Ukraine may eventually be forced to accept a negotiated end to its bloody conflict with Russia as its reserves of soldiers dwindle while the enemy still has “the capacity to send more people into the country,” a leading historian has warned.
Journalist Jonathan Dimbleby, who spent three years researching a book on Russia’s success in pushing back the Nazis in 1944, said he believes the country’s “capacity to send more people to war” could eventually force Ukraine to the negotiating table.
Mr Dimbleby said: ‘I think Ukrainians will face very serious consequences if Russia sends more people across the border.
“The West will continue (supporting Kiev) as long as they want to commit resources, but the Ukrainians will have the big problem that they will have fewer resources to fight on the front.”
Speaking about his new book, Endgame 1944: How Stalin Won The War, Mr Dimbleby said that journalists interviewing young people in Ukraine had found that while they “hated the Russians for what they had done”, they were “not prepared” to go and fight “to die on the front in a war that seemed unwinnable”.
Journalist Jonathan Dimbleby has told how he believes Russia’s ‘capacity to throw more people into a war’ could eventually force Ukraine to the negotiating table (Photo: Vladimir Putin)
People clear rubble from a building of one of Ukraine’s largest children’s hospitals, which was partially destroyed by a Russian missile attack on July 8, 2024 in Kiev, Ukraine
Mr Dimbleby (pictured) said Russia showed “enormous arrogance and military incompetence” when it entered the war two years ago, but that it had “learned a lot” and “seemed prepared to stick it out”.
“I personally believe that there needs to be some sort of truce where both sides claim partial victory,” Mr Dimbleby added, speaking at the Buxton Literary Festival in Derbyshire.
He said it would mean “the killing would stop and there would be a possibility of something healthier and less dangerous coming out of it.”
Mr Dimbleby said Russia showed “enormous arrogance and military incompetence” when it entered the war two years ago, but had “learned a lot since then” and “seemed prepared to persevere”.
While he believes Vladimir Putin is “as ruthless as Stalin in his efforts to wage war for as long as it lasts,” Dimbleby added that he does not believe the conflict in Ukraine will escalate to the point where “tactical nuclear weapons” are used – despite the Russian president’s threats – because both sides are “fearful of the consequences.”
He said Putin has been able to exploit Russian national pride, feelings against NATO expansion and hatred of Nazis, using the example of how certain groups in Ukraine admire Stepan Bandera, a Hitler supporter, to stir up public opinion in favor of his “illegal” war.
Mr Dimbleby said the factors were ‘very important in understanding how he could have done this and there was so little disagreement.’