The European Union is consolidating and its internal cohesion has not only not weakened but has grown within it, and more importantly it has taken radical steps in freeing itself from dependence on Russian gas, the main weapon in Putin’s hands to buy the tranquility of from EU member countries. Democratic countries, especially the largest economies such as the G7, are unanimously determined to support Ukraine with whatever is necessary to protect its independence and territorial integrity. Putin’s dream of becoming the new Tsar of Russia is being buried in Ukraine and for the democratic world it is being reborn as a sunflower full of hope for the future.
Author: Sefer Selimi Jr.
The “three-day war for the occupation of Kiev” started by Putin turned 1 full year today and this year will remain forever in the history of mankind as a year of great changes. At first sight, and in the logic of past conflicts, this war would be like all others, local and with diplomatic statements and efforts to resolve the conflict. But unlike other wars, this conflict represents the culmination of a frozen conflict between democracy and authoritarianism that has more than a decade of hybrid confrontation across the globe. To reach this culmination, the Putin regime has worked continuously through various means to create the ground and reasons necessary to justify this invasion. Beginning with the conflict and partial occupation of Georgia in 2008, and the occupation of Crimea and part of the territory of Ukraine in 2014, Russia encountered a relatively mild international reaction that emboldened it and gave it the will to unleash on a complete invasion of Ukraine. The hybrid war through disinformation campaigns, international propaganda to deny the existence of the Ukrainian nation, the “war against Ukrainian Nazism”, the appeal to the historical right over these territories and the “genocide” over the Russian-speaking minority were the basis on which planned the justification of what would be called the “special military operation”, which in fact aimed to install a quisling power that would play according to the Kremlin’s notes after the invasion of Kiev and the collapse of the democratically elected government.
But unlike the expectation, and much different from the previous experience with the partial invasion, Ukraine’s military response in self-defense, but rather the international response of democratic countries, was a bitter surprise for Putin. Locked in the ivory tower and surrounded by obedient subordinates and affirmative to his every proposal, interested only in the comfort created by extreme corruption, the Russian president made erroneous calculations, above all that the Ukrainians will the Russian soldiers are waiting with open arms, with flowers and without significant resistance. The best evidence for this miscalculation are the words of President Zelensky in the first hours of the invasion when he was offered evacuation from Kiev, who gave his allies the answer: “I don’t need transport, provide me with weapons”. And today, after a full year, in modern history there is no other example close to the determination and courage of the Ukrainian people to oppose the “second military power” in the world, equipped with tens of thousands of tanks, armored vehicles, short- and long-range artillery, warships with ballistic missiles, tens of thousands of airplanes and helicopters, transport vehicles, nuclear weapons, over 1.5 million regular soldiers and private mercenary armies. Compared to the capacity of the Ukrainian army, this is far from any balance on the battlefield, but the second determining factor in a conventional war is the will of the soldiers and the civilian population to fight, and here the Ukrainians are superior because their war is simple: for existence.
In the first year, this war produced a lot of misery and today on the continent of Europe there are hundreds of thousands of people dead as a result of the fighting. At least 200,000 soldiers have been killed or injured on both sides, and in just one year the UN Human Rights Commission has confirmed and recorded over 8,000 civilian casualties – including 487 children, while according to data from the Ukrainian government the lives of over 40,000 civilians have been lost. In the first months, but also later during this year, massacres such as that of Buca and other war crimes such as mistreatment of civilians and prisoners of war, rapes and liquidations were recorded. The damage to civil and public infrastructure exceeds over 150 billion euros, a considerable amount but negligible for the trauma and human losses.
What made the difference in this war is the international support and reaction of the democratic countries under the leadership of the USA and Great Britain, which, knowing well the imperialist ambitions of Putin, did not remain indifferent, but before the conflict started with the supply and training of the Ukrainian army with modern weaponry, which up to these moments, together with humanitarian aid, amounts to over 100 billion dollars. Another very important moment was the unveiling of the Russian invasion plans by President Biden himself, who, in an effort to prevent or subvert the Russian plan, shared the American intelligence information with the whole globe, which was detailed up to the date of around the start of the invasion.
Although the war at this moment does not seem to have a clear end, and unprovoked Russian aggression continues on the territory of Ukraine, this conflict has returned like a boomerang to the ambitions and plans of Putin and the Kremlin. Ukraine and Ukrainians will never again be allies or close to Moscow, this connection has been severed forever by the suffering and losses of the people in this country. NATO, as a military counterweight alliance to Russia, has never been more unified, energetic and in a new direction towards Sweden and Norway, two states with military neutrality that until 1 year ago were far from the ambitions and desire to formally join in the North Atlantic Alliance. The European Union is consolidating and its internal cohesion has not only not weakened but has grown within it, and more importantly it has taken radical steps in freeing itself from dependence on Russian gas, the main weapon in Putin’s hands to buy the tranquility of from EU member countries. Democratic countries, especially the largest economies such as the G7, are unanimously determined to support Ukraine with whatever is necessary to protect its independence and territorial integrity. Putin’s dream of becoming the new Tsar of Russia is being buried in Ukraine and for the democratic world it is being reborn as a sunflower full of hope for the future.