The Russia-Ukraine war has reached a critical stage and it is likely to come to an end within a couple of weeks. The Ukrainians bombarded the long bridge connecting Crimea with the mainland of Russia. In retaliation Russia bombarded the civilian areas of Ukraine in a savage manner leading to a terrific loss of life and property. Russia had not targeted the civilian areas so far. There had been some accidental bombing of civilian areas, but it was done this time with an intent to teach Zelensky and the Ukranians a lesson who dared to bombard the bridge and celebrate the incident.
Zelensky has become extremely unpopular in the country and the people have come to realize that his obstinacy to join NATO will destroy the nation. Reports are coming in that they have come out in the streets chanting the slogan, ' No NATO membership '. This is for the first time that the Ukranians have rebelled against their leader Zelensky during this long war. This pressure and heat from within has made Zelensky rethink his policy towards war with Russia.
Secondly, it is clear that Ukraine has to buy a respectable retreat rather than Russia. Though it has exhausted the Russian resources greatly, Russia would go to any extent to protect its image as a powerful nation. Also, the western support to Ukraine is waning as NATO members are desperate to restore normalcy for the smooth supply of Russian crude oil and natural gas before the onset of winter season. All this has forced America to revisit its policy towards the Russia-Ukraine war. The prices of the crude oil and natural gas are soaring and the economies of the European countries are not strong enough to sustain this unwarranted economic burden. The US pressure on UAE to increase crude oil production was snubbed by a reduction in production by the OPEC Plus nations. The American reaction of NOPEC is not likely to break any ice in this whole crisis. The US, too, is eager to find a way out of this difficult situation so that the NATO members could be saved from the energy crisis this winter. The popularity of Biden is fast declining and he wants to come out of this war as soon as possible.
Hence, the war is likely to end in a short span of time. Now, the question is as to who would mediate peace between Russia and Ukraine. America and the international organizations dominated and dictated by the West won't be able to barter peace for Russia would not accept their mediation. As a matter of fact, no nation, save and except India, is in a position to mediate peace between Russia and Ukraine. Both the countries would accept the Indian mediation as Modiji is a tall leader and our EAM S. Jaishankar is capable of carrying out such mediation with elan and deft diplomacy. Moreover, India has maintained a nonpartisan approach all along this crisis. Delhi should be ready to host this mediation.
The writer is a noted academician and political commentator. The views expressed in the article are his own.
