Special Services

For several days, the fighting has been concentrated in eastern Ukraine. The Kremlin is trying to destroy Ukrainian troops in Donbas and Luhansk and it hopes to gain control over entire Ukrainian regions. At the same time, Russia is using rockets to shell targets located in the whole territory of Ukraine. These attacks are aimed at destroying the logistical base of Ukrainian defense and intimidate the Ukrainians.

Indeed Ukraine is defending itself successfully, in places using counteroffensive and pushing the invaders out of the territory which they have managed to occupy previously. The plans of Russian invasion are shattered thanks to the effectiveness of the Ukrainian defense. The war, which was about to be a short one and a great success of Russia, is -  in fact - not going the Kremlin's way. Even mass atrocities, which are shocking and looks like genocide, have not broken the defenses and morale of Ukrainians – they are still fighting for their country. At the moment neither Russian aggressor, nor Ukraine defense is able to make a breakthrough on a battlefield. The war is not going to end in the near future.

Russia – at the same time while conducting its military action against Ukraine  – is waging another war: an information and psychological one. The Kremlin wants to manipulate the image of aggression against Ukraine. Like so many times in history, Russia is trying to wash away the odium of the perpetrator by falsifying the real reasons for the attack on Ukraine. At the same time, it is trying to hide the crimes committed by Russian soldiers. Russia's propaganda is also infecting public opinion around the world hoping that the international community will be interested in returning to doing business with Russia and cooperating like it was before the attack on Ukraine.

The world and its reaction will decide whether Russia is allowed to commit crimes and aggression against Ukraine. Ukraine left stranded, without support will allow other countries to share its fate in the future. The same will happen when the West believes that it is possible to return to ‘normal’ relations with Russia, despite the invasion, crimes and violation of principles which are happening during the invasion. Today, it is apparent that there are circles in the West that care about Russia's interests even in the face of war and seek a return to economic cooperation even at the expense of Ukraine. A naive approach to Russian imperialism will bear very bad fruit in the future. Russia must be stopped, Russian imperialism will not stop by itself.

Spokesman for Poland’s Minister-Special Services Coordinator