Arthur Khachikian: Everything will be decided in Ukraine

The Ukrainian leadership, which is already under great pressure given Russia’s victories and advancements, may be forced to sign a peace agreement, Dr. Arthur Khachikian told Alpha News.

“If elected, Donald Trump promised to stop the Russian-Ukrainian war and achieve peace. However, this does not mean that it can happen immediately, because there is the State Department and the so-called deep state and foreign policy elites that may not allow this to happen or happen soon. But he will certainly try to stop the war. This means that the Ukrainian leadership, which is already under a lot of pressure, given Russia’s victories and advances, may be forced to either sign a peace agreement, which will be difficult because Russia does not want to negotiate with them, or there will be some changes. This could lead to a regime change in Ukraine.

Russia is currently advancing, and Ukraine cannot resist. The death toll is approaching 1 million people, the population of Ukraine is divided, and the resistance has weakened. They themselves are already saying that either Zelensky will be forced to agree to a peace agreement, after which there will be a split in Ukraine, which is very difficult for Ukrainians to accept, or they will have to go for a big escalation. And if the West takes this step and strikes long-range missiles at targets deep inside Russia, this could lead to a greater escalation. In other words, either there will be a greater escalation or a peace agreement and Ukraine’s concessions,” Khachikian said.

When asked what guarantees Russia should have to sign a peace deal, he said that Russia believes that it has already been deceived twice.

“First, it was NATO’s deception, which was obvious; then, the Minsk agreements, Merkel openly said that they were just buying time to arm Ukraine; third, they deceived when Russia withdrew troops from Kiev to hold negotiations, but it was stated that the war should continue. After all this, it would be very naive for Russia to trust any agreement. In my opinion, the Russians will try to win decisively and seize as much territory as possible. Kherson and Zaporozhye should become part of Russia; perhaps they will try to seize even more since Ukraine does not agree to cede these territories,” Khachikian concluded.