The negotiation process surrounding the settlement of the Russian-Ukrainian war has thrown open the Overton window of international politics. What seemed stable and valuable yesterday has overnight turned into a “pumpkin” of trade and blackmail. Persistent attempts are underway to convince the world that black is, in fact, white and vice versa. The big players sit down at the table to play cards, but no matter how hard they try, they still play hockey: with fouls, power moves and the use of tough guys. After several rounds of the game, or rather the tournament, the final confrontation is approaching.
The key question is, what is Ukraine approaching this final with? Assuming that we have a few more days to develop a position, and choose tactics and strategy for the decisive match, then this time must be used to strengthen our key positions.
First of all, on the battlefield. Despite the alarming news from Kursk, it is worth noting that, globally, we are succeeding. The stabilization of the situation on the contact line in Donbas, and successful attacks on enemy equipment in the occupied Crimea and the deep rear, give reason to assert that the main argument of Ukrainian policy — the Armed Forces of Ukraine — has not allowed our strong position to be shaken for a moment.
Another pillar of the Ukrainian position should be national unity. Unity of the military and civilians, politicians and civil society. We are well aware of our internal challenges. They are even better indicated by hostile IPSOs, who are trying to disperse the slightest Ukrainian problem to the level of theses that are put into the mouths of both Putin and, unfortunately, repeatedly, Trump. However, we cannot allow all these factors to influence our consolidation at a crucial time.
The right moment has come to turn to the ideological heritage of our glorious Leaders, who, through their creativity and rank, carried out the cause of relying on their own forces with a red thread. Being formed as a revolutionary concept, it fits quite organically into the background of the national liberation war against the eternal enemy. “The Ukrainian people can gain an independent state only through their own struggle and work,” Stepan Bandera emphasized. “The favourable development of the international situation can, to a large extent, contribute to a new development and success of our liberation struggle, but it can only play an auxiliary, albeit useful, role. Without the Ukrainian people’s own struggles, the most favourable situations never give us state independence, except for the replacement of one enslavement with another… Both liberation and the defence of an independent Ukraine can be based primarily on our own Ukrainian forces, our own struggle and constant readiness for self-defence.”
The unprecedented heroic struggle of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and the mobilization of the entire Ukrainian community give the Ukrainian authorities a mandate to act exclusively from the position of national interests. Ukraine has regained its subjectivity in the great game of great powers and everyone must reckon with this. The highest price has been paid for the right not only to remain on the frontier of two worlds but also to affirm the victory of the world of truth over the kingdom of darkness and cynicism. In this, we must be strong, self-sufficient and united!
