#novorossiya

[derniere-volonte]

#donbass #russia #ukraine war #Novorossiya

[tomorrowusa]

Investigators have found that Vladimir Putin was largely responsible for supplying the missile system which shot down Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine in 2014. The attack killed 298 passengers and crew – many of them Dutch citizens.

Russia has always denied any involvement in the downing of the flight over eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014, and refused to cooperate with the international investigation.

Dutch prosecutors said that "there are strong indications that the Russian president decided on supplying" a Buk missile system — the weapon that downed MH17 — to Ukrainian separatists.

The war in Ukraine began in 2014 with Putin’s illegal seizure of Crimea and the insurgency by Russian-backed separatists in Luhansk and Donetsk. The invasion a year ago was simply a massive escalation of the war.

As well as the criminal trial that was held in the Netherlands, the Dutch and Ukrainian governments are suing Russia at the European Court of Human Rights over its alleged role in the downing of MH17.

The findings revealed Wednesday will likely strengthen the case at the human rights court and could also be used by prosecutors at the International Criminal Court who are investigating possible war crimes in Ukraine dating back to the start of the separatist conflict.

Putin has been a war criminal for eight years longer than people generally assume.

This news regarding ML17 reminded me of the excellent book Greetings from Novorossiya: Eyewitness to the War in Ukraine by Polish journalist Paweł Pieniążek. Pieniążek, who was 25 at the time, covered Ukraine in 2014 – including the shootdown of ML17. His understated and personal style make this an excellent read. His fluency in Ukrainian and Russian gave him the access and understanding of the conflict which monolingual Anglophones lacked. Anybody who read this book before 2022 would have been less surprised by developments over the past 12 months.

#invasion of ukraine #malaysia airlines #ml17 #investigation #murder of 298 passengers #russia #vladimir putin #putin's complicity in the shootdown #war crimes #paweł pieniążek #novorossiya #luhansk #donetsk #andy kraag #digna van boetzelaer #россия #владимир путин #путин – убийца #путин хуйло #военные преступления #путин - военный преступник #новороссия #луганськ #донецьк #вторгнення оркостану в україну #геть з україни #україна переможе #слава україні #героям слава!

[zvaigzdelasas]

'pro democracy elements'

#no clue why they include 'novorossiya movement' maybe they meant the russian volunteer corps? if so again play the horn noise #maybe they mixed up the name of Россия Будущего? #idk all i can think of 🤷‍♀️ #anyway i wonder what navalny thinks abt say crimea

[maaarine]

“Here's where things get intellectually very interesting. They are swept up by Catherine's idea of a new Russia. 

So Catherine has this idea, which is very elegant. It's also a classically colonial idea: that these lands that have just been conquered, these are virgin territories.

So the place is renamed. What's now Southern Ukraine, where the Cossacks had had power, and the Crimean Peninsula, where the Crimean Khanate had had power, these places are renamed “New Russia”.

Now that word “new” is magical, right? Like with New England, or New South Wales, or New Caledonia. 

More than 200 years later, 300 years later, people are gonna be still drawn by this notion of New Russia. 

But when you say something is new, you're not saying it's yours, you're saying that we want it to be ours, right? That's the whole point. 

So Novorossiya does not mean something which is Russian, it means something that we're gonna make Russia, we're gonna pretend that nothing else is there. 

And how do you do that? 

Well, you send multiple expeditions of the Russian Imperial Academy of Sciences to Crimea to name everything, find all the species, map everything. 

Because science is one of the tools by which you gather imperial knowledge.

And then the naming — I mean, one has to admit this is quite brilliant on Catherine's part. They rename everything. 

So all the Turkic names, the Muslim names, the Crimean Tatar names, are replaced. 

And what are they replaced with? Greek names or names that sound Greek. 

Like Kherson, that city that's being fought over right now. Mariupol, sounds Greek sorta, right? That's the whole idea.

They took the old names and then they replaced them with Greek names. And when they founded new places, they gave them Greek, or Greek-ish, Greek sounding, Greco whatever names.

And the point of this is to say that Russia is connected with the classical world. And in that we're European. We're in the enlightenment. 

Connecting Russia with the classical world, going back all the way 2000 years, means that you obliviate everything that happens in between.

So the Crimeans don't matter, the Ukrainians don't matter, it's Russia here alone with its historical destiny, which goes all the way back to Greece. 

And so it's New Russia, but it's justified by this connection to the classical world.”

Source: Timothy Snyder: Making of Modern Ukraine. Class 11.Ottoman Retreat, Russian Power,Ukrainian Populism

#timothy snyder #russia ukraine

[afranse]

Дед в Кащенко спросил в сердцах медбрата:

- Откуда столько бешеных потерь?

- А ты скажи, что, мол, воюешь с НАТО,

Поэтому такая канитель.

Тогда, если погубишь миллионы,

То скажешь, что победа всё равно.

И водрузишь в чужой земле знамёна,

Устроишь с Новороссией кино.

Тогда тебе поверят Аньки, Ваньки,

Попьют пивка, съедят свои тараньки,

В труде себя проявят, в обороне,

И смерть свою в окопах проворонят.

Войну так обсуждали люди-ящеры,

То ли в Кремле, то ли в больнице Кащенко.

Психушек много разных на земле,

Но самая безумная в Кремле.

#####################

The Fuhrer in infirmary Kashchenko asked his nurse:

- Why there are so many heavy losses on frontline?

- Tell folks that you are at war with NATO,

That’s why folks are dying all the time.

Therefore even if you lose millions,

You will declare that victory is still awesome.

You will plant banners in a foreign land,

And declare its as Novorossiya.

Survived folks will keep trusting you,

They will eat their fish ram and drink beer,

Prove themselves in work, and in defense,

And meet their downfall in the trenches without fear.

The lizard folks discussed the war besides all things.

Either in Kashchenko hospital or in Kremlin infirmary of crazy dreams.

There are many different mental hospitals on the planet earth,

But the craziest by far is in Kremlin under guidance of the KGB moth.

#книга #стихи #поэзия #poetry #искусство #русский блог #война #новый год #политика #история #россия #украина #москва #петербург #politics #history #russia #ukraine #moscow #new year

[tanadrin]

maybe this is terminological nitpicking but as far as I can tell, hybrid war did not succeed in Crimea. The "hybrid war/we control the vertical/Novorossiya" plan was an embarrassing failure. What succeeded was the far more conventional, obvious, and effective plan of Invading While Lying About It. (Which I think your original post covered.)

Yeah, “hybrid warfare” in the color revolution theory sense did not work. Already having a military base there and using it to attack the Ukrainian military bases in the region worked fine.

[seymour-butz-stuff]

Amidst recent Ukrainian battlefield gains, nothing says “Russia knows it can’t hold its ill-gotten gains” more than the sudden flurry of propaganda selling “negotiations” to end the war. At the start of the war, Russia attempted to decapitate Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s government in Kyiv, installing its own pro-Russia puppet regime. It famously failed to do so. Russia further attempted to accomplish its Novorossiya dream—expanding Russia’s boarders through eastern and southern Ukraine to the Russian-held breakaway region of Transnistria in Moldova. That failed when Russia realized it wasn’t going to take Odesa in an amphibious assault, and its advances around Mykolaiv were beat back.  But there was one final strategic goal that Russia did pull off, and that was the creation of a “land bridge” between mainland Russia and the Crimean Peninsula, through portions of Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson oblasts. It is Putin’s biggest war success in Ukraine, and it’s where Ukraine decided to deploy its new Western-trained and equipped forces, despite softer targets elsewhere along the front lines. 

Ukraine now aims to sever that land bridge by driving to the Azov sea to the south. If they manage to accomplish it, Russia’s forces in Kherson and Crimea will be severed from their largest supply lines from mainland Russia to the east. Furthermore, Ukraine will be in missile range of the Kerch Bridge, allowing it to sever Russia’s other major supply line to that region from the south. It was always a risky gambit. Russia built its strongest defenses in the area, and Ukraine has attacked them head-on. But the reward, if they can punch through to the Azov Sea, would dramatically reshape the state of play, denying Putin his one current victory and threatening his hold on Crimea, his last big 2014 victory.  With Ukrainian breakthroughs at Urizhaine and Robotyne, Russia’s defenses are looking increasingly rickety. Russia has had to redeploy its best forces from its northern offensive to the south, which has now led to Ukraine retaking lost positions in that direction.  So with Russia suddenly on its back heel, we’re seeing a concerted effort by Russian propaganda to sell the idea of “negotiations” to freeze the conflict, allowing Russian to retain at the diplomatic table what it can’t hold on the battlefield.  Online, it’s a million useful idiots and bots making some variation of the argument that “NATO/Europe/America want more Ukrainians to die.” 

You say million useful idiots, I say million bot accounts run by Russian & Chinese trolls

#glory to ukraine #slava ukraini #fuck putin

[workersolidarity]

Photo: website of the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC)

🇷🇺🇺🇦 LAVROV TO TASS NEWS AGENCY: RUSSIA READY TO NEGOTIATE WITH UKRAINE BASED ON THE SITUATION ON THE GROUND

The Russian Federation is willing to negotiate with Ukraine based on the situation on the ground, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told TASS News Agency.

"Our position remains the same," Lavrov said in a statement. "We are ready to make agreements provided that the current situation on the ground is taken into account, as well as our position that everyone is well aware of, and our security interests; including the need to prevent the creation of a hostile Nazi regime near Russian borders, which is openly declaring the goal to eliminate all things Russian in the areas in Crimea and Novorossiya that Russian people have been exploring and developing for centuries."

Foreign Minister Lavrov has previously stated that the longer Kiev delayed talks with Moscow, the more difficult reaching an agreement will be. Lavrov has further stated that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's ban on negotiations with President Putin should be lifted so that talks may ensue.

#source

#russia #ukraine #ukraine war #russo ukrainian war #ukraine war news #war news #news #politics #world news #global news #international affairs #international news #international politics #geopolitics #geopolitics news #geopolitical news #geopolitical events #socialism #communism #marxism leninism #socialist politics #socialist news #socialist #communist #marxism #marxist leninist #workersolidarity #worker solidarity #WorkerSolidarityNews #lavrov

[derniere-volonte]

#ukraine war #novorossiya #russian orthodox

[salimsellami]

♦ L’Axe de la Résistance : du Dombass à Gaza

Au cours de mon récent voyage vertigineux dans le Donbass à la poursuite des bataillons chrétiens orthodoxes défendant leur terre, Novorossiya, il est devenu évident que la résistance dans ces républiques russes nouvellement libérées mène à peu près la même bataille que ses homologues d’Asie occidentale. Près de dix ans après Maïdan à Kiev et deux ans après le début de l’opération militaire…

View On WordPress

[derzaungast]

Снова дома.

Спасибо, Владимир Владимирович.

Спасибо, Россия.

Eine abendliche Betrachtung beim PAUL MAS Vignes de Nicole Rosé.

Guten Abend aus der US-Kolonie BRD!

Den Nachrichten entnehme ich gerade, dass das Pentagon geruht, die Kommandozentrale für den ukrainischen NATO-Krieg gegen Russland in Deutschland einzurichten. Man bedient sich in solchen Dingen immer entweder des willfährigsten oder des am deutlichsten, am brutalsten und nachdrücklichsten auf seinen Platz verwiesenen Vasallen.

Ersteres wären z.B. Polen oder die baltischen Zwergstaaten, allesamt russophob bis ins Knochenmark und nur allzu bereit, sich als Frontstaat gegen Russland zur Verfügung zu stellen. Deutschland zählt zur zweiten Kategorie Vasallen, zu der Sorte, die die eigenen Ambitionen aufs Mitmachen beim Weltordnen stets in transatlantische Treueschwüre gehüllt hat, gleichzeitig aber mit seinem EU-Projekt ein Konkurrenzsubjekt geschaffen hat, dessen perspektivisches Ziel die eigenständige Weltinnenpolitik gleichzeitig mit und gegen die USA war.

Dieses Ziel hat der Hegemon nun unterbunden. Er hat der führenden EU-Macht gezeigt, wozu eine Supermacht von der Wucht der USA in der Lage ist und hat dem deutschen Emporkömmling die Lebensader seiner Energieversorgung gesprengt, ihm damit auch vorerst jede Möglichkeit genommen, neben oder gegen die amerikanischen Kriegsziele im Interesse der deutschen Bevölkerung doch noch ein Einvernehmen oder wenigstens Gespräche mit Russland über die Versorgung mit Energieträgern zu erzielen.

Die größte europäische Vokswirtschaft wurde, in Kenntnis des Schadens, den der Sanktionskrieg der BRD ohnehin schon zugefügt hat und realistischer Einschätzung der Schwäche der deutschen Regierung, auf den Rang eines Befehlsempfängers und Erfüllungsgehilfen amerikanischer Interessen herabgestuft - „auf den Pott gesetzt“, wie man im Rheinland sagt.

Die geopolitischen Strategen im amerikanischen State Department, im Tiefen Staat und in den einschlägigen Think Tanks haben sogar ein trojanisches Pferd in der BRD-Regierung: die grünbraunen Fanatiker einer Deindustrialisierung und des Endsieges gegen Russland müssen nicht mit Druck und Erpressung überzeugt werden. Sie betreiben aus freien Stücken die Unterordnung des deutschen NATO-Partners unter die globalen Ziele der USA. Sie teilen die ideologischen Prämissen, die wertewestliche Hybris, die verlogene Rechtfertigung jedes Krieges, jedes Terroranschlages, jeder Gewalt „für Freiheit und Demokratie“, während sie gleichzeitig alles zu „Krieg, Terror und Gewalt“ erklären, was ihre globale Dominanz ablehnt oder angreift.

Was tun?

Eine deutsche Regierung, die ihren Amtseid ernst nähme, „Schaden vom deutschen Volk abzuwenden“, müsste jetzt die Sprengung der Pipelines als Terroranschlag der USA benennen (und jeder in der Berliner Regierung weiß, dass die NATO-Vormacht für diesen Anschlag verantwortlich ist) die BRD aus der NATO lösen und alle US-Stützpunkte, und besonders die Atomwaffenlager, in Deutschland schließen. Eine deutsche Regierung hätte Deutschlands Souveränität wiederherzustellen. Sie hätte alle aus der Unterwerfung unter die globalen Ziele des US-Imperialismus resultierenden Handlungen einzustellen und rückgängig zu machen, insbesondere die aktive Teilnahme am ukrainischen NATO-Krieg gegen Russland.

Natürlich weiß jeder, dass die Scholz-Regierung solche Schritte nie einleiten wird, sowenig wie sie - trotz besseren Wissens - die Verursacher des Anschlages auf die Pipelines nennen darf und kann.

Die unbändige Wut und der besessene Hass der westlichen Politiker und Medien auf den russischen Präsidenten speist sich u.a. daraus, dass er den Finger in all diese Wunden legt. Er benennt die Urheber der Pipeline-Sabotage. Er hält dem kollektiven Westen den Spiegel seiner kolonialen Verbrechen und seiner heutigen Anmaßung als Weltpolizist, -Ankläger und -Richter vor. Er nennt das Monster ein Monster - das Monster, das der Welt einredet, es sei ein Heiliger. Die fanatische Wut des kollektiven Westens auf Putin entstammt dem Wissen der westlichen Führer, dass der russische Präsident die Dinge beim Namen nennt.

Bei einem Facebookfreund las ich heute, dass jetzt die Aufgabe sei, alle Schichten des Volkes zum nationalen Befreiungskampf zusammenschließen. Ich denke, er hat recht. Auch wenn ich - ich will es nicht leugnen - aus Gründen meiner persönlichen Geschichte Probleme mit dem Begriff „Nation“ habe, muß ich feststellen, dass in diesem Land als erstes eine Art bürgerlicher Revolution zur Erlangung nationaler Souveränität ansteht.

Was der russische Präsident in seiner Rede anspricht, mag einigen westlich konditionierten Intellektuellen (auch aus dem kommunistischen Wolkenkuckucksheim) als Appell an patriotische Instinkte, als pathetische Beschwörung falscher Götter, als antimoderner Konservatismus vorkommen. Ist es aber nicht. Die historische Rede des russische Präsidenten m 30. September 2022 wird in die Geschichte eingehen als historischer Wendepunkt. Ab diesem Tag, mit dieser Rede, ist klar, dass die alte unipolare Weltordnung nicht mehr existiert. Russland - und mit ihm die entscheidenden Mächte Asiens und der gesamte globale Süden sowie die Mehrheit der Weltbevölkerung - hat sich von der ausbeuterischen Dominanz des kollektiven Westens emanzipiert und erzeugt eine neue Welt der Multipolarität, des gegenseitigen wirtschaftlichen Vorteils und der Zusammenarbeit souveräner Staaten. Seit heute ist klar, dass der Bruch zwischen Russland (und dem Rest der Welt) und der kleinen Gruppe des westlichen Blocks - der etwa 15% der Menschheit vertritt, aber den Anspruch hat, die Geschicke des Planeten zu bestimmen - definitiv und endgültig ist.

Der neue Kalte Krieg, der schon seit mindestens 2014 tobt, jetzt aber sozusagen „öffentlich“ ist, unterscheidet sich vom alten Kalten Krieg im mörderischen, fanatischen Hass der unterlegenen Seite, des kollektiven Westens, auf die Verkörperung ihrer Niederlage in der Person des russischen Präsidenten und, als Projektion auf ein Kollektiv, auf den russischen Staat. Dieser Hass, diese Wut, diese aus jedem Ruder laufende Feindseligkeit, entsteht in Leuten und Gruppen, die wissen, das ihre Stunde geschlagen hat und das ihre >Macht dem Ende entgegengeht . Es macht sie umso gefährlicher.

Wir leben in interessanten, spannenden, hoffnungsvoll stimmenden Zeiten. Die Welt verändert sich in kürzester Zeit auf eine Weise, für die sonst Jahrzehnte und Jahrhunderte vonnöten sind. Wenn wir - als Menschheit - um den nuklearen Krieg herumkommen, den die wertewestlichen Weltkrieger für diese Situation vorgesehen haben, gehen wir einer Zukunft entgegen, die viel Potential birgt für eine Welt des gegenseitigen Austauschs, Respekts, Vorteils und Wohlstands. Leider vorerst nicht in den paar Gebieten unter Kontrolle der westlichen Machthaber. Außer wir ändern das.

#russland #novorossiya

[warningsine]

Oct 27 (Reuters) - Former Ukrainian lawmaker Oleg Tsaryov, a pro-Russian figure whom sources said Moscow had enlisted to lead a puppet administration in Kyiv after Russia's invasion, was shot and wounded in a late-night attack, family and officials said on Friday.

Russia's top investigative body said it had opened a criminal inquiry into the attempt on his life, which follows the assassinations of several other prominent pro-Moscow figures since the start of the war.

A source in the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) intelligence agency said the shooting was a special operation conducted by the agency. The source gave few details of the operation but described Tsaryov as an "absolutely legal target".

The attack took place in Yalta in Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

"Around midnight he was shot twice on the premises of the sanatorium where he lives," said a post on Tsaryov's Telegram account, citing the family. "When the ambulance arrived, Oleg was unconscious and had lost a lot of blood."

A Russian-installed official in southern Ukraine, Vladimir Rogov, said Tsaryov was in intensive care.

The SBU source said: "He had been for a long time on the list of traitors who have to answer for their crimes. He was not just a fan of the 'Russian world', but rather a person who came along with Russian tanks in order to capture Kyiv."

Of the attack, the source said only that "according to the situation at the moment, Tsaryov "was hit by two shots from a firearm".

CRITICAL CONDITION

Tsaryov, the source said, was "in critical condition, with doctors fighting to save his life. But there is a good chance he will be kicking the bucket."

Three sources familiar with Russia's post-invasion plans told Reuters last year that Moscow had been looking to Tsaryov to head a puppet government in Kyiv if it had succeeded in its advance on Kyiv to oust President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in the first days of the war in February 2022.

Tsaryov, who runs hotels in Crimea, said Reuters' account had "very little to do with reality".

The 53-year-old was previously a member of the Ukrainian parliament and then speaker of the parliament of "Novorossiya", an entity formed after Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine broke away in 2014 and began fighting Ukrainian forces.

Tsaryov has been placed under sanctions by Ukraine, the United States and a number of other Western countries.

Andriy Yusov, a spokesman for Ukraine's military intelligence agency, was asked on television about the shooting.

"We won't comment in too much detail yet, that's too much of an honour for him. But yes, there is such information. I can't say we're following his health very closely, but we are following," he said.

"When there is information that his body temperature has fallen below 36.6, there will definitely be a statement."

Tsaryov is listed as a "traitor to the motherland" by Myrotvorets ("Peacemaker"), a vast unofficial Ukrainian database of people considered to be enemies of the country. Its website lists personal information on him including an email address, a passport number and an address in Yalta.

Several pro-war Russian figures in the Myrotvorets database have been assassinated since the start of the conflict, including journalist Darya Dugina, war blogger Vladlen Tatarsky and former submarine commander Stanislav Rzhitsky.

Dugina and Tatarsky were blown up by bombs, while Rzhitsky was shot dead on an early morning run.

#Oleg Tsaryov #ukraine #russia #crimea

[argumate]

The Wagner Private Military Company announced the creation of its own private Telegram channel on October 6, indicating that Wagner financier Yevgeny Prigozhin may want a voice that is clearly his own to compete with milbloggers and possibly Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov, who all have their own Telegram channels. A Telegram channel affiliated with Prigozhin shared the invitation to the Wagner channel, “Peacekeeper.” The Russian-language invitation reads “We arrived from Hell. We are WAGNER - our business is death, and business is going well.” In addition to Peacekeeper, the channel suggested that followers subscribe to the “Novorossiya Z Project,” another private channel. The creation of a group for Wagner to share “uncensored materials from the front” may be in part a recruitment tool but is likely also an attempt to establish a formal means for Prigozhin and his allies to directly influence the information space in much the same way that Kadyrov and the Russian nationalist milbloggers use Telegram. 

christ what an asshole

[kum-mer]

Activist and poet Artem Kamardin has been beaten and raped by Moscow police, Novaya Gazeta Europe reported on Monday.

A source reportedly told the outlet that security agents “beat Kamardin severely and shoved a dumbbell into his anus.” They then forced him to apologize on camera for saying the words “Glory to Kyivan Rus — Novorossiya can suck it" at an anti-mobilization gathering.

Earlier on September 26, Novaya Gazeta Europe reported that police had gone to the apartment where Kamardin lives to “inspect the premises,” citing Kamardin’s lawyer, Leonid Solovyov. After the “inspection,” Solovyov said, the police took Kamardin, along with activists Alexandra Popova and Alexander Menyukov, who he lives with, to a police station.

The Telegram channel 112 posted a video that shows Kamardin apologizing “to the multi-ethnic Russian people” with what appear to be bruises and cuts on his face.

OVD-Info reported later on September 26 that Alexandra Popova has been released from police custody. She told the independent outlet that officers pulled out her hair, applied superglue to her mouth and face, threatened to rape her, and showed her a video of them raping Kamardin.

On September 25, Artem Kamardin took part in a poetry reading dedicated to opposing Russia’s mobilization. It was there that he read the words he was later forced to apologize for.

#russia #war #ukraine #anti-war protests #police brutality #rape

[mariacallous]

As we mark the end of the ninth month of the largest, most brutal war in Europe since 1945, the worst thing we can do for peace on our continent is to push for peace negotiations with Vladimir Putin. The best thing we can do for peace is to increase our military, economic and humanitarian support for Ukraine, until one day it can negotiate from a position of strength.

Donald Trump recently hinted that he might be the perfect candidate to practise the art of the deal with Putin. Silvio Berlusconi has also proposed himself as a mediator. What a dream team they would be together – Moscow’s dream team. Putin would like nothing more than to have a ceasefire in Ukraine while these two sit around his Covid-secure long table in the Kremlin. Meanwhile, the Russian dictator’s battered, demoralised armed forces could dig in to defend the still-large expanse of Ukraine they occupy, regroup, rest, rearm, bring in the recently conscripted reinforcements – and then start up the war again, sending a thank-you consignment of vodka to Berlusconi and Trump.

If Russia held on to the Ukrainian territory it currently occupies, which is more than three times the size of Belgium, this could still be claimed by Putin as a historic victory, restoring at least part of the Novorossiya (New Russia)) of Catherine the Great. It would also be a global demonstration that armed aggression pays. Watch out, Taiwan. But Ukrainians would never accept this anyway. Opinion polling shows that they are prepared to pay a very high price, including further military and civilian casualties, to regain their territory. So this would be a recipe not for peace but for an even longer war.

There will come a time for negotiations. A war with Russia, a country that has one of the world’s largest arrays of weapons of mass destruction, and a leader evil and potentially desperate enough to use them, can’t end with unconditional surrender, as of Germany in May 1945. (This situation casts disturbing retrospective light on the question on what might have happened if Nazi Germany, rather than the US, had been first to successfully develop the atom bomb.) The Ukrainian government is already starting to think, together with its western friends, about the security arrangements and other provisions it should seek. Ukraine has an absolute legal and moral right to regain every inch of its sovereign territory, including Crimea. Any compromises it might make at the end of the day – for example, some special arrangements for Crimea – can only be the sovereign decision of Ukraine.

Self-evidently, a peace along these lines would be unacceptable to Putin, especially since he announced that four regions of Ukraine were now part of Russia. Therefore the Russian dictator either has to be compelled to accept it, or the peace deal will have to be made with a Russia no longer controlled by Putin. No one knows when or how change in Moscow will happen, and the moment of change may also be one of increased danger. Nonetheless, this is the best chance we have of eventually getting to a lasting peace after a long war.

In order to get there, the west must step up its support for Ukraine, to enable it to continue winning militarily and to survive through a hard winter. Losing on the battlefield, Russia has turned to cowardly and criminal attacks on the infrastructure supporting civilian life. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), half the country’s energy infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, 10 million Ukrainians are currently without power and more than 700 medical facilities have been hit. (This week, a new-born baby was reportedly killed when a Russian missile hit a maternity hospital in the Zaporizhzhia region.) Nearly 8 million Ukrainians are displaced outside the country, perhaps about 5 million inside the country, and the WHO expects another 2-3 million to leave their homes “in search of warmth and safety”. Europe has seen nothing like this since 1945.

The most immediate military need is air defence, not least to counter further attacks on civilian infrastructure. Multiple rocket launch systems, such as the US-made Himars, have been key to Ukraine’s military success and more are required to deplete Russia’s still-massive conventional artillery. If Ukraine is to recapture its own territory – and as the Russian-controlled area is reduced in size, the battle will become more concentrated – it must have modern tanks such as the German-made Leopard 2. Beyond this, it also needs generators, engineers to help mend its power stations, medical supplies and a large amount of financial aid just to prevent its economy collapsing.

In the early months of the war, the lion’s share of military support came from a handful of western nations, above all the US, but also the UK, Poland, Estonia and a few others. There have been very few things to be proud of in the record of British governments over the past few years, but this is one of them. The fact that, even in the middle of an economic storm at home, Britain’s new prime minister, Rishi Sunak, thought it essential to travel to Kyiv reflects a broad, cross-party national consensus. As Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, tweeted back to Sunak: “Both of our nations know what it means to stand up for freedom.”

Yet other European nations, with different wartime experiences and more contorted public attitudes, are increasingly pulling their weight as well. Experts of the European Council on Foreign Relations have proposed a “Leopard plan”, under which all the European countries using the Leopard 2 tank would come together to equip a Ukrainian armoured brigade. Similar European consortiums should be considered for air defence, but also for civilian necessities such as energy infrastructure.

Wouldn’t Putin escalate in response? He already has. And he may go further, conceivably even across the tactical nuclear threshold. But no course of action in war is without risk. In the long run, the risks that would flow for the entire world from a victory for naked armed aggression would be much greater. The right response is not to rush to negotiation out of fear, as counselled by protesters in countries such as Germany and Italy. It’s to make detailed contingency planning for every possible eventuality, such as the landing of missiles on Polish soil last week.

There will be no durable peace in Europe while Putin remains in the Kremlin. We cannot remove him, but we can contribute to creating the conditions in which Russians themselves will eventually abandon the self-destructive course on which he has launched their country. In the end, Russia, too, will benefit from a Russian defeat in Ukraine. Or do those protesters think Germany would be better off today if the western allies had sued for peace with a nuclear-armed Hitler?

It seems counterintuitive, perverse, even immoral, to argue that war is the path to peace. But now we have allowed our continent to descend into a major armed conflict, the best road to a lasting peace is to enable the right side to win the war.

[warcrimerapist]

Z scouts of the 5th Guard, 36th Combined Arms Army (Eastern Military District) currently operating in Novorossiya

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