Former Chairman of NATO Military Committee: “Russia Is By No Means Isolated”

Former German General Harald Kujat, together with three other German experts, released an in-depth proposal in late August for reaching a negotiated settlement of the war in Ukraine, which is perhaps the most detailed plan put forward to date (cf. SAS 39/23). Gen. Kujat was Chief of Staff of the Bundeswehr in 2000-2002, and ended his military career as Chairman of the NATO Military Committee, 2002-2005.

He was asked by the Preußische Allgemeine to comment on Seymour Hersh’s view that the Ukraine war is over, and that Russia has won. In the interview, published Oct. 29, he notes that it is not quite that simple. Politically, a war is won by whoever obtains his political objectives, and in the case of Ukraine, neither side will do that. “Russia wanted to prevent NATO expansion and now has to accept the joining of Finland and Sweden. With its support for Ukraine, the United States wanted to weaken its geopolitical rival Russia politically, economically and militarily. This didn’t happen either. Russia is by no means isolated; the BRICS organization even welcomed six new members on August 24th. Other countries want to join, including NATO members Türkiye and Greece.

“The economic sanctions are proving to be a disadvantage, especially for the West. And militarily, Russia is stronger than before the war. Ukraine, whose goal is to restore full sovereignty over its entire territory within the 1991 borders, will also fail to achieve this goal.”

From the strictly military standpoint, General Kujat continued, the advantage is Russia’s. “Here the situation is clearly tilted in favor of Russia. Basically we see an asymmetrical operation. Ukraine is trying to recapture square meter after square meter of Russian-occupied territory at extremely high cost. Russia, on the other hand, has shifted to a strategic defensive strategy with the aim of inflicting ever greater losses on the Ukrainian armed forces and making Ukraine defenseless. The Ukrainian offensive, which began almost five months ago with great expectations, has not brought the desired results.”

General Kujat goes on to examine various scenarios for the months ahead in this interview. In addition, the Swiss journal Zeitgeschehen im Focus (Oct. 26) had published a piece by General Kujat and Professor Hajo Funke of the Free University of Berlin, reviewing the Ukraine-Russia peace talks of Spring 2022, and how they were sabotaged by the West. The article is headlined: “How a Promising Peace Settlement in the Ukraine War Was Prevented”.