First and last anniversary
One year ago, Vladimir Putin’s euphemistic “special military operation” was launched in Ukraine, forever altering the lives of millions. Perhaps most notable is the pointlessness of the suffering. Putin’s tanks didn’t roll into Ukrainian territory to defeat a sinister regime full of neo-Nazis, despite the Russian despot’s absurd and insistent claims to the contrary. There was no human rights violation to be stopped, no legitimate claim to self-defense. Even in such extreme situations, war should be the last resort, the only remaining option once all others have been exhausted, a decision made with the utmost care and solemnity.
To bring that hell to Earth in the absence of those forceful reasons is beyond absurd. To do so lightly, out of an apparent overconfidence and as a gimmick to distract from political turmoil at home and project some sort of strongman image abroad, as Putin has done, is beyond sadistic. Nothing will justify his actions, either against the people of Ukraine or the people of Russia. After all, the fool’s grand designs have done irreparable harm not only to his neighbor but his own country.
In one year, more than 100,000 Ukrainian troops and more than 8,000 civilians lost their lives. Another 100,000 Russian troops and tens of thousands more mercenaries, a decent chunk of whom were never properly trained or even informed that they were going off to war, or were recruited from prisons, are dead, nothing but cannon fodder for Putin’s aspirations. We can’t bring any of these people back, but we must stop these numbers from rising.
That means that, by the time we’ve next spun around the sun, this war should be over. That’s likely not going to happen with either military crushing the other, and Ukraine certainly won’t and shouldn’t stop defending its territorial integrity. That means Putin must be forced to the negotiating table to engage in a mediated withdrawal, facing both crushing economic consequences and the international community’s steadfast support of Ukraine, including with military armaments. No more bloodshed.