After more than 1,000 days of war and relentless Russian attacks on civilian population centres and energy infrastructure, Ukraine still stands, unbroken and unbowed in the face of naked aggression.
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On Nov. 19, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine, addressed the European Parliament’s extraordinary session marking 1,000 days of full-scale war in Ukraine. “Together – Ukraine, all of Europe, and our partners in America and around the world – we have succeeded not only in preventing Putin from taking Ukraine but also in defending the freedom of all European nations,” Zelenskyy said, via video link. “Even with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un by his side, Putin remains smaller than the united strength of Europe.
However, Zelenskyy warned the European Parliament that the 11,000 North Korean troops at Ukraine’s border “may grow to 100,000.” And in a veiled reference to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Zelenskyy said that “while some European leaders think about winning some elections or something like this at Ukraine’s expense, Putin is focused on winning this war.”
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At the conclusion of his powerful address, Zelenskyy warned Europeans of the danger associated with appeasement. “If anyone in Europe thinks they can sell Moscow Ukraine – or any other country, like the Baltic States, the Balkans, Georgia, or Moldova – and gain something in return, let them remember this simple truth – no one can enjoy calm waters amid a storm,” he declared.
Western solidarity
On Nov. 19, Donald Tusk, Prime Minister of Poland, posted on the social media site X: “By supporting Ukraine, we’re moving the war away from our Polish and European borders.” That same day, while attending the G20 Rio Summit, UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer addressed Vladimir Putin directly in a speech: “End the war. Get out of Ukraine.”
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Earlier that day, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau posted on X: “When Putin brutally invaded Ukraine one thousand days ago, he thought Ukraine would surrender. Instead, he was met with the stunning resistance of the Ukrainian people. Canada has proudly stood with Ukraine from day one — and we will be there until victory.” To which Zelenskyy replied: “I am grateful to you, dear @JustinTrudeau, and the people of Canada for your steadfast support and principled leadership in standing with Ukraine.”
German grandstanding
Olaf Scholz will face the German electorate in a Feb. 2025 election. In a display of political grandstanding, he recently made an ill-advised diplomatic overture to Putin. “I spoke to President Putin on the phone and called on him to end the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and to withdraw his troops,” he said in a Nov. 15th post. “Russia must show willingness to negotiate with Ukraine – with the aim of achieving a just and lasting peace.”
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While attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Peru, reporters asked Trudeau about Scholz’s call to Putin. “It’s a good thing that there are conversations around this, but the level of trust that I have for Vladimir Putin is probably at an all-time low right now,” the Canadian leader was quoted as saying in a Nov. 16th report from Bloomberg. Unlike Scholz, Trudeau publicly supports Ukraine’s right to use Western supplied weapons to strike military targets in Russia.
Zelenskyy issued a terse assessment of the Scholz—Putin dialogue. “Chancellor Scholz told me that he planned to call Putin,” Zelenskyy stated in a Nov. 15 post. “His call, in my opinion, opens Pandora’s Box. There may now be other conversations and phone calls.”
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The Ukrainian leader lamented that Scholz’s overture damages Western unity. “This is exactly what Putin has long sought,” Zelensky asserted. “It is critical for him to weaken his isolation, as well as Russia’s isolation, and to hold mere talks that will lead nowhere.”
On Nov. 16, Gabrielius Landsbergis, Lithuania’s dynamic, young foreign minister, issued a stinging rebuke of the German chancellor. “Let the @Bundeskanzler (the handle used by Scholz on X) phone call be the last breath of the failed strategy of trading land for ‘peace’ with a genocidal dictator. History keeps telling us that true peace can only be achieved through strength.”
Similarly, Prime Minister Tusk declared in a Nov. 17th post: “No-one will stop Putin with phone calls. The attack last night, one of the biggest in this war, has proved that telephone diplomacy cannot replace real support from the whole West for Ukraine,” he said of massive Russian airstrikes on Ukrainian cities and energy infrastructure.
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Russian bombardment
“This morning began with one of the largest Russian strikes on Ukraine,” Zelenskyy posted on Nov. 17. “210 missiles and drones, including aeroballistic and hypersonic missiles, as well as dozens of Shahed drones, were launched. All of them targeted civilian infrastructure—critical facilities like power plants and transformers.”
“This evening, a Russian missile hit a nine-story residential building,” the Ukrainian leader continued. “There are confirmed fatalities, including children. Many people are wounded.”
That same day, David Lammy, the British Foreign Secretary, took to X to condemn the Russian strikes. “Russia’s deplorable strikes against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, ahead of Ukraine’s 3rd winter of war, further shows Putin’s desire to weaken the resolve of a country he thought would be beaten in days,” Lammy posted. “It won’t work. We stand with Ukraine. Today and for as long as it takes.”
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Similarly, Bridget A. Brink, United States Ambassador to Ukraine, denounced the Russian onslaught. “Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine threatens the security of all of Europe,” the U.S. ambassador wrote on X.
War
According to veteran journalist Bob Woodward’s exhaustively researched book ‘War,’ the Biden administration learned in late Sept. 2022, thanks to U.S. intelligence agencies’ penetration of the Kremlin, that the Putin regime was seriously considering the use of tactical nuclear weapons on the battlefield in Ukraine. “Putin, the agencies reported, was showing increasing signs of desperation over Russia’s recent battlefield failures,” Woodward writes.
If the U.S. fails to succeed in helping eject Russian forces from Ukraine, “we will have let Putin kind of get away with something,” President Joe Biden reportedly told his advisers. “If we do fully succeed in ejecting Russia from Ukraine, we face a very strong likelihood of nuclear use because Putin is not going to let himself be routed out of Ukraine without breaking the seal on tactical nuclear weapons.”
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On Nov. 17, Biden finally granted long sought after authorization for Ukraine to use U.S.-made ATACMS missiles against targets inside of Russia. His decision appeared to be in response to the introduction of North Korean combat troops into the European theatre of war.
Previously, the Biden administration had only authorized Ukraine to use ATACMS against Russian targets within Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders, including Russian occupied Crimea and Donbas.
“The Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) is a conventional surface-to-surface artillery weapon system capable of striking targets well beyond the range of existing Army cannons, rockets and other missiles,” states the website of Lockheed Martin, an American defence and aerospace manufacturer. ATACMS have a range of 300 km.
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The day after Biden’s announcement, Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh stressed in a press briefing that the ATACMS would not eliminate the threat to Ukraine posed by Russian airfields, because “they have moved those out of the ATACMS range.”
When a reporter asked if the authorization to use ATACMS against Russia constituted an escalation of the conflict, Singh replied that it was the deployment of North Korean soldiers that had added “fuel to the fire.”
On Nov. 19, CNN reported that Ukraine had fired missiles into Russia. “On the same day of the attack, Russian President Vladimir Putin updated Russia’s nuclear doctrine where Moscow will consider aggression from any non-nuclear state – but with the participation of a nuclear country – a joint attack on Russia,” reads a report on the CNN website.
Conclusion
“The only way to truly stop this terror is to eliminate Russia’s ability to launch attacks,” Zelenskyy said of the necessity of striking military targets in Russia. “And this is absolutely realistic.”
However, when the pro-Moscow Donald Trump assumes the U.S. presidency next year, American security assistance for Ukraine will be in jeopardy, leaving Canada and Europe to fill the gap.
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Publish date : 2024-11-20 16:00:00
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