Ukraine needs arms, not appeasement of Putin
Published by The i paper (27th November, 2023)
Two days after arriving back in Kyiv, I woke to familiar sounds of war as Ukraine’s capital suffered its heaviest drone attack since the start of the full-scale invasion more than 21 months ago. The city is well defended these days, so all bar one of the 75 Iranian-made craft were shot down during the six-hour air raid – although five people were still injured, buildings damaged and fires started by falling debris. One man spoke of soothing his young daughter as they sheltered again in their corridor from Russian munitions. “My wife thought the house would collapse in half,” he said.
Saturday’s attack came on a deeply symbolic day: the 90th anniversary of the Holodomor– a Ukrainian word that means “death by starvation”. This was the horrific famine engineered by the Soviet dictatorship of Joseph Stalin, which led to an estimated four million fatalities in one of the world’s leading producers of grain. It was typical of Vladimir Putin, who rehabilitated Stalin to help justify his own cruel rule, that he should strike on such a day of commemoration. This was a warning to his foes that they could face another long winter with energy supplies targeted after building up missile stocks again – and another sign of his continuing desire to wipe out their country and its precious freedoms.
The city soon returned to normalcy. The failed attack will be barely a footnote in the history of this long war that has seen so much blood spilled. Yet it should also serve to remind the West that the Kremlin remains intent on genocide in Europe, even as attention switches to shocking events elsewhere in the world. We should also note the massive Russian losses piling up in their desperate bid to take Avdiivka, a shattered town in the Donbas of limited strategic significance. This underlines the formidable strength of Ukrainian resistance since it sits so close to the occupied regional capital of Donetsk – along with the determination of Putin to win something positive to sell to his people from his stupid war ahead of the 2024 Russian presidential election next March.
Putin was surprised by Western resolve to back Ukraine, not least after the debacle of withdrawal from Afghanistan. Yet much of the military support has been half-hearted and sluggish, with politicians intimidated by Kremlin sabre-rattling and displaying a dismal lack of clarity over any strategic vision beyond propping up a country under attack. There has long been fear in Kyiv that some allies do not want them to defeat Russia and win back all their stolen lands, especially Crimea. Now Moscow has shifted its economy onto war footing and is reshaping alliances while most of the West looks tragically lethargic – even inside their own borders against a barrage of disinformation, which fuels the rise of the far-right and incidents such as the current dislocating border blockade with Ukraine by Polish truckers.
Meanwhile, the mutterings of appeasement grow louder. It is disturbing to hear talk of “war fatigue” in the fickle West with reports that leaders are tiring of the expense and losing faith in Kyiv’s leadership after a much-heralded summer offensive failed to achieve significant breakthrough. The Times claimed last week that the United States and Germany – the two largest nations in Nato and biggest military backers – are restricting arms supplies to pressure President Volodymyr Zelensky to negotiate a peace deal with Putin, forcing acceptance of a frontline that carves for 600 miles through his country. Italy’s prime minister Giorgia Meloni was caught telling a prank caller “there is a lot of tiredness on all sides,” saying “the moment is approaching when everyone will understand there is a way out”.
Since the start of this war, there have been extremists on both right and left opposing support for Kyiv and pushing “peace”, aided by naive commentators who inflame Putin’s propaganda while brushing aside the determination of Ukrainians to save their nation from existential threat. If we had listened to the armchair critics enjoying security of life in places such as London, Berlin and Washington, Ukraine would not have liberated half its territory occupied by Russia. Bear in mind these brave troops won back land more than six times the size of Yorkshire, as well as pushing back the Russian navy with daring use of sea drones and special forces. Remember also that Putin still holds almost one-fifth of their country, terrorising citizens trapped under occupation with his soldiers and stooges.
Yet as Ukraine fights for survival, some of those critics have begun arguing that the country must hold its own presidential election in March. This issue has been cause of much debate in Ukraine. Many believe it would be divisive and a distraction from the war effort, while others think it impossible when they face military onslaught, live under martial law with a controlled media and millions have been forced to flee their homes. Some point out that elections were suspended in Britain during the Second World War. Zelensky seemed to reject the idea earlier this month, saying it is “not the right time”, but there is rising alarm that this issue will be used as a weapon to undermine support for Kyiv on the right of the US Republican Party.
It is, of course, Ukraine that bears the awful cost in people and places of defending democracy on our continent in this grinding epochal struggle between freedom and dictatorship. Yet there is no sign among its weary citizens of any wavering desire to resist. They can see all too well the price of appeasement with Putin in lost lives, broken families and battered towns across their country. This should serve as a warning to the West over the idiocy of believing again that this tyrant can be trusted to stick by his word. The talk should not be of peace but ensuring Kyiv is properly armed at last to defeat the darkness that it confronts each day.