Putin launched a war of aggression unprecedented for the 21st century, trying to seize Ukraine on the principle of blitzkrieg. When all his plans were destroyed due to the resistance of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the Kremlin dictator launched a war of attrition, which affects not only Ukraine, but also poses a direct threat to Europe. This article will discuss why flirting with Putin is a dialogue with a maniac, and how not providing weapons to Ukraine will lead to the collapse of Europe in the medium term. It is critically important that Europe does not allow a repetition of the situation that preceded the Second World War, when, turning a blind eye to the threat of Hitler’s Germany, the world paid for it a hundredfold and suffered extremely severe consequences. Putin is setting the same precedent, and it should be stopped immediately in Ukraine.
Having started the war against Ukraine, Putin has planted a «delayed-action mine» against Europe, namely-its economy, socio-political processes, security. In fact, Putin is starting a war of attrition, fighting Europe with hybrid methods: scaling indirect risks and threats, exhausting the European economy with a “shock effect” from rising energy prices, provoking refugee flows. This is a classic hybrid war, as an element of the military doctrine of the Russian Federation.
Nevertheless, to sit down at the negotiating table with the Kremlin is to give voluntary consent to the repetition of a full-scale invasion, which will lead to catastrophic consequences. In this regard, Ukraine will not only leave vulnerable itself, but will also create a «Trojan horse» for the EU, because in this case, the countries of Eastern Europe are also not immune from Russian invasion. The West must, by joint efforts, critically exhaust Russia and contribute to the destruction of its army by supplying weapons to Ukraine. There is no other way out. The contours of the war that Putin has drawn have no alternative but to fight «against everyone and to the end.» In a certain respect, this is an integral feature of Russia, which historically expanded to 1/6-1/8 of the land through wars of conquest. But now there is only one vector for it — to the West. And Ukraine is its first stage. Europe must understand the obvious thing: the Russian invasion is not a myth or an exaggeration, but a terrible reality that may come true already in the medium term. And this is exactly why Putin is trying to enslave Ukraine. If he succeeds, the loss of Western civilization will become inevitable. That is why ignoring the problems of Ukraine, postponing or not providing it with weapons is a voluntary consent to the further expansion of the Russian predator, which will stop only where it is stopped.
Putin challenged the West and is already moving forward. It is absolutely possible to stop it in Ukraine: all that is needed for this is the supply of the necessary weapons for the Armed Forces, especially anti-missile and anti-aircraft weapons, to protect Ukrainian cities from Russian missiles. The future of Western civilization is now being decided in Ukraine, and therefore help for the Armed Forces will be much cheaper and easier than trying to stop the Russian hordes, just as the West flirted with Hitler for 80 years and paid a heavy price for it.