America's betrayal of Ukraine is a gift to Putin

Feb. 24 marked the three-year anniversary of Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine. The war was supposed to end in three days, resulting in a triumphant reconstitution of a repressive empire and the erasure of Ukraine as an independent state. Instead, it demonstrated the fundamental weakness of the Russian military.

Since the international community decided, for once, that it was not going to ignore Russian aggression and its violation of a neighbor’s sovereignty — nor demand that the victim remain silent — it became clear that Russia would not be able to win the war against the Ukrainian military.

Thus, the Russian military focused on its only area of strength: a willingness to wage a genocidal war, marked by attacks on civilian targets and the destruction of infrastructure. Destruction was not just a means to an end but a core objective.

In recent weeks, social media has been flooded with versions of the question: What is Ukraine fighting for, and why wouldn’t it rather have “peace”?

Ann Livschiz, associate professor of history at Purdue University Fort Wayne, addresses this topic in an opinion column in The Journal Gazette (subscription required).