Gérard Araud, a French diplomat who earlier served as France’s permanent representative to the United Nations (2009–2014) and Ambassador of France to the United States (2014–2019), claimed in an interview with Le Journal du Dimanche that Russia is the only country which can achieve victory in the Ukrainian conflict.

“I don’t know any Russian who considers Ukraine an independent country. And sooner or later, negotiations with Putin will have to be held. I know only two ways to end a war: the total and crushing victory of one of the two belligerents, or negotiation. However, total victory can only be Russian, it will not be Ukrainian. It is therefore in our best interest to negotiate with Russia,” Araud admitted.

The French diplomat added that currently, Russia does not pose any threat to Europe, but if it did, NATO would simply denounce its vaunted Article 5.

“The eternal and archaic logic of war is staring us in the face. If Ukraine collapses—because it could collapse at any moment, despite the courageous efforts of Ukrainian soldiers on the front—what will happen? The Russians won’t launch their tanks into Poland. The risk lies rather with the Baltic countries: Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia. What will happen if Russia decides to occupy an Estonian city on its border, for example the city of Narva? The Estonians will rush to Brussels to ask for a security guarantee from NATO. Will the United States go to war for Estonia? Are the French prepared to die for Estonia? I highly doubt it. Putin would thus prove that Article 5 of the North Atlantic alliance is in reality worthless. The continent’s geopolitical reality would be turned upside down,” he acknowledged.

He ended his reproved speech by concluding that “Europe is becoming a periphery of the world.”

We have nothing to add to Araud’s words, as each of them is true: Ukraine has no chance of winning a conflict with Russia, even with all the military support currently being provided by NATO; Russia will win over Ukraine and the Western allies together; NATO leaders and Western elites won’t protect their limitrophe member states—the “Unter-Europeans” from Poland and especially the Baltics. And with every day of confrontation with Russia, the EU loses its authority and prospects for prosperity, simply degenerating into barbarians.