In the last 24-48 hours, there have been a number of excellent pieces setting out the truth of Russia’s war against Ukraine and the West and addressing flagrant falsehoods being thrown about all across the media.

Today, I chose one article from the New York Post and present it as well as the New York Post’s cover page.  And, as you will see, I have inserted significant parenthetical comments which I believe are important and relevant.

Opinion

Mr. President: Putin is THE dictator and 10 Ukraine-Russia war truths we ignore at our peril

By Douglas Murray | Published Feb. 20, 2025, 7:59 p.m. ET

This has been a dizzying and disorienting week in international diplomacy. One with wild implications for Ukraine, the future of America’s standing in the world and President Trump’s legacy.

Trump is absolutely right in wanting to end the bloodshed in Ukraine. The suffering has been appalling and the stalemate brutal. But in the furious mix of wild opinions this week from the White House down, there are at least 10 truths that every American voter must hang onto.

In Trump’s rush to end the bloodshed, these are also the truths against which any deal will be judged and which will define him when the history books are written.

To ignore them or not treat them with the gravity they deserve will also have enormous consequences for decades to come:

Truth No. 1

Vladimir Putin started this war, despite what Trump said days ago.

In February 2022, following a massive buildup on Ukraine’s borders, Putin’s army launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. There is no rational narrative outside of Russian propaganda that blames “aggressive” actions by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky or NATO that can justify such a military action. This came after Putin had already seized Crimea in 2014 and launched a war in the Donbas, in eastern Ukraine.

And that doesn’t include the other wars he started, like that against the tiny nation of Georgia in 2008.

Trump is absolutely right that the war “never had to start.” I believe it is true that it wouldn’t have started if he had been in the Oval Office. But it was Putin, not Zelensky, who started the war. [The full-scale invasion of February 2022 might not have taken place if Trump was in office but during President Trump’s entire first term Russia occupied Crimea and the Donbas - occupations that included murders, rapes, torture, and the beginning of Russia’s abductions of Ukrainian children in direct violation of the Genocide Treaty.  This fact should not be lost as Washington, and the greater west did little to nothing to address Russia’s illegal and unjustified invasion and occupations – and war crimes beginning in the Obama Administration.  RAM]

Truth No. 2

Russia is fighting for conquest. The Russian Federation invaded Ukraine in 2022. Whatever you think of the country or its leadership, Ukraine is an internationally recognized, sovereign nation. Putin invaded in the hope of devouring the country wholesale. By contrast, Ukraine has absolutely no territorial ambitions in Russia.

And remember the brutality of Russia’s actions. Among the multitude of depravities and war crimes committed by Putin’s army has been the abduction of some 20,000 Ukrainian children. Who wants to live in a world where the strong can simply devour the weak, and kidnap little children by the thousands? Why hasn’t the US put their release at the top of the list of its negotiating demands?

[It would be a mistake not to spell out clearly Russia’s objectives.  “Russia is fighting for conquest” states the truth but the public – and the Trump Administration need to know, remember, and grasp the reality of the “specific proposals” (demands) Putin submitted to the west on December 15, 2021 which were published two days later in the form of two draft treaties in which NATO and the United States were to commit to limits on their influence and activities in Europe because of wholly made-up Russian fears.

Those demands, issued as about 100,000 Russian troops were massed on Ukraine's borders, were an ultimatum – sign or we will invade Ukraine.

The first draft treaty, titled "Agreement on Measures to Ensure the Security of the Russian Federation and Member States of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization", included the following provisions, among others:

• that NATO members commit to no further enlargement of the alliance, including in particular to Ukraine
• NATO deploy no forces or weapons in countries that joined the alliance after May 1997
• a ban on deployment of intermediate-range missiles in areas where they could reach the other side's territory
• a ban on any NATO military activity in Ukraine, Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, or Central Asia

The second, titled "Treaty between the United States of America and the Russian Federation on Security Guarantees", included the following:

• a requirement that both countries "not implement security measures … that could undermine core security interests of the other Party"
• a requirement that the United States undertake to prevent further NATO enlargement
• a ban on deployment of U.S. intermediate-range missiles in Europe
• limits on the ability of heavy bombers and surface warships to operate in and over international waters in range of the other side
• a requirement that both side's nuclear weapons only be deployed on national territory

Supposedly these “treaties” were required by Russia due to the threat NATO and the US posed to Russia’s sovereign security. Hello – this is the same Russia that assured the sanctity of Ukraine’s sovereign borders in the Budapest Memorandum of 1994 and then invaded Ukraine in 2014.

Russia knew full well the treaties/demands were non-negotiable and knew it would be sending into Ukraine a massive invasion force soon thereafter.  But the demands signal Russia’s objective – to assert full control over all of the lands of the former Soviet Union. RAM]

Truth No. 3

Ukraine is fighting for its independence. Most Ukrainians do not want to be part of Russia. They do not want to be governed from Moscow. The vast majority want to live in an independent, sovereign country in control of its own future. [In 1991 when Ukraine’s parliament was considering legislation to distance Ukraine from “the Center” the Western press – think certainly of the New York Times and the Washington Post and many of our elites – predicted bloodshed should Ukraine try to break away, they even wrote about possible “nuclear chaos”. But Ukraine’s parliament passed its Declaration of Independence in August 1991 conditioning independence on a vote of the people – the only republic of the former Soviet Union to condition independence on a referendum. On December 1, 1991, the people of Ukraine by a 93% majority voted for independence – a peaceful transition to a sovereign and independent nation took place. Then, starting in 2014, Russia has forced Ukraine to fight its war of independence and, it seems to me, far too many in the United States cannot understand the Ukrainian commitment to win this war whatever the cost. Why? It has been 200+ years since we have had to fight for our independence, we Americans have no link to our forefathers who lived under the oppression of the King and who mutually pledged to each other their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor – that is simply stuff of the history books. But not in Ukraine, we cannot grasp the reality of Ukraine. In Ukraine live people who suffered directly the oppression of the Soviet Union and a next generation who genuinely feel the stories of their parents – the need to whisper at the dinner table for fear of being reported for some expressed thought, the needs to secretly get the location of the underground Sunday church service in order to profess their faith, the experience of a family member disappearing in the night never to be heard from again — Ukrainians know what subservience to the Kremlin means, they know what they are fighting for and we should at least appreciate their motivation.  In our founding there was the famous Patrick Henry cry, “Give me liberty, or give me death.”  That is an abstract concept to us – it is real to the people of Ukraine. We and our government would do well to understand.  RAM]

Truth No. 4

Ukrainians are not Russians. Ukrainians and Russians are not “one people — a single whole,” as Putin wrote in a 2021 essay. He is also simply lying in his assertion that “modern Ukraine is entirely the product of the Soviet era.”

Ukrainians and Russians are two separate ethnic groups. They speak different languages and have distinct histories. [And despite the Russian propaganda Ukraine is much older than Russia. Although this is fact it would take much more time here to dissect the errors of the fictional history promoted by Russia.  RAM]

Truth No. 5

Putin is a dictator. Putin has ruled Russia with an iron KGB fist since coming to power in 1999. He has ruthlessly quashed independent media, ended free and fair elections, crushed civil society and killed his political opponents. And not just inside Russia, but around the world. People who live inside Russia and express any opposition to the war are imprisoned.

Truth No. 6

Zelensky is not a dictator. A political outsider, Zelensky won the 2019 presidential election, which was relatively free and fair. He has a 57% approval rating, not the 4% Trump claimed.

Unlike in Russia, Ukraine has vibrant independent media that hold the government to account — despite claims to the contrary by internet swamp creatures and Russian bots.

Many Ukrainians freely criticize the government’s conduct of the war. When Britain was fighting for its survival against the Nazis in the 1940s, it too did not hold elections. [And the prohibition against Ukrainian elections in wartime is in the Ukrainian constitution – put there before Zelenskyy came to the presidency.  RAM]

The Russian ambassador to the UK spent yesterday crowing that he’s “not sure” Zelensky would be re-elected if there were elections today. But we all know one thing for sure. Whether or not Zelensky would be re-elected in Ukraine, Putin will always be re-elected in Russia. Because his elections are con jobs, pageant shows. Putin hasn’t won a free and fair election in his life. Because he doesn’t hold them.

Truth No. 7

Russia is not a friend of the US. It is a hostile, nuclear-armed state that resents American power and the world the US has built. It has ever closer relations with China, Iran and North Korea. In fact, all of its main friends are countries that are the biggest foes of America. [That this reality even needs to be written is shocking.  Russia’s deranged and vociferous hostility toward the United States has been and is clear to all.  RAM]

Truth No. 8

Ukraine is a friend of the US. Ukraine wants to be part of the American-led order. Its people and government are deeply pro-American. Since the start of the Russian invasion, the Ukrainian men and women I have seen fighting at the front lines are fighting the Russian military to protect their loved ones and their country. They also do it in the knowledge that if they fail, other countries will be next.

Truth No. 9

Putin cannot be trusted. This isn’t just a statement of fact. It is also something that 81% of American voters agree on.

Putin has invaded multiple countries in violation of every international treaty. He has interfered in multiple elections in his nearest neighbors. He has violated international agreements, including the INF Treaty with the US.

He has lied to American presidents and European leaders his whole career. He has lied to Trump even since Trump has been back in office. Most recently Putin promised that he wouldn’t target Ukrainian energy facilities.

Yet just this week he carried out a massive missile and drone attack against multiple energy facilities in Ukraine. It is almost as though Putin’s word doesn’t count for very much and he doesn’t care if you know it.

Truth No. 10

American aid to Ukraine is not being wasted.

Nobody would argue that Ukraine is a country without corruption. But that does not mean its people and sovereignty should not be protected.

We should also remember which country in this war is truly corrupt. Russia is one vast, kleptocratic state, led by Putin and a small cartel of oligarchs who have made themselves among the richest people on Earth. All while keeping most of the Russian population in a state of poverty that would not be believed by most of us in the West.

Putin and his cronies have been accumulating power and wealth all their careers. And they will torture and kill anyone who exposes this corruption. Remember his political opponent Alexey Navalny and the lawyer Sergei Magnitsky? It is easy to expose corruption in Ukraine. But in Russia, it is deadly.

Besides, according to the Department of Defense, some $58 billion out of the $183 billion in Ukraine aid has been spent in America. It is money that has benefited American workers and industries. [There are other calculations that show that an even greater amount has been spent in the United States to benefit Ukraine.  RAM]

The war has also degraded the military of one of the despotic regimes in the world and reduced its threat to not just Europe but America without one US soldier being killed. It has also sent a strong deterrent message to China, Iran and North Korea not to try the same.

You can criticize Zelensky, complain. But we should be under no illusions about who started this fire and who the true dictator or villain of this tragic tale is.

Trump has a chance to bring an end to this war, to stop the killing. Maybe even win a Nobel Peace Prize.

But he will not be honored if the peace is an appeasement, one that bows down in the face of evil as it denies obvious truths.

The judgment of history will be even harsher — decades of peace and prosperity in Europe and America thrown away to a resurgent Russia harassing the East. Without a strong peace, it won’t be just Ukraine that suffers. It is all of us.

That is the ultimate truth.

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ROBERT MCCONNELL
Co-Founder, U.S.-Ukraine Foundation
Director of External Affairs, Friends of Ukraine Network

The introduction and parenthetical comments are Mr. McConnell’s and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation or those of the Friends of Ukraine Network (FOUN).

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