The Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, who launched an unprovoked and unjustified war on Ukraine on Feb. 24, now says he is ready to talk to end the fighting, but only if Kyiv stops military operations and surrenders.
Nobody—except perhaps his countrymen—are fooled by Putin’s outlandish claims. It is apparent to everyone monitoring the Russian invasion that Putin is a war criminal, as are those who continue to empower him.
On Sunday, the United Nations said the civilian death toll in Ukraine rose to 364, including more than 20 children, as Russian forces fired indiscriminately on civilian targets such as apartment buildings, schools, hospitals and even a nuclear power plant.
Belying Moscow’s denials, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said most civilian casualties were caused by the use of “explosive weapons with a wide impact area, including shelling from heavy artillery and multi-launch rocket systems, and missile and air strikes.”
A US defense official says Russia has launched about 600 missiles so far as it clearly seeks to pummel Ukraine into submission by targeting “soft” targets.
The invasion has drawn almost universal condemnation around the world, sent more than 1.5 million Ukrainians fleeing from the country, and triggered sweeping Western sanctions against Russia aimed at crippling its economy.
Still, the invasion continues, driven, it seems, by Putin’s mad desire to return Russia to its Soviet-era “glory.”
Although there have been anti-war protests inside Russia, police are quick to arrest the courageous activists, detaining more than 4,600 of them so far, according to an independent protest monitoring group.
Still, it seems a majority of Russians—brainwashed by a steady diet of lies and propaganda from state-controlled media—are content to let Putin have his bloody way. Even when confronted with the truth and images of Ukrainian cities devastated by Russian fire, they refuse to see.
They, too, bear responsibility for the death and destruction that Putin has rained on Ukraine. His soldiers, ignorant as some of them seem to be, are guilty as well for their craven attack on civilians.
After all, it is this silent majority that put Putin in power in the first place, and it is they that keep him there by being silent on the atrocities he carries out in their name.
Putin, with his bloody, expansionist dreams, must be stopped—and if the Russians will not stop him, the rest of the world must.