Two years of war in Ukraine, and a terrible toll. A Ukrainian army partly decimated, with more than 70,000 dead and 120,000 wounded. On the Russian side, even heavier losses exceeded 300,000 killed or wounded. A front frozen for months, since the failure of the Ukrainian counter-offensive launched at the start of summer 2023, towns destroyed, like Avdiivka, recaptured by the Russians a few days ago. “Hold on,” we wrote a year ago. Stand in the face of the incredible brutality of the steamroller operated by Vladimir Putin. Stand up to the risk of public fatigue but above all to this fear, this “Munich moment” which paralyzes part of the European political class. Hold on, while the United States, stuck in a dangerous presidential election campaign, is no longer capable of fulfilling its aid commitments to Ukraine.
Volodymyr Zelensky’s last diplomatic tour to Berlin, Paris and Munich saved the essentials. Raise awareness, alert leaders, sound the alarm for his country but also – once again – for Europe, whose security is at stake. And for those who still doubted the dark designs of Vladimir Putin, the death of ‘Alexeï Navalny, on February 16, came to remind us that the Russian president, in power for a quarter of a century, is ready to do anything to ensure his longevity at the head of a weakened empire.
Stand up Europe! Wake up, bunch of herbivores, accustomed for too long to a security automatically ensured by Washington! Donald Trump’s thunderous declarations on February 10 on NATO chilled many of them with fear. In reality, it is high time that the Old Continent learned to rely on its own strengths. Certainly, the road will be long before freeing itself from the American umbrella. As for the famous “war economy”, promised by Emmanuel Macron in June 2022, it took too long to be put in place.
But the game is not yet over in Ukraine. The recent signing by the United Kingdom, Germany and France of bilateral security agreements with kyiv demonstrates the beginnings of a European revival. It is no longer a question of giving away a few stocks of shells, old tanks or pieces of missiles but of helping kyiv build a real defense industry. Able to produce within two years. But also in the immediate future, as there is an urgent need to provide the Ukrainian army with the ammunition and weapons essential to avoid the coup de grace that the Kremlin warlord dreams of delivering. “It’s like a boxing match, both fighters are exhausted, but with a shot of adrenaline, one can overcome the other,” assures a senior French officer. By not forgetting the maxim of Georges Clemenceau: “The one who is victorious is the one who can, a quarter of an hour longer than the adversary, believe that he is not defeated.” Volodymyr Zelensky will continue to fight for this quarter of an hour. With, hopefully, the support of Europe.
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