After Vladamir Putin ordered the launch of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, one of the first things the Biden Administration did was offer to evacuate the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky. To which President Zelensky reportedly replied, “The fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride.”
While many other politicians would fight the war from the comfortable surroundings of western capitals, the man that would almost certainly be at the top of Russia’s list for extermination stayed in Kyiv:
“I am here. We are not putting down arms. We will be defending our country, because our weapon is truth, and our truth is that this is our land, our country, our children, and we will defend all of this…..That is it. That’s all I wanted to tell you. Glory to Ukraine.”
Another hard truth that President Zelensky undoubtedly knew that too many in America and the rest of the West did not seem to understand, is that the rulers of Russia have historically been as cruel to those who are defenseless and do not resist as to those who fight back. In the winter of 1932-1933 the President of the U.S.S.R. in Moscow, Joseph Stalin, planned and implemented a policy of extermination of the Ukrainian peasantry that killed 3,500,000 to 5,000,000 Ukrainians, mostly by starvation, a genocide that was a prelude to the Holocaust and is known as the Holodomor. This despite Ukraine already being at the time part of the U.S.S.R.! After two and a half years of Russia’s pointless and indiscriminate killing in the most recent act of aggression against their neighbors by Russia, it is shocking that so many American policy makers and would be policy makers do not seem to have learned the lessons of the Holodomor.
Whether taking courage from President Zelensky’s example or not, the newsfeeds from Ukraine in the days immediately following Russia’s invasion were full of stories of the heroism of Ukraine’s soldiers and civilians in the face of overwhelming military superiority. In spite of the predictions of the imminent and inevitable defeat of Ukraine, even from some of the Pentagon’s own experts, the Ukrainians turned the Russians back from the capital of Kyiv.
At times having no more than home made Molotov cocktails in which to defend themselves, the Ukrainian people fought back. The Ukrainians fought back then, have continued to fight back since, and will fight back until the end, regardless of what American or other NATO policymakers decide.
Very early in the war the Moskva, Russia’s flagship of their Black Sea Fleet, left the Port of Sevastopol in Russian occupied Crimea and sailed up to Ukraine’s Snake Island and demanded that the Ukrainian solders on the island surrender. To this demand came their now famous reply, “Russian warship, go fuck yourself!” Snake Island did fall to Russia that day, but not for long.
Not two months later Ukraine hit the Moskva with two Neptune missiles and sent it to the bottom of the Black Sea. Ukraine has continued to attack Russia’s naval forces in the Black Sea and particularly in Sevastopol with both Western supplied weapons and Ukraine’s indigenously developed Sea Drones. The results have been not only the sinking of the Moskva but the driving out of the Russian navy for all practical purposes from not only Sevastopol but the whole of the Black Sea. Snake Island was retaken and is no longer threatened. President Putin began his invasion with unquestioned control of the Black Sea, now he has scarcely any meaningful naval presence there. Russia’s prior control allowed them to stop the exportation of Ukraine’s grain through the Mediterranean, threatening starvation to millions of the world’s poor. Ukraine’s courage and ingenuity has for now freed up a shipping lane and Russia’s threat is no longer.
In addition to Javelin missiles and Turkish supplied drones, two and a half years ago the Ukrainians were chucking Molotov cocktails at Russian tanks and trucks. Now swarms of Ukrainian drones, many of them manufactured in Ukraine, are hunting down Russian tanks, armored vehicles, and even individual soldiers day and night. Whereas before, in a restriction that will be judged harshly by military and political historians, the Ukrainians were not allowed to use Western supplied weapons against Russian forces a foot within Russia’s borders, now Ukraine’s own indigenously designed and manufactured drones are hitting targets hundreds of miles beyond the frontlines. As usual, the Biden Administration reportedly asked Ukraine not to attack Russia’s oil industry, but by the end of March of this year it was estimated that these Ukrainian attacks deep into Russia had destroyed around 14% of Russia’s oil refining capacity. The vaunted Russia military that so many seem so intimidated by is largely defenseless. The Ukrainians have seen that prodigious amounts of rhetorical support will not save them when that support is only followed by a trickle of weaponry begrudgingly given, and with restrictions.
The Ukrainians are fighting and they are fighting with courage and ingenuity against a determined enemy with vastly superior resources. They are of course asking and perhaps even begging for whatever weapons the Western nations that benefit from the destruction of Russia’s military can deem to spare, but the Ukrainians are not waiting for us as we dither. The Ukrainians are not wringing their hands fretting over what Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, or J.D. Vance decide. Ukraine is acting and defending themselves and will continue to fight until the end, win or lose, with or without our support. What America needs to decide is do we want to do the right thing and what is in our own strategic best interests and truly be Ukraine’s ally and help Ukraine win, or do we want to continue to dither and trickle off a few weapons here and there from our vast stockpiles?
The Ukrainian people are covered with blood, but they have also covered themselves with glory. We should all recognize that and help right this wrong. We need to decide to be a true friend of freedom, and not just focus on what we are perceived to be.
Glory to Ukraine! Slava Ukraini!