Ukraine: The World is being Caught Watching a Crime

The free world should stop hiding behind Article 5 and take off its NATO insignia and actively help Ukraine – not support but join the ranks of the defenders – defend not only itself but all of the countries that hold membership in the alliance and the assorted kindred spirits. Many national leaders and pundits have admitted that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will not have regional repercussions. Today Russia is not expected to halt its belligerence with Ukraine as a renewed captive nations in its evil empire. Its aggression threatens the former captive nations and countries beyond. It is a valid question to wonder why the free world acquiesced to Winston Churchill’s prodding and united to defeat Nazi Germany eight decades ago.

The level of Russian brutality – genocide – in Ukraine is without comparison. Moscow has achieved its own sole place in the premier league of war criminals. It must be stopped. Women and girls aged so young it makes your blood boil are publically raped, killed and thrown in a common grave like trash by Russian soldiers, repeating the bestiality of their predecessors in Germany after the Second World War. Civilians of all ages are indiscriminately killed by the Russian invaders. Finally, the countryside and municipalities have been destroyed. Future invaders will be evaluated on the basis of the Bucha horrors. Enough! Short of allied soldiers, Ukraine urgently needs every possible defensive and offensive weapon in the free world’s arsenal today, not tomorrow.

Seven years ago, on May 13, 2015, at the start of the Russo-Ukraine War, I wrote an article about the war – a war that has now become a War of Ukrainian Independence – and the lack of active support for Ukraine. In it I cited the tragedy of Kitty Genovese, who was raped and killed while people watched the crime take place.

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The international community’s reaction to what is happening to Ukraine is incomprehensible. World leaders – the usual motley group of North American, European and Asia ones – have been incapable of doing anything to stop Russia from continuing to ravage Ukraine for the sake of its imperial expansion and to protect Ukraine from Russia’s bloody military advances.

How can this be taking place in the 21st century? Hasn’t anyone read history? Isn’t the conclusion obvious?

As I think about my own questions, my thoughts drift to an event that had its place in the borough of Queens in New York City 51 years ago. A young woman was killed in full view of her neighbors who actually witnessed from the comfort of their high-rise apartment windows what was happening and couldn’t or wouldn’t do anything to stop the assailant or protect the unfortunate woman.

Here is an excerpt from Martin Gansberg’s article in The New York Times of March 27, 1964.

For more than half an hour 38 respectable, law-abiding citizens in Queens watched a killer stalk and stab a woman in three separate attacks in Kew Gardens.

Twice their chatter and the sudden glow of their bedroom lights interrupted him and frightened him off. Each time he returned, sought her out, and stabbed her again. Not one person telephoned the police during the assault; one witness called after the woman was dead…

Twenty-eight-year-old Catherine Genovese, who was called Kitty by almost everyone in the neighborhood, was returning home from her job as manager of a bar in Hollis…

The entrance to the apartment is in the rear of the building because the front is rented to retail stores. At night the quiet neighborhood is shrouded in the slumbering darkness that marks most residential areas.

Miss Genovese noticed a man at the far end of the lot, near a seven-story apartment house at 82-40 Austin Street. She halted. Then, nervously, she headed up Austin Street toward Lefferts Boulevard, where there is a call box to the 102nd Police Precinct in nearby Richmond Hill.

She got as far as a street light in front of a bookstore before the man grabbed her. She screamed. Lights went on in the 10-story apartment house at 82-67 Austin Street, which faces the bookstore. Windows slid open and voices punctuated the early-morning stillness.

Miss Genovese screamed: “Oh, my God, he stabbed me! Please help me! Please help me!”…

The assailant stabbed her again.

“I'm dying!” she shrieked. “I’m dying!”…

Gansberg concluded his article by writing: “It was 4:25 A.M. when the ambulance arrived to take the body of Miss Genovese. It drove off. “Then,” a solemn police detective said, “the people came out.”

Kitty’s neighbors offered a variety of excuses why they allowed her to be killed in their voyeuristic presence.

“I didn’t want to get involved.”

“We thought it was a lovers’ quarrel.”

“I didn't want my husband to get involved.”

“We went to the window to see what was happening … but the light from our bedroom made it difficult to see the street … I put out the light and we were able to see better.” Asked why they didn’t call the police, the wife shrugged and replied: “I don't know.”

“I was tired."

“I went back to bed."

On a personal level, the murder of Kitty Genovese and the callous disregard for her life by her neighbors was devastating and inhuman.

On a national level, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the indiscriminate killing of Ukrainian civilians and soldiers (and rape of women and girls) along with the callous disregard for what is happening there by countries near and far is also devastating and inhuman. The UN says more than 6,000 civilians have died because of Russia’s war with Ukraine. (That number has since then spiked to astronomical levels.)

On a global scale, thanks to all sorts of technological advances, Russia’s undeclared war against Ukraine is being witnessed by the same callous, immovable, unconcerned, indifferent neighbors who witnessed Kitty’s murder five decades ago. Their apathetic explanations are identical to those who saw Kitty killed in cold blood.

While Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was undeclared and unexpected, the subsequent occupation of Crimea and Donbas, and Moscow’s advances westward did not occur without some sort of spy in the sky warnings. Especially in the past several weeks Ukrainian and NATO military and political sources have been daily cautioning that Russia is amassing tens of thousands of soldiers on its border with Ukraine in preparation for a significant escalation of hostilities. Do something before it’s too late, they plead.

Moscow’s occupation of Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk has also scared the other Eastern European former captive nations into reviewing its defense capabilities and seeking military help from NATO.

Last month Viktor Muzhenko, Ukraine’s army chief of staff, listed for the first time some of the specific Russian military units fighting in Ukraine alongside Moscow’s terrorists in eastern Ukraine.

“Regular Russian army troops are still in Ukraine,” Muzhenko said for all the world to hear. “We have details of all the Russian units, where they are deployed, their numbers and their weapons.”

Muzhenko named among them the Russian army’s 15th Mechanized Infantry Brigade, the 8th Mechanized Infantry Brigade, the 331st Airborne Regiment and the 98th Airborne Division.

Just like murdered Russian journalist Boris Nemtsov, the Ukrainian official said Kyiv has proof that Russian regular troops had fought in three clashes in the east in February, including a fierce battle for the railroad town of Debaltseve, which is now controlled by Russian mercenaries.

Russian-backed militants have dramatically also increased their activity in the Donbas conflict zone, head of the Information Resistance group and military blogger Dmytro Tymchuk wrote on his Facebook page. According to Tymchuk, the militants fired artillery and 120mm mortars, and tried to attack the Ukrainian units, including using armored vehicles. A sharp growth of militant activity has been recorded in the Luhansk, Donetsk and in coastal areas, he said.

The Russian terrorists in the Donbas region in early April were to have almost 700 tanks and 1,100 armored combat vehicles, according to the report of deputy commander of the ATO Valentyn Fedichev from the information center of the Donetsk regional military and civil administration in Kramatorsk, reported Express TV.

“According to the Minsk agreements, the 9,000 servicemen of the Russian regular armed forces must leave the occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, and all military equipment that has been illegally transferred by Russia to the territory of a sovereign state, and this is almost 700 tanks, more than 1,100 armored combat vehicles, nearly 600 artillery systems, more than 380 MLRS and 110 air defense systems, must be withdrawn," Fedichev said.

They didn’t while, according to him, on April 7, 40 items of military equipment, including 10 tanks, arrived in Luhansk. On April 6, two companies of Russian troops arrived in the area of Debaltseve in Donetsk region.

"In [Russia’s] Rostov region training is being conducted on combat operations performance in the city. More than 1,500 troops of the special forces of the Russian Federation Armed Forces are involved in the exercises," Fedichev said.
US military sources have corroborated Ukrainian’s justified fears.

Retired Gen. Wesley Clark, former head of US and NATO forces in Europe, warned at an exclusive briefing with the Atlantic Council that a renewed Russian offensive in Ukraine was imminent and would most probably take place between Orthodox Easter on April 12 and Russia’s celebrations of VE Day on May 8. While both dates have come and gone, Russia’s escalation is still held at bay for reasons which may be simple as the army isn’t ready to attack.

“Ukrainian forces expect attack within the next sixty days,” Clark recently wrote for the Atlantic Council. “This assessment is based on geographic imperatives, the ongoing pattern of Russian activity, and an analysis of Russian actions, statements, and Putin’s psychology to date.”

Clark was joined by the top US commander for NATO who urged that America needs better intelligence on the ground in Ukraine, and added that it appears Russian forces have used a recent lull in fighting to reposition for another offensive.

Gen. Philip Breedlove, commander of NATO forces in Europe, told the Senate Armed Services Committee, who has expressed concern about Russia’s aggression, said the situation in Ukraine is volatile and fragile and urged Congress to bolster U.S. intelligence capabilities to better understand Putin’s intent in the region.

“Russian military operations over the past year in Ukraine, and the region more broadly, have underscored that there are critical gaps in our collection and analysis,” Breedlove said. “Some Russian military exercises have caught us by surprise and our textured feel for Russian involvement on the ground in Ukraine has been quite limited.”

This movement of invaders is obviously directed by Russians, Breedlove assured. “We do see a very distinct Russian set of command and control in the eastern part of Ukraine,” he said. "Command-and-control, air defense, support to artillery, all of these things increased ... making a more coherent, organized force out of the separatists.”

In one 48-hour period in April, as Ukrainian forces faced 20 attacks by Russian-led militants and spotted 30 enemy drones probing their positions, the Frankurter Allgemeine Zeitung quoted an unnamed NATO official saying that Russia has sent additional military manpower and arms to Donbas.

“We have noticed again support for the separatists, with weapons, troops and training. Russia is still sending troops and arms from one side of the open border with Ukraine to the other,” the NATO official told the German news publication.

The press center of Ukraine’s Anti-Terrorist Operation headquarters has been regularly reporting that Russian-backed militants have been violating the terms of the Minsk agreement, attacking Ukrainian forces with weapons they were supposed to have withdrawn from the front line. Russia began violating the truce before the ink dried on the agreements. (Ambassador Sergey Kyslytsya, permanent representative of Ukraine to the United Nations, acerbically said Russia’s promises aren’t worth a New York City pretzel hole.)

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg reported a sizeable Russian military buildup on the border with Ukraine that he said would enable pro-Moscow separatists to launch a new offensive with little warning. Stoltenberg said Russia has substantially stepped up supplies to the rebels, as well as providing them with advanced training and equipment like drones, despite a cease-fire.

Stoltenberg said the Russian moves undermine the cease-fire declared in eastern Ukraine and violate the Minsk agreements entered into by Moscow. He said more than 1,000 pieces of Russian military equipment have been moved over the past month, including tanks, artillery and air defense units.

Stoltenberg said this “gives reason for great concern” and would enable the separatists to go on the offensive again with little warning.

The list of officials exposing Russia’s impending military escalation against Ukraine includes John Herbst, a former US ambassador to Ukraine. He said recent military moves by Russia show that President Putin's “minimal goal is to destabilize the current government” in Ukraine. The maximum goal would probably be to re-subjugate the former captive nations.

Herbst, who now directs the Eurasia Center at the Atlantic Council, a Washington think tank, said from Kyiv that “Putin is ramping up pressure on Ukraine by adding troops on the eastern border and in Crimea and by increasing the violations across the ceasefire line and in order to do that, he can’t simply sit behind the ceasefire line.  He needs to move forward to cause additional instability in the country.”

Ukraine has repeatedly urged its neighbors and allies to send it weapons and accused rebels of persistent ceasefire violations as NATO warned about an increase in Russian troop movement both near and across the border.

“The Ukrainian army needs weapons to defend Ukraine,” Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk told parliamentarians. “And our western partners must hear: Now the Ukrainian army is struggling not just for itself, but we are fighting for peace and stability in the EU.”

But Ukraine’s nearest neighbors have turned a deaf ear. EU leaders have told Ukraine they are worried about ceasefire violations in the east of the country but will not send armed peacekeepers there. “We can only talk about a civilian mission, not military,” European Council President Donald Tusk said.

President Obama, at a joint press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe in Washington, demonstrated understanding the global threat posed by Russia’s belligerence.  Obama said the acts of Russian aggression against Ukraine are a threat to the world that must be confronted in a global context,

“We oppose the Russian aggression against Ukraine, provide assistance to civilians under threat of the Islamic State extremist group, fight against the Ebola virus and promote global health, and now we’re offering assistance to the people of Nepal,” Obama said.
Despite these words and as increased Russian fighting on the ground in eastern Ukraine continues to claim innocent lives and disrupt regional peace and stability, members of the U.S. Congress once again are pressing Obama to request lethal military aid for Ukraine to combat Russian-backed rebels. The president already has ignored a resolution urging lethal US aid for Ukraine that the House passed by 348 to 48 votes. Consequently, the US President joins the neighbors who pulled down the window shades as the knife plunged into the innocent passerby.

“There is no doubt that it is important to provide humanitarian assistance to the population that is affected by the fighting. However, this aid only treats the symptoms of a larger problem,” read the statement by Reps. Michael Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Sander Levin (D-MI), and Marcy Kaptur (D-OH). “The Ukrainian government is in dire need of defensive weapons, which are necessary to protect its borders and sovereignty.”

Pro-Russian separatists appear to be making preparations for a fresh offensive in eastern Ukraine, US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter told lawmakers. “It does appear that clearly, Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine are preparing for another round of military action that would be inconsistent with the Minsk agreement,” Carter told the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee.

Ukrainian President Poroshenko said the threat of a large-scale offensive from the side of Russian-backed militants has been growing, and the strength of the enemy’s troops is estimated at 40,000 men, while another 50,000 servicemen are deployed along the border with Ukraine.

Even with this imminent threat, Poroshenko said that Ukrainians ready to defend country and that the morale of the Ukrainian armed forces is currently at its best, as has been the case in recent history.

“We keep getting more evidence and information proving that the aggressor will commence a military offensive in the second half of May. I don’t want to frighten anyone, and you should know that the country is capable of protecting its citizens,” he said.

Poroshenko emphasized that the war will be over when Donbas and Crimea are returned to Ukraine. Nothing more, nothing less. That is the line in the sand, which must be recognized by friends and foes.

In the meantime, Ukrainian servicemen step up the pace of digging trenches on a beach in the port city of Mariupol, about eight miles from Shyrokyne, on the Azov Sea, where the next Russian onslaught is anticipated.

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The global neighborhood must consider what it will do when they hear: “Oh, my God, he stabbed me! Please help me! Please help me!”… “I'm dying!”

Putin’s Illusions of Victory Parade in a Potemkin Village

Vladimir Putin’s excessive obsession with defeating Ukraine and imprisoning it in his new evil empire has in his mind shattered the boundary between reality and fantasy and opened the way to his own Twilight Zone, Wonder Land and Neverland.

As people – some even in Russia – have observed, he’s crazy.

Or he is composing an elaborate manuscript to deceive and convince his gullible Russian subjects and auslanders that despite evidence to the contrary, Ukraine actually surrendered and Russian won the war it launched on February 24, 2022. You see, Russians, or at least the vast majority of them, religiously believe Putin’s propaganda about beating those infernal Ukrainians because they do not get their news from any other source but the official state TV channels and programs.

Nonetheless, Putin’s three-day-war-with-Ukraine wish list includes appearing in all his grandeur in Kyiv, on Khreshchatyk, reviewing the victorious Russian military machine as it proudly marches along Ukraine’s famous boulevard. And then accepting Ukraine’s surrender instrument that will be signed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

This is to take place on May 9, which is a grand holiday in Russia, filled with parades and speeches because a day earlier the World War Two allies and Russia accepted Nazi Germany’s unconditional surrender. Moscow still makes a big deal of this day even though we, in America, hardly pay attention to it. Map 9 is called Victory Day.

Dream on, Vova. Your hope has sunk like the ill-fated Russian navy ship.

But Mad Putin still wants a parade so that he can participate like Hitler and Mussolini did at their assemblies.

According to the video link to a Russian-language YouTube post provided with this blogpost, Putin’s entourage is secretly abuzz building a replica of Kyiv and Khreshchatyk in the Moscow oblast where the parade could be held on May 9, about a month away. This latter-day Potemkin village will include a reviewing stand where the Russian fuhrer will cheer his troops.

But that would only be half of the ruse. What’s a victory parade without soldiers of the defeated nation? Russia’s clothing manufacturers are sewing Ukrainian military uniforms and headgear that will be appropriately worn and torn and donned on faux Ukrainian servicemen captured in battle to give the impression of here are the pathetic losers. The North Vietnamese displayed captured American soldiers for its audience.

The charade will conclude with a surrender ceremony in a room that will look like the Ukrainian President’s office, where an actor resembling Zelenskyy — how ironic, an actor playing an actor turned president — will give Ukraine away to Russia.

And the Russian people who may have been losing faith in their greatness will be imbued with a new dose of fabrications about their lasting supremacy. At the same time the few remaining earthlings who still favor Putin will also be given the opportunity to share in this ersatz joy.

This production will probably be filmed for posterity and submitted for a Russian Oscar in the documentary category. But be careful, Putin, Zelenskyy may appear to punch you in the face.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2uOXLksubkU

Remember Bucha; President Zelenskyy Demands that UN Punish Russia

A few days after the world learned of the unspeakable atrocities committed against the civilian population of Bucha by withdrawing Russian soldiers, President Zelenskyy came to the United Nations Security Council to denounce Russia, one of the founding members of the UN, and demand its expulsion from this body.

If the United Nations can’t punish an aggressor and violator of the UN Charter like the murderous predator Russia in order to protect the international community from premeditated ruination at the hands of global outlaws, Zelenskyy asserted on Tuesday, April 5, then the international organization should be dissolved.

“And now we need decisions from the Security Council. For peace in Ukraine. If you do not know how to adopt this decision, you can do two things,” Zelenskyy challenged the UN’s highest executive organ.

“Remove Russia as an aggressor and a source of war from blocking decisions about its own aggression, its own war. And then do everything that can establish peace.

“Or show how you can reformat and really work for peace.

“Or if your current format is unalterable and there is simply no way out, then the only option would be to dissolve yourself altogether.”

Zelenskyy hellfire and brimstone appearance at the UN was anticipated ever since he visited Bucha and experienced for himself the emotional pain of seeing old and young Ukrainians butchered by Russian invaders. Photos and video clips of murders and devastation have appeared in news media since the weekend.

He surely saw one blackened body that had arms raised in supplication, the face contorted in a horrible scream. He saw a blackened body of a woman on the street, faced won. The skull of another had a bullet hole in the left temple. The small blackened foot of a child could be seen in the jumble of charred bodies piled together. The six burned and blackened corpses were just the latest gruesome scene to be seared into Zelenskyy memory.

The President of Ukraine saw the pile of bodies just off a residential street, near a colorful and empty playground, visible to passersby as they warily went outdoors to collect aid. In a house nearby, the twisted and bloody body of a young man who had been shot to death lay in the basement entrance. At least four other bodies lay strewn in the street, one with the eye gouged out, apparently by a bullet. Another body that of a male was in a storm drain.

These images must have prompted Zelenskyy to declare prior to speaking to the UN Security Council that it would be impossible to continue negotiating with the Russians after accusing Moscow of genocide.

“It might happen that there will be no negotiations,” Zelenskyy said on Ukrainian state TV on Tuesday. Zelenskyy said it would be understandable to not speak to Putin after accusing Russian troops of carrying out war crimes in Ukraine. “It would be easy to say I’m not going to talk to you -- and it would be understandable, after what you have done, that’s why.”

In his video appearance at the UN, Zelenskyy recounted, “It is difficult to find a war crime that the occupiers have not committed there. The Russian military searched for and purposefully killed anyone who served our state. They executed women outside the houses when approaching and simply calling someone alive. They killed whole families - adults and children. And they tried to burn their bodies.”

He continued, “I am addressing you on behalf of the people who honor the memory of the deceased every day. Every day, in the morning. The memory of the killed civilians. Who were shot in the back of the head or in the eye after being tortured. Who were shot just on the streets. Who were thrown into the well, so that they die there in suffering. Who were killed in apartments, houses, blown up by grenades. Who were crushed by tanks in civilian cars in the middle of the road. For fun. Whose limbs were cut off, whose throat was cut. Who were raped and killed in front of their own children. Their tongues were torn out only because they did not hear from them what they wanted to hear.”

He added that the “Russian militaries are openly looting the cities and villages they have captured. This is looting of the highest scale. They steal everything from food to gold earrings they just rip out with blood.” But he didn’t mention the 11 Russian heroes who raped and sodomized a 9-year-old girl after killing her parents. This group carved a “Z” on her chest and took group selfies for their mothers. He didn’t mention that open air markets in Belarus are selling crucifixes ripped off dead Ukrainian children.

Zelenskyy reminded the Security Council members that these heinous crimes were committed by a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. This unpunished behavior “destroys the internal unity of states. Destroys state borders. Promotes hatred at the state level and seeks to export it to other countries through its system of propaganda and political corruption.”

Accusing the United Nations of inaction, Zelenskyy questioned where is the security that the Security Council is expected to provide.

“I would like to remind you of the first article of the first chapter of the UN Charter. What is the purpose of our organization? To maintain peace. And to force to peace. Now the UN Charter is being violated literally from the first article. And if so, what is the point of all other articles,” Zelenskyy stated.

“Today, it is as a result of Russia’s actions on the territory of my state, on the territory of Ukraine, that the most heinous war crimes of all time since the end of World War II are being committed. Russian troops are deliberately destroying Ukrainian cities to ashes with artillery and air strikes.”

The Ukrainian President said the massacre in Bucha is just one of many examples of what the occupiers have been doing in Ukraine for 41 days and there are other victimized towns: Mariupol, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Okhtyrka, Borodyanka and dozens of other Ukrainian communities.

If this behavior continues unchecked, he said, it will result in countries taking arms to resolve problems rather than turning to international law.

“The power of the UN Charter must be restored immediately. The UN system must be reformed immediately so that the right of veto is not a right to kill. So that there is a fair representation of all regions of the world in the Security Council,” he said. “The aggressor must be forced to peace immediately. Determination is needed.”

Zelenskyy demanded that the Russian military and those who gave them orders be immediately brought to justice for war crimes in Ukraine. “Everyone who gave criminal orders and fulfilled them by killing people will face a tribunal similar to the Nuremberg trials.”

Turning to Russia, he reminded the member-state that the likes of Ribbentrop and Eichmann were eventually captured and executed.

“Prevent aggression and force aggressors to peace. Have the determination and ability to punish if the principles of peace are violated,” he said of the need to prevent wars and bloodshed while ensuring peace.

The Russian massacre of civilians and the rape of girls in Bucha have left a deep wound in the Ukrainian national psyche that will surely fester for generations. Much of the grief is vented in the Ukrainian and Russian languages through personal reflections, essays, videos, poems and even comedy. In one of poems, a woman expresses the story of a girl who apologizes to her mother for having to leave her life, her body after being viciously raped and left without her natural ability to be a mother sometime in the future.

Another eye witness wrote that what people now see in Ukrainian towns Bucha, Irpin, and Hostomel reminds of the pictures of wars in the former Yugoslavia: the completely ruined Croatian town of Vukovar; Bosnian villages, with blown-up roofs, executed men and boys in the Bosnian enclave of Srebrenica, mass rapes, and mass graves. However, it is not necessary to compare Russian atrocities of today to previous violent crimes against humanity. Russia alone occupies an honored spot in the premier league of murderers.

Russian invaders came to plunder and kill for joy. They kill people, their cattle, and their pets and destroy everything they cannot take with them. For them, men and women of all ages are just their prey to be hunted, pillaged, tortured, and raped.

A soldier wrote verses to his mother telling her that on the frontline he learned to pray. I talked with God and came to believe that without sincere prayers, we will not achieve victory, he wrote.

The newsreels documented wherever the professional or amateur cameraman went the Ukrainian people’s reborn hatred for Russia, Russians and Putin.

You can read the full text of President Zelenskyy address here: https://www.president.gov.ua/en/news/vistup-prezidenta-ukrayini-na-zasidanni-radi-bezpeki-oon-74121

#RememberBucha

#StandWithUkraine

#ThereWillAlwaysBeUkraine

Ukraine not Losing the War vs. Russia Compared with Winning It

Yes, the White House is supporting Ukraine with lethal weapons and humanitarian dollars so Kyiv can wage a modern defensive war against its age-old enemy, Russia, which invaded it and triggered the first full-blown war in Europe in a generation. The images of leveled cities once filled with life and dead civilians are emotionally unbearable.

And President Biden even utters supportive sentiments about Ukraine and the future of the free world much to the chagrin of his advisers. But the sympathetic words are no compensation for the latest lethal weapons and iron dome systems that Ukraine is not entitled to.

However, is the United States genuinely in favor of Ukraine’s unequivocal victory over Russian invaders or is it hoping for a conclusion that is based on a negotiated settlement with its ersatz peace. This course would not benefit anyone, most of all Ukrainians who are again earnestly fighting for their existence against the same invader.

Ukraine’s military and civilian skills and determination to win against Russia have shocked all observers. To be honest, Ukraine’s loss today would be mourned by the free world and NATO in articles and books for years to come. Leading up to Russia’s fateful crossing of Ukraine’s border and for the first couple of days of the escalated Russo-Ukraine War of 2014-22, Washington was ready to silently accept Ukraine’s defeat because all of its expectations of the Ukrainian Armed Forces ineptitude were being fulfilled. As history has shown, the White House was even willing to receive Ukrainian President Zelenskyy’s self-exile. And then came Zelenskyy’s dramatic declaration that he doesn’t want a lift, he wants arms so his country can win the war that Russia started against Ukraine.

The White House then realized that its strategic partner is not like the others have been. Ukraine, Ukrainians and its leadership are not hiding behind America’s apron, letting it do its fighting, which, sadly, it hasn’t and it won’t. Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the people decided to fight with more passion and resolve to expel Russia from its country than have been seen in other nations.

Retired Gen. Jack Keane wondered on Fox News why the United States isn’t doing more to support Ukraine than parsing words about its plans, which are then watered down by a White House official.

“The mission is really to help the Ukrainians defeat the Russians and drive them out of the country. And there really is an opportunity to do that,” Keane opined. “And the Biden Administration for some reason doesn’t even want to use the words ‘We want the Ukrainians to win against the Russians.’”

Clips of the White House assistant press secretary tripping over her words about a Ukrainian victory was proof of this noncommittal posture.

Keane believes it is clear Biden does not want Putin to lose Russia’s war against Ukraine and its civilians, in fear of the Russian butcher becoming even more enraged and taking drastic action that directly affects NATO or the United States or even lashing out against the former captive nations.

“They don’t want him to lose. And they want a deal. And it’s such a lost opportunity,” Keane said, adding that he has seen pressure from the US toward Zelenskyy to cut a deal with Putin, even after the ground-war tide began turning in Kyiv’s favor. Truthfully, no negotiated deal would benefit Ukraine. Moscow has previously demonstrated its deceit in abiding with bilateral or multilateral accords.

“Where is the passion arising out of you watching thousands of people being killed and literally murdered by this barbarism that’s on display by the Russian army? Let’s go out there and destroy that barbarism once and for all,” Keane said. “And Zelenskyy has the will to do it.”

And his troops have got the skill and the aid Zelenskyy is demanding will give him the means to do it and also give them the moral support.

Sounds like a repeat of the Allies’ refusal to grant General Patton permission to take Prague ahead of the Soviet army at the end of World War 2.

Keane is convinced that President Biden and his national security team have really been more interested, from the beginning of this war, in simply ending it as opposed to Ukraine’s winning it.

Ironically, Zelenskyy and Ukraine’s Armed Forces have provided NATO and Europe an opportunity to crush the Russian Army, Keane observed, “And it’s the best deterrence we could possibly have against the Russian Army conducting an attack against NATO.”

Keane said, and there are others who agree with him, that Ukraine will earn a better political solution based on how much damage is done to Putin and his ability to launch his next invasion against Lithuania, Latvia or Poland based on what Ukrainians are doing to him and his invasion of Ukraine.

Choosing this immoral quick alternative to victory will only cause more damage to Ukraine and Ukrainians and severely tarnish the impeccable image that the Ukrainian President now possesses.

As the late Sen. Barry Goldwater asked rhetorically in an earlier generation, “Why not victory?”

President Biden’s Historic Speech in Warsaw Hits Moscow’s Raw Nerve

President Biden’s visit to Poland and his fiery, historic speech about the free world’s relationship with the former captive nations and the future of Russian aggression raised the bar of all comparable addresses since the end of World War Two.

And it had a resounding, desirable effect in the corner office in Moscow by hitting the Kremlin’s raw nerve. Vladimir Putin’s responses were almost immediate with Ukraine exclusively feeling his anger.

A few minutes before Biden appeared on stage in Warsaw in front of a crowd of Poles and Ukrainians, we had tweeted “In Warsaw, @POTUS speech here should echo President Reagan’s ‘Mr. Gorbachev take down this wall.’ President Biden must say ‘Putin, leave Ukraine.’ That will be historic.”

Well, President Biden surpassed that hope. The American President called for the Russian dictator’s ouster.

Biden began his biting diatribe against the Russian despot earlier in the day, when asked by as reporter about the virtually obliterated Ukrainian city of Mariupol and Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. The President immediately replied that Putin is “a butcher.” That invective must have enraged Putin who already had heard Biden call him a war criminal, which launched an avalanche of other American and free world leaders picking up the chant that Putin is a war criminal. This accusation was brought to The Hague.

Soon after that comment circulated the globe, we were told by a friend in Lviv, a veteran airborne officer, who was out for a stroll with his dog that he saw three Caliber rockets hit a target in Lviv that was about one and a half kilometers northeast from the city’s center. It turned out to be a fuel depot. Five people were injured. Television news programs showed smoke billowing in the distance.

Putin’s selection of Lviv is more significant than the pundits alluded. First of all, after thus far focusing on the northeast and southeast of Ukraine, Moscow turned its attention to Lviv, not an insignificant Ukrainian city. Kyiv is the capital of Ukraine but many call Lviv the heart and soul of the country.

Secondly, Lviv is 43 miles from the Polish border and 245 miles from Warsaw, where Biden was meeting with Polish officials and reaffirming American support for Poland and the x-captive nations that are NATO members. These topics pour salt on Russia’s wounds.

Was this rocket attack on Lviv a signal to the free world that it is not safe from Putin’s rage and the short distance to a NATO member should not be any comfort to them? Was it meant to scare the American President? Doesn’t seem like it worked.

While in Warsaw, Biden met with Ukrainian refugees who related to him the harrowing experiences they faced in war-torn Ukraine and their desire to return home as soon as possible. Overwhelmed with emotion, the President told of his chance encounters with Ukrainian children, who, according to his words, asked him to pray for their fathers, grandfathers and brothers who remained in Ukraine. Though he didn’t say it but the conclusion was obvious – to fight for Ukraine.

And then came the 27-minute evening speech, which was filled with hellfire and brimstone condemnations of Putin, his dictatorship and his invasion of Ukraine. Echoing the words of the sainted Polish Pope John Paul II, Biden urged the audience assembled at the Royal Castle in the country’s capital to never be afraid when facing an adversary.

Most significantly, Biden said Ukraine will never be included among Russia’s victories and he assured the people of Ukraine that America stands with it.

His final words struck the hearts of all the peoples of the former captive nations and will certainly be etched in stone just like President Reagan’s admonition to Gorbachev. Referring to Putin, Biden declared: “This man cannot remain in power.”

I then learned from my contact in Lviv that during Biden’s speech two more missiles hit targets in Lviv.

Surely, the only way for peace and stability to return to Ukraine and the former captive nations, indeed the world, is to remove Putin from power.

Lessons in Current Russian Aggression and Regional Defense by Baltic States

We’ve been earnestly promoting the concept of a regional former captive nations alliance against Russian aggression for the obvious reason that Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Ukraine endured the same national hell called the Soviet Union, the evil empire or Russia’s prison of nations.

The Baltic States detailed explanations about the unending dangers posed by Moscow as well as its invasion of Ukraine should convince free world leaders and observers that what these four countries are experiencing can very well spread across Eastern Europe and into “old” Europe.

In testimonies at the Commission on Security & Cooperation in Europe: U.S. Helsinki Commission on Thursday, March 17, three Baltic government officials affirmed that if Russia isn’t dealt with firmly and immediately in Ukraine, even by vanquishing it, the free world will have to deal with Russia and Vladimir Putin’s unending desire for additional conquests for many years to come. The Kremlin has shattered the post-war security architecture and ersatz peace, leaving the free world to clean up Russia’s mess.

The three Baltic speakers were: Laima Andrikiene, chair, Foreign Relations Committee of the Seimas (Parliament of Lithuania); Marko Mihkelson, chair, Foreign Affairs Committee of the Riigikogu (Parliament of Estonia); Rihards Kols, chair, Foreign Affairs Committee of the Saeima (Parliament of Latvia).

Their statements, words and expressions demonstrated the unquestionable belief that the nations of the world will be endangered so long as Putin rules Russia. You could have found many doubters of this eventuality around the world just a few months ago. However, due to Russia’s invasion and war against Ukraine, and its soldiers’ brutal killing of civilians along with children, world leaders and a wide range of pundits have seen the light. They finally understand the warnings that leaders of Eastern European liberation movements have been saying since the end of World War 2.

The parliamentarians pointed out that the future of their common security – indeed, the security of Europe and the free world – is being decided in Ukraine. They understand that Putin’s war against Ukraine is the biggest threat to the Euro-Atlantic security since the end of World War II.

They proposed a new defense and security structure that will feature a new NATO – one that would show political backbone and give the x-captive nations the belief that NATO is ready to, and will indeed protect every inch of their territories.

On the positive side – if there could be one during war – Russia’s invasion has united the world in defense of Ukraine and against Moscow.

In this blog, we’re publishing the Baltic parliamentarians’ opening remarks as well as their key responses during the Q&A session:

ANDRIKIENE: Thank you very much. Honorable Chairman, members of the Helsinki Commission, ladies and gentlemen, first of all I would like to thank the Helsinki Commission for organizing this important and, I would say, unique hearing, as you have three chairs of the foreign affairs committees of the parliaments of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. It is an honor and a timely opportunity to appear before you today.

Let me start by saying that a global democratic world order in the past decades has been greatly challenged by the autocratic regimes of Russia and China. This competition of powers was shaping the security environment and bringing a lot of tensions over time up until the 24th of February. This day not only changed the established but deceptive peace in Europe exposing the real goals of the autocratic state of Russia, but also unified the democratic western world and created the legend of the greatness of the Ukrainian nation.

The Baltic States for many years have been the whistleblowers trying to draw the attention of the whole world to Russia’s real intentions and ill perception of the world order. The Russian revisionist policy cannot be eliminated by making concessions or one-sided promises to “reset” the relations. Russia has chosen confrontation with the Western world and will remain a major threat for many years to come. Our necessity is to establish a credible defense, since any conflict on our soil would be too costly, not only for our nations but for the alliance as well.

For many reasons, both geographic and historic ones, the Baltic region was bound to remain the most vulnerable part of the NATO alliance, which required special attention of NATO military planners and allies. In addition to the Suwalki Gap issue, Russia’s de facto absorption of Belarus means more than a double increase in the length of the Lithuania-Russia border, which is the NATO-Russia border. Increased Russia’s military footprint in Belarus and its engagement in the war against Ukraine is a game-changer and significantly affects defense calculus in our region and requires the implementation of additional defense measures.

As we all witness today, the Kremlin employs massive propaganda and disinformation campaigns in an attempt to justify its aggression against Ukraine and to conceal its war crimes and atrocities. Kremlin’s anti-Western narratives and its interpretation of the sanctions applied against Russia and of the support provided to Ukraine by the West as an alleged involvement in war against Russia serve the Kremlin as a means of shifting the blame. Strengthening deterrence is no longer enough. We need to build credible defense before it is too late. We must change our approach by moving from deterrence based on limited forward presence and reinforcement to deterrence by denial and forward defense.

This requires not only re-posturing of our forces but also a change in our mindset. The necessary measures should be taken immediately and continue in the long term. We have already taken robust measures to improve the host nation support capacity and are ready to host United States and NATO forces by providing infrastructure, which would enable rapid and smooth deployment of forces and their operation on the territory of our countries, and necessary training conditions. We call on the United States of America to step up its efforts in ensuring our defense, in particular by stationing additional substantial permanent combat forces.

Prepositioning of U.S. military equipment, and enhancement of our region’s air defense would significantly improve our security. In our region, air defense with anti-aircraft and long-range missile defense assets is crucial. We need our own Iron Dome. Air defense over the Baltic States has to be enhanced, including by deploying necessary assets such as combat aviation and surface-based air defense of short, medium, and long ranges in and around the Baltic States.

It would show a political backbone of NATO and give us credibility that NATO is ready to, and will indeed, protect every inch of its territory. For that, we need a strong political will from the U.S. side. Firm support of the U.S. Congress for a persistent U.S. military presence and capability development in the Baltic region is crucial. Lithuania is serious about its defense spending, which will reach 2.5 percent of our GDP this year. We will not stop at that.

Ladies and gentlemen, whilst Russia remains the biggest and the most imminent conventional threat to the Baltic States, China is becoming a pacing threat to our national security. While Putin’s regime is using heavy weaponry, China is weaponizing cross-border economic and trade relations. China is eager to dominate, not to cooperate. We have always backed U.S. efforts in defending our common democratic values and containing China’s global ambitions. China’s targeting the Lithuanian economy with undeclared sanctions and applying various trade restrictions over deepening ties with Taiwan. Lithuania has made it clear that it considers such a manipulative Chinese policy to be contrary to our democratic values and a security challenge.

The case of Lithuania is a test for the entire democratic world of our ability to withstand economic coercion and deter – and to deter China from moving ahead with its redlines and from using coercion as a regular foreign policy tool to advance its goals. Enhanced coordination of actions with international allies, including in WTO, is needed to respond to economic coercion, find systemic long-term solutions, and send a message to China that such coercive actions will not be tolerated. Lithuania is not stepping back. Engagement with democratic Taiwan is in our direct interest. China’s aggressive actions, including its threats to Taiwan, more than ever before, may have a direct impact on European security.

We thank the United States for its strong support to Lithuania in the face of pressure by China, including also in offsetting the effects of China’s economic coercion. In addition, we call on the United States to lead the efforts to encourage our common allies to take a more resolute stance against China’s intimidations. Mr. Chairman, thank you once again for giving me the opportunity to address this distinguished group of U.S. Congressmen. And I very much look forward to my colleagues’ statements and follow-on discussions. Thank you very much.

MIHKELSON: Thank you, Senator Wicker. Distinguished members of Helsinki Commission, those who have witnessed the advance of the Russian brutal war machine with their own eyes are probably keenly aware that it cannot be stopped by gentle words alone. As a young journalist covering the first Chechen War in 1994 to ’96, I learned what Russian authorities were capable of. The carpet bombings of Grozny killed thousands of their own citizens. And for what? To stop the empire from disintegrating and the free will of the people from becoming the norm. The Kremlin’s appetite has only grown in 30 years and has not been thwarted by Western diplomacy, which has lacked proactive strategy towards Russia. Russia’s blatant aggression and military invasion in Ukraine has caused a fundamental shift in the European security architecture and threatens the peace and stability of democratic nations, not only in Europe but worldwide. I argue that the future of our common security will be decided in Ukraine. This is why the Western allies should do everything to coordinate and supply a wide range of lethal weaponry and other help to Ukraine as long and as much as it is needed. At the same time, our leaders should not let Russia feel that it has a green light to destroy one of the biggest democracies in Europe. Putin must be stopped in Ukraine.

Dear colleagues, Putin’s war against Ukraine is the biggest threat to the Euro-Atlantic security since the end of World War II. What we need the most now is a strong and loud allied message that is not only loud in words but will decisively strengthen the deterrence and defense posture in the eastern flank of NATO. Russian military forces in the Western Military District and Kaliningrad hold a geographic advantage and outnumber NATO forces postured in the Baltic region. Russia’s permanent deployment of land forces, fighter jets and air defense assets in Belarus will strengthen Russia’s force advantage even further.

It remains the only part of NATO where Russia can create credible military strategic dilemmas for the alliance, even during this crisis and with short notice, if necessary. This is the region of greatest risk of further Russian aggression. Taking into account the precarious security situation on the borders of NATO’s Eastern flank, I would like to highlight that continuous U.S. engagement and presence in the Baltics is of paramount importance given the vulnerabilities of the region. We welcome the efforts already made by the U.S. and NATO to bolster the deterrence and defense posture in the Baltic region, but more is needed to effectively deter Russia and avoid the risk of miscalculation. And we rely on your support for this.

President Biden’s decision to reinforce the Baltic region with various assets and personnel has been much appreciated, and the recent deployments have been of crucial importance in maintaining a credible deterrence posture. We are doing a lot for our own self-defense. All three Baltic States have their annual defense budgets above 2 percent of GDP and defense cooperation between our countries is at historical high. However, the worsening security situation has highlighted the need for further U.S. support to immediately fill out a number of critical capability gaps in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

I would like to thank the Congress for increasing the resources for Baltic Security Initiative for this year and hopefully also in the future. This sends a strong message to our citizens of U.S. support to Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania and, more importantly, it enables us to continue our critical regional capability development projects. We need your support with ground-based air defense, as the Baltics should not be left out as the only region in NATO still uncovered by air defense. We are also in need of a long-range fires capability. These are capabilities that the Baltic States plan to develop on their own with the help U.S. security assistance, but such large-scale capability developments take time and the shortfalls in our defense need to be addressed expeditiously.

These are shared objectives among the Baltics that are endorsed by the United States European Command. We hope for the United States’ substantial and consistent security assistance on this, on top of the on-going projects under the Baltic Security Initiative, such as caliber ammunition stocks, and special forces. We need to keep bolstering NATO’s deterrence and defense posture also in the long term. NATO needs a forward defense strategy. This requires strong political will as well as courage to take action. It is detrimental that the United States, as the most credible deterrent, would take leadership role in bolstering the NATO’s eastern flank.

We consider it critical to have the U.S. presence in the Baltics through NATO framework. NATO should prepare to defend the most vulnerable part of the alliance – the Baltic States. And this includes, first, establishing a permanent increased allied forward presence in the Baltic States in the land domain. Second, establishing a sound and appropriate NATO Command and Control, C2, structure that is able to plan and conduct military operations with the Baltic States national home defense forces and allied reinforcement forces. And third, establishing credible air defense posture with additional fighter aircraft and ground-based air defense assets.

Thank you to this Commission for the service that you provide for security and stability in the transatlantic community, including the Baltic region. I look forward to your questions.

KOLS: Thank you, honorable Senator Wicker, honorable Senator Cardin, distinguished members of Helsinki Commission. As a concluding intervention, I think I have the task the most challenging which is to describe the threats that are awake and blurred, and those are the hybrid threats and the hybrid warfare that the Baltic countries have been experiencing since regaining our independence.

So to start with, the Russian General Valery Gerasimov said, “The role of non-military means of achieving political and strategic goals has grown and, in many cases, they have exceeded the power of force of weapons in their effectiveness.” This encompasses the majority of what I will be addressing to you today. Since we gained our independence from the Soviet Union in 1990, the Baltics have been under constant Russian pressure. For us, having lived in this environment for the majority of our lives, this multi-vector warfare, hybrid warfare tactics, and the chaos they attempt to create have become intuitively recognizable and often seep into the background like white noise.

A key aspect to understanding Russia’s actions is the so-called sootechestvenniki, or compatriots abroad policy. Its officially stated goal is to support Russians living abroad, including defending their interests and rights in their place of residence. In this context, it needs to be emphasized that Moscow, per its compatriots abroad policy and the concept of the Russian world, aims to bind together all Russian speakers – not just ethnic Russians but quite literally even the descendants of ancestors who could have had a connection to, say, tsarist Russia. It considers these minorities as an essential political means of exerting influence.

In past regional wars, Moscow has argued that it must protect Russia’s compatriots. In this Russian world, Putin's Russia anoints itself with the messianic title of the vanquisher of absolute evil, and with it the right to fight against what it considers fascism. Russia has weaponized information for a very long time, with it targeting not only Russian speakers but also what it deems as its geopolitical opposition, the West too. Spreading disinformation and building up twisted narratives aimed at further support for its political goals. It seeks to destabilize societies and it does so also by its export of corrupt practices, by abusing Western legal and financial loopholes.

Russian doctrine argues that corrupting another country’s elites is part of new generation war. The Russian brand of corruption thrives on globalization and depends on access to the global financial system to loot its own or other states’ funds and assets. The West, however, has several advantages – time, allies, and transparency. Transparency is a potentially devastating tool against authoritarians because when corruption is exposed it delegitimizes the authoritarians. The governments of free societies already face public scrutiny, which positions them well to demand the same of others. Russia’s leaders are afraid of accountability.

Therefore, it is time for the West to realize that corruption is a severe security issue. The Baltic States have a lot of firsthand experience tackling hybrid threats that previously had been tackled by democratic countries at all, such as the recent Latvian, Lithuanian, and Poland experience with illegal migrants sent in from Belarus. Although these dangers were somewhat unexpected, the answer continues to be efficient. Therefore, we in the Baltic see ourselves not only as learners in the field but also as providers of expertise. The Baltic cyber expertise has already benefited democratic countries across the globe, and the same work should continue with border incidents and issues such as countering disinformation and cleaning up financial markets from Russian money streams.

A critical issue is Russia’s weaponization of its energy exports via its state-owned companies, such as Gazprom. Russia has attempted, through varying degrees of success, to use energy exports as a bargaining chip in achieving its political goals. Thus, one of the ways of resisting aggression and strengthening our resilience is the Three Seas Initiative, a new forge of unity between nations in the Adriatic, Baltic, and Black Sea regions, integrating the north-south axis. It is a platform of pragmatic collaboration to create the network of cooperation possibilities for twelve countries of the Central and Eastern European region.

It seeks to promote large-scale infrastructural, digital, and energy-related investments that are highly needed in this geographic area, as the region still faces underdevelopment challenges – mainly in infrastructure, interconnectivity, and mobility – following 50 years of Soviet occupation and its lasting negative setbacks after the USSR’s collapse. Three Seas would help maintain stability and democracy in countries that the Western countries formally describe as peripheral. But we are not peripheral.

We are the frontier where democracy in the entire Western world has to stand or fall. A more robust economic U.S. presence in the region would strengthen transatlantic business, energy, and geopolitical ties to Central and Eastern Europe, while compensating China’s and Russia’s initiatives and actions to advance and make regional in-roads. Accordingly, the Three Seas merits, in our opinion, American continued political support and investment, and investment from across the transatlantic communities.

Dear colleagues, for NATO and Europe this will be a marathon, not a sprint. We cannot afford to be cavalier about our short-term responses, but must do everything in a strategic, organized, conscious, and prepared manner. This should not be mistaken for the lack of resolve and determination to act, but it takes time. Russia spent months building up its forces on the borders of Ukraine. Hybrid threats are often aimed at the most vulnerable points of a state. Thus, supporting a well-educated and informed society, using the means acceptable to them, is a fundamental step in countering hybrid threats. Well-educated and informed societies will be the most resilient force against attempts of historical revisionism, revanchism, and sowing discord.

To conclude, for those who worry that standing up to Russia could just provoke Putin and drag the world into war, we only have to look at the history of the 20th century. Nothing is more provocative to a dictator than the weakness of free nations. Acta non verba (Deeds not words). Thank you.

Q&A Responses

KOHLS So we cannot exclude any Russian-speaking communities in any part of the world being exploited in this kind of way to gain the goals of the regime. When it comes to Latvia, I mean, the current one, we don’t see the – Russia’s actions in Ukraine has come from part of the Russian-speaking population in Latvia as a shock, really, like saying that to the last moment, we didn’t believe that he’s going to do that.

So there are new realities as well – reality check. But, of course, there are, as I call them, Russian chauvinists that no matter what is going to happen, no matter what, how you’re going to put, you know, incentives into integration and et cetera, they will be committed to Mother Russia, to Putin, and et cetera.

So that is something that, of course, our security intelligence community needs to work and identify beforehand. But what I have to say that we still have to do a lot in the West. I mean, it’s been three weeks right now when we suddenly realized that, you know, propaganda channels, we need to actually shut them down.

MIHKELSON This is how Putin is building a Russian world. They don’t care about Russian-speaking population or Russians. They only care about this idea of reshaping world by force and, as we all know, they – you know, Putin and others have declared that the biggest geopolitical catastrophe of 20th century was the breakup of Soviet Union and this is exactly an idea not only to rebuild Soviet Union but Russian Empire, and that’s where human lives doesn’t matter, of their own citizens or the others, and this is where we have to stand as democracies strongly against this right now and do everything that is possible that Ukrainians can win this war because this war is our war as well for democracy and freedom in our world.

ANDRIKIENE: On Putin’s threats, this man is unpredictable. Before the 21st of February, even seeing those – you know, Russia’s buildup along Ukrainian border and in Ukraine, not many people in the world believed that Putin will give an order for a massive military aggression against Ukraine, and I have to say that our intelligence also they – that was, you know, miscalculated. There were, you know, informations that Russian army will be in Kyiv in 48 hours since the beginning of the military attack.

This does not happen and we miscalculated the readiness of Ukrainians to defend their country and the spirit in the country. We also miscalculated the strengths of the Russian army and we miscalculated the position of the European Union on this. Not many politician(s) and political leaders expected this dramatic change with the position of Germany and some other countries, and that changed the situation dramatically.

What I understand that Putin is targeting not only Ukraine, is targeting our security architecture in Europe. If Putin remains in power after this war, we will not have peace.

Lithuania is – we have to support Ukraine until the very end, whatever Putin says, until the victory of Ukraine. If we fail in Ukraine, it will be only a matter of time until Putin continues his aggression against us – against NATO allies, against Georgia and Moldova.

So Lithuania is supporting Ukraine in many different areas and we will continue to do this. And as you possibly know, Lithuania was the first one to provide lethal munition to Ukraine and many other things. Thank you.

ANDRIKIENE: In addition to what has been said, in addition to EU sanctions, Lithuania implemented additional national sanctions against Russia. We suspended broadcasting of eight TV channels from Russia. We suspended sale of Russian and Belarusian printed media outlets. We suspended visas and we also suspended certificates of Russian and Belarusian services and products.

I would like to remind you that Lithuania took legal international action outside the scope of the European Union and NATO framework. We requested that the ICC prosecutor open an investigation into the crimes of the Russian Federation and Belarus committed in Ukraine. And, also, prime ministers of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland have addressed major online platforms with the request to take measures to stop the spread of Russian disinformation. Thank you.

MIHKELSON: Also, we have to do everything, as I said earlier as well, to make sure that Russia will not miscalculate with possible adventures against some NATO countries, and this is why we have to make immediate steps, perhaps, already next week during NATO summit in Brussels. We have to – additional to that to declare that Article 5 is rock solid and alliance is rock solid.

We have to go and show the steps, what are going to be visible on the ground in terms of allied presence in the Baltic states with building immediate steps to build capabilities we badly need in coming weeks, months, or years, like air defense I mentioned.

But we have to – and here I conclude – we have to be ready for long-term confrontation with current Russia. And this is where the solid and united strategy of Western allies are needed right now.

KOLS: Thank you. Just one comment. I think when you talk about the peace talks, I think what the West needs to avoid is actually by any cause to find to be as intermediaries as to ones that will settle the two sides together. I think it’s exclusively a right only up to Ukraine and the Zelenskyy office in what will be the negotiations or talks and what will be agreed or not agreed.

I think it’s – well, I will not applaud these attempts that, you know, European leaders calling five, six times to Putin, God knows talking about what for one and a half hours, and then each time getting a slap in the face again and again and again. That is – you know, it’s just gaining time for Putin to re-maneuver, to rethink, and so on.

So, therefore, the true talks, if they’re even taking place, is exclusively up to Ukrainians and Russians that are conducted – I don’t know what it is right now – the fourth time, and it’s only for them to determine are they ready for any concrete proposals already being implemented.

All the rest is just empty noise, unfortunately, from Russia sites, in particular, because you cannot talk about peace while you’re bombing civilian objects in Ukraine. Thank you.

ANDRIKIENE: Very briefly. The composition of Russia’s negotiating team speaks for itself. The head of this delegation is former minister of culture, and everybody understands that this delegation is not the one who takes decisions. There were reports that they managed to agree on humanitarian corridors from – at least for the civilians from Mariupol.

But even those agreements – so-called agreements – failed. So what could help in reality is our unified position, united position of democracies of the world – our EU member states, NATO allies, other democratic countries in the world. If, in the 21st century, in the very center of Europe, we cannot guarantee secure corridor for the civilians who are leaving the war zone, I mean, all our words are nothing, and we, in the Baltic states, all our parliaments, we very recently adopted resolutions about security zones, no-fly zones, over humanitarian corridors and nuclear facilities in Ukraine.

They have 15 active nuclear reactors on the territory of Ukraine, and we know what Russian forces were doing in Chernobyl. Their very first target was Chernobyl nuclear power station. Then they went to Zaporizhzhia and there is the third nuclear power station in focus. We have to stop this. We have to avoid, really, a very big – potentially, very big catastrophe. And what could stop Putin is, as I said already, our united stance, our united position, and Ukrainians, who are fighting for their freedom, for their independence, for their families, for the future of their children. Thank you.