Russian columnist praises Kuleba’s resolve in the face of Russian aggression
The United States could never defend Ukraine if Kyiv buckled under Russian pressure, but Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has managed to rally Ukraine’s western allies to its side, Russian political columnist Andrey Piontkovsky wrote on Jan. 16.
Piontkovsky believes that Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin has decided in favor of a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, possibly even threatening Poland.
“Surprisingly little attention is paid to this point in Russia’s ultimatum: Roll back NATO’s infrastructure to its 1997 extent,” Piontkovsky said.
“As Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov put it: “pack up and beat it” from Poland and the Baltics. How do you mean “beat it”?! Those are sovereign states, nations, peoples; but in its madness, Moscow is unleashing a large-scale war,” wrote Piontkovsky.
The columnist wagers that Ukraine's conduct ensured that the firmer approach of United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken prevailed over that of U.S. President Joe Biden’s National Security Advisor.
“Ukrainian diplomatic efforts, championed by Dmytro Kuleba, played a crucial role in this clash (of opinions),” the columnist believes.
“If Ukraine gave in, the United States could never defend it: Americans can hardly be expected to be more pro-Ukrainian than Ukrainians themselves.”
Pointkovsky compared Kuleba’s stance to that of the United Kingdom’s famed World War 2 leader, Winston Churchill, writing that he “…thinks Kuleba’s Dec. 31 tweet was pivotal: ‘We will defend ourselves and our right to exist, even if the West blinks’.”
“That reminded me of Winston Churchill’s legendary parliamentary speech of May, 1940, when he promised that ‘We shall fight, we shall never surrender’, as the British Isles were facing the threat of an invasion by the Third Reich.”
According to the columnist, world opinion is on Ukraine’s side, despite the unpleasant feud between its current and previous presidents, Volodymyr Zelensky and Petro Poroshenko.
“Ah, well, that’s politicians for you; although I’m sure both of them (Zelensky and Poroshenko) are staunchly pro-Ukrainian, just as Kuleba,” Piontkovsky said, though he expressed the view that Ukrainian security may be better served if both Sullivan, and the chief-of-staff of the Ukrainian President, Andriy Yermak, were removed from their posts.
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