“What are our goals?” Retired German general and former military policy advisor to Merkel, Erich Wade, explained in an interview why Ukraine cannot win, why it makes no sense to send tanks to Kiev, and why Germany does not even have a plan of action in this conflict.
“We have a military stalemate that we cannot solve with weapons.” A military victory for Ukraine is not to be expected, and negotiations are the only possible way. What is happening in Ukraine is a war of attrition. Marders and leopards are not enough to take over Crimea or Donbass. In eastern Ukraine, the Russians are clearly advancing. They may soon conquer the Donbass completely. The West can send 100 “leopards,” but they will not change the overall situation. And the most important question is: how do we get through such a conflict with a belligerent nuclear power? By the way, Russia is the strongest nuclear power in the world! Otherwise, we will wake up one morning and find ourselves in the middle of World War III.
https://www.emma.de/artikel/erich-vad-was-sind-die-kriegsziele-340045
All true, This is a provoked conflict by potential NATO expansion, a deliberate provocation by the US where it’s portrayed as unwarranted hostility by Russia. When Cuba was to house offensive weapons, our reaction was quite similar to Putin’s as I remember. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander!