Ukraine In Ruins: History – OpEd

“If the world would like to end this war, it needs to supply us with heavy weapons.”  — Zelenskyy

Does the world want to show to the next generation its creation; ‘Ukraine in Ruins’? Macbeth; “When shall we three meet again in thunder, lightning, or in rain? When the hurly-burly’s done, When the battle’s lost and won”. The three witches were to meet after the result of the battle was declared. A lot has happened since Russia invaded Ukraine on 24th February 2022.So no one is trying to meet to save Ukraine to be turned into Ruins! In this uncalled for, avoidable war there will be no direct victors or the vanquished. Both Russia and Ukraine will be the ultimate losers.

Each side has claimed major destruction of the military hardware of the other, and each has naturally denied the claim of the other. In the latest briefing by the Russians, a senior general claimed that Ukraine’s air force and air defence systems were “almost entirely destroyed” and its navy “ceased to exist”. Ukrainian accounts do not agree with this and have claimed over 12000 Russian soldiers have died in the war. The Russian Defence Ministry has admitted to 1,351 dead and 3,825 injured, as war casualties. However, visuals show large scale devastation and large number of tanks, APCs and military equipment destroyed.
Ukrainian media claims, “Russian  forces have also lost 17,300 troops,131 planes,  605 tanks, 1723 armed personnel carriers, 54 anti-aircraft guns ….Ever since the invasion started.”

The UN Charter, the foundational treaty binding on all UN member states, enunciates in Article 2(4): “All members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state”. In Article 2(7), it limits the authority of international organisations and member states to intervene in “matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state”.

In the early 1980s, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) was asked for its opinion on America’s involvement in regime change in Nicaragua. The ICJ, deciding the case against the US. Essentially, the court concluded that sovereign states shall not intervene in each other’s internal affairs, including “the choice of a political, economic, social and cultural system, and the formulation of foreign policy”.

Zelensky in the interview with Arnab , “UN can do a lot. Simply using the words, we are concerned about it is not enough to stop the war. We have heard “concern” for 8 years.” The Ukrainian President said, adding that “they need to establish isolation against Russia. There must be a diplomatic response”.

Heard Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky speaking to India’s Republic TV, Arnab Goswami on 07 April 2022 on day 43 of Russia Ukraine war. Highlights of the virtual Arnab-Zelenskyyinterview:

• Starting off by thanking Republic for the opportunity to “talk to ordinary people through the channel”, Zelensky reiterated that he has “no other willingness but to put an end to the war – ‘Genocide’. 
• “This war must end. This war is on our territory not on the territory of Russia. I don’t want to lose the citizens of Ukraine”. 
• In a big statement of intent, Ukraine’s President Zelensky has said he’s ready to meet Russia’s President Vladimir Putin. “We don’t want to put any preconditions to talks with Putin, security guarantees can happen in parallel.” “Faster we meet, lesser casualties.”
• “I am ready to talk about temporarily occupied Crimea, and Donbas. I am ready for talks on any topic, but with the head of the Russian Federation, with President Putin”.
• Ukraine is seeking “security guarantees” from the world including the United States, United Kingdom, China, Turkey, Germany, and Poland. He also invited India to be one of the guarantors. 
• “We are not stepping back. We will fight for all those cities under Russian occupation. We have full control of Odesa, it’s a very difficult situation in Mariupol. We will struggle till we can restore territorial integrity.”
• “If the world would like to end this war, it needs to supply us with heavy weapons. We don’t want to conquer any land of Russia; we want these on our land… We have never used weapons to attack the Russian Federation. We have used weapons to defend ourselves.”
• “Sanctions would be like weapons, sanctions should be like nuclear weapons, sanctions are like modern state of the art weapons…Impose all the sanctions, powerful sanctions…Do not pretend you are trying to support Ukraine but continue economic relations with Russia. Half measures won’t work “.
• On India’s stance on the Russia-Ukraine war, Zelenskyy said, “I understand that it is difficult to keep a balance between relationships with Ukraine and Russia…We thank you for the humanitarian assistance, but I’d like Narendra Modi to think of being a security guarantor for Ukraine. Willing to have powerful relationship with India.”

Historic Day: But will it in any way end the war?

Russia has been suspended from human rights council after UN general assembly vote on 07 April 2022.93 members voted in favour while 24 were against and 58 abstained. The US had launched the effort to suspend Russia from the 47-member human rights council. Russia’s deputy ambassador urged members to vote against the resolution. “What we’re seeing today is an attempt by the United States to maintain its dominant position and total control,” he said. “We reject the untruthful allegations against us, based on staged events and widely circulated fakes.” Russia is the first permanent member of the UNHRC to have its membership revoked from any UN body and only the second from human rights council after Libya was suspended in 2011 when Muammar Gaddafi was toppled. “An important and historic day.” But will it in any way end the war? India’s ambassador, said: “When innocent human lives are at stake, diplomacy must prevail as the only viable option.”

“If the world would like to end this war, it needs to supply us with heavy weapons.”  Zelensky’s this demand and the West meeting his demand is no solution to bring an early end to the war but will only escalate and prolong the war bringing further destruction and misery to Ukraine and Ukraine only with the West watching from the fence from their drawing rooms.President Zelensky need to understand this game early to end the war.

History and Generation next will ask Uncle Sam, “What did you do to stop the war in Ukraine?” Uncle Sam, “Dear Americans for your future we the ‘Weapon Merchants’ supplied weapons to Ukraine to prolong the war, carried out ‘Coercive Diplomacy’ to retain our hegemony over the world and threw out Russia from the UNHRC.”