Is the West getting ‘Ukraine fatigue’?

The US has privately urged President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to signal a willingness to negotiate with Russia in order to prevent the withdrawal of Western aid to Ukraine, sources claim.

According to The Washington Post, Washington’s call for peace talks was “not aimed at pushing Ukraine to the negotiating table”, but rather “a calculated attempt to ensure the government in Kyiv maintains the support of other nations facing constituencies wary of fuelling a war for many years to come”.

“Ukraine fatigue is a real thing for some of our partners,” an unnamed US official told the paper, as the conflict fuels steep hikes in the cost of food and energy across the world. 

What did the papers say?

Amid growing calls for Zelenskyy to ditch his ban on talks with Vladimir Putin, “analysts warn a potential victory of critical voices in this week’s American midterm elections could fracture the West’s staunch support for Kyiv”, said Al Jazeera.

“People are beginning to view Ukraine as Russia’s Afghanistan 2.0 – a war that drones interminably on, prompting fatigue,” wrote Russian-born former investment banker Lubov Cherunkhin in an article for Politico. The “resultant ‘so it goes’ mentality” risks the onset of “international quasi-acceptance of ongoing events”, warned Cherunkhin, who is married to Putin’s former deputy finance minister.

Back in May, Zelenksyy told Axios that while global support for Ukraine was crucial, he feared that the world would eventually get “fed up” as the conflict dragged on. The Ukrainian leader voiced his worries after analysis by media monitoring platform NewsWhip found that digital engagement on issues relating to Ukraine had dropped dramatically in the three months after the invasion began in February.

“As attention wanes, so will the pressure on world leaders to help Ukraine and punish Russia,” warned Axios.

 Now, with the war showing no signs of ending, that prediction appears to be proving correct.

In the US, which is by far the largest donor to the Ukrainian war effort, recent polls show significant falls in support among Republicans for continuing to finance Kyiv’s military at current levels. With Republicans projected to win the House in today’s midterm elections, GOP leaders have suggested that a policy change may be on the cards.

Article source: https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/defence/958432/is-the-west-in-danger-of-ukraine-fatigue