Jens Asbjørn Bøgen
In fact, he thinks the allies are encouraging Ukraine to fight without giving the country, what it needs.
As the war in Ukraine drags into its fourth year, questions are growing louder over whether Kyiv can ever reclaim its lost ground.
Behind the frontlines, global leaders and military strategists are locked in debate over the West’s commitment and the limits of its support.
In an interview on The Independent‘s podcast, World of Trouble, Field Marshal Lord Richards, one of Britain’s most senior military figures, has warned that Ukraine cannot defeat Russian forces without direct NATO involvement – something he says will not happen.
Allies letting Ukraine down
The Field Marshal accused Ukraine’s allies of encouraging Kyiv to fight without providing the means to win.
“What we have done in the case of Ukraine is encourage Ukraine to fight, but not given them the means to win,” he said. Asked if Ukraine could prevail even with additional resources, Lord Richards was blunt: “No, they haven’t got the manpower.”
The field marshal, who once led NATO forces during the Afghanistan surge, said the West had fundamentally misjudged the scale of the conflict and its importance to Moscow.
Zelensky’s Washington gamble
The warning came as President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Washington in a last-ditch effort to persuade Donald Trump to send Tomahawk cruise missiles. His appeal followed months of slow progress on the battlefield, where both sides have turned increasingly to drone warfare.
Zelensky’s hopes were reportedly dashed after Vladimir Putin spoke with Trump just hours before the Ukrainian leader’s White House meeting. During a tense press conference, Trump appeared reluctant to release US weapons, citing the need to maintain American stockpiles.
While Zelensky suggested Ukraine could offer drone technology in exchange, Trump’s response was non-committal. “He didn’t say no,” Zelensky later said, “but for today, he didn’t say yes either.”
A grim outlook
In his first long-form podcast interview, Lord Richards offered a bleak assessment of Ukraine’s prospects. “Unless we were to go in with them – which we won’t do because Ukraine is not an existential issue for us – it clearly is for the Russians,” he said.
He acknowledged Western sympathy for Ukraine but argued that emotional support does not equate to strategic necessity. “Despite our attraction for all they’ve achieved and our genuine affections for so many Ukrainians, I’m still in the school that says this is not in our vital national interests,” he added.
For Ukraine, he believes the best outcome may now be “a sort of score draw.”
Trump’s shifting stance
Lord Richards’s pessimism stands in contrast to Donald Trump’s recent claims that Kyiv could still win. Writing on social media, the president said: “I think Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is in a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form.”
He argued that Russia’s prolonged struggle had exposed it as “a paper tiger.” Yet Trump’s support for Ukraine has fluctuated sharply. He previously suspended military aid, pushed for a minerals-for-weapons deal, and limited US involvement to intelligence sharing.
This week, Trump appeared to swing back toward Putin, agreeing to a summit in Hungary hosted by Viktor Orban without Zelensky’s participation. Calling himself a “mediator,” he defended the exclusion by saying Putin and Zelensky “don’t get along too well.”
Divided allies
Lord Richards, who once led Britain’s missions in Sierra Leone and East Timor, has long been wary of Western overreach. He echoed retired US General Mark Milley’s earlier view that Ukraine should seek negotiations with Moscow.
With the frontlines largely static and Western unity fraying, the field marshal’s warning underscores an uncomfortable reality: Ukraine’s fight for survival may be reaching the limits of what its allies are willing to sustain.
This article is made and published by Jens Asbjørn Bogen, which may have used AI in the preparation
