File –The US offered Ukraine 15-year security guarantee, but Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky wants more and accused Russia president Putin (R) of misleading president Trump, as Russia keeps pounding Kyiv with missiles
Why Ukraine’s demand for real security guarantees is justified, and why the West must stop disguising aggression as diplomacy
By Vlad Green , Op.Ed
There is little ambiguity about who bears responsibility for the war in Ukraine. The conflict did not begin by accident, provocation, or misunderstanding. It began in February 2022 when Russia launched a full-scale invasion of a sovereign neighbor. That initiating act defines the aggressor—and it defines the villain.
The Kremlin’s justifications have never withstood scrutiny. Claims about “protecting Russian speakers” or halting NATO expansion are widely viewed by international observers as retroactive excuses for a war of conquest. No NATO army threatened Moscow. No genocide was underway in eastern Ukraine. These narratives exist to mask a far more dangerous objective: restoring Russian dominance through force and intimidation.
In this context, Volodymyr Zelenskyy is absolutely right to demand strong and binding security guarantees. Ukraine does not face a difficult neighbor—it faces one that repeatedly proves it sees peace as temporary and sovereignty as optional. A state that invades once will do so again if rewarded.
This is precisely why the West must be clear-eyed. Any peace that legitimizes territorial theft will not end the war; it will merely postpone the next one. That includes policies that normalize aggression or treat Russia as a misunderstood partner.
It is time for Donald Trump—and all Western leaders—to expose Russia’s true intentions, not obscure them. Appeasement is not diplomacy. Rewarding aggression is not peace. And history has shown, repeatedly, that when dictators are indulged, the cost is always paid later—and in blood.
