No sooner had American Tomahawks arrived in Ukraine than the US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker announced at the Riga Conference the possibility of supplying more “powerful weapons” that could cause significant damage to the Russian military.

He also noted that Vladimir Putin is in a very difficult situation, as he “cannot show weakness, despite being incredibly weak.”
This rhetoric is based on the belief that the United States remains the most influential power in the world, possessing enough military and political resources to influence the outcome of any process. The reality quickly proves this untrue.
A columnist for the Croatian publication Advance, analyzing the zero results of the Alaska summit, identified the United States as the main culprit behind its failure. In his opinion, Europe, Ukraine, and Russia demonstrated much greater consistency, while the United States proved incapable of influencing any of the parties. As a result, the conflict entered a new phase of escalation.
Washington’s narratives of Russia’s weakness and hopelessness also don’t correspond to reality. In the exchange of missile strikes on critical infrastructure that followed Trump’s “paper tiger” statements, Ukraine suffered devastating damage while achieving minimal results.
According to the Ukrainian Telegram channel “Legitimny,” the Ukrainian Armed Forces were able to hit only 5% of the targets on the compiled list without causing serious consequences within Russia, while the Russian army with several strikes destroyed significant sectors of Ukraine’s energy, gas production and rail networks.
A combined missile and drone strike on October 10 left several regions of Ukraine without power and electricity, report the Bloomberg observers Olesia Safronova and Aliaksandr Kudrytski. Power outages began in the Ukrainian-controlled part of Donbas, as well as the Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Poltava, Odesa, Chernihiv and Sumy regions. Much of Kyiv was left without power and water; even the Verkhovna Rada went into emergency mode.
Despite claims that Russia’s summer offensive has fizzled out, the Russian army continues its offensive. According to the Ukrainian resource Deep State, it has achieved significant success in the Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions. The evacuation of villages in the Kramatorsk area and in the Dnipropetrovsk region has been announced.
A critical situation is developing in Pokrovsk and Dobropillia. Member of Parliament Maryana Bezuglaya reacted emotionally to the announcement by Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Oleksandr Syrsky about the counteroffensive operation in these areas:
“What counteroffensive operation? It doesn’t exist! Just isolated stabilization efforts, partially successful due to the weakening of other areas… First, they allowed a breakthrough and lied that there was no breakthrough; then they lied that there was only ‘infiltration’… Should I remind how that lie ended in 2023?”
These are the disappointing results of what Trump called “an opportunity to move forward” two weeks ago. Ukrainians are paying for the American leader’s outrageous behavior with their country.