War in Ukraine is total war, and stakes are too high

February 24, 2022 is one of the darkest days in world history. With the war in Ukraine, Putin has demonstrated how quickly the fine line between good and evil is blurred, when those who once could have been conditionally considered human became inhuman in a matter of hours and days, from all-permissiveness and the ability to arbitrarily decide the fate of others in the temporarily occupied territories. Russia's war with Ukraine is not only the most serious geopolitical crisis since World War II, but also the greatest tragedy of the 21st century. But humanity will be ready to recognize this only with time. The level of cruelty of Moscow's terrorist hordes that present themselves as a regular army, the tremendous upheavals and terrible trials that have befallen to the Ukrainian people will horrify future historians who will come into possession of documents and information declassified after Ukraine's victory.

The "master of Russia," Putin, who had somehow calculated the possible risks and losses before this war, decided on February 24 to act like a reckless gambler to eliminate the statehood of Ukraine by a criminal decision, and he personally put the Russian Federation under the threat of destruction. Striving to become the master of the world, he will lose everything. But our Western allies and partners must recognize that any outcome other than Ukraine's victory will actually be a victory for the Russian Federation. Therefore, we would rather need supplies of tanks, military aircraft and modern artillery for Ukraine's victory.

In this sense, the collective West had good teachers - Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. They well knew how to deal with the evil empire. And nothing has changed since then. Because anything less than defeat will only encourage Putin to make new geopolitical adventures. Russia's rapprochement with Western civilization is impossible in the foreseeable future, as each time it ends in an even greater confrontation. The Russian Federation is a state of terrorists and criminals brainwashed by television propaganda. It is headed today by the world's number one terrorist, Putin, who has unlimited power over this country and does whatever he wants with its population, presenting it as an allegedly independent decision of the Russians themselves.

But from the very beginning Russian criminals have an advantage that needs to be liquidated. It is difficult to win a war against an aggressor if you cannot inflict the same damage deep in their territory as Russia does to Ukraine. Our allies have always avoided providing Ukrainians with long-range weapons. Therefore, for most Russians, despite their huge losses in manpower, consider the war in Ukraine like some kind of television show that takes place somewhere far away and does not affect them personally. Russians have to experience everything that Ukrainians have been experiencing for 11 months of war.

Moscow is conducting a campaign aimed at demoralizing the Ukrainian civilian population. And Russia continues to launch missile strikes on the territories of Ukraine that have already been liberated from Moscow's invaders. This guarantees Putin that Ukrainians will not be able to return to a normal way of life, constantly under the threat of murderous missile strikes. The response to this should be to reciprocate by striking at military targets in Russia itself. Russian strategic and military facilities - factories, bases, airfields, ships, ballistic missile launchers, and ammunition depots - should be destroyed.

If the Kremlin has chosen the path of "total war," it means that Russians must experience all its consequences. Ukraine needs lethal weapons in large quantities to finally equalize its true capabilities to fight Putin's terrorists. Because, figuratively speaking, this war cannot be won by fighting a defensive battle with one hand while the other is tied behind your back.

The war has been going on for too long. It should not be prolonged for many years, as Moscow wants. The calculation is very simple: the sooner the United States and the collective West provide Ukraine with all the necessary military means to defeat Putin, the less damage the Russian dictator can do to our country, and the less it will cost America and Europe to rebuild Ukraine's infrastructure. It is necessary to bring the Russian Federation to a critical point where it will never be able to attack anyone again. There are many arguments to support this, the main ones being the proven war crimes of the rascists, the genocide of the Ukrainian people, murder, systematic torture, rape of civilians and the kidnapping of children, which clearly confirm that the war concerns the entire human civilization, as it is waged against genocidal totalitarianism.

The West cannot afford for Ukraine to lose this unequal war. The battle between democracy and despotism must end in a crushing defeat for totalitarianism. And Ukrainians have already shown the whole world that freedom is worth fighting for, and that it is a huge motivator for victory that has no equal. Putin started playing his game, not realizing the consequences it would bring to Russia and to him personally. And Western countries have shown decisively that liberal democracies can stand up and, when necessary, take tough decisions to defeat despotism. But now it is time to act more decisively and faster, as the "Russian expansionist tumor" threatens not only Ukraine but the entire civilized world.

The leadership of the United States in the democratic world should be based on fully supporting Ukraine in the second phase of the Russian-Ukrainian war with all possible tools to achieve military success. Targeted, sustained military and economic assistance from America and its democratic allies can turn this war into one that Russia cannot win. Therefore, the best way to end this conflict is to provide Ukraine with the means of achieving it as soon as possible. Although the real end of the war will come when Ukraine finally becomes a NATO member.

Historically, Russians respect only strength and show nothing but contempt for weakness. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union regularly tried to test the resolve of the United States to see if it would show weakness. Russia's war in Ukraine has become such a new test of American resolve. If Putin sees any weakness or lack of determination and delay in making the decisions necessary for Ukraine, he will try to use it to his favor. Ukraine needs more decisive support in the form of assistance in building its strong defense capabilities. Russia's main weakness is its inability to accept the failure of the Soviet experiment and the failure of its attempt to take over Ukraine. In its imperial desire to subordinate Europe to its influence, Russia will become a European power with Ukraine, but without it, it will remain outside Europe.

Through his agents in international politics, Putin is trying to push the idea that a ceasefire is necessary for peace. Russia will, of course, immediately agree to this and at the same time demand that Ukraine abandon Crimea and those parts of eastern and southern Ukraine that Russia has occupied. That would leave these Ukrainian lands forever part of the Russian Federation. It would also jeopardize the European allies of the United States. Putin wants to play the long game, and if he is not defeated in Ukraine, he will continue eyeing all the other territories that were once part of the Russian Empire or the Soviet Union.

In the new round of the Russian-Ukrainian war, it is becoming clear that Ukraine must move from primarily defending its lands to fully liberating them. To do this, the Ukrainian army needs radically different offensive capabilities to make the cost of a Russian invasion too high for them. The current situation is precisely like that, because decision makers in America and Europe have only given Ukraine a fraction of what it has asked for, as they were afraid to provoke Russia. However, this hesitation to go further in helping the Ukrainians and stopping Putin is exactly what provokes this despot to constantly escalate and it can lead the world to World War III.

Since 2022, Ukrainians have learned a lot, as has the entire democratic world. And it has become quite clear that Putin greatly exaggerated the effectiveness and power of the Russian army. And the low morale and poor efficiency of Russian troops, along with their lack of any ability to maintain supply lines and meet the needs of their troops on the front lines, were negative factors that did not work in the Russians' favor. The Kremlin started the war because it saw the West as weak and separated. Brexit greatly reinforced these feelings for Putin, and he saw it as an illusory opportunity to invade Ukraine, because all the signs were perfect for him. However, Russia's war with Ukraine has highlighted what Moscow feared - that the Russian Federation itself is weak.

Right now, Putin is not ready to accept anything less than a complete Russian victory over Ukraine, because the alternative would be to allow a powerful, very vigorous, fervently anti-Russian Western liberal democracy to exist on Russia's border. Talks of a compromise peace or a return to the status quo ante bellum are not even considered for a dictator. The war in Ukraine is a total war, and the stakes are too high.

Therefore, the war must end with the complete defeat of the Russian armed forces and their expulsion from all of Ukraine. The most important results of Putin's war should be the return of the Ukrainian state to its internationally recognized borders and Ukraine's accession to NATO. This is the only way to guarantee Ukraine and the West that neither Putin nor any other Russian insane tyrant will ever repeat their attempts to seize other people's lands using military force.

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About the author: Viktor Kaspruk, journalist

The editors do not always share the opinions expressed by the blog authors.