Russian Threats must not be Met with Ukrainian Silence

Russia’s brutal threats against Ukraine are as regular as sunrises. And, sadly, so is Ukraine’s official silence.

In my previous blogpost, I observed that President Zelenskyy, when his country faces a barrage of offensive ultimatums and coercion by Russian officials, does not have enough national courage, spirit and right stuff to reply in kind to Putin. He is incapable of declaring that Kyiv will no longer endure Russian threats, assaults and killings, and Russia will face the same consequences as it promises Ukraine if it doesn’t immediately cease and desist.

Since then, on March 28, a Russian official voiced the Kremlin’s latest warning about Ukraine’s perceived non-compliance with Moscow’s demands. Russian news sources quoted the official as cautioning that if Kyiv tries to amend the Minsk accords, Ukraine will face “irreparable consequences.”

“Any attempts by Kyiv to change the Minsk agreements, including changing the order of steps to be implemented, can lead to irreparable consequences,” the representative of Russia in the Trilateral Contact Group on Donbass (TCG) Boris Gryzlov said.

Furthermore, the Russian representative made it clear that control over the Russian-Ukrainian border before the elections in the territories, which Russia claims are not controlled by Ukraine, will not be granted to Kyiv. For the Ukrainian authorities to gain control over the border, Gryzlov stated, it is necessary to grant Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics special status, declare amnesty, and hold elections.

“Given the statements of both Ukrainian nationalists (sic) and a number of Kyiv officials about their plans to ‘cleanse’ the recalcitrant territories, such Kyiv control is a threat of genocide against the residents of the Donbas,” Gryzlov added.

It is inconceivable that the perpetrator of the crime of invading a peaceful neighbor is making further threats against the victim.

The Russian’s threat of “irreparable consequences” was met with silence from Kyiv. Irreparable consequences means that whatever actions Russia decides to undertake against Ukraine in order to punish it for not succumbing to its plans will not be reversible. They will be permanent. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2014 was not beyond the realm of possibilities just as Moscow’s scorched-earth incursion across Ukraine up to the Polish border could be deemed probable. Moscow has demonstrated that it has the will, ability and temerity to completely fulfill its threats against Ukraine with impunity.

Kyiv’s hopefully self-respecting leadership cannot sit by idly while a foreign power, Ukraine’s greatest enemy, Russia continues to threaten the nation with total subjugation or annihilation. But apparently the government in Kyiv can rest on its laurels as President Zelenskyy persists in placing his faith in face-to-face talks with Putin.

In my earlier blogpost I quoted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s comeback to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s threat of destroying Israel. Tel Aviv’s leaders are valiantly not shy about replying harshly to their enemies’ threats.

Responding to Ali Khamenei’s harsh anti-Israeli rhetoric, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz vehemently warned the Islamic Republic against “testing” Israel’s readiness to respond to threats. 

“In my experience, the arrogant verbiage of our enemies hides weakness, yet we shall be ready for any threat, by any means,” Gantz wrote on his Facebook account. “I’m more than familiar with the Iranian issue and, having prepared the IDF’s operational capabilities, I strongly advise against trying to test them,” he added.

Gantz and Netanyahu echoed each other’s thoughts: “We will always thwart murderous designs against us. We will attack those who attack us. We will launch preemptive strikes against those who plan to attack us. Those who threaten us with extinction put themselves in similar danger.”

This type of dialogue might seem to be a schoolyard quarrel about whose belt is longer but in the eyeball-to-eyeball world of diplomacy and military aggression, it does signal a fearless riposte and intent. Moscow has forewarned Ukraine about its intentions so Kyiv must be forearmed with a credible rejoinder.

This is the national attitude that President Zelenskyy should exude when replying to Moscow’s threats, especially when Russian troops are on Ukraine’s black soil, killing Ukrainians and apparently making plans to advance to the west as far as they can.

Ukrainians, certainly more than other people, hope and pray for a quick conclusion to Russia’s six-year war against Ukraine. However, silence and cowering will not protect present and future Ukrainian generations from Russian aggression. Neither will agreements, accords and ceasefires.

Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s words in the historical drama “The Countdown to D-Day” are poignantly appropriate for today’s real-life Ukraine: “But if they do not offer the sacrifice in blood now, we will all pay dearly with added gallons later. So if some must die, it is in a worthy cause.”