WAR TO WAR
Before Kiev becomes nuclear power
When Andriy Melnyk, Ukraine's ambassador to Germany, questioned Ukraine's renunciation of nuclear weapons in an interview with the Berliner Zeitung a few days ago, those familiar with the Russian-Ukrainian standoff held their breath: How would Russia respond to this renewed threat to its security?
Thinking about a nuclear status
A year ago, Melnyk had already drawn the nuclear card in an interview with Deutschlandfunk radio: "Either we are part of an alliance like NATO and also contribute to making this Europe stronger, (…) or we have a single option, which is to then arm ourselves. Kiev would then "perhaps also think about a nuclear status. How else can we guarantee our defense?"
NATO Partnership
Ukraine's U.S. godfathers have never called off their handlers on the ground. On the contrary, Ukraine's game of NATO membership went on unhindered. At the NATO summit in Bucharest in April 2008, Ukraine was given an in-principle membership perspective. On July 1, 2010, the Ukrainian parliament adopted a law aimed at continuing the partnership with NATO. Since 2021, Ukraine has been one of the countries receiving NATO assistance under the Individual Partnership Action Plan.
Constant attacks of the Ukrainian military against the Donetsk region.
At the same time, the situation of the people in the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics became more and more precarious: Ukraine hardly adhered to the Minsk II agreement concluded in February 2015. Neither was there the envisaged constitutional reform that was supposed to enable autonomy for the Donbass, nor did direct negotiations with the political leaders of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics ever take place. Instead, there were constant attacks by the Ukrainian military against the Donetsk area. More than 10,000 deaths were the result. Ukraine continued to mercilessly persecute its Russian citizens.
Ukraine to site nuclear weapons
Of course, the Russian Federation has legitimate security interests. Since the end of the Soviet Union, the breakup of the Soviet Union was never enough for the winners of the Cold War: more and more countries that used to be part of the Soviet Union became NATO members. NATO continued to encircle Russia militarily. These days, Ukraine threatens to become a nuclear weapons site. The Ukrainian Space Agency has launchers in sufficient numbers to launch a nuclear attack on Russian territory.
Aggressive Russo-phobia
In the Russian president's statement on the "special operation" of Russian troops in Ukraine, one sentence in particular raises eyebrows: "We (will) seek the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine." Indeed, with the unbroken Bandera-Nazi cult in Ukraine, the memory of Ukrainian-German cooperation in World War II is alive precisely where it meets aggressive Russo-phobia.
Preempting Nuclear Blackmail
The invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops is the last resort of a country whose war experience is rooted in the German attack on the Soviet Union. Millions of victims led to one conclusion: the Russian heirs of the Great War will not tolerate an assault on the security of the country and its citizens. The Russian leadership obviously wanted to avoid nuclear blackmail and sees the invasion as a war against war.
Author: Uli Gellermann
Date: 24.02.2022
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)