WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st October, 2022) Accepting Russian gains in Ukraine would be in the West's best interests, but the Biden administration is unlikely to change course and will escalate the conflict unless American voters raise their voices.
On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin and the leaders of Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions signed agreements on the accession of the territories. Putin said Russia is ready for peace negotiations with Ukraine and called on Kiev to cease hostilities.
In response, Kiev said it is applying to fast-track NATO membership. President Joe Biden said the United States will continue to support Ukraine in regaining control of its territory.
Meanwhile, US Congress passed legislation that contained $12.4 billion in new aid for Ukraine, including 4.5 billion in economic assistance, $3 billion in security aid, $2.8 billion for US European Command, and $1.5 billion to replenish US weapons stocks.
"In the end Russia will prevail and, as strange as it may sound, it would be good for America and the collective West," American University in Moscow President Edward Lozansky told Sputnik. "(But) I do not see how the current administration could change its course unless the American people raise their voices."
Earlier this week, a new poll from the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft revealed that Americans are growing tired of the conflict in Ukraine. Nearly half of likely voters polled said they are against sending military aid to Kiev if the US is not involved in diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict.
The poll comes just weeks ahead of the November 8 midterm elections, when US voters go to the polls to decide if the Democratic Party will retain control of Congress.
Historian and foreign policy analyst Professor Jeremy Kuzmarov believes the referendums strengthen Russia's position by expanding territory considerably in eastern Ukraine.
"These referendums, however imperfect, do reveal that a lot of the residents of eastern Ukraine would prefer to be part of Russia like the Crimeans and see greater benefit in being part of Russia, whom they view as their protector from Ukrainian terrorism backed by the West," Kuzmarov told Sputnik.
In terms of the Western military support, Kuzmarov is uncertain how long Ukraine could survive, even with multiple billions of Dollars of US and Western aid.
"The foreign support seems to be sustaining Ukraine but how long this can last, I don't know. The country has serious economic problems," he said.
Although the Russian side may have high stakes, experts also believe the West will not back down anytime soon and the conflict will only escalate.
"The United States cannot tolerate a challenger to its power, and will do anything... to weaken Russia and China and try and prevent them from allying together," Kuzmarov said.
US political commentator and historian Dan Lazare said Russia cannot afford to lose because it knows a victorious United States will immediately move to splinter its territory, eliminate it as a military threat, and then try to gain unlimited access to Central Asia's resources.
"The (Biden administration) is determined to arm the Ukraine to the teeth and back up its maximalist demands for the recovery of the Donbas and the Crimea Compromise is therefore growing more and more remote," Lazare told Sputnik.
Moreover, the US can use the region in an effort to surround and destabilize China, Lazare added.
In terms of the situation on the ground from a military perspective, retired US Army Colonel Douglas Macgregor, a Trump-era Pentagon adviser, said while Russia probably has the advantage, Ukraine's army may commit whatever it has left to retake territory.
