Ukrainians don't see Russia's war crimes as an invitation to negotiate

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/03/24/ukraine-russia-war-crime-negotiations-talks-mariupol-zelensky-ultimatums/

No paywall
https://archive.ph/ZFwGV


KYIV, Ukraine — The Russians have asked Ukrainian forces to surrender Mariupol. The Ukrainians have refused.

I can easily imagine that some observers in the outside world might find that bewildering. The Russians have shelled the city into a smoking wreck, targeting residential areas. First, the airstrikes destroyed power stations, so there’s no more electricity. Then the biggest supermarkets were obliterated, so there’s no food. After another deliberate attack, the firefighters no longer had vehicles, leaving them struggling to put out fires and rescue survivors.

Nothing could show more clearly how Russia aims to continue this war. If Vladimir Putin’s troops don’t win battles with the Ukrainian military, they’ll attack civilians, pressuring the government to surrender. In Mariupol right now, an estimated 300,000 people are effectively being held hostage by the Russian troops who have encircled the city.

Those watching from afar struggle to understand how Ukrainians should respond. I’ve been getting calls from analysts in Paris and London, asking me why we don’t simply give up Mariupol. They’re also asking me how Russians and Ukrainians can arrive at a deal to end the war. Surely, the reasoning goes, anything must be better than enduring such slaughter.

But we don’t see airstrikes on maternity hospitals and bomb shelters where kids and women hide as invitations to negotiate. We see them as demonstrations of what the Kremlin will do to Ukrainians if it can. It’s not about pride. It’s about survival. We have no choice but to win. If we lose, we know what awaits us.

*snip*