Against the backdrop of constant discussions about the possibility of ending the Russian–Ukrainian war and even holding a trilateral meeting of the presidents of the United States, Russia, and Ukraine – a bilateral meeting is no longer mentioned even by Donald Trump himself – Russia is intensifying its terror against Ukraine. This week, the massive attack on Kyiv and other Ukrainian regions was the largest in recent months and once again proved: during the meeting in Alaska, the American president failed to reach any agreement with his Russian counterpart.
And already on Saturday, former Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, well-known politician and activist Andriy Parubiy, was killed. I am writing this text just a few meters away from the crime scene and can vividly imagine the shock that gripped Lviv residents when they learned about this new act of terror. We understand well: both the missile strikes on Kyiv and Lviv and the assassination of an authoritative politician from the patriotic camp – these are deliberate acts of intimidation, a signal from Putin that the Ukrainian people supposedly have no other choice but a shameful capitulation.
But all of this we have already seen and heard, we are already accustomed to this bestial language with which Putin addresses us. What truly distinguishes this week of terror from the previous ones – is the lack of serious reaction to the massacre of Ukrainian civilians on the part of the American president. After the sixth telephone conversation with Putin, Trump publicly expressed dissatisfaction that the Russian leader only promises and talks but continues to kill people. At that time, Trump stated that pressure on Putin had to be increased. And although after those words there was again no real pressure, only talks about the chances of a peace process, now we have not heard even such ritual explanations. Moreover, the White House tried to justify the killings of Ukrainian civilians by referring to Ukraine’s strikes on Russia’s oil refining complex.
And it is here that the essence of the false logic lies, with which we are confronted every day. It is an attempt to equate the victim and the aggressor. An attempt to ignore the obvious: strikes on oil refineries are strikes on the resources of the Russian army, which kills civilians every single day. Strikes on residential neighborhoods, on the other hand, are the deliberate killing of civilians themselves. If Ukraine seeks to protect them, it is obliged to destroy Russia’s oil refining facilities. That is logical. But the U.S. administration follows a different logic. For to condemn Putin for killings would mean acknowledging that the summit in Alaska was not a “success” but a complete fiasco. Neither Donald Trump himself nor his team like to talk about their own defeats.
Ultimately, however, what we need are not conversations and not assessments, of which there have already been plenty during these long months of war. We need real actions. The only question is when we will see them. Will the American president realize that the absence of concrete steps and the attempt to persuade Putin to end the war through negotiations – this is in fact the path to its continuation? That Putin understands only the language of force, only the language of the destruction of his own economy and his own political prospects? Everything else is indifferent to him. I am convinced: if Ukraine has more weapons and more financial resources for defense, Russia will have far less desire to wage a war of attrition endlessly.
The task of the American president is not to soothe his Russian counterpart, but to comprehend the full magnitude of the challenges. Challenges primarily for the United States, not only for Ukraine. For against the backdrop of aerial terror and killings, Putin is heading to China to present, together with the Chinese president and the prime minister of India, a world without the West. A world that can disregard Western values, threats, and sanctions. And we see: in this alternative world, solidarity is not lacking. China consistently supports Russia, as do Iran or North Korea, which under sanctions develop weapons, pursue nuclear programs, or terrorize and destroy Ukraine. And the less solidarity there is in the Western world – the more unity there will be in the world of Russia and China.
And the more of this unity there is – the less security the collective West and the United States themselves will have. For then, sooner or later, war will come home to Americans. And no splendid ocean will stop it.
About Author:
