Rusty tank armor vs. pink butterfly illusions: clash of realities

The Russians have issued themselves a license to kill Ukrainians, and they don’t need a casus belli, and if they do, it's only for conversations with Trump, who openly announces Russian strikes on Ukraine. The Russians have everything worked out — generations of well-trained war ideologists will quickly explain to you that killing people, even infants in their cribs during a massive missile-and-drone attack, is an ancient, sacred right of the Russian people with their grand culture of Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, and Tchaikovsky.

Looking at this picture of burning Kyiv, Donald Trump will likely just say: “Well, they hit the bombers. Now they’ve been bombed back properly.” Trump ignores the fact that Russia has been killing Ukrainians for twelve years now, and has spent over three years intensely destroying Ukrainian cities with brutal bombardments using those same bombers. It’s as if Franklin Delano Roosevelt, during Britain’s defense, had said something like: “You say the Luftwaffe is bombing British cities and destroyed central London? Well, the Brits hit the Messerschmitt factory. Now they’re paying for it.”

The democratic world has turned out not to be what we imagined, a world where values are unshakable. With leaders who, under no circumstances, side with murderers and destroyers. Those who don’t mask their fear and greed behind a desire to profit handsomely.

At one time, that same Britain “hung by a thread.” The defenders of the island lacked even standard bolt-action rifles, and they armed the home guard with metal pikes. But Churchill didn’t agree to Hitler’s terms to divide the world, nor did he justify the occupation of European countries with Goebbels-style propaganda narratives.

The democratic world has proven weak, not only physically, but morally as well. One of the first statements made by newly elected Polish President Karol Nawrocki struck a blow to Ukraine’s hopes for a European future. He assured his Hungarian colleagues that he currently opposes Ukraine’s accession to the European Union.

So, Nawrocki and Orbán are against Ukraine joining the EU. Trump and his circle are against Ukraine joining NATO. It’s not the right time. Russia’s interests must be taken into account.

It would be wrong to say that Ukraine is of no use to Western partners at all. They do have some interest in Ukraine. Trump — in Ukraine’s natural resources, an agreement for the joint exploitation of which has already been signed. Nawrocki and his like-minded Poles likely see Ukraine as a buffer state, whose main purpose is to keep aggressive Russia at a distance from their neat and tidy homes. And to forever absorb the blows from the modern empire of evil. Just so a Russian tank doesn’t one night, and they often act at night or dawn, as happened at the start of the full-scale invasion, suddenly show up in the yard of Polish President Karol Nawrocki. Perhaps Karol hopes that Western partners will defend his country. God willing. But Poland has already seen this in its history — decades of occupation, first by Hitler’s Nazis, then by Russian communists.

Ukraine has been acting as a bumper, a buffer, and a breakwater for the twelfth year now, absorbing Russia’s blows. Even NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte unexpectedly stated that a halt in hostilities in Ukraine poses risks for NATO countries, because it would allow Russia to stockpile weapons for a future attack on Alliance members.

Europe’s "breakwater" continues to stand firm despite Russia’s brutal frontal assaults and deep-strike attacks, in which Russia uses strategic aviation, cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, and repurposed Iranian killer drones against sleeping civilians.

Kyiv was once again engulfed in flames. And in my view, the great Western civilization still hasn’t grasped that showing weakness on NATO’s part only increases the risks for its own members. After all, Putin has already voiced his demand for the countries that once saw Russian tanks roll into their capitals: NATO must retreat to its 1997 borders.

So, our dear Western neighbors, are you ready to hand over your weapons to the Russians and march into Russian concentration camps? Think I’m trying to scare you? Not at all. I’m simply reminding you of an old proverb, as ancient as European civilization itself, first spoken by the Greeks: “Everything is possible, because everything has already happened.” Just remember what the Russians did to you in Katyn. And why they never returned the remains of the presidential plane that carried Lech Kaczyński and nearly all of Poland’s leadership.

Russian drones and missiles are already entering the airspace of EU and NATO countries. And this causes a certain discomfort among Western politicians, those too afraid to give their military the order to shoot down what ought to be shot down under international law. Meanwhile, the newly elected president of Poland, in unison with his Hungarian counterpart, Prime Minister Orbán, says he is currently against Ukraine joining the European Union. One has to wonder — where would Poland be today if, back then, the French or the Germans had opposed its entry into the EU? I remember what Poland looked like after the collapse of communism. I recall the long columns of trucks from Ukraine carrying goods. And Poles almost throwing themselves under the wheels, shouting, “Co masz na sprzedaż?” For depreciated Polish złoty, people in Poland bought everything, from sausage to color TVs made at Lviv’s Electron factory. And just a few years later, they were welcomed into the EU. Now, the newly elected president of Poland, from the heights of his current geopolitical comfort, speaks out against Ukraine’s membership in the European Union.

The grain issue, which could be resolved in a way that serves Polish farmers, still outweighs questions of defense and the basic instinct of self-preservation. But I thank Mr. Nawrocki nonetheless for his stated intention to continue supporting Ukraine. At the very least, he understands that a buffer must be strong and capable of absorbing blows. Many blows. Over many years.

Once again, Kyiv was burning under Russian fire. Credit where it’s due, the Russians truly know how to destroy civilization. To scorch blooming cities. To kill people. I saw how the Russian army destroyed Bakhmut, a city where, even under shelling, utilities kept working, hospitals were running, trash was collected on time, and roses were planted along the central boulevard. But the soot-blackened “Russian world” was already advancing on a city where the water still ran, the lights were on, markets were open, and kindergartens still welcomed children. Now, that “Russian world” is moving toward the land of “colorful butterflies”. Toward Europe. A world of bright illusions facing a world of rusted armor, diesel fumes, and the stench of Russian-burned cities.

There will be no moral of the story here. Because many in Europe still believe that if Ukraine falls, Russia will politely stop at the appropriate border and greet its new neighbors — Polish, Slovak, Hungarian, Romanian, and Moldovan border guards — with a formal military salute. In the West, some think Ukrainians are too traumatized by war to be objective. Even the articles about this war, according to many Western editors, should be written by “unbiased” people — that is, foreigners. Well, there’s not much to be done about that. Everyone has their own brain in their own head. But you need to know: you had, and still have, a chance to save your world. Without Ukraine, it will be much harder to do. Nearly impossible.

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About the author. Dmytro Tuzov, journalist.

The editorial team does not always share the opinions expressed by blog or column authors.