Russia's renewed campaign of missile and drone attacks against Ukrainian civilians has begun in earnest. The campaign was long overdue – but even so, Ukraine's Western supporters appear to be repeating the same mistakes as last year in their response.
During last year's winter attack on Ukraine's heating and power infrastructure, intended to freeze the country into submission, Western support efforts focused on replacing that infrastructure. This kept the lights on in Ukraine, but it also gave Russia more targets to attack.
This year, the emphasis of military aid from allied countries is on providing air defense systems, which better protect the skies over Ukraine. The problem with both approaches is that they are defensive and reactive, and do nothing to solve the problem at the source by stopping the attacks.
Russia faces no difficulties in continuing attacks on Ukraine's residential areas and critical infrastructure. This is because the West as a whole, and the US in particular, have decided that they can do nothing to influence Russian choices.
The point is that it is not a sustainable strategy to make Ukraine a more resilient punching bag. If they want fewer civilians to die, Kiev's Western supporters must realize that they can take the initiative rather than watch helplessly.
In fact, one of the most obscene and evil elements of the war against Ukraine is the way the global community allowed Russia to initiate the conflict. The world – and the West – has agreed to the rules of the game dictated by Moscow, where Russia has safe zones from which it can launch missile attacks on Ukrainian apartment buildings without worrying about counterattacks.
This consent demonstrates a lack of imagination and initiative, and an inability to step back and realize how absurd and bizarre it is that Russia can continue on this path without being challenged by anyone except Ukraine.
It is a mental paralysis rooted in the assumption that Russia is too big, too strong, too irrational or has too many nuclear weapons to be influenced. The behavior of the Russian state appears to be treated as a natural phenomenon that must be helplessly observed, rather than as the result of calculated decisions by leadership figures, whose calculations can be influenced by both incentives and deterrence.
Stopping attacks does not necessarily mean simply striking back at the sources of missile and drone attacks. In any case, this is largely ruled out, given the US ban on using US-supplied weapons against Russia within its own borders. But this does not mean that the West – with or without the US – has no influence.
PHOTOS: Images show the destruction of the war between Russia and Ukraine
Source: CNN Brasil
Bruce Belcher is a seasoned author with over 5 years of experience in world news. He writes for online news websites and provides in-depth analysis on the world stock market. Bruce is known for his insightful perspectives and commitment to keeping the public informed.
