While the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, is calling for the massive delivery of arms in order to resist Russia’s imminent attack in the Donbass region, Pierre Servent, a specialist in defense and military strategy issues and author of fifty shades of war (Robert Laffont) believes that this call must be answered, Ukraine being only the first stage of Vladimir Putin’s hegemonic will.
L’Express: Do the war crimes committed by Russia and the resistance force of Ukraine compel Westerners to provide the aid requested by Volodymyr Zelensky?
Peter Servent: Yes, especially since the fall of Ukraine is not inevitable. After 45 days of fighting, one cannot but be struck by the resistance and resilience of this nation. And insofar as the advent of a new fascism, which can be described as Putinian, is being played out, Westerners must absolutely step up their military aid to Ukraine.
There is already substantive work that has been carried out in this direction, in particular with the sending by the United States of sensitive weapons such as kamikaze drones, but we must go upmarket with the delivery of heavier weapons. . The difficulty nevertheless lies in the supply, the Donbass region, where the next fighting will take place, is located very far east, about 1000 kilometers from the Polish border, while the Russians are only a hundred of kilometres. Nevertheless, I am convinced that we must stop being afraid of Vladimir Putin and psychologically submitting to his hegemony.
So the fear of a direct war with Vladimir Putin is no longer an obstacle?
It is a real mistake to put oneself in Vladimir Putin’s hand and follow his speech. There is clearly a red line that should not be crossed, that of an intervention by NATO countries in Ukraine, unless they want to start a third world war. That said, we are not obliged to lower our heads, to submit to a new totalitarian hegemony.
The talk of a trapped Russia is grotesque, no one can encircle a country of 17 million square kilometers. We are in a desire for hegemony, and when the Ukrainians say that they are at the forefront of the new Russian project, they are right. The logic of helping Ukrainians die as late as possible is therefore no longer acceptable, it must be understood that civilization is at stake. The least that can be done is to provide them with the full range of possible armaments so that Ukraine continues to hold its own against the Russian army, which has shown surprising weaknesses. In a way, despite the atrocities it commits, Russia has many weaknesses.
“Either we lie down or we stand up. I think we have to go for the second option”
And what about the nuclear threat wielded by Russia?
The tactical nuclear threat is difficult to employ on the Ukrainian ground. It should not be ruled out, but I believe that when faced with major issues, either you lie down, as the Europeans did in the face of Nazi Germany in the 1930s, or you stand up. I believe we have to opt for the second option. I repeat, we must stop being afraid.
Because Vladimir Putin, like Adolf Hitler, is someone who never negotiates…
Absolutely, since the beginning of January I explain that there has never been a diplomatic sequence. Several voices felt that it was necessary to give the Donbass to Vladimir Putin, but it is not to understand what it is about. If we give him the Donbass, he won’t stop. There will be no Putin-Zelensky handshake, this pattern does not exist in Putin’s thinking.
The world that the Russian president has opened up is scary, but that’s no reason to be weak. We must be able to do today what we were unable to do in the past, because if history does not repeat itself, it is there to help us.
What kind of weapons does Ukraine want?
She asks for tanks, especially T-72s, which Ukrainian tankers know and are able to use without having to undergo training. It also requires armored infantry fighting vehicles, drones, S300 surface-to-air systems and then planes.
What is France’s position on these demands?
France very quickly supplied fuel and medicine, before going upmarket, by supplying equipment protecting against NRBC (nuclear, radiological, biological, chemical) attacks, and Milan anti-tank systems. Within the European Union, France is the country that maintains the link with Vladimir Putin. No doubt it should be done, even if I think it is useless.
In any case, Ukraine is asking France to play this role. Paris is therefore more discreet about its military contribution than other countries, because of this distribution of roles. Thus, one could say, to simplify, that the American Joe Biden plays the “bad cop” and the Frenchman Emmanuel Macron the “good cop”. But the general attitude that the West must adopt is the first.