Why does the global West and Western Europe not always perceive the Russian-Ukrainian war correctly?

Communicating with experts around the world, we sometimes come across unexpected things. It would seem that it is extremely simple to understand and realize that the cheapest and least bloody way for states to prevent the physical spread of war around the world is to unite and help Ukraine defeat the Kremlin on the territory of Ukraine. At the same time, many people still hope to stop Putin in some other way, to calm him down, to make some pictures of a peaceful life. But the reality is as it is.

Polish analysts Jan Smolenski and Jan Dutkiewicz recently wrote in New Republic, that some Western experts and politicians, instead of showing solidarity with Ukraine and allowing Ukraine to express its opinion, try to impose their political agenda on Ukraine when the country asks for military support. Unfortunately, being a radical pacifist is a great privilege that only Westerners can afford.

As the world knows from the war crimes in Mariupol, Buchi, Izyum and Kharkiv, instead of achieving peace, impunity for Russia only results in more brutal aggression. So its own huge sense of privilege and arrogance tells Ukraine to give up the fight.

In the Austrian newspaper Der Standart someone called Franz Obel wrote: «At the beginning of the war, I was convinced that Ukraine would be wiser, it will form a government in exile, call on the population to peacefully resist and use international sanctions to try to stop Russia.»

Such statements have repeatedly arisen in Western academic circles during private conversations.

According to the authors, what such radical pacifists do is similar to victim blaming. They blame Ukrainian resistance, not Russian aggression, to be the source of protracted violence.

Almost nobody likes war, that’s for sure. The last decades have educated Europeans in hatred of imperialism, nationalism and militarism. They built museums that demonstrate the suffering of people caused by war. This world tolerates cultural diversity and transnationalism. However, «never again» has become a ritual slogan rather than a statement of intent, as the history of the 20th century seems somehow distant, and the terrible crimes of the past almost unthinkable.

But history returned with a vengeance. The liberal left cosmopolitan view of the world does not coincide with what the Kremlin propaganda, which glorifies war, imperialism and militarism, preaches. Russia clearly ignored the lessons of World War II, which laid the groundwork for postwar European pacifism.

It’s easy to be a pacifist with a bottle of beer in Berlin or pasta in Florence; Ukrainians are dying due to shelling and bombing, millions have become refugees; others have gone to the front lines. And Western Europe has not yet been able to develop an adequate response to this political and moral challenge.

Moreover, certain European countries continue to buy Russian oil and gas. French Conseil D’Annales Economique estimated that «a total energy ban on Russian energy imports could, on average, cause a loss of gross national income of 0.2-0.3%, amounting to around €100 per adult».

Meanwhile, the war rages, and the aggressor does not care about international agreements and kills civilians.

Many misconceptions about Ukrainians are reinforced by claims about alleged right-wing tendencies in the Ukrainian military, which have been promoted by Russian propaganda since 2014 and are still being watched in Europe.

Instead, it is not known why many like to sympathize with refugees as the «ideal victim», avoiding the issue of military aid, which can primarily help people not turn into refugees.

Not all Ukrainian refugees fit the romanticized Western stereotype of the «ideal victim», they may not look like typical refugees with checkered bags. Many of the five million people who had to flee because of the war had successful lives, wonderful homes and jobs they loved. In order to prosper in their own country and not depend on someone else’s noble sympathy, they must be safe. Supporting the Ukrainian army together with sanctions against Russia is the only way to return lasting peace to Ukraine.

Ukrainian military resistance is a dignity. Supporting the military is sometimes the best way to support. Undoubted support for the Ukrainian resistance does not mean specific political affiliation.

You can be a believer or an atheist, a leftist or a rightist, an anarchist or a nationalist and support Ukraine in this struggle against pacifist abstractions such as peace and cessation of hostilities.

Fortunately, today, the deepening and strengthening of aid to Ukraine and the understanding of the truth, at least by the political establishment of the West, is palpable. And this gives hope that, despite everything, Ukraine, and together with it the civilized world, will win the victory and such expected peace.

Our struggle is not for books and bright pictures in them. This is a struggle for our existence and the evolution of the whole world. And the fact that Ukrainians influence this evolution is almost beyond doubt.

Contributed by Maryna Kovalchuk , deputy editor-in-chief (Central Europe and Canada), head of the V5 Media project