A deluge of shells, suicide drones, missiles. From kyiv to Kharkiv, from Pokrovsk to Zaporizhia, Russian attacks in Ukraine have increased in intensity since the end of December. Military buildings, residential neighborhoods, civilian infrastructures… Whatever the target, the important thing for General-in-Chief Vladimir Putin is to destroy, to kill, to create fear, to further undermine the morale of a Ukrainian people exhausted by almost two years of fighting. Less than three months before an unlosable election, the Russian president is pushing his advantage to bend this Ukraine which has resisted him since the first day.
This war of civilization, which pits a fledgling democracy against a vengeful and bloodthirsty dictatorship, is taking place in Europe, less than 2,500 kilometers from Paris. For a long time, the free and democratic world has taken up the cause of the 40 million Ukrainians. Mobilizing 250 billion euros in humanitarian, military or economic aid. Multiplying promises and assuring Volodymyr Zelensky of full support. Sanctioning Russia and its leaders. Ukraine will win, it was said a few months ago. Ukraine resisted but did not win. Lack of ammunition, lack of weapons arriving on time, lack of additional commitments from a West which looks elsewhere.
In a recent brilliant text, the historian Françoise Thom rightly recalls this terrible episode of the German invasion of Finland in November 1939. An attack which initially came up against the heroic resistance of the Finnish people. Finally, recalls Françoise Thom, “on March 11 [1940], France and Great Britain, who for months had been discussing the form of assistance to be provided to Helsinki, officially promised their aid to Finland if it requested it: it was planned to send a Allied expeditionary force from March 15. But on March 13, the armistice was signed. Finland received words, but no weapons. Edouard Daladier, then head of the French government, confided about this missed meeting – which cost him his job : “The terrible thing is that we are pursuing a great power policy, and we are not a great power. “The Empire is just bullshit.”
In five months, Europeans will go to vote. An election in time of war(s). An election which must remind us of the words of Simone Veil, when she became the first president of the European Parliament, in 1979. “On the world map, the borders of totalitarianism have extended so widely that the islets of freedom are surrounded by these regimes where force reigns. Our Europe is one of these islands.” Ukraine, a candidate for membership in the European Union, is also one of these islands. For it to remain so, it is high time to massively accelerate aid to Ukraine, shipments of missiles, shells, Taurus and other F-16s. And show Vladimir Putin that Europe is not sales pitch.
* “The paralysis of the will”, by Françoise Thom, Desk Russia, January 7, 2024.
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