Askold Lozynskyj
The Ukrainian side has pretty much accepted every proposal for a temporary ceasefire knowing full well that a temporary ceasefire does not solve the essential problem for Ukraine.
No, the problem is not Putin, himself. He is a thug and a killer of the worst sort in history but the Russian nation has always managed to produce a clone or someone even worse in succession. Ivan the Terrible was succeeded albeit not immediately by Tsar Peter I and Peter was succeeded albeit not immediately by Tsarina Catherine. At the very least all three are recognized as brutal killers throughout history.
Russia has produced more than its share of brutal barbarians. Its entire history has been one of land grabbing and imperialism. What nation on earth needs eleven time zones of territory and still invades Ukraine to occupy even more. That is the point!
Ukraine can never be safe from Russia as long as Russia is an empire with its greed for more conquests. Today some 150 nations find themselves within the Russian empire, mostly living on their territory which had been invaded and absorbed by Russia. Additionally, some seemingly independent countries such as the “stans” (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan etc.), Belarus and Armenia exist only as long as they serve as Russian appendages or at best surrogates. This has to stop.
Ukraine is not the sacrificial lamb here as often portrayed. Ukraine has on its own with the support of its friends managed to turn the tide. In almost four years of full scale war, Ukraine has proven to be the champion of freedom and democracy. No country on earth, perhaps maybe the United States of America, possesses the military capability of Ukraine. Is Ukraine ready for NATO? That has become a ridiculous question.
As for democracy, no president of a democratic country listens to his people in the manner of President Zelensky of Ukraine. Yes, he tried to take control of the power of Ukraine’s anti-corruption institutions for legitimate concerns of Russian infiltration. He was soundly reprimanded by his own people and in one day he reversed course. I am certain that he found a different way to deal with the infiltration.
I live in the United States. I travel to Ukraine three times every year. Ukraine is more democratic even in wartime than America under Trump where all three branches of government are controlled by one man and one who does not distinguish between right and wrong, good and evil. Allow me a cheap shot. The current President of America is reminiscent of the Russian tsars and commissars, fortunately without the ability to kill his opponents.
The bottom line is that the only real solution to Russian aggression and imperialism is the end of the empire. Bring Russia to its economic knees through sanctions so that the Russian military and the police cannot be paid. There will no longer be a police state in Russia. There will be regime change and probably “good chaos”. Nations such as the Kazan Tatars, the Kalmyks, the Chechens, the Sakha, the Bashkirs, the Buryats, the Erzya will rise. They do not seek nor need
nuclear weapons because they will not be attempting to frighten anyone and so they will turn them over to a UN agency and only then will there be a level of real peace.
There will still be Russia but only as a nation-state, but not an empire. The problem with the world today, in the XXI century, is that there remains an empire where one people rules over many others. The only solution is freedom for those others. No nation has the right to rule over other nations. Today, the Ukrainians have broken the mold of imperialism. They are fighting not only for their own freedom, but that of all nations. Think about this as a plan for lasting peace! Freedom for all nations and all people! This is the bottom line upon which all human beings should agree and I submit to you that freedom for all and no empires is that bottom line.
October 28, 2025
