As the three-year anniversary of the war in Ukraine is upon us, I notice some confusion about why the United States has made such fiscal commitments to a non-NATO country, and why we are seeing such a pronounced change in that relationship with President Trump. During Zelensky’s election, I walked through Ukraine for three months, without purpose; I had no agenda or itinerary. I used public transport and stayed in hostels, which were fabulous places to learn what was of interest and glean international perspectives. As Ukraine is a highly educated country, in the larger cities, conversing in English was easy, and I found Ukrainians to be an open, curious and intelligent people. Throughout my visit, I spoke with many people of varying perspectives and got a real sense of Ukraine in modern times.
While it is true that Ukraine has had various foreign influences in its past, in the living memory of most, it is the former U.S.S.R. that is most relevant now. One of the most pivotal events occurred in 1994: the Budapest Memorandum, signed by the U.K., the U.S. and Russia. At the time, Ukraine held the third largest nuclear arsenal in the world, and it was clear in its desire to not be a holder of these weapons. Quite the opposite of, say, North Korea, Iran and some other actors on the international stage.
In trade for these weapons, all three countries pledged to respect Ukraine’s territorial integrity and the inviolability of its borders, and to refrain from the use or threat of military force. Sadly, the agreements of Yeltsin and Clinton have yielded to the agendas of Obama, Putin and Trump. Why include Barack in this group? Because the failure of the U.S. to uphold the agreement in 2014, with the invasion of Crimea, was like waving a red flag in front of Putin the bull. This was the first of many indications of the West’s tolerance of further invasion.
When I heard that Putin had continued with his invasion of Ukraine following the annexation of Crimea and the Donbas region, ostensibly to de-Nazification the country, I laughed out loud. Never mind that Zelensky is Jewish, in my time in Ukraine, I didn’t see one hate symbol, not even graffiti. The only time I saw any attention paid to that faction of brutality was in the very comprehensive WWII museum in the center of Kyiv, placed under the massive, stainless steel Motherland monument (where I arranged a special tour into the arm and torch). In this museum, some of the remains of Nazi brutality are on display. Among the most egregious is the machine used to grind the bones of the Ukrainian dead for fertilizer. Suffice it to say that all the citizenry, and every religious faction, condemned the German occupiers. They are universally hated for the many crimes against Ukrainians that are still alive in memory. It’s no surprise that de-Nazification as a basis for invasion has vanished from Putin’s lips.
Yet I did frequently see real division between those sympathetic to Russia and those who wanted independence. I spoke to many people who did not talk to their own family members because of such beliefs. It must not be forgotten that Ukraine was an important part of the U.S.S.R. Men worked in Russia proper and had families in Ukraine. They fought elbow to elbow against Germany in a relationship I describe as a bit like chocolate powder in milk. Once mixed, these two cultures are inextricably tied together. There is no division between the two effectively, but also there can be no loss of either component. I remember at a fair in Lviv there was an air-operated BB machine gun for children to shoot for a few hryvnia. The target selections included the face of Putin; it was quite popular with the children, who would take the target home as a souvenir. Very complex, this messy history with Russia, but everyone I spoke with agreed that it was a matter for Ukraine to solve inside its own sovereign borders.
Russia’s acts of aggression against Ukraine are akin to fratricide. And its repeated attacks on civilian infrastructure serve no other purpose than to respond to contempt for Putin. I have come to believe that only ego can motivate a dictator who feeds a whole population of young men into a war machine. The revised Russian constitution allows Putin to remain in power until 2036. The former KGB agent has not advanced by accident.
So here we are, the meal eaten and the handshakes made so long ago, and now the bill has come due. Maybe some remember the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and understand the real threat. I do. I wonder where Europe would be now if Ukraine had not been so eager to do the right thing in that moment.
Joseph Brooke worked as a U.S. Coast Guard chief engineer of unlimited horsepower on merchant vessels for over two decades, and has traveled extensively. He lives in Point Reyes Station.