Yesterday marks one year from when Russia launched its “war of choice” against Ukraine. The decision to attack Ukraine was made by an autocrat who has no restrictions on his power, no institutional structures to constrain him, and neither the motivation nor the integrity to honestly tell his people why he made this decision and what his goals are. The brutality of Putin’s leadership has impacted the Russian people and the people in Ukraine, both its soldiers and innocent civilians – especially the most vulnerable, the elderly and children.
It is critical for Ukraine and Europe that Americans understand the big picture. This is not just a war to save a European country that many of us know little about. The news media often loses sight of what is at stake in this war and is easily distracted or mislead by Putin’s changing narratives. The list of lies he has spun to justify the war goes on and on – declaring Ukrainians to be “Nazis,” making claims that Russia is the defender of Christianity, and accusing Ukrainians of mistreating Russian speakers in their country, to name a few.
We are also distracted by endless debates over what kind of weapons to supply to Ukraine, or by Putin’s threats of “red lines” that we must not cross. We must remember that Putin is a naked emperor: he has a defeated army, a profoundly corrupt government, and a demoralized population. Let’s follow the advice of an increasing number of foreign policy experts and military leaders in the US and Europe who support giving the Ukrainians what they need to drive the Russians out of their country, including Crimea.
Putin’s desire is clear: He seeks to destroy the security system Europe created after World War II, defeat democracies that are its principal advocates, and replace the dominant role of the United States and NATO with a new global power structure run by Russia, China, and other autocracies. Like Hitler, Putin has openly identified his next targets after Ukraine – the Baltic states, Poland, Finland, Moldova, and other countries that he believes belong in his restored Russian empire. He needs war, because it allows him to use military powers to suppress opposition in Russia and protect the assets he and his national security cronies have stolen from the Russian people, assets currently estimated to be over $1 trillion.
To achieve his goals, Putin has unleashed genocide against the Ukrainian people and is attempting to destroy its cultural identity. Recent reports by investigators in Ukraine who are compiling data on what the Russian armed forces have done in cities and villages they have occupied in Ukraine are painful to read. They have been told to “decapitate” all leaders – arrest them, deport them, or kill them. They identify local officials and brutalize them, but the soldiers “don’t seem to know why.” Anne Applebaum and Nataliya Gumenyuk summarize their report with this observation: “They (Russian soldiers) discovered a world different from the one they know. And so they smashed it up, hit back at it, and are still trying to destroy it forever.”
This is what is at stake: Putin and his cronies attacked an independent nation as one of the first steps in their plan to expand their country by absorbing neighboring post-Soviet states. Their lust for power and for more stolen assets knows no limit. It is time to bring this to an end. Putin’s arrogance and pride has led to the murder and suffering of an enormous number of people – not only Ukrainians, but also Russians, who he cares little about.
Now that Russia is losing on the battlefield to courageous Ukrainians, who are willing to fight to the death to save their emerging democracy, Putin’s latest posture is that Russia is fighting for its survival. Not against Ukraine, but against the West – the United States and NATO. The villain now poses as the victim.
The leadership of the United States in defending Ukraine and mobilizing European allies to join this effort is essential. This must not become a partisan political issue – it requires consensus in the States, or the long-term consequences of failure will be substantial. Isolationism or the failure to defeat Russia and end this war now will be much more expensive in the long run. If democracies continue to partner together in resisting Russia’s aggression, this will send a clear message to other autocrats that violating the sovereignty of other nations will be a costly undertaking.
For further reading:
Fiona Hill & Angela Stent, “The Kremlin’s Grand Delusions: What the War in Ukraine Has Revealed About Putin’s Regime,” Foreign Affairs (February 15, 2023).
Anne Applebaum & Nataliya Gumenyuk, “They Don’t Understand Anything, But Just Spoiled People’s Lives,” The Atlantic (February 14, 2023).