The New York Times published the declassified documents of President George W. Bush, which he handed over to Barack Obama in 2009.

The papers say that any attempts by Russia to take territory from Ukraine, especially Crimea, should be cut off.

This happened five years before the annexation of Crimea and the war in Donbas, and later - Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine.

In an exclusive interview

with TSN.ua

, Petro Burkovskyi, executive director of the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation, noted that the foreign policy of the Obama administration was the most unsuccessful foreign policy of the United States in the last 70-80 years.

"This is my subjective opinion as an expert. This policy has led to the threat of a new world war, to instability in the Middle and Far East (China, Taiwan, North and South Korea), in Europe. For all this, we must thank Obama and the experts, who shaped foreign policy, including in relation to Russia, China, Israel, Iran. If there was no Obama, there would be no Trump, who wanted to agree with Putin on some things. In the last year of his presidency, Trump even wanted to withdraw American troops from everywhere This was initiated by Obama, and he also bears a share of the responsibility for the war launched by Russia against Ukraine," the expert noted.

It will be recalled that on February 24, 

 in a video message, Putin announced a "special military operation" for the "protection" of Donbass.

Russia's war against Ukraine has begun.

According to forecasts of the head of Ukrainian intelligence, Kyryl Budanov, 

the war will end in 2023 

with the victory of Ukraine.

By victory, the head of the GUR means the withdrawal of troops to the borders of the state in 1991.

According to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, we must be prepared for 

a long war

 between the Russian Federation and Ukraine.

He also said there was no sign that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin had changed the purpose of the war.

Read also:

  • American General Ben Hodges named the decisive battleground in Russia's war against Ukraine

  • Will the return of Crimea to Ukraine be Putin's political downfall: the forecast of the Western media

  • What myth about Crimea does the West still believe in and will it become an obstacle in its deoccupation: the expert answered