LONDON, December 9. /TASS/. Western countries no longer see the Ukraine conflict as their own security issue, Jacob Kirkegaard, senior fellow with the Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE), told the Financial Times.

"Ukraine is no longer special. It is no longer regarded as this issue of national security, of paramount importance for the EU, NATO, or the United States. Because if that was the case, people wouldn’t be playing politics with it," he said, as cited by the newspaper.

"It is a devaluation of the Ukrainian war effort. There is no other way to put it, in my opinion. And that, for Ukraine, is a terrible situation," Kirkegaard added, commenting on the situation surrounding additional US and EU aid for Ukraine. According to the expert, Moscow’s "strategic decision to try to hold on longer than the West is working."

The paper notes that the US Senate rejected the White House’s latest bid to pass legislation authorizing $60 bln in financial support for Ukraine. Next week, a summit of EU leaders will consider a proposal to provide 50 bln euros to Kiev based on a four-year assistance program. "Without one of those finance packages being approved, Ukraine’s long-term financial security would be in question. With neither, its future would be grim," the Financial Times writes.