Ukrainians are united in their plea for the weapons that they desperately need to liberate territory recently occupied by Russian forces and to counter the continuing Russian threat from the air. Across the political spectrum, from current President Volodymyr Zelensky to his predecessor Petro Poroshenko, Ukraine has made its case to the West for air-defense and missile-defense systems, aircraft, tanks and other weapons to protect its territory effectively.
And it seemed as though Kyiv was starting to hear the right messages from Washington DC and Berlin, but the message has not translated into action, and the weapons it needs have still not arrived.
While the Javelins and NLAW portable anti-tank systems since delivered by the UK and USA, and the Stinger missiles provided by Lithuania a month prior to the start of the war, have played a major role in the containment of Russian ground operations, it is Ukraine’s own reserve of weapons that have proved crucial in disrupting Russian plans to take over Ukraine within three days of its beginning its invasion.
The aircraft, air-defense systems and tanks employed during the first month of resistance were all Ukrainian. Today, Ukrainian needs more of these types of weapons if it is to prevent Russia from digging in around captured territories and establishing a long-term front on Ukrainian soil.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s partners are in hesitation mode. The shadow of an unwillingness to annoy Moscow hangs heavily over Berlin, Paris, Brussels and even Washington DC, despite Western promises of support for Ukraine as it fights for its very existence. Although leaders such as Joe Biden and Boris Johnson have delivered powerful speeches, Western leaders are reluctant to ramp up their current level of military support to the next, necessary stage. If Ukraine’s partners do not satisfy its requests for more arms, they will be making a critical mistake in their pro-Ukrainian strategy.
What we are witnessing is the inability of international players to address a conflict involving a state that belongs to the nuclear club. It is time for leaders of the free world to acknowledge today’s new reality and abandon any lingering hope that Putin can be appeased through diplomacy and dialogue alone. He has demonstrated again and again the mentality of a thug who only responds to strength. If supporters of an independent Ukraine are able to acknowledge this fact and act on it, the course of events will be significantly altered.
There is no good argument for denying Ukraine the weapons that it is requesting. A look at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s weapons trade database reveals, for example, that Germany and Italy have exported aircraft to Bangladesh and Pakistan. France has sold aircraft to Bhutan, with little concern about the potential reaction of India. At same time, India contracted the purchase of military aircraft from all three of these EU states. Since 2015, Ukraine has had only one contract with France, for helicopters. The USA, UK and the three EU countries just mentioned have supplied many African states with all kinds of arms. Ukraine`s list of imports is paltry in comparison.
Ukraine understands that it is not protected under the NATO umbrella or other collective security assurances – not even the Budapest Memorandum that offered Ukraine assurances in exchange for its giving up its nuclear arsenal. However, the horrible atrocities being perpetrated by Russia against Ukraine demand bold and decisive measures by the international community.
Ukraine understands perfectly well that its troops alone will directly confront the invader, even as Russia’s aggression poses a threat to the entire world. At the same time, there are workable models of support. America’s lend-lease program to the USSR facilitated its victory over Nazism. US support for Israel and South Korea, weapons included, has guaranteed the survival of these states for decades. Various models exist, given the political will.
US support for Taiwan is a germane example. The Taiwan Relations Act adopted by the US, for example, does not guarantee that the United States would intervene militarily if China attacked Taiwan. What the act does do is insure that the United States “provide Taiwan with arms of a defensive character” and “maintain the capacity of the United States to resist any resort to force or other forms of coercion that would jeopardize the security, or the social or economic system, of the people on Taiwan.”
If the US and other partners are willing to meet current challenges to Ukraine so that it is able to secure its sovereignty and save its cities and the lives of its citizens, Ukraine has a chance not only of defeating Russian aggression on its own territory but of becoming a fortress of democracy in the region. By moving quickly to provide Ukraine with the weapons it needs, the democratic world can prove that it will not allow unprovoked and unjustified aggression to win the day in the twenty-first century.
This Op Ed reflects the author’s views and not necessarily those of the Kyiv Post.
Volodymyr Ariev is a Ukrainian journalist, film director and author. He has been a Ukrainian MP since the 2007 parliamentary election.
