By: Syed Shahzaib Haider
The Russian Army is invading every passing day seems to be capturing Ukraine, the tangible war is not between Ukraine and Russia only but in between the US-led West and Russia. United Nations wants Moscow to immediately stop its attack on Ukraine and withdraw all troops and to give peace a chance, apparently the only possible way is an urgent dialogue.
This is the worst ever war crisis in Europe since Second World War. Russian President is hard on punishing Ukraine for refusing to obey. On Saturday, Russian Army was demanded to capture Ukraine’s capital. Also, Russia vetoed a UN Security Council resolution demanding that Moscow immediately halt.
As per Putin Forces are sent to this region as “peacekeeping forces”. After concluding a talk with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Putin simply declared the recognition of the independence of the Luhansk People’s Republic and Donetsk People’s Republic in eastern Ukraine. Interestingly these areas, together known as the Donbas region, have been under the control of the Moscow-backed separatists since early 2014.
Eastern Ukraine is at the center of the controversy. The majority of the people of Ukraine have century’s old cultural and historical ties with the people of the Old Russian Empire. And today, many in eastern Ukraine are ethnic Russians and they speak the Russian language. Almost all the former Russian republics and Warsaw Pact nations have either joined the NATO or the European Union after the dissolution of the USSR. The West also sincerely wants to clip the influence of newly emerged Russian Federation under Boris Yeltsin. I think sanctions will not be able to stop Putin from further invasions. Last few days, we have also seen Japan, Canada and Australia joining the US-led western sanctions against Russia. What surprises the international community is that no single measure of sanctions is directly aimed at Putin.
The fact is that after the occupation of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014, sanctions were imposed on Russia, but it could hardly prevent the current devastating attack on eastern Ukraine. Of course, sanctions and freezing of assets of the Russian elite and inner circles of Putin are a strong step from the West, but those are not sufficient to avert war. Now the question is whether the Ukrainian military can fight the Russian forces or not. Precisely, Ukraine will find it difficult to face the mighty Russian forces. But for now, the Ukrainian President Zelensky is defiant. On February 26, he sought to dispel rumors that he had called upon the army to lay down arms. “This is our land, our country, our children. And we will defend all of that,” he said in a short video. But it is to be noted that military power is relative, not absolute in any case.
Both the armies have undergone significant changes. Over the past seven years, Putin has invested relentlessly in a slew of advanced military capabilities to strengthen his military to face any Western threat. These include a sophisticated air and missile defense network, some of the latest fighter jets and a number of ultra-modern infantry fighting vehicles and main battle tanks.
On the other hand, the military in Ukraine too has evolved into a modern fighting force in Europe as of today. It is clear how for years the American security agents and advisers built up the Ukrainian military to face any onslaught from the Russian military.
UNSC seems fully divided. The Big-5 will not be able to solve the imbroglio in eastern Ukraine. The UK urges Russia to step back as Putin violates the principles of international law.
Meanwhile, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres urged Putin to stop the war in the name of humanity. He also said earlier that Russia’s decisions are a violation of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine and inconsistent with the principles of the UN Charter. Again, the hostility of Putin is a complete mockery of Russian commitment to the Budapest Memorandum of 1994 and Minsk Agreement.
Pakistan is walking a diplomatic tightrope at the moment though Prime Minister Imran Khan who already spoken to President Putin in his visit to Moscow. Pakistan is concerned with the rise of hostilities in this war and urged Russia to bring back peace to the region. Today, Pakistan could neither side with the US-led West to save Ukraine nor fully support Russian actions over Ukraine. It’s better Islamabad maintains a cautious move on this situation.
The writer is the Director of the editorial board at the ‘The Dayspring’. He can be reached at [email protected]