Photo: Ukrainian journalist confronts Boris Johnson over closing the skies over Ukraine
Source: Yahoo News UK
Volodymyr Zelenskyy is becoming the most popular leader in the North Atlantic space. The President of Ukraine, along with the Ukrainian people, became a symbol of invincibility and patriotism after media published the news about the refusal of the President of Ukraine to evacuate from Kyiv. According to The Washington Post, the White House offered such assistance to prevent Zelenskyy from being captured or killed by Russian occupation forces. The President of Ukraine replied that he needed ammunition, not a ride. Today, Zelenskyy has shown himself to be a strong world-class leader, facing the challenge of the existence of his state in the face of large-scale Russian military aggression.
Weapons are what is most needed to repel this Russian invasion. The Ukrainians also pinned great hopes on NATO as a security organization. After all, until now the Alliance has remained the only umbrella of the Euro-Atlantic security space. According to sociological research by the Rating group, support for Ukraine's accession to NATO among the Ukrainian population is the highest in the history of polls: 76% support joining NATO.
However, these hopes have been shattered by the recent decision of NATO's North Atlantic Council, which has shown the inability of political leaders to make responsible strategic decisions. Today, weak leaders of powerful countries make weak decisions. According to the co-founder of the Ukrainian Institute for the Future Yuriy Romanenko, today there is only one lion in the West – Zelenskyy, who is not afraid to call a spade a spade. And most importantly, his messages are beginning to penetrate deeper and deeper into the minds of Western citizens. «The corrupt Western elite has thrown Ukraine to Russia, believing in advance that Moscow would win in a few days», Romanenko wrote on his profile. Today, about 74 percent of Americans say the United States and its NATO allies should close the skies over Ukraine. Similarly, 80% of Americans surveyed said the United States should stop buying Russian oil. Moreover, 81% of Americans believe that Washington should impose additional sanctions on Russia. However, NATO leaders still avoid closing the skies over Ukraine and leave Ukrainian cities vulnerable to missile and air strikes by Russia. According to Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Dmitry Kuleba, if the skies over Ukraine are closed for Russian aviation flights, this will significantly change the course of the war and will help resolve a number of issues, including humanitarian ones. Currently, a number of Ukrainian cities are under blockade, and the green corridors agreed upon by the Ukrainian and Russian delegations have been thwarted by Russia. In addition, bombardments continue throughout the country, hundreds of Ukrainians become victims every day. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Russians have killed more than 2,000 Ukrainians.
After the NATO Defense Ministers Summit, Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated: «All NATO intelligence is well aware of the enemy's plans. They also reaffirmed that Russia wants to continue the offensive… Knowing that new strikes and casualties are imminent, NATO deliberately decided not to close the skies over Ukraine… You had to think about the people. About humanity. And what did you think about at that summit? All the people who will die from this day will also die because of you. Because of your weakness. Because of your disunity», Zelenskyy said. Ukraine received only 50 tons of diesel fuel through NATO's procurement system. Without choosing his words, the President of Ukraine said: «Probably, that we could burn the Budapest Memorandum. To burn better. But it has already burned for us. In the fire of Russian troops». Thus, NATO is still trying to avoid a clash with Russia. The North Atlantic Alliance is turning a blind eye to the bombing of peaceful Ukrainian cities, the capture of Ukrainian nuclear power plants by Russian troops, and the conduct of hostilities in the immediate vicinity of power units. As well as Russia's piracy in the Black Sea, the attack on civilian ships and the crash of Romanian fighter jets and helicopters. Currently, the official version of the accident is «bad weather».
If NATO is so afraid to protect the population of Ukraine because of Russia's threats to use Russian nuclear weapons, then the Baltic countries will also not be defended, as well as Poland and Romania, because this would lead to a direct clash with the Russian Federation. If Ukraine falls, NATO member countries will be able to experience it. Jens Stoltenberg, as well as Joe Biden, say they will defend every inch of Allied territory. There is an obvious contradiction here, because if NATO's task is to avoid a direct clash with Russia, then what will change in the event of an attack on an ally? But, if the member states of the North Atlantic Alliance are ready to defend their allies, despite the nuclear weapons of the Russian Federation, then the Western countries, which have capabilities that are many times superior to Ukrainian ones, they just leave Ukraine face to face with Russia. In this case, NATO turns a blind eye to Putin's crimes, the deaths of thousands of Ukrainians, in the hope of defeating Russia by the hands of the Ukrainian people. Thus, when NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg says that «we do not want this war to go beyond Ukraine», it means NATO has chosen Ukraine as a sacred sacrifice for Russia in order to avoid war with Moscow. Of course, NATO could not agree to Putin's ultimatum, which would mean the surrender of the Alliance. Russia's response was large-scale aggression against Ukraine.
Russia is opening a Pandora's box, and the West is still not preventing it. As the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba noted: «When NATO behaves as it does now, it only encourages the Russians and shows them that NATO is really strong in words, not in deeds. There is a political consent in NATO among Allies to help Ukraine as much as they can. But the alliance itself, as an organization, has essentially disappeared, we must be honest, Ukrainians must clearly and honestly see that NATO is not really what Ukrainians imagined it to be, at least for now. If they change their position tomorrow, well done. But so far their position does not command respect». If NATO does not close the skies over Ukraine, in the coming days the world community will witness the mass death of civilians in Ukraine. Russia has failed to capture Ukraine in a matter of days and is now using scorched earth tactics, as it was during the war in Syria. Ukraine will survive. The question remains - at what price. Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted that the whole continent will know Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Volnovakha, Mariupol, Mykolayiv and many other beautiful Ukrainian cities that have withstood the worst invasion since World War II. However, the whole continent will also remember the reaction of Europe, NATO's decision to close or not to close the skies over Ukraine.
Now it turns out that the only guarantor of the state's security from armed conflict is not the North Atlantic Alliance, but the presence of nuclear weapons. Initially, NATO countries refused to impose sanctions on Russia. Then - to provide military support to Ukraine. Now they are paying billions of dollars for their mistakes, and Ukraine is paying with thousands of lives. Indeed, today Ukraine is the only of all countries that protects not only itself from Russian military aggression, but also protects the eastern flank of NATO and the whole of Europe.
How many more mistakes must the leaders of the West make in order to learn the lesson and understand they must fight for lifestyle and values they profess, otherwise all this can be lost in the blink of an eye?
Sources:
1. ЗАГАЛЬНОНАЦІОНАЛЬНЕ ОПИТУВАННЯ: УКРАЇНА В УМОВАХ ВІЙНИ (1 БЕРЕЗНЯ 2022), 01.03.2022,
URL: https://ratinggroup.ua/research/ukraine/obschenacionalnyy_opros_ukraina_v_usloviyah_voyny_1_marta_2022.html
2. Romanenko Dreams&Nightmare Show, 05.03.2022,
URL: https://t.me/romanenko_dns/9142
3. Понад 70% американців підтримують закриття неба над Україною – опитування, 05.03.2022,
URL: https://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2022/03/5/7328359/
4. «НАТО усунулось від допомоги Україні» − Кулеба, 05.03.2022,
URL: https://www.radiosvoboda.org/a/news-kuleba-nato-ukrayina/31737572.html