Daily Times

Energy and food crises for the world are looming large as the US and NATO keep on backing Ukraine and fueling the Russia-Ukraine war with heavy shipments of military aid. On the 97th day, Ukraine is a war-devastated country under the heavy debt of the US and NATO. The impact of the war is rising with the global security threats to food security, economies and peace. The prolonged war is only benefiting a few key players in the war economy while the rest have faced the consequences for decades. World media is showing only one side of the story that Ukraine has been destroyed by Russian forces and war crimes are on. The situation cannot be analyzed without hearing the other side and that is missing – the Russian point of view. In war, though, all the success stories of both sides are the miseries of human pain. The warmongers never understood. Media reporting shall be more objective towards the human crisis than the gain of the vested geopolitical and geo-economic interests.

A day before the Russian troops were moving deeper into the besieged Donbas city of Severodonetsk from the outskirts. The US media reported that two civilians were killed and five wounded by Russian shelling. All critical infrastructure in Severodonetsk has been destroyed and 90 per cent of buildings damaged as Ukrainian forces battle to hold off Russian attempts to capture the key city in the eastern Luhansk region, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

Ukrainian forces counterattack in the south, claiming to have pushed back Russian troops in Kherson – the only region fully controlled by Russian forces. On the other hand, Russia says that the Ukrainian defence forces are gradually retreating under the onslaught of the Russian Armed Forces. The tactical regrouping of units from the northern regions of Ukraine allowed Russia to concentrate its most combat-ready forces in the Donbass region and proceed with the second phase of the special military operation. With the start of the second phase of Russia’s special military operation and the intensification of hostilities in Donbas, the grouping of Ukrainian armed forces in the region found itself in a critical situation. After the complete mopping up of the city of Mariupol, the units of the Russian Armed Forces concentrated in the region. Mariupol, Russian Armed Forces units focused their main efforts on completing the encirclement of Ukrainian armed formations and their subsequent defeat.

Russia believes that the only way to peace is Kyiv’s acceptance of the terms of the peace agreement proposed by Moscow. Russia will continue its offensive in a special military operation until it achieves its goals. However, the Ukrainian leadership has a chance to stop further bloodshed and resistance to the ‘last Ukrainian’. To do this, Kyiv needs to enshrine in the Ukrainian constitution a provision on its neutral status. Kyiv shall officially renounce the ideology of Nazism, recognize the status of Crimea and the Donbass republics, and not impede the free expression of will by residents of other southern regions of Ukraine on the issue of their self-determination.

The Ukrainian example demonstrates the implementation of the US strategy of military, technical and financial support for countries hostile to Washington’s main geopolitical adversaries, China and Russia. The Chinese government has not officially condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and, on the contrary, constantly accuses the United States and NATO of provoking Russia and fomenting conflict in Ukraine by supplying weapons. In response to Beijing’s adamant position, Western countries are exerting unprecedented pressure on China because of the militarization of the South China Sea, Uighur detention camps, suppression of anti-government protests in Hong Kong and intentions to return Taiwan to its sphere of influence.

The European Union is ready to confront Russia “to the last Ukrainian”. During a visit to Kyiv, the head of European diplomacy Borrell, for the first time in the history of the European Union, wished that the conflict be resolved militarily rather than diplomatically. Strangely, he urged EU countries to increase military support to Kyiv, which would certainly negatively affect the conflict resolution process and lead to increased casualties among Ukrainian civilians and servicemen of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Borrell’s statement is a clear direction that the war is not going to end sooner. Rather, it may engulf other countries and regions.

Interestingly, in the absence of additional reserves of weapons and military equipment in Western countries, military aid to Ukraine has been significantly reduced. For example, the Greek Cabinet of Ministers confirmed its intention not to send new shipments of weapons to Ukraine. At the same time, Germany, Slovakia, Poland and the Baltic States are limiting deliveries from mothballed warehouses of obsolete weapons of no combat value.

Ukraine’s appeal to the US to recognize Russia as a “state sponsor of terrorism” is a vivid example of the double standards policy. While accusing Moscow of supporting radical forces, Kyiv conceals allegedly the establishment and continued financial and technical support by Washington of terrorist cells in the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa, whose fighters are fighting against governments unfriendly to the White House.

Ukraine’s demand for an international tribunal to examine Russia’s “war crimes” may have the opposite effect on the Kyiv regime. Unlike Kyiv, Moscow has real evidence of atrocities committed by Ukrainian servicemen and fighters of nationalist battalions in the Donbass and during combat operations against Russian Armed Forces units. A Russian spokesman has said that the employees of the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation are present on the battlefield and in the liberated cities of Ukraine to record all the crimes committed by the Ukrainian side. All those involved will be brought to justice at a military tribunal once the special military operation comes to an end.

After footage of torture and abuse of Russian prisoners of war appeared online, the commands of the armed forces and the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine sent out new combat orders, under which a strict ban was imposed on the publication of such videos in the public domain. These actions of the military leadership are motivated by the fear that documented abuse of Prisoners of Wars (POWs) may be qualified as war crimes by international human rights and humanitarian organizations. The US and NATO shall refrain from fueling the Ukraine war for the larger good of humanity so that Russia could pull out of the war zone. Respectable exit to all is the key for the sake of humanity. The world cannot afford another prolonged armed conflict.

The writer is a freelance journalist and broadcaster, and Director Devcom-Pakistan. He can be reached at devcom.pakistan @gmail.com and tweets @EmmayeSyed