Is West fighting Russia to the last Ukrainian?

The longer the war in Ukraine lasts, the more atrocities against civilians are exposed, and the murkier the prospects for victory and peace become. Western publics remain staunchly supportive of Ukraine’s valiant efforts, but they can become inured to the graphic depictions of gruesome savagery, such as the newly discovered mass grave that could hold as many as 9,000 bodies near the devastated city of Mariupol. Attention spans are inevitably domestic. The pivotal question now, however, is whether the U.S. and NATO will marshal a more muscular response to Russia’s massively superior firepower.

Stymied in his efforts to capture Kyiv and replace Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy with a puppet, Vladimir Putin is now concentrating on two battles — one in the energy-rich Donbas region, the other seeking to establish a permanent land bridge to Crimea and deny Ukraine access to the Sea of Azov. Odessa is the ultimate prize. That would effectively landlock and cripple Ukraine’s economy, leaving it as a non-viable rump.

To challenge Russia for control of the Donbas, it is urgent that NATO provide Ukraine with battle tanks, tracked howitzers, multiple-launch rocket systems, infantry fighting vehicles and armoured troop carriers. Friday’s announcement that Canada has sent M777 howitzers and ammunition to Ukraine was welcome news.

If Ukraine is to win, integrated land and air operations are also vital. For weeks the U.S. and NATO prevaricated about sending Mig29s to Ukraine lest that be seen as “escalatory’’ and could provoke Putin — pussyfooting about an enemy who has no compunctions about missile attacks on civilian apartments, hospitals, schools and train stations, the latter with at least one missile despicably labelled “For the children.” Given Putin’s intensified attacks in Eastern and Southern Ukraine, the U.S. has belatedly approved shipments of helicopters and unspecified fighter aircraft parts, it was announced this week.

Anti-ship missiles like the Harpoon are also needed to deprive Russia of the land bridge it seeks. The Russian navy cannot continue to use the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov to assault cities and ports indiscriminately along Ukraine’s coast. Patriot batteries are desperately required to deploy against medium-range ballistic missiles. NATO should also impose an embargo on the Russian navy in the Black Sea before it becomes a Russian lake.

Putin invaded Ukraine to erase the identity of its people, just as Josef Stalin tried to do in 1932-33 when he murdered and starved as many as five million Ukrainians in the atrocity known as the Holodomor. That slaughter must not be repeated in this century.

The Ukrainians have scored significant victories — pushing Russia forces back from Kyiv and sinking the Russian missile-firing flagship, Moskva, prompting an embarrassed Russia to retaliate with murderous missile attacks against such major cities as Kyiv and Lviv.

The western response has been less than sterling. Supplies from the U.S. are finite, which is why Washington is putting more emphasis on “co-ordinating” inputs from its allies. Logistics in a war zone pose a persistent challenge. Most of the West’s arms will not give the Ukrainians a technological edge over the Russian military but they will at least help make up for the shortage of military supplies.

NATO unwittingly painted itself in a corner by vacillating over Ukraine’s membership and giving Putin the green light to invade at will. As Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has noted, Germany and France were mainly responsible for blocking efforts in 2008. Each put narrow self-interest with Russia ahead of values NATO purports to embrace. The U.S., staunchly supported by Canada and several other allies, had wanted to approve Ukraine’s application.

Now that Sweden and Finland are considering applying for NATO membership, surely Ukraine, fighting single-handedly to deter Russia, has equivalent rights. Why should the West succumb to Putin’s one-dimensional view of history? Any legitimacy to his contention that Ukraine should be part of Mother Russia was obviated by his illegal, unprovoked attack.

Notwithstanding essentially symbolic resolutions condemning the invasion and suspending Russia from the UN’S Human Rights Council, the abject failure of the bloated United Nations to uphold the sanctity and inviolability of national sovereignty — its most basic principle — confirms the institution’s irrelevance on global conflict crises.

Since the UN is paralyzed by Security Council vetoes perhaps it is time to consider establishing a new international body involving those who cherish democratic values and are prepared to counter flagrant violations of global peace, exposing and isolating the authoritarian and repressive axis of evil — Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela and their ilk — for what they are.

The U.S. has certainly led the charge on imposing sanctions and equipping Ukraine, albeit “too little, too late,” according to many experts, but the resolute leadership expected from a U.S. president has been lacking. Joe Biden is befuddled and engulfed by major issues at home — record rates of inflation, urban crime and illegal immigration — and his poll numbers continue to sag. Normally presidents get a “rally round the flag” bounce from involvement in global conflict but polls indicate Americans disapprove of his handling of the Ukraine crisis.

Biden was dramatically upstaged by Boris Johnson’s surprise visit to Kyiv, where he strolled the main streets with President Zelenskyy and shook hands warmly with city residents. Several foreign leaders followed but, when asked about a possible appearance by Biden, his press secretary, Jen Psaki said, “We are not sending the president to Ukraine,” begging the question: who is really in charge in Washington?

Some wonder why the U.S. has not been more upfront about what it sees as the ultimate goal in Ukraine instead of deflecting the question obliquely to the Ukrainians and avoiding explicit demands of its own on Russia.

Vladimir Putin has no time for diplomatic entreaties. Like any bully, he will only respond to credible shows of strength. The Ukrainians deserve much better from the West. Instead of hand-wringing about the risks of escalation or provocation, the U.S. and its NATO allies must quickly bolster and broaden commitments to defend Ukraine’s sovereign territory against Putin’s ruthless new battle plan, and firmly compel Russia to stand down. Otherwise, we risk witnessing an effort by the West “to fight Russia to the last Ukrainian.”