The question has raised tensions with the United States and is cutting Europe in two: for kyiv’s allies, what are the objectives of the war in Ukraine in the face of the Russian invasion? While the conflict has been going on for more than a hundred days, Emmanuel Macron’s recent little sentence on his concern for “Do not humiliate Russia” in the perspective of negotiations which are still improbable, has widened the gap between the two opposing camps. On the one hand, the Baltic countries, Poland, without forgetting the United Kingdom, supporters of a continuation of the war in the prospect, even distant, of a Russian defeat. On the other, France, Germany and Italy, supporters of a more moderate line, anxious both to help Ukraine and to negotiate with Russia to facilitate a ceasefire.
Kaja Kallas, the Estonian Prime Minister, has become one of the figures in the camp of “go to war”, as one Western European diplomat calls it. For her, as for her Baltic or Polish counterparts, support for Ukraine must aim to defeat Russia, to allow kyiv to recover the territories lost not only since February 24, but also for eight years, including, in the ideal, the Crimea and the separatist regions of Donbass, even if that seems more or less out of reach at this point. The former was unilaterally annexed by Moscow in 2014. The latter are at the heart of the current battle, with the Ukrainians trying to limit their territorial losses in these eastern regions of the country.
For meme Kallas, whose family experienced Soviet repression, so there is no question of talking with Vladimir Putin, a leader whose downfall is more or less secretly desired in the region – as in Ukraine. Any attempt at dialogue is even seen as an act of complacency with the head of the Kremlin, considered a war criminal, who will one day have to be judged. “Even if there is peace, it does not mean that the atrocities and suffering will stop in the occupied territories”relentlessly warns Mr.me Callas. “For half of Europe, peace after the Second World War meant more repression”she points out.
According to the young Estonian Prime Minister, the calls to stop the fighting are therefore “premature”because the priority would be to “break the Kremlin war machine”. Like its NATO neighbors, Estonia feels comforted by the attitude of the United States, even if President Biden assured recently that a change of regime in Moscow was not among the objectives. Americans. Washington nevertheless took the lead in the field of arms deliveries to kyiv in an attempt to permanently weaken Russia against Ukraine, while defeating it.
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