(Jim Hartman) – February 24 marked the third anniversary of Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. That anniversary should cause us to recall Ukraine’s post-Cold War history and Russia’s aggressive actions and broken promises.
Amid the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Ukraine voted for independence in a December 1991 referendum, with 92 percent voter approval.
In 1994, the Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances was signed in which Ukraine yielded its nuclear weapons in exchange for security guarantees from the U.S., U.K., and Russia. President Bill Clinton signed the agreement for the U.S.
Russia explicitly promised to respect Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and refrain from economic coercion.
In April 2008, President George W. Bush supported Ukraine and the former Soviet state of Georgia’s attempts to join NATO. Vladimir Putin made his opposition to Ukrainian and Georgian membership clear.
Russian forces invaded Georgia in August 2008, marking the start of Europe’s first twenty-first century war. The conflict itself was over within a few days, but the international response was slow and weak.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy negotiated ceasefire terms that Moscow largely violated without consequence.
A few months later, President Barack Obama rewarded Moscow with his misguided “Russia Reset” policy.
The tepid international response to Russia’s invasion of Georgia greenlighted Russia’s subsequent military assault on Ukraine six years later.
In 2014, Russia sent troops in disguise to seize Crimea and the strategic port of Sevastopol in Ukraine. The same year it armed pro-Russian separatists who launched a war in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region and overran much of two eastern provinces.
After Russia seized the military initiative in eastern Ukraine, Obama refused lethal aid for Ukraine while he and Europeans pushed Ukraine to negotiate a ceasefire.
Ukraine agreed to the “Minsk I” ceasefire accord in late 2014 that didn’t hold. A “Minsk II” agreement in early 2015 was also violated by the Russians.
Meanwhile, Putin sent heavy weapons into Donbas in preparation for what became the 2022 invasion.
The Russian invasion beginning in February 2022 was intended to strike at Kyiv to decapitate the government and then control the country. President Volodymyr Zelensky refused a U.S. offer to help him flee the country, and Ukraine’s forces repelled the siege of Kyiv.
Putin then turned to his current strategy of assaulting civilian targets from the air while grinding out gains in the east amid enormous casualties.
President Joe Biden’s slow response for requested military aid has doomed Ukraine. Putin adeptly stoked fears of escalation in the critical early months of the war. Those fears caused Biden to squander precious time and allowed Russia to regroup.
The Biden Administration claimed concern that if Putin saw the wrong type of tank, missile, or jet in Ukraine, he might respond with a nuclear weapon.
President Trump now says Putin wants “peace,” but Ukranians have bitter experience with reality. It’s why they want credible security guarantees from the U.S. and Europe. Another ceasefire, a “Minsk III,” would only give Putin time to re-supply his military, rearm and invade again later.
Trump’s February 28 Oval Office scolding of Zelensky left the future of any Ukrainian peace deal in doubt.
He excoriated Zelensky accusing him of “gambling with World War III” and “not acting at all thankful.” The Kyiv-Washington implosion risks strengthening Putin during negotiations.
Trump paused all U.S. military aid and the flow of military intelligence to Ukraine after his angry clash with Zelensky, denying Ukraine the resources needed to fight Russian forces.
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) told his colleagues:
“I’m a Republican. I support President Trump and believe most of his policies on national security are right. But what I’m telling you—whoever believes there is any space for Vladimir Putin and the future of a stable globe better go to Ukraine.”
If Ukraine falls to Russia, Trump will own it.
The opinions expressed by contributors are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Nevada News & Views.
