Arya Gunde • Feb. 29, 2024
Ruins in Irpin, Ukraine, 2023 (Andrew Petrischev/UNSPLASH).
This weekend, Feb. 24, 2024 marked two years since the start of the war in Ukraine.
Since then, over 30,000 soldiers have died on each side and over 10,000 innocent Ukrainian civilians have been killed in the crossfire.
The anniversary comes close after an interview between Vladimir Putin and Tucker Carlson. There, Putin spoke for two hours about why Russia’s entitled to Ukraine’s land and sovereignty.
The interview served as Putin’s official address to the West, but largely relied on a skewed version of history and egregious political posturing.
Protesters supporting Ukraine in New York, 2022 (Jose Pablo Domínguez/UNSPLASH)
Putin, like every world leader right now, sidestepped the actual reality of this war, which is that it’s going nowhere.
In an interview with the economist in November, the commander in chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, Gen. Valery Zaluzhny, admitted that the war is stuck at a stalemate.
His comments sparked criticism from Ukraine’s President Zelensky, who says he fired Zaluzhny earlier this month.
Meanwhile, Zelensky’s been traveling to conferences around the world to gain international support for the war effort, but global leadership is hesitant to provide resources for a war with no clear path to victory.
Just earlier this week, French President Emmanuel Macron suggested there was a possibility of deploying Western troops in Ukraine. Immediately, NATO and other world leaders pointed at one clear message: that is not going to happen.
In the United States, aid for Ukraine has turned into a tool of political leverage. A recent meeting with Joe Biden and congressional leaders highlighted this deadlock particularly with Republicans not budging on their demands for increased US border security.
Both sides are blaming each other, bolstering Zaluzhny’s point that the war is stagnated. He warns that in the case of a long war, Russia will overpower Ukraine based on the sheer size of its population and economy.
Donald Trump has threatens to pull US out of NATO if reelected (Markus Spiske/UNSPLASH).
2024 is a landmark year that will dictate the future of this war. Putin’s engaged in building strategic cooperation with Iran, which is a major opponent of the American military regime.
With Donald Trump poised to be the Republican candidate once again, the future of America’s role in NATO is also up in the air.
The situation in Ukraine mirrors the broader uncertainty in the West, where the reality of war is vastly different from narratives presented by politicians. With civilization on the precipice of change, it’s more important than ever to understand actions over words and situations over rhetoric.
Listen to this article as heard on CHUO’s weekly show The Mosaic: