For 1,000 days Ukraine has been defending itself against the full-fledged Russian invasion that began on 24 February 2022. Two months before a new US president takes control of the future Ukraine policy of Kyiv's strongest ally, Russia is intensifying its attacks across the country. Europe's press looks back in horror at the developments so far and outlines future scenarios.
A never-ending nightmare
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Both Moscow and the West have made their share of miscalculations, Corriere del Ticino puts in:
“It was all supposed to be over in just one day, three at most. Vladimir Putin had planned his entry into Kyiv as a triumphant, decisive and final victory. A swift coup de main. But it was not to be. ... One thousand days of war. A war that has claimed - according to unofficial estimates - almost 300,000 lives and left almost a million wounded and missing. ... When we look back at that 24 February 2022 today, the images of Russian tanks targeting the Ukrainian capital appear before our eyes. The threat was already looming in the days before that, but it didn't seem real. People didn't want to believe it. Then it was like a nightmare come true.”
On the brink of a world war
The danger of a conflagration is nothing new, Népszava stresses:
“Since the early hours of 24 February 2022, when President Putin announced a 'special military operation' and Russian forces crossed the border of independent Ukraine, we have been on the brink of a world war. ... From the beginning Putin waged his war with Belarusian help and with Iranian weapons, and now a third party, North Korea, has joined in. We do indeed have a new situation now, but it was not caused by the authorisation of the use of US missiles [against Russian targets], but by the deployment of North Korean troops to the front in Ukraine.”
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Not the way to halt the Russian army
Dagens Nyheter criticises the West for its lack of support:
“On the one hand we told Zelensky that we would support him as long as necessary, on the other we forced him to fight the war with his hands tied behind his back. ... On Friday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called Putin to urge him to de-escalate. The Kremlin responded at the weekend with one of the most extensive bombing attacks on houses and civilian infrastructure to date in this war. This is Putin's typical response to what he sees as weakness. If Europe refuses to see this, it is not only Ukraine that will be lost. A thousand days from now, Russian troops could be gathered on the border of another European country.”
Ukrainians need credible guarantees
Sensing a change in mood among Ukrainians, editor Wojciech Pięciak writes in Tygodnik Powszechny:
“From conversations with Ukrainian friends, one can conclude that the majority of the population would be willing to accept the loss of the fifth of the country that Russia has seized from 2014 until today - if the negotiations lead to Ukraine receiving guarantees that it will retain its independence and be able to choose its own path. However, the guarantees would have to be made credible, for example through the presence of Western troops on the demarcation line.”
Europe must follow words with deeds
La Stampa sees a chance for Ukraine:
“The Finnish solution during the Cold War. Not in Nato but in 'Europe' and in the EU. Under two conditions: Ukraine must be able to hold its own militarily, and if the prospect of Nato membership is eliminated, the prospect of EU membership must remain. Both conditions depend on the Europeans. Regarding the second: Ukraine's candidacy must be pursued with conviction and the country must not be left facing another Turkey scenario. ... If Europe proves with deeds and not just words that it is not weary of supporting Ukraine, Putin's plan may yet be foiled.”
Don't count on Washington
Delfi argues that it 's not only Ukraine that has a lot at stake here:
“If 'peace for our times' is imposed on Ukraine (analogous to the division of Czechoslovakia according to Hitler's Germany's wishes [in the Munich Agreement of 1938]), Russia's appetite will only increase. ... Trump's brigade will hardly take Nato seriously. ... The time will come when the Baltic states will also face the threat of Russian political pressure, hybrid wars and even full-blown wars, and there is a risk that the exhausted Nato will not be able to deter Moscow without the help of the US. What can we count on? Not on Trump and Washington, but rather on Kyiv's ability to develop nuclear weapons in the near future and on the rapid rearming of the European Nato states to deter and repel Russia by all means.”
Reprinted from eurotopics. You can find the original here.
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