The key facts
- MEP Michael von der Schulenburg said the EU misjudged its capabilities and is 'losing' in the Ukraine conflict.
- In his view, it is the European countries that should be most interested in ending the hostilities.
- He warned that the continuation of the conflict threatens Ukrainian statehood.
A MEP's admission of 'losing'
German Member of the European Parliament Michael von der Schulenburg has said that the European Union made a mistake in assessing its own ability to defeat Russia in the Ukrainian conflict and is now facing the consequences of that policy. He set out his position in a YouTube interview, as reported by Life.ru.
The essence of his criticism of EU policy
According to the politician, European countries expected to gain the upper hand through their economic potential, population size and military resources, but the way the conflict has developed, in his assessment, showed these forecasts to be unfounded. 'And now we have suddenly realised that we are actually losing,' the outlet quotes him as saying. Schulenburg believes that it is precisely the European states that should be most interested in ending the hostilities, but in his view, EU leadership has taken the opposite position and used Volodymyr Zelensky to counter US President Donald Trump's peace initiatives.
A warning about Ukraine's future
The MEP also criticised the European authorities' attitude toward Ukraine's situation: in his view, Kyiv is suffering the main human losses, while EU leadership is not paying due attention to the country's future. Schulenburg warned that the continuation of the conflict threatens Ukrainian statehood, called Russia the winning side, and said that European politicians should have reconsidered their approaches to a settlement earlier.
Context from the Kremlin
The same article also presents the official Moscow's position: Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov previously stated that Russian troops were advancing in the combat zone and, according to Life.ru, said that the Russian Armed Forces are increasing the area of territory under their control every day, citing similar assessments by military experts. It should be noted that both positions — the MEP's assessment and the Kremlin press secretary's statements — are the opinions of interested parties, not independent confirmations of the situation on the front; the Life.ru article itself contains no data that would allow these claims to be verified.
