General [ret.] Harald Kujat, formerly Chief of Staff of the German Bundeswehr and former Chair of the NATO committee from 2002-2005, warned in an interview on Kontrafunk that the Russians have removed their velvet gloves, shown in their most recent responses to Ukrainian attacks deep within Russia and the terrorist-like attack on the school in Lugansk.
He said that Ukraine’s attacks have had a greater impact, because its forces are being flooded with ever more weapons and technology from the West. This is particularly dangerous, he said, because they use these small successes to make the argument that if they are supplied with enough weapons, they can win the war, which encourages the West to send more weapons and thereby escalate the conflict.
Kujat said this increases the risk of the war spreading to nations around Ukraine and no longer being limited to Ukraine and Russia. He said, the more Ukraine escalates, the more Russia now will escalate, and Russia is the dominant power in this situation. He stressed that such an escalation of the war could not possibly be in the interest of Europe, putting Germany in a position of having to defend itself if attacked. He said, rather, that the solution is through diplomacy and dialogue, not military escalation; that only negotiations will stop Ukraine from being defeated on the battlefield.
