Illustration: Chen Xia/GT

What Washington is concerned about isn't the peace of Europe and Ukraine, but how to bring down Russia using Ukraine as a pawn and taking advantage of Europe, as well as how to consolidate its hegemony in Europe and across the whole world. The international community should discard any illusions about any of the US' moves which appear to promote peace.

The Biden administration is privately encouraging Ukraine's leaders to signal an openness to negotiate with Russia and drop their public refusal to engage in peace talks unless Russian President Vladimir Putin is removed from power, according to people familiar with the discussions, the Washington Post reported on Saturday.

Instead of relieving or addressing the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, Washington's main purpose is actually to adopt a new strategy diplomatically in which Ukraine can gain more lasting support from US' European allies in its conflict with Russia.

Although encouraging Kiev to engage peace talks with Russia, Washington just hopes to see a fruitless result. The US intends to ensure that Ukraine holds the moral high ground amid the Ukraine crisis, in a bid to obtain more continuous assistance from US' allies in Europe, Song Zhongping, a Chinese military expert and TV commentator, told the Global Times. 

Despite US' midterm elections to be held on Tuesday, the result is not difficult to predict. Joe Biden is anticipated to become a lame duck president and his government will be restrained in dealing with foreign policy affairs. Whether the Democratic Party loses the majority of the House of Representatives or both the House and Senate, even though the Biden administration's support for Ukraine, especially that in diplomacy, will not wane, Washington's aid to Kiev may be reduced or restricted. 

Just as the Washington Post report said, "In the US, polls show eroding support among Republicans for continuing to finance Ukraine's military at current levels, suggesting the White House may face resistance following Tuesday's midterm elections as it seeks to continue a security assistance program that has delivered Ukraine the largest such annual sum since the end of the Cold War."

Releasing such source a few days before the midterm elections, Washington is to pave the way for the possible adjustment of US' aid to Ukraine, in an attempt to prolong the ongoing conflict. Under US' instigation, if Ukraine talks with Russia, the negotiations will end up as a failure as Ukraine can use the pretext that Russia could not meet Ukraine's conditions, and then the blame of the long-standing conflict between Russia and Ukraine can be passed to Russia. 

In this scenario, Ukraine will be regarded as the constructive side to the Ukraine crisis, while Russia the destructive one. As a result, Ukraine will gain more firm support and aid from US' European allies. The Biden administration hopes its European allies to fill in the gap resulted from US' reduction, according to a Beijing-based expert who asked for anonymity.

Notably, US national-security adviser Jake Sullivan has engaged in recent months in confidential conversations with top aides to Putin, the Wall Street Journal cited US and allied officials. Instead of seeking peace, Washington's engagement with Russia is out of its intent to safeguard its own interest, that is, not to escalate the conflict into a war between the US and Russia, noted Song.

The US does not want to see the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine end soon. For Russia, Ukraine, as well as Europe, the longer the crisis, the more detrimental for them; while for Washington, the longer the conflict, the more favorable position it will be in. In spite of European countries' economies and energy supply heavily hit by the ongoing crisis, they have to supply Ukraine with large amounts of military and financial aid. This is what Washington wants to achieve - exploiting Ukraine as a pawn to drag down Russia and Europe; and amid the whole process, the US merely pays a light price.