypost.com/2024/08/29/opinion/ukraines-offense-dashes-harris-bidens-russia-reset-dream/
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