Page 8 - UKRRptSept23

The Guardian wrote about the details of a secret military council of high-ranking Ukrainian and NATO military personnel on the Polish-Ukrainian border with the participation of Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valeriy Zaluzhny and Chief of Defense Staff of the British Armed Forces Tony Radakin.
The newspaper calls the latter NATO's chief military adviser on Ukraine and puts his role higher than even the commander of NATO troops in Europe, General Christopher Cavoli (also attended the meeting). Later, Ukraine officially confirmed the fact of this meeting, which took place in mid-August.
There are two main results, follows from the publication. Firstly, NATO, apparently, managed to convince Kyiv to "reset" the strategy and concentrate maximum forces on the most promising direction of a breakthrough - in Zaporozhye - by refusing to take active actions near Bakhmut. The fact that NATO is dissatisfied with the dispersal of the forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and does not expect success with the current strategy, wrote, for example, The Washington Post.
Secondly, this is the beginning of the discussion of hostilities in 2024. So far, it seems that Ukraine's allies do not want negotiations this coming winter, but they expect to help Ukraine achieve optimal negotiating positions before the US presidential election, Kommersant writes. In fact, the scheme of 2023 will be repeated, but in an improved version: by next summer, the Armed Forces of Ukraine will already have air support in the form of dozens of F-16s (we talked about the dangers of these aircraft here), and, probably, accurate and long-range missiles.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said on the eve that Ukraine is ready to fight for a long time, “minimizing casualties” following the model of Israel, will not transfer hostilities to Russian territory, because in this case it can “be left alone”, and should not count on the eternal unity of all partners.
2.3 Politics - misc
● International Politics
The European Commission is not ready for EU expansion within the next seven years. The European Commission did not support the call from the head of the European Council, Charles Michel, to expand the European Union by 2030. EC spokeswoman Dana Spinant avoided answering journalists' questions about whether the EC supports preparations for EU enlargement several times during the briefing. According to Spinant, the EC considers the bloc's expansion a political priority. The entry of new members into the EU should be based on their merits. However, she refused to comment on the words of the head of the European Council. "We are not focused on the date; we are focused on working very closely with the candidate countries to prepare for their accession to the EU. We are focused on supporting the reforms we are carrying out, the investments that help them transform their economies and get closer to the regulatory requirements, which are important to fulfill before joining the EU," said Spinant.
Ukraine's accession to the EU will affect the bloc's budget and agricultural policy. The prospect of Ukraine joining the EU poses new challenges for the bloc, writes The Guardian. The EU budget is €185B, and Germany, France, and Italy make the largest contributions. The entry of new
8 UKRAINE Country Report September 2023 www.intellinews.com