It was a shame that Ukraine was largely absent from last week’s talks between US, European and Russian diplomats, said Alyona Gitmanchuk, a Ukrainian researcher specializing in foreign policy and security, especially that the future of the Ukrainian people was at stake.
Gitmanchuk, who is also director of the New Europe Center for Research in Kiev, said in an article in The New York Times that Ukraine is not looking to the West or NATO to save it from a Russian invasion, but rather what it wants from its Western partners Those who share her desire to be a true democracy, free from the constraints and interference of Moscow, is to help prepare for war so that it has a chance if the Russian neighbor takes any such step.
She emphasized that while Ukrainians appreciate that US leaders are making an effort to say “nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine”, this is not really happening, and Ukrainians’ voice is often drowned out amid messages and verbal altercations exchanged by the United States and its allies in NATO and Russia.
The researcher pointed out that any talks cannot be so if there is a weapon aimed at your head, which is what is happening to the Ukrainians currently, as Russia, during the talks in Geneva and Brussels, began transferring military helicopters to the Ukrainian border, and engaged in new military maneuvers In the neighboring Russian regions, after massing about 100,000 soldiers and military equipment in the region.
Invasion or not, the Ukrainian people know that Russian President Vladimir Putin is likely using this military buildup to eventually force Europe and the United States to renegotiate the balance of power on the Old Continent.
But we Ukrainians – as the writer adds – are not a political football match, and Western leaders must remember that the real victim in this case is Ukraine, and it is really troubling that the goal of the talks – it seems – is to address the security concerns of “aggressor” Russia, while Ukrainian demands should have come first.
Getmanchuk stresses that Western leaders should avoid a situation in which the possibilities of dialogue outweigh the means to deter Russia, which is the situation now.
Although diplomacy is critical and everyone knows how political realism manages the details of the scene, it is naive – as the writer concludes – to assume that Russia will enter the midst of negotiation in good faith, so the talks should be accompanied by clear measures to enhance Ukraine’s resilience, such as providing More security and military assistance, especially in the field of air defense.