As I write, we are approaching the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. An invasion which was, and remains, unwarranted, illegal, unjustifiable and unprovoked. Back in February 2022 we all hoped that Russia’s troop mobilisation was purely for show. A bit of regional muscle flexing which, in the face of united Western condemnation, would return to barracks. Alas, it was not to be the case.
Last week the incredible President Zelensky addressed a packed meeting of Parliament before travelling on to Paris and Brussels. His message was as clear, and impressive then as it was at the start – Ukraine needs help, Ukraine will not give up and Russia cannot be allowed to win. It is worth reflecting that Zelensky was a famous comedian before he turned to politics. He looks and sounds like a statesman. How ironic is it that too many of the West’s leaders start off as politicians and finish up as comedians.
It was the West’s turning of the blind eye when Crimea was illegally annexed and when the Russian/Syrian Axis deployed chemical weapons against the Syrian people that sent a very clear message to Moscow – the West is tired. The West will not defend itself. The West only pays lip service to the values of freedom, liberty and self-determination. That entirely justifiable assessment of the position of the Western alliance acted as the green light for all that has unfurled since February of last year.
However, the West awoke from its post Second World War slumbers and realised, just in the nick of time, that if we did not act then Russia would have carte blanche to act with almost unfettered impunity. If all history repeats itself the painful lesson of Hitler in 1938 should have been called to mind much sooner and action taken. We knew, very close to home, the lengths that Russia would go to get its way – we remember the Salisbury poisoning and the devastating effect it had on the family of a constituent of mine.
While the horror in Ukraine unfolds daily, I am conscious that many commentators and others are experiencing fatigue. Perhaps it was the rapid execution of the liberation of Kuwait, the relative speed of the Falklands recapture that led us all to believe that a war could be prosecuted and concluded within an acceptable news cycle. The allies in the First World War stated it would be ‘over by Christmas’ leading one wag to state at the end of 1918 that they were right, they just had not stipulated which year!
So, now is not the time for news fatigue to set in. It is certainly not the time give up on Ukraine or her people. We must run the race to the finish and see this through. This is a battle of values as significant and dangerous in scale as the titanic struggles against Fascism and Communism – always, in my book, two sides of the same coin. Ukrainian soil is the thin red line upon which those values must be defended. We cannot and will not let that inspiring country down. Slava Ukraini!
