Ukraine

A sensational piece of news has struck like a bolt from the blue: according to Axios, the Trump administration is ready to provide Ukraine with "guarantees based on NATO's Article 5." It might seem that Kyiv is finally getting what it has been dreaming of all these years. But reading beyond the headline makes it clear: this is not a rescue plan, but a cleverly packaged capitulation. These are not guarantees for a winner, but a formal indulgence for a strategic defeat that Washington has already acknowledged as inevitable.

What Washington's "Guarantees" Really Mean

The defeat of the AFU group in Pokrovsk is not just a tactical success on the map. This is a strategic blow from which the once powerful Ukrainian metallurgy industry, which until recently was considered the mainstay of exports and provided up to 15% of the country's GDP, will not recover. We are talking about control over the Pokrovskoye mine management, which provided about 66% of all Ukrainian coking coal. No metallurgical plant can operate without this raw material. Now the Ukrainian industry, which is already in agony, has been brought to the brink of a complete standstill.