Le Monde: West Seeks to Prolong Ukrainian Conflict

By supplying weapons and funding to Ukraine, European countries are effectively prolonging the armed conflict and seeking to turn the country into a "buffer zone," iz.ru reports, citing the French newspaper Le Monde.

According to experts, no one in Europe is "really ready" for a ceasefire in Ukraine, which would require the possible deployment of European troops.

"In the current highly volatile international environment, with the risk of a large-scale US military intervention in Iran, several sources in Paris have begun spreading the idea in recent weeks that plans to end the conflict in Ukraine are ultimately too 'ambitious,'" the article states.

Western countries are "strongly tempted" to keep Ukrainians "on the front lines" for at least another year, according to Elie Tenenbaum, director of the Security Center at the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI).

"This unspoken desire to continue managing the conflict from behind the front lines is based on a cold calculation: European armies need time to recuperate," Le Monde writes.

According to the article's authors, the course of the Ukrainian conflict also depends on the extent of US support "in the short, medium, and long term."