'Zelensky’s rush to elections is an effort to cling to power and keep the money flowing'

Ian Proud was a senior British diplomat in Moscow from July 2014 to February 2019 who would have read a lot of MI6 reports. He left the diplomatic service two years ago. He has a substack called The Peacemonger. This is from his latest article.

'Even if you gave Ukraine the same amount of foreign funding that was provided in previous years, that would at best allow it to continue to lose slowly on the battlefield.

'But fighting to the last Ukrainian appears a better bet politically, for Zelensky. A peace deal in which, at the very least, Ukraine gives up its aspiration to join NATO will be catastrophic politically for Zelensky, almost certainly ruining his chance of re-election. He knows it. Everyone in Ukraine knows it. And, of course, Putin knows it

'Meanwhile, Russia can afford to wait it out. As Karaganov recently said, Russia’s real war is with Europe, and I believe that to be the case.'