The views expressed by contributors are their own and not the view of The Hill

Ukrainian defense adviser: Free world needs to do more

by Anatolii Pinchuk, opinion contributor - 03/14/22 8:00 AM ET

One would be hard pressed to find someone unaware of the current crisis in Ukraine. This full-scale Russian aggression has started a war designed to destroy the nation, state, and people of Ukraine. However, this war, or “special military operation” as its architect calls it, is a struggle much greater than that between Russia and Ukraine. This is a war between two possible futures: one a totalitarian world, governed by authoritarian oligarchic cliques that oppress and dehumanize their own people — the other, a free world that is governed by the people and strives for human and civil liberties.

This struggle is unfolding before our very eyes. It is on us, the Free World, to rise to the challenge and defeat the threat to our future.

{mosads}The Ukrainian people have met the challenge. As Russia began to posture for invasion, western pundits and Kremlin yes-men predicted the fall of Ukraine within three to four days. Putin expected the Ukrainian military to collapse and her people to welcome his ‘liberating’ armies with flowers and cheers. But Putin was wrong. Not only did he underestimate the Ukrainian military, he misunderstood the Ukrainian people.

The 2014 Revolution of Dignity on the Maidan instilled in Ukrainians not only the spirit of liberty and the values of the free world, but the confidence to defend these principles.

The Ukrainian State was not the “Nazi junta” established by western intelligence services that Putin claimed it to be, but an embodiment of a national character forged on the Maidan in 2014. Putin has faced a Ukrainian national resistance — a highly motivated army and a people willing to defend the liberty they have worked so hard to gain.

By attacking Ukraine, Putin not only challenged the values of the Ukrainian people, but also those of the Free World.

—

RELATED OP-EDS FROM THE HILL

—

Western leaders have realized that this is not just a war over Ukraine, but over the future of human civilization. Putin’s desire to construct a new Russian empire, and his initial troubles in Ukraine, have caused him to double down on his aggression and threaten the world with nuclear war. He has attempted to scare countries away from supporting Ukraine with threats of “consequences you have never seen” and has singled out Sweden and Finland as being his next military targets if they dare to pursue a similar path to Ukraine.

But the world has not balked at this chance to confront authoritarianism.

The response to these threats has been crippling sanctions against Russia and tremendous military and humanitarian support for Ukraine. Countries have moved away from their historic trends to support this cause, as Germany and Sweden provided lethal aid, and Switzerland broke its neutrality to impose sanctions and freeze Russian assets. Japan and Australia imposed the same strict sanctions on Russia, and Singapore cut financing for Russian deals.

{mossecondads}Even oil companies such as BP and Shell are exiting their Russian oil and gas operations. As Putin tries to create a coalition of Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) countries, most notably Belarus, to destroy Ukraine militarily, he instead is creating a solid coalition of free nations intent on protecting themselves from his authoritarian regime.

The world’s response has been unprecedented, but it must still be stronger.

The world has a chance to neutralize a dangerous enemy — at the hands of Ukrainians and without starting World War III, as President Biden said.

Even now, Russia is launching a new offensive on Ukraine, one focused not only on breaking its military resistance, but on breaking its people. Civilians have become targets in Russia’s ruthless bombings of cities such as Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Mariupol. As this war continues and the brutality of the attacks increase, these deaths and losses will grow.

We need a level of support that will allow Ukraine not only to effectively confront the Russian army, but also to defeat it.

It will take some time — maybe several months.

What is happening with the transfer of Soviet-made fighter jets to Ukraine is unacceptable. They should have already been handed over to Ukraine. Only then will Ukrainians be able to liberate their lands from occupation — and also help other countries threatened by Russia, and perhaps the Russians themselves.

This war must end, and that end must be a complete victory of the Free World — a victory of truth over lies, democracy over autocracy, dignity over humiliation, a victory that exemplifies the values displayed on the Maidan, the same values written into the constitution at the foundations of free societies.

We need a victory that ensures the future not only for Ukraine, but for the world.

Anatolii Pinchuk is a special adviser to Ukrainian Minister of Defense Oleksii Reznikov. Pinchuk is also president of the all-Ukrainian NGO “Ukrainian Strategy” and head of the board of the Eastern Europe Security Institute.