Empire’s last-ditch effort — opinion
We were not the first to take up arms, but we will be the last to lay them down.
The Kremlin is not considering any options for a future in which Ukraine exists as a sovereign independent state. For Putin, the only acceptable outcome is the final, once and for all, elimination of the "Ukrainian question." All decisions have been made, and they are final. Anything else is an illusion of self-deception. The Russian quasi-empire is investing all its forces and resources in this last historical outburst of hatred. For this purpose, during the year and a half of the war, Russia has been going through all the stages of attempts to destroy Ukraine, which it has been implementing for centuries, in express mode.
1. The killing of Ukrainians, both military and civilians, sparing neither women nor children.
2. Measures of de-Ukrainization and Russification of the population of the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine with a special emphasis on the youth.
3. Deportation of Ukrainian children to the Russian Federation and their "indoctrination" – re-education in the anti-Ukrainian spirit. They distribute children to military field camps, boarding schools, military academies, and cadet corps under the "supervision" of the Russian Investigative Committee. They have kidnapped thousands of children.
Appeasement are water in the sand and a game in favor of Russia.
4. Complete Russification of education and upbringing in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, the transition of educational institutions to Russian educational programs, and maximization of propaganda "pumping."
5. Comprehensive work on attempts to break the occupied population's political, legal, cultural, and socio-economic ties with Ukraine, which is backed by large amounts of financial investment.
6. Ukrainian textbooks have been destroyed, and education in schools and universities is based on Russian programs.
7. The systemic "political investments" that Russia is making in attempts to "re-educate" and “Russify” the population of the temporarily occupied territories show that the Kremlin has made a serious bet on trying to "dismember" Ukraine and absorb it in parts. The work is planned for a long time, for at least several generations.
Ukrainians have long realized who they are dealing with and see Muscovy's true plans and intentions. Unfortunately, the West and the world, more broadly, are taking too long to wake up to this. Still, we have passed the most severe tests in our long history and are ready to fight as long as it takes to remove the issue of so-called Russia from the security agenda. Therefore, all these talks about negotiations, avoiding escalation, and appeasement are water in the sand and a game in favor of Russia. The only possibility for sustainable peace is Russia's defeat and fragmentation.
We did not decide to be the first to take up arms, but we will be the last to lay them down until justice is done: those responsible for the crime of war are punished, and no power in the world will prevent us from doing so.
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