Hatred and
Disdain for Russians Keeps Ukrainians Alive while Putin isn’t Changing his Game
Plan
Russian
führer Putin prides himself on bombing unarmed Ukrainian civilians everyday if
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy refuses to acquiesce to Moscow’s demands by surrendering.
Many
Ukrainian cities and towns from East to West, and North to South have felt
Russia’s wrath. Men, women and children have been pulled from gutted apartment
buildings, bodies have been removed from churches, schools, hospitals,
supermarkets and train stations. With each relentless wave of drones and
rockets the people’s stubbornness is not shattered along with the bricks and
mortar but rather their spirit, willpower and unity have been reinforced.
A
woman in Odesa, on the Black Sea coast, which has been the target of almost
daily bombardments, observed to a reporter, “Honestly, do the Russians think
these attacks will change anything? Our hatred and disdain for them have
already reached a peak. That’s why we hold on.”
The
city, home to one million residents, was plunged into near-complete darkness on
December 13, with hundreds of thousands of residents left without electricity,
while water and heating services became scarce.
“The
emergency situation that arose as a result of the enemy's massive attack on the
energy infrastructure has acquired the status of a state-level emergency,”
Odesa Oblast Governor Oleh Kiper wrote on Dec. 17.
The
story of determination, adaptation and defiance unfolds in this anecdote that I
heard on social media: “They’re leaving us without electricity and lights.
Idiots! In nine months there’ll be a million more banderite-nationalists in
Ukraine. Glory to Ukraine!”
As Odesa and other cities and towns across Ukraine
burn and the meaningless talks about how to end the almost four-year Russian
war against Ukraine have slowed, Russian führer Putin and his gauleiters
continue to offer their spin on their version of ersatz
peace. Depending on the reporter and what he or she heard at
deadline, the long and the short of it testifies to Moscow’s unrelenting desire
to press on with its conquest of all of Ukraine.
Putin emphasized on Friday, December
19, that Moscow’s troops were advancing across the battlefield in Ukraine and
voiced confidence the Kremlin would achieve its goals militarily if Kyiv
doesn’t agree to Russia’s unconditional terms in peace talks. However, there
are enough reputable voices that contradict Putin’s ecstatic claim.
Speaking at his tightly orchestrated
annual news conference that lasted about four and a half hours and revealed
nothing new about the Kremlin’s war with Ukraine, Putin declared that Russian
forces have “fully seized strategic initiative” and would make more gains by
year’s end. However, international media report that Russian cutthroats have
been forced back by Ukrainian soldiers near Kupiansk.
The news conference took place in the
midst of back and forth peace proposals put forward by President Donald Trump
and Putin. Despite the White House’s extensive diplomatic push, Washington’s
efforts have run into sharply conflicting demands from Moscow and Kyiv. Though
more often than not, Washington and Moscow have been on the same page regarding
the demand that Ukraine, the victim, must surrender its land to Russia, the
murderous aggressor and invader.
Inasmuch as Russia’s war against
Ukraine has been faltering after almost four years with no triumphant victory
for Russia in sight, the topic of Ukraine dominated this year’s highly
choreographed faux news conference. Pundits opined that this could reflect the
Kremlin’s desire to assuage the public after nearly four years of fighting by
painting a bravura picture of the soldiers’ glorious victories for mother
Russia.
Putin praised Trump’s peace efforts
and reemphasized that Moscow was ready for a peaceful settlement that would
address the “root causes” of the war, a reference to the Kremlin’s impossible
conditions for a deal. Despite Trump’s misguided, historically erroneous
conclusion that the war is being waged because both presidents hate each other,
at this forum Putin had the opportunity to expound any lie that he wished
to promote.
Putin told the audience that he has
agreed to make “certain compromises” and “uneasy decisions” at the Alaska
summit with Trump in August but again he didn’t elaborate.
However, he, the führer of the
invading power, repeated his adamant demands that all the areas in four key
regions of eastern Ukraine captured by his forces, as well as the Crimean
Peninsula, illegally annexed in 2014, to be recognized as Russian territory.
Trump and chief negotiator Steve Witkoff are amenable to Putin’s demand. Trump
has even said that, after all, Russian soldiers fought for and seized that
territory.
He has also insisted that Ukraine
withdraw from some areas in eastern Ukraine that Moscow’s cutthroats haven’t
captured yet.
President Zelenskyy has understandably
publicly rejected all these demands.
The Kremlin has also insisted that
Ukraine abandon its bid to join NATO and warned that it wouldn’t accept the
deployment of any troops from members of the military alliance members and
would view them as “legitimate target.”
Putin also has repeatedly said Ukraine
must limit the size of its army and give official status to the Russian
language — demands he has made from the outset of the conflict.
Putin rejected Western claims about
Russian plans to attack European nations as “sheer nonsense” aimed at
deflecting public attention from domestic problems. Nonetheless, the former
captive nations of Russian subjugation are convinced that if Ukraine falls,
their independence will also come to an end.
Putin particularly singled out NATO
Secretary-General Mark Rutte for his statements about the Kremlin’s aggressive
intentions, pointing out Trump’s recently published national security strategy
that doesn’t name Russia as a direct adversary. “How can you prepare NATO for a
war with Russia if the main member of NATO doesn’t consider us as an enemy?”
Putin insisted.
This omission by Trump shows how
dangerously different his policies regarding Russia and the newly independent
nations are from his predecessors of either party.
As it faces Russian assaults across
the front line, relentless attacks on its energy facilities, the strikes
against civilian targets and the murder of innocent men, women and children,
Ukraine desperately needs cash infusions from its Western allies.
On Friday, December 19, European
leaders agreed to provide a massive interest-free loan, but they failed to
bridge differences with Belgium that would have allowed them to use frozen Russian
assets to raise the funds.
The leaders tried to reassure Belgium,
where most of the frozen assets are held, that they would protect it from any
retaliation from Moscow if it backed the plan, but the leaders eventually opted
to borrow the money on capital markets. Using Russian assets to help Kyiv
would have amounted to “robbery,” Putin said.
Putin bragged to NBC news that he has
done everything to end the war and the proverbial ball is in Ukraine’s court.
Allowing Russia to have a say in the
matter of peace in Ukraine is immoral and unjust. With Trump and Witkoff parroting
Putin’s demands and game plan, who is on Ukraine’s side? And Ukraine is on the
verge of being raped and sacrificed again by the mighty champions of freedom
and democracy.
Odesa, Ternopil, Kyiv, Kharkiv,
Zaporizhzhia and other Ukrainian towns and cities will just have to burying
their dead while waiting longer for peace to come to them.
