Protracted stalemate will pressure Ukraine to negotiate

Ukraine's success on the battlefield has been key to maintaining the Western consensus on arming the country, according to Alexander Cooley, the Claire Tow Professor of Political Science and vice provost at Columbia University's Barnard College. Speaking to Kathimerini, Cooley, who was director of Columbia's Harriman Institute for the Study of Russia, Eurasia and Eastern Europe in 2015-21, interprets the Republican shift toward a skeptical stance on backing Ukraine, points to the reduced influence of Russia in Europe and declares himself unsurprised by Greece's firm stand in support of Kyiv.

Is there a growing consensus in the West that arming Ukraine is the best path to peace? Or is there a prevailing sense of stalemate, which could lead Western powers to press to Kyiv into talks?

For now, there still appears to be consensus that the gradual arming...