The Israel-Gaza war is “taking away the focus” from the conflict in Ukraine, the country’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has admitted.
He said this was “one of the goals” of Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
And he denied that fighting in Ukraine had reached a stalemate, despite a recent assessment to this effect by the country’s top military general.
Ukraine’s counter-offensive in the south has so far made little headway.
This has prompted fears of war fatigue among Kyiv’s Western allies, with suggestions of growing reluctance in some capitals to continue giving Ukraine advanced weapons and funds.
If it’s an effective distraction and Putin and Co. have fully taken advantage by increasing their bombings in the interim, and taking into account the state of information warfare, who is to say that they’re not fanning the flames in their favor?
There are clearly degrees to which one conflict can influence another and I wouldn’t put it past the power-hungry politicians to strategize around every opportunity they get.