Many Ukrainians are tired of the war. About 60 percent oppose giving Russia the territory of Donbas, but a similar percentage would support a ceasefire, backed by Western security guarantees — which would freeze current positions — a recent poll suggests.
By Simon TISDALL
The people of Ukraine are facing a winter of hell. Stuck on the battlefield, Russia is increasing its systematic daily attacks on civilians, their homes, schools, hospitals, workplaces, and the vital infrastructure that sustains human life. Wave after wave of horrific attacks by ballistic missiles and drones on Kiev and other cities during the day are destroying supermarket distribution centers, pharmaceutical and medical facilities, logistics centers, and warehouses. The result is a sharp increase in civilian casualties and a growing shortage of food and other essentials. As a bitter winter approaches, Russia will try again to blow up Ukraine’s water supply and power grid, cutting off power to millions. This is Vladimir Putin’s version of darkness at noon. He would rather kill everyone than admit defeat.
Russia’s leader reportedly told Donald Trump this week that his “special military operation,” now in its fifth year, was going according to plan. Trump may believe him. Western analysts certainly don’t. Having failed militarily and suffered heavy losses, his regime is under increasing domestic, economic, and public pressure to end the war. Still, Putin seems to think that one last big push could finally break Ukraine’s will. Trump’s renewed intervention—after months of inertia, last weekend he sent his puppet emissaries, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, back to Moscow (they also visited Kiev for the first time)—keeps alive the Kremlin’s illusions of victory. Now there’s talk of more talks. And all the while, Putin kills and kills. Every day is a crime against humanity.
This prospect of daily mass killings, rampant war crimes, malnutrition, homelessness, and new large-scale displacements of Ukrainian civilians – this intensifying Russian terror campaign – is intolerable. So why aren’t Western allies and NATO stepping in to stop it?
The main reason is the US’s ambivalence and chronic lack of trust, which have turned Ukraine into a permanent, seemingly insoluble war. Former President Joe Biden threw lifelines to the Ukrainians in 2022, then let them sink or swim. Since then, Trump has tried to drown them. Despite halting the ground invasion and taking the war to Russia’s heartland, Ukraine is more vulnerable than ever to air strikes. This is largely because Trump has backed down from allowing Ukraine to produce Patriot interceptor missiles and has suspended arms deliveries. Europe has so far failed to fill the void. Trump’s servility to Putin and his patronage – as seen at last year’s abject summit in Alaska – as well as his bullying of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, undermine Ukrainian resilience, European security and hopes for a speedy resolution. Vulnerable civilians are paying the price.
Many Ukrainians are tired of the war. About 60 percent oppose giving Russia the territory of Donbas, but a similar percentage would support a ceasefire backed by Western security guarantees — which would freeze current positions — a recent poll suggests. Most Russians also want it to stop. And, like Moscow, Kiev is feeling the financial strain, despite a $100 billion loan from the EU.
It is clear that there is a deal to be made. But Putin (like Trump on Iran) ignores public opinion. The indifference of authoritarian leaders to popular will, let alone world opinion, is another reason why perpetual wars proliferate. Whether it is the conflict in Ukraine, Gaza, or Iran, ordinary people, watching events from the periphery, feel powerless to influence them. Over time, familiarity with them dulls the senses. The horror of it all is frightening and shocking. It is easier to look the other way. Efforts to stop the US-Israeli war on Iran, which began in February and has now spread to the Red Sea (Trump, remember, said it would last only a few weeks), as well as the ongoing violence after 2023 in occupied Palestine, are hampered, as in Ukraine, by the lack of credible and independent peace processes. This is another major factor fueling the modern phenomenon of perpetual war. Trump has been clumsily drawn into the Kiev-Moscow dispute, openly favoring one side. At no point has he concerned himself with the rightness and wrongness of Putin’s chosen war. His goal was not to save lives, but to win a Nobel Peace Prize (plus a lucrative Russian energy deal).
Self-interested motives have similarly undermined hopes of rescuing Gaza’s civilians from the Israeli military and Hamas. Trump’s “peace board” and 20-point plan are largely tools for his ego and greed, not a credible way out of a political, military, and humanitarian impasse. When it comes to ending the Iran fiasco, the US president has lost interest. His refusal, like Putin’s, to acknowledge the obvious, to admit that he failed to achieve his war goals, and to seek a compromise with Tehran undermines Regional mediators and Gulf allies, who rightly fear that the fighting will continue indefinitely. What is desperately needed are impartial peace envoys, empowered by the UN, to force the parties to face each other and reach a solution.
Permanent wars are waged and entrenched in the absence of authoritative, universal legal frameworks that are respected and enforced by all. The contempt that Trump, Putin, and Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu show for the basic principles of the post-1945 world order – the rule of law, national sovereignty, oversight and enforcement by the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court – contributes directly to prolonging conflict. Once the rules are thrown aside, anything goes. This has inevitably led to atrocities that amount to war crimes, such as those experienced in Gaza since the massacres of October 7; in Bucha, Mariupol, and other cities across Ukraine; and, in Minab, in southern Iran where a US Tomahawk cruise missile allegedly killed more than 100 schoolgirls in February. Almost without exception, the perpetrators escape punishment. It is impunity turned into law. It is permanent anarchy. Another increasingly common feature of endless wars is the prevention of full public scrutiny and accountability through independent media and UN investigations. Since the war with Hamas began, the Israeli military has severely restricted access to international journalists in Gaza. Despite the efforts of courageous reporters, this policy has inevitably obscured and distorted the true picture of what is happening there, not least for Israelis. Similarly, the US Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, releases only limited and selective information about operations involving Iran. This has led, for example, to underreporting the extent and cost of successful Iranian strikes on US bases in the Persian Gulf.
Russian state media routinely censors news from Ukraine. Most Russians have little idea how bad the war is going. In general, public ignorance facilitates abuses and prolongs the conflict.
Permanent wars are ultimately caused by failed and foolish leaders. Of course, generals make mistakes. In battle, things rarely go as planned. Clever strategies backfire. But the fundamental problem is politicians who overpromise, underestimate their opponents, ignore less macho and peaceful alternatives, think they are above the law, refuse to admit mistakes – and, without shame or remorse, lie to you. This is an ancient problem, with no quick fix. But the people of Ukraine, facing a season from hell, urgently need extra help – now.
Western democracies cannot sit idly by while the civilian death toll from Moscow’s barbaric attacks grows daily. NATO must finally go on the offensive, make it clear that further war crimes will not be tolerated, threaten to strike Russian drone and missile launch sites from the air (as has been called for before, repeatedly, here) – and force Putin to back down before his permanent war becomes everyone’s war.