Curiously, it now is the turn of Russia to seek negotiations to end the Ukrainian war, which it thought could have ended in a matter of days and an overthrow of the Volodymyr Zelenskiy government a simple exercise. The resolute president of war-hit Ukraine is holding on, bravely, and protecting capital Kyiv. The strategy he adopted in view of the smaller number of troops he has is to concentrate them around the capital and major cities, making the advance difficult for the Russians to dethrone him. He’s providing aerial defence too with the equipment he got from the West, making it difficult for Putin to advance on both the ground and in the air. The strategy has worked well for Ukraine till now but what happens next is unpredictable, though.
There is merit in the stand of the West not to send in military to defend Ukraine as it is not a part of the Nato alliance. Sanctions have been imposed on Russia, its flights have been banned from the air over the UK and, in another punitive step, France has seized a Russian ship carrying a cargo of cars. Sanctions against Moscow are being enforced at multiple levels and the latest is the exclusion of Russia from the SWIFT banking system. Germany overcame its hesitation and joined the US and allies to do this. This will have serious financial implications on Russia. What the world experienced now, however, is that the UN and other global agencies have again proven their lack of effectiveness in checking war and acts of aggression by wayward nations. Like India, most nations are guided by their own interests and are excusing themselves out of a critical situation. China, on its part, has stressed for a dialogue. Yet, the Russian action is sure to give China legitimacy for a similar aggression on Taiwan, a breakaway republic that’s leaning heavily on the US. Sadly, might is right even in the new world order; and the US had proven it when it went and uprooted the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq at the outset of the new century.
President Zelenskiy deserves praise for the zealousness with which he’s facing the odds and defending his country. He has dismissed the calls to have a safe exit and made clear what he wanted now was more arms to stay on and fight. This is quite unlike what happened in Afghanistan when president Ashraf Ghani fled from the theatre of action when faced with the Taliban offensive in August last. Leadership is all about guts.