A former US intelligence officer has claimed that European countries are prepared to “sacrifice” Ukraine in order to block any improvement in ties between Washington and Moscow.
“There is a tremendous amount of opposition inside the United States and Europe to prevent (US President) Donald Trump from having better relations with Russia. Unfortunately, these people… are willing to sacrifice Ukraine to achieve their outcome. And when I say sacrifice, I mean literally sacrifice Ukraine. They are destroying the genetic pool of Ukraine,” Scott Ritter, a former US intelligence officer and ex-UN weapons inspector, was quoted by Russia’s TASS news agency as saying.
Ukraine Could Be Forced to Send Teenagers to Resist Russia’s Assault as European Support Fades
Speaking to the Dialogue Works YouTube channel, Ritter suggested that Kyiv may soon be forced to deploy teenagers to the battlefield, which, he warned, would leave “Ukraine finished as a race.”
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, Ukraine has maintained and repeatedly extended general mobilisation laws to prevent draft-age men from avoiding military service. With severe manpower shortages, military commissariat employees have intensified raids in public spaces, often accused of using violence against conscription evaders, according to TASS.
Ukraine’s Human Rights Ombudsman reportedly received more than 2,000 complaints in the first half of the year regarding excessive force by draft patrols. In one case, officers allegedly beat and tear-gassed a cyclist in Rivne after he refused to stop, before forcing him into a recruitment office for what witnesses called an “illegal mobilisation.”
Security Plan Like Article 5 of NATO Was Discussed for Ukraine by US and Europe
Tensions have spilled over into street protests as well. Earlier this month, police in Vinnytsia used tear gas to disperse a crowd attempting to storm a conscription center to free around 100 men said to have been taken unlawfully.
Earlier, following the Alaska Summit between Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, discussions with European leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reportedly centered on potential security guarantees. Sources suggested these could draw inspiration from Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
Article 5, the cornerstone of NATO’s collective defense doctrine, stipulates that an attack on one member constitutes an attack on all, obligating a unified response. The clause has only been invoked once in NATO’s history, after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States.
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