By Bret Stephens
WARSAW — Last week, a friend asked me what I could learn from a four-day trip to Ukraine I was planning that I couldn’t glean just by reading the news. It was a fair question. With the trip now behind me, I can answer.
I learned how strange it is to visit a country to which no plane flies and, as of last Monday, no ship sails — thanks to Vladimir Putin’s cruel and cynical withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Initiative through which Ukrainian farm products reached hungry countries like Kenya, Lebanon and Somalia. The only feasible way for a visitor to get from the Polish border to Kyiv is a nine-hour train ride, where the sign inside the carriage door urges, “Be Brave Like Ukraine.”
I learned that you need to download the Air Alert! app to your smartphone as soon as you enter the country. It sounds an alarm every time the system detects drones, missiles or other incoming aerial threats in your vicinity, something that happened time and again during my short stay. Following the alarm, a recording — in English by the “Star Wars” actor Mark Hamill — intones: “Proceed to the nearest shelter. Don’t be careless. Your overconfidence is your weakness.”
I learned that Kyiv is hopping. Despite what the U.S. Embassy says have been 1,620 missile and drone attacks on the city — and despite an economy that contracted 29 percent in the first year of the war — cars jam the roads, people dine in outdoor cafes on well-swept sidewalks and activists, civil servants and elected officials freely share divergent views with visiting columnists. To adapt a phrase attributed to Yitzhak Rabin, Ukrainians are going about their everyday lives as if there is no war, while waging war as if there is no everyday life.
I learned that every member of the American Embassy staff in Kyiv, led by our courageous and cleareyed ambassador, Bridget Brink, volunteered for the duty. They have been separated from their families and living for months on end in hotel rooms. They have the job of overseeing one of the largest U.S. assistance efforts since the Marshall Plan, ensuring that tens of thousands of individual pieces of American military hardware in Ukrainian hands are properly accounted for, reconstituting an embassy that was gutted on the eve of Russia’s invasion and keeping tabs on Russian war crimes — some 95,000 of which have been documented so far by the Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office.
I learned what it was like to sit in conference rooms and walk along corridors that would soon be shattered by Russian ordnance. On Tuesday, I joined a diplomatic group led by Administrator Samantha Power of the United States Agency for International Development on a visit to the port of Odesa. Power met first with Ukrainian officials to discuss logistical options for their exports after Putin’s withdrawal from the grain agreement, then with farmers to discuss issues like de-mining their fields and de-risking their finances. The stately Port Authority building in which the meetings took place, a purely civilian target, was struck barely a day after our departure.
I learned that Ukrainians have no interest in turning their victimization into an identity. Years ago, in Belgrade, I saw how the Serbian government had preserved the wreck of its old defense ministry, hit by NATO bombs in the 1999 Kosovo war, in keeping with its self-pitying perceptions of that war. By contrast, in Bucha, the Kyiv suburb that suffered some of the worst atrocities during Russia’s brief occupation in the early days of the war, I witnessed the transformation of apartment buildings dotted with patched-up bullet holes into trendy co-working spaces. As Anatoliy Fedoruk, the mayor of Bucha, told Power, “Memory will stay in memoirs but residents want to rebuild without reminders.”
I learned that Ukrainians aren’t likely to trade sovereign territory for Western security assurances, much less for some kind of armistice deal with Moscow. They tried the former in the 1990s with the Budapest Memorandum, in which they surrendered the nuclear arsenal on their soil to Russia for the sake of toothless guarantees of territorial integrity. They tried the latter with the equally toothless Minsk agreements after Russia’s first invasion in 2014. The goal of Western policy should be to provide Ukraine with the military means they need to win, rather than to pressure Ukraine into again bargaining away its rights to sovereignty and security for the sake of assuaging our anxieties about Russian escalation.
I learned that, for all the aid we’ve given Ukraine, we are the true beneficiaries in the relationship, and they the true benefactors. Ben Wallace, Britain’s usually thoughtful defense minister, suggested after this month’s NATO summit that Ukrainians should show more gratitude to their arms suppliers. That gets the relationship backward. NATO countries are paying for their long-term security in money, which is cheap, and munitions, which are replaceable. Ukrainians are counting their costs in lives and limbs lost.
I am writing this column from Warsaw Chopin Airport. Parked outside the terminal are jetliners destined for Doha, Istanbul, Rome, Toronto, New York. The sight of them here could scarcely have been imagined 40 years ago. It came true because the Polish people remained, in Ronald Reagan’s apt words, “magnificently unreconciled to oppression.”
Today, it is Poland’s neighbors in Ukraine who are magnificently unreconciled to invasion. What I learned from four days under closed skies is never to take a bustling airport scene like this for granted.
This originally appeared in The New York Times
I read almost all of Bret Stephens columns. Thanks for saving me the time on this one Stu. Two lines particularly struck me.
“To adapt a phrase attributed to Yitzhak Rabin, Ukrainians are going about their everyday lives as if there is no war, while waging war as if there is no everyday life.”
“The goal of Western policy should be to provide Ukraine with the military means they need to win, rather than to pressure Ukraine into again bargaining away its rights to sovereignty and security for the sake of assuaging our anxieties about Russian escalation.”
That quote jumped out at me, too — so deep, wise, and resigned. Reminded me of London during the Blitz.
Churchill’s attitude was “Fuck Hitler!”
Zelensky’s is “Fuck Putin!”
I stand with Ukraine, as I think you know.
I read this yesterday in the NYT. Absolutely magnificent. Thank you, Stu, for allowing more people to read it.
Happy to support Ukraine any way I can.
Every now and again the Times shows that it hasn’t completely gone to the dark side. Bret Stephens’ article is gently brilliant.
He is the sole non Left voice. Give NYT credit for that.
“I learned that Ukrainians aren’t likely to trade sovereign territory for Western security assurances, much less for some kind of armistice deal with Moscow.”
The opposite is true. We forced security assurances on them. According to the pro-Ukrainian news’ site, “Ukrainska Pravda,” neocon Fiona Hill in “Foreign Affairs” magazine, and former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett, in March/April 2022 there was a tentative peace-deal worked out between Moscow and Kiev (nobody ever orders “Chicken Kyiv”). But we sent our lapdog Boris Johnson to tell Zelinsky, “Putin’s a war criminal. If you don’t keep fighting, we won’t have your back.”
Ukrainian blood is on our hands:
“The United States aids Ukraine and her people so that we can fight Russia over there and we don’t have to fight Russia here.” – Democrat Rep Adam Schiff.
“We’re willing to use their blood and our bullets” – Oliver North, former president Ronald Reagan’s security advisor (and previously convicted in the Iran-Contra scandal).
“I like the structural path we’re on here. As long as we help Ukraine with the weapons they need, and economic support, they will fight to the last person.” – Senator Lindsey Graham.
“Ukrainians aren’t under any illusions about Putin’s intentions, and will never stop fighting for every inch of their territory. All we have to do is supply them with the bullets.” – Deleted Tweet from Rep Dan Crenshaw.
“We want to see Russia weakened to the degree that it can’t do the kinds of things that it has done in invading Ukraine.” – Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin.
Must a Trumpican. Trump would sell out Ukraine (& pull out of NATO) in a New York minute! And you have no idea what, if anything, Boris Johnson said to Zelensky. Apparently you’re okay with Putin’s war crimes. If you were President in 1940, we’d be speaking German.
The ‘tentative’ peace accords you mention ( The so-called Minsk agreements) would’ve torn the country apart and make it ungovernable without Russian interference. Putin is a murderous thug just like Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Mao, etc…you stand up to them, not cower in fear like you would.
“Trumpician?” I can’t vote as an Independent in a Pennsylvania primary so I’m still a registered Democrat who has voted third-party the last three presidential elections. In 2016, Hillary Clinton lost to the WORST candidate, ever. So the Dems, instead of looking inward, instead of reforming and once again becoming the party of the workers vs the party of management, thought of an excuse: Russia! Since then it’s become much easier to turn liberals into frothing MIC/FBI/CIA-loving neocons.
I WISH Trump would have pulled out of NATO, a hostile military force that has never been used in a defensive mode (as the Iraqis, Afghans, Serbs, Syrians and Libyans can attest). When the USSR collapsed, that should have ended NATO.
And you’re dates completely wrong: the Minsk Accords (1 & 2) were in 2014-2015. The tentative peace-deal was in Istanbul, March 2022. And regarding minsk, as Petro Poroshenko, François Hollande and Angela Merkel have all admitted, they (the West) had no intention of following the agreements and instead used that time to build up Ukrazi Land’s military and weapons’ supplies.
“Putin is a murderous thug just like Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Mao”
SInce Putin has been in power, who has killed more innocent people? Putin, G.W. Bush or Obama? Can you answer that?
“And you have no idea what . . . Boris Johnson said to Zelensky.”
I don’t know if this forum allows links. But google (bing, whatever) “Ukrainska Pravda – According Ukrainska Pravda sources close to Zelenskyy, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson, who appeared in the capital almost without warning, brought two simple messages. The first is that Putin is a war criminal, he should be pressured, not negotiated with.
And the second is that even if Ukraine is ready to sign some agreements on guarantees with Putin, they are not.
Johnson’s position was that the collective West, which back in February had suggested Zelenskyy should surrender and flee, now felt that Putin was not really as powerful as they had previously imagined, and that here was a chance to ‘press him’.”
The blood is on OUR hands.
How many countries did Putin invade during the Trump years?
How many people died in Ukraine during Trump years.
Tell me about the Ukraine coup in 2014.
What do we do if Putin decides he wants to be Truman and drop a nuke on Kiev?
The bottom line is there was no Ukraine war during the Trump years.
THAT IS A FACT !!!!
I remember leftist fearing a nuclear war with North Korea during Trump years. Who was walking across Korean DMZ with Kim Jong UN ?
Who collected a lot of tariff money from China?
How about this?
https://www.newsmax.com/politics/trump-troops-war-conflict/2020/11/25/id/998780/
It’s a shame the never Trumpers are so full of TDS that they can’t accept these facts.
They will even vote for Biden if he runs again. You guys should find out who is running this government before you vote for Biden again.
You really think Putin was scared of Trump? Why are you pushing Trump? He’s a total buffoon. He watched TV (mostly Fox Noise) eight hours a day. He didn’t pull us out of Afghanistan like he promised. He killed Soleimani, making the Iranians more of a threat to us – and apparently – also drove the Saudis away from us since it’s been reported that Soleimani was on his way to make peace with Saudi Arabia. And now, Saudi Arabia isn’t taking only dollars, which was the deal we’ve had with them for decades.
He pulled out of the peace-deal that Obama made with Iran, making the world more unsafe – and the clueless clown Biden hasn’t gotten us back into the deal like he promised.
Did you see the failed “Bay of Piglets” under Trump, where he sent mercenaries to Venezuela?
Trump withdrew from our INF arms-control treaty with Russia. That causes Russia to spend more on defense. We don’t need these tensions being ramped-up – which Biden is continuing – with another nuclear-armed country.
I didn’t vote for Biden – the other Republican. I believe you are using a canned response.
Bill Paci
Did I say Putin was afraid of Trump.
I said how many couhtries did Putin invade during the Trump years.
I said there was no Ukraine war during the Trump years.
First off, Ukraine tried to influence the 2016 election on the side of Hillary.
Putin invaded in Feb 2022 because he saw Ukrazi troops building up around the Donbas. I don’t think it mattered to Putin who was president when he invaded.
I think you unwittingly endorsed Stephens’ point. Because Ukraine accepted Western assurances in the past, and were betrayed, they WON’T do the same again. Not the “opposite” of what he says,
1- The Ukraines are killing Russians.
2-Defense contractors are making money.
3-And Ukraine is being destroyed. The Ukraine soldiers are being killed in very large numbers.
You can have Putin Biden and Zelensky.
Do you think Russia wants to invade all Europe? Is this the European Domino Theory? Sorta of how we got involved in NAM.
1- Ukraine is acting in self defense.
2- Do you think anyone gets arms for free?
3- Ukraine is being destroyed BY RUSSIAN AGGRESSION. Ukraine soldiers are paying for freedom with their lives. Russian soldiers are dying for Putin’s criminal dreams.
Russia will take anything we will not defend. Which is why NATO matters. It is a bulwark against the Russia that is as evil as the USSR.
You mind me of the loons who say we don’t need the Clean Water Act because our water is clean, forgetting it is clean BECAUSE of the Clean Water Act.
Tell me one thing Mr Bykofsky.
Why didn’t Putin pull this manure while TRUMP was president? I have asaked this question many times. Still waiting for an answer.
Your Trump derangement syndrome prevents you from acknowledging the simple fact that nobody was dying in Ukraine during the Trump years.
Does it upset you that there was no Ukraine war during the Trump years?
And you said you would vote for Biden over Trump next year.
And I rather be a loon than STUpid .
You started the NAMECALLING. Ha Ha
That Putin did not enter Ukraine has nothing to do with Trump.
You are like the rooster who thinks his crowing made the sun rise.
I don’t have TDS and have given that oaf credit for a few correct policies — like the border, the rapid vaccine creation and space force.
I will oppose him because he is morally bankrupt, a grifter, a liar and someone with low intellect who attracts the same.
Btw, have you heard his No. 1 supporter, Giuliani, just admitted he LIED about Georgia election fraud? But YOU still believe it, don’t you?
Our assurances – money and weapons – pushed Zelinsky out of a peace deal. A much bigger loss now looms for Ukraine.
Now we’re out of weapons. That’s the reason given by both Biden and Jake Sullivan when asked as to why we’re now sending cluster-bombs.
Without our weapons, there’s no way Ukraine can win – and it’s moot whether or not Zelinsky accepts our assurances. We keep holding out the carrot of NATO membership but first he has to win the war.
It’s kind of sadistic what we’re doing to Ukraine.
According to former Soviet weapons’ inspector Scott Ritter (who blew the whistle on the Iraqi WMD lie), the casualty rate is 7-to-1 in favor of Russia.
And unlike our profit-driven arms’ manufacturers that wait for orders, Putin has ordered his weapons-makers to produce 24/7.
The tentative peace agreement worked out in Istanbul: Russia keeps Crimea – which WAS part of Russia since 1783 until (a drunken?) Khrushchev gave it to Ukraine in 1954; Russia withdraws to its pre-February 2022 lines; Ukraine declares neutrality but can join the EU; Russia agrees to not demilitarize and deNazify Ukraine; the Donbas remains in Ukraine but with limited autonomy and Russian is made an officially second language.
As Lavrov has said, it’s too late for Ukraine to get that deal. The Donbas will now be part of Russia. Two other oblasts, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, will be allowed to have a referendum to decide whether they want to be part of Ukraine or Russia. And Russia will continue to demilitarize and deNazify.
I can no longer engage with someone who lives in a parallel universe.
Pulling apart your lies, misinformation, assbackwards “facts” would be a fulltime job, and I don’t work for free.
TDS TDS TDS TDS TDS
Do you really believe the Biden years are better thaTrump years were?
And you said Trump had no morals.
Haven’t you been following the shennanigans the Biden family have been up to?
Trump had nothing to do with Putin staying out of Ukraine.You are really funny.
I can’t wait for your next kinderdargenish metaphor?
Your inability to think is on display.
I did not vote for Biden in 2020. I am not a Biden apologist — that’s just your stupid jumping to conclusions
Stu
I never said you voted for Biden.
More BS from SB.
There was no Ukraine War during the Trump years. And that’a a fact. Sorry your TDS prevents you from accepting that FACT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ha Ha
There was no war in Italy when Trump was president.
It means NOTHING.
No cause and effect.
Well I won’t pay you to waste time trying to debunk me. Instead, post on Substack. Matt Taibbi in an interview with The Hill said he’s made many times what he was paid at Rolling Stone.
Before WWII we (the USA) were troubled by the thought that Russia with all its natural resources, might hook up with Germany, a technological and manufacturing powerhouse.
Post WWII, Lord Ismay, the first Secretary General of NATO said NATO’s purpose was “to keep the Soviet Union out, the Americans in, and the Germans down.” Our sabotage of the Nord Stream pipeline, removing any possibility for Germany to have cheap gas, has caused deindustrialization. Manufacturers, retailers, now must pay four times more for imported (American) LNG or just, as some have done, prepare to move out of the country. And the Germans are miffed because Biden’s “Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)” gives tax breaks to foreign corporations, inducing German companies who have shown interest into moving here.
Aaron Maté on his Substack (it’s free today). Regarding our true intent:
“Nearly one month into Russia’s invasion, the New York Times quietly abandoned any pretense that the US aim was to defend Ukraine and bring the war to a quick end. The White House, the Times reported, ‘seeks to help Ukraine lock Russia in a quagmire without inciting a broader conflict with a nuclear-armed adversary or cutting off potential paths to de-escalation.’ Eighteen months later, the desired quagmire has been achieved. This is due not only to a massive influx of NATO weaponry, but a Western blockade of every tangible path to de-escalation, most notably the April 2022 Ukraine-Russia peace deal that Boris Johnson nixed. […] Frustrated US officials are well aware of Ukraine’s toll. According to the New York Times, Western states now estimate that Ukraine lost about 20 percent of its weaponry in the first weeks of its counteroffensive, a ‘startling rate of losses… as Ukrainian soldiers struggle against Russia’s formidable defenses.’ Oddly, the Times omits any mention of losses in Ukrainian lives – a tacit admission, perhaps, that the human casualties are even more startling.”
httStu Bykofsky says:
July 26, 2023 at 11:45 pm
There was no war in Italy when Trump was president.
It means NOTHING.
No cause and effect.
Ha Ha Ha
You are one funny dude
i