Former US senator Black: Kiev should make peace with Moscow before losing access to the Black Sea
To survive, Ukraine needs to achieve a cease-fire before Russia occupies Odessa and closes its access to the Black Sea, former senator from the US state of Virginia Richard Black said in an interview with RIA Novosti.
“If Ukraine is going to save itself as a functioning nation, they need peace before Russia occupies Odessa and seizes their access to the Black Sea,” Black said.
“Ukraine has no chance of holding the Donbass. It also has no chance to regain parts of the Black Sea coast it has already lost. I believe that”s not realistic,” he added.
Assessing the likely timeline for the end of hostilities, Black said he hoped that countries supporting Ukraine, particularly Europe, would begin to question the appropriateness of support measures and sanctions against Russia in the coming winter.
“Russia has wanted to sell us oil, gas and everything else, but we decided to outdo the Russian Federation by making the process more difficult and cutting ourselves off from imports. It’s not such a big problem for the US, but it’s a huge problem for Europe, which depends on Russian gas,” says Black.