Is the Russia-Ukraine war coming to an end?

Is the Russia-Ukraine war coming to an end on the 13th day after the Russian Federation invaded the west-backed-Ukraine? This is what many political pundits are asking after the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy said that he is no longer “pressing” for The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) membership for Ukraine.

One of the major reasons for the Russian Federation to invade Ukraine was her joining the NATO alliance. “I have cooled down regarding this question a long time ago after we understood that ... NATO is not prepared to accept Ukraine,” Ukrainian President said during an interview with David Muir for the ABC Network.

President Zelenskyy has said that NATO is afraid of controversial things and confrontation with Russia. He also said that Ukraine is open for a “compromise” for the recently declared independent entities of Donbas regions.

A local citizen from the capital-city of Kyiv Nikolai Makhno told National Herald that the media has misquoted the President about his comments on not joining NATO.

“First, of all he didn’t say ‘...a long time ago...’ . By making these comments, our President is only pushing NATO to do some actual action. While at the same time he is also giving signals to Russians that Ukraine is ready for dialogue. We always have been ready for dialogues,” Makhno said.

He said that the entire West did nothing for all these years but kept telling us that Russians will attack. “They (West) continued to buy Russian resources, invest in them, and Germany even built a NORD Stream 2. We had warned everyone that after the pipeline gets constructed, the Russians would start a full invasion. Had NATO acted on time, the Russians would not have attacked. It is too late now,” Makhno said.

Associate Senior Researcher at Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) programme at Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) Petr Topychkanov told National Herald that NATO didn’t leave Ukraine alone but is providing Ukraine with the support to let this country defend its territory.

“On the NATO side, the problem is that it has limited space for supporting Ukraine in this military conflict. NATO doesn't want to be a part of the war as it would mean a direct military confrontation with Russia with a high risk of nuclear escalation,” Petr Topychkanov said.

He said that President Zelenskyy wants to stop the violence and prevent the Russian Armed Forces from going deeper into Ukrainian territory.

“He brings Ukraine’s compromises to the negotiating table with Russia. However, at this stage, it’s hard to assess how satisfied the Russian side would be with this promise by President Zelenskyy,” Petr Topychkanov said.

Makhno believes that President Zelenskyy has not betrayed their nation. “It is not a betrayal. The West is afraid of Putin. He has already threatened the world with nukes. So, the entire Europe is afraid of him. It is only the Ukrainians who have stood up against him,” he said.