Comment of Ambassador of Ukraine to the UK Natalia Galibarenko on the article “Theatre of war”, published in the Economist on May 27, 2017

 

“Weakness of attitude becomes

weakness of character”

Albert Einstein

 

Weakness in belief is the best recipe for the eventual defeat. It is so much easy to recognize that Ukraine and Russia are trapped and just pronounce Minsk-2 dead. But it is wrong because it will open a “pandora box” for Russia’s further expansion onto territories which belong to sovereign states. This is what Russia wants and that is why it is trying to use its brainwashed proponents in the West.

1. WHO STARTED?

It is a shame to say that MOST people caught up in the war in the East of Ukraine do not care about who started first. Can you imagine that you start FIRST waging a war on YOUR territory against another country? It is nothing but ABSURD.

The whole civilized world and Ukrainians in the East who are free from Russian psycho-manipulative brainwashing tactics (in many cases it is not their fault) perfectly know that Russians annexed Crimea and invaded Donbas. Tons of photos, videos, intelligence data and multiple witnesses have made it clear.

2. Minsk agreements

Minsk agreements were designed not to MASK DEFEAT of the Ukrainian army but to STOP Russian aggression. We can argue how effective they are, but definitely, if implemented, they will bring peace to the East.

3. Lack of military power and Western support

Ukrainian army in 2014 and nowadays is two different stories and Russians also know it. Ukrainian Armed Forces have been restructured, modernized and significantly adapted to the current needs. This is ongoing process and we are sincerely grateful to the Western states, including the United Kingdom, for providing us with the needed defence planning, developing combat capabilities of the Armed Forces, as well as training of Ukrainian military personnel. It would be wrong to “open the cards” but rest assured that Ukraine is not let alone fight on its side as it is not only about getting lethal weapon from our Western partners or not. The mosaic is much more complex.

4. Refuse from Minsk, “lose a swatch of land” and get rid of a frozen conflict

We will never do this. If someone thinks that Russians will stop there – they are too naive. Donbas is not Putin’s main goal, it is a leverage. The ultimate goal is to gain Ukraine and to restore the mini version of the Soviet Union. Our Western partners understand this and jointly work with us not to allow Ukraine be conquered. That is why sanctions against Russia are rolled over again and again.

In the meantime, I want to assure that Ukrainians will fight till the end for their soil, for their families, for their kids. That is what Ukrainian patriots are doing now on a daily basis. The lives of thousands of civilians, many of whom are women and children, as well as brave Ukrainian soldiers killed from Russian weapons don’t give us a moral right to even think about stopping our fight for our land.