The Ukraine War: Winners and losers

” “There has never been a good or bad war,” said Ben Franklin, at the conclusion of the American Revolution. That depends upon the war-makers as well as the causes they are fighting.

Six months into the war in Ukraine, launched by Russian President Vladimir Putin on Feb. 24, when he could not get the U.S. or Kiev to rule out admission of Ukraine to a NATO alliance aimed against Russia, who appear to be the winners and who the losers?

While Russia made some gains in Ukraine’s east, Donbas, and the South, adjacent to Crimea and captured Mariupol and transformed the Sea of Azov in to a Russian lake; its losses were huge.

The invading Russian Army of February was stopped outside Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. The army was unable to seize Kharkiv (Ukraine’s second-largest city), which is close to Russia’s border. Odessa was the third-largest city in Ukraine and the largest port at the Black Sea.

According to Western sources, Russia has suffered 75,000 to 80,000 casualties and is desperately recruiting, even in prisons, to find troops to replace the dead and wounded lost in Ukraine. Putin wants to expand his army by an additional 137,000 troops. Russian’s flagship, the Black Sea cruiser Moskva has been sink. Thousands of tanks and armored personnel vehicles were destroyed. It has been proven that the Russian army is no longer considered a formidable force in land warfare in Europe.

In political terms, Russia has become isolated from Europe. It has been subject to severe sanctions, and it is now that NATO and Europe are uniting against Russia. Sweden and Finland have abandoned their historic neutrality to become the 31st and 32nd members of NATO.

Is Ukraine now the victor of this war?

The war the Ukraine of Volodymyrzelensky fought for independence, territorial integrity, and freedom against Russia has been admired by many around the globe. Yet, in two clashes with Russia, in 2014 and 2022, Ukraine has lost 20% of its territory in its east and south, and Kyiv is not going to retrieve these lost lands before winter comes.

But if Russia is badly injured and Ukraine suffers irretrievable loss of soldiers and land, then who are the losers? Who benefits from the continuation of war that will leave thousands more Russians and Ukrainians wounded and dead? America?

Is this a new Cold War II between Russia and the United States, into which it appears we have fallen, in the national interests of a United States, that three decades ago so welcomed the peaceful ending of the Cold War?

What benefit does the U.S. have by sending troops to the Baltic states? Are we stronger, safer, more secure, now that we have committed to fight Russia to defend the 830-mile Finnish-Russian border, something no Cold Warrior of an earlier era would have dreamt of doing? Do we have a better chance because the Warsaw Pact nations and the three old USSR republics are NATO allies, whose independence is our commitment to fighting Russia?

Is the revival of the Sino-Soviet pact, aimed at the West in the 1950s and now aimed at NATO and our Asian allies, something we should welcome? Aren’t our post-Cold War actions a major factor in the revival of the Cold War Russia-China alliance to our detriment? This generation of American leaders seems to have restored the hostile duopoly that President Richard Nixon seemed to create in China’s Mao.

Putin served as a Russian KGB agent in the Cold War. All former Warsaw Pact member states and the three USSR constituent republics are now NATO allies.

This new Cold War. Putin is responsible for inciting it.

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Perhaps the most important goal of the Cold War with Russia involved avoiding a war that could lead to nuclear war. This would have the potential to destroy both countries. How can we be in such a negative relationship with Moscow now that the Cold War ended?

In the First Cold War, Eastern Europe was recognized as a satellite of the Soviet Union. After World War II, communism was imposed on them. However, this was not the cause of military conflict. We, and not Putin made the matter of Eastern Europe’s independence from Moscow and their alliance with the West an issue for which we pledged to fight.

Of course, as Russians and Ukrainians murder each other in Donbass, hatred for Russians is growing. How can that be good for America? Perhaps we should spend as much energy and time trying to stop this war, as we are trying to humiliate Russia. This will not lead to peace.