<\/p>\n
The West should pull the plug on the Ukraine conflict as soon as possible because it will not be able to outperform Russia\u2019s defense industry, Erik Prince, founder of the American private military company Blackwater has said.<\/p>\n
Speaking to the podcast PBD on Friday, Prince, who served as the CEO of the mercenary group until 2009 and now heads Frontier Resource Group, a private equity fund, expressed doubts about whether Kiev and its Western backers could prevail in the conflict with Russia, which has just entered its third year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to bring this war to a close because all Ukraine is doing right now is destroying itself demographically,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0he said, adding that hostilities are\u00a0\u201cchewing up the next generation of Ukrainian manpower,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0which will be almost impossible to replace.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Western defense base is pathetic and you\u2019re not going to out-conventional war the Russian bear,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0Prince argued.<\/p>\n According to the former US Navy SEAL, in this light, the\u00a0\u201cugly peace\u201d<\/em>\u00a0and a freeze in hostilities would be a better option both for Kiev and its Western supporters than\u00a0\u201cwhatever their idea of an ideal war is,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0adding\u00a0\u201clet them [Russia] keep Crimea, Donetsk, Lugansk. Whatever.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n The majority Russian-speaking Autonomous Republic of Crimea and city of Sevastopol voted overwhelmingly to become part of Russia in a 2014 referendum after a Western-backed coup in Kiev. Donetsk and Lugansk, regions which had declared independence from Ukraine, followed suit in September, 2022 after the start of the current conflict.<\/p>\n