Evil cannot be appeased, it must be defeated for the sake of secure future - appeal of Ukrainian public figures to world leaders
Ukrainian public figures have published an open appeal to world leaders and the international community, in which they urged not to force Ukraine to give up its own territories without providing effective security guarantees, as this would encourage the aggressor and bring war to other countries.
“This war is not confined to Ukraine, nor can the ‘Ukrainian question’ be solved exclusively within the framework of Russian-Ukrainian relations. If the world leaders demand concessions of the territories and sovereignty from Ukraine without providing any effective security guarantees, they will essentially bring about Ukraine’s defeat, which will signal to China and other revisionists that they can seize what they want,” the appeal dubbed "Do not appease evil" says.
The document is signed by more than 160 persons, including human rights activists, MPs, diplomats, academics, famous artists, leaders of the largest business associations and various religious communities.
“For Ukraine itself, this war is existential: it is a war for survival of the Ukrainian nation, society, and state. Ukrainian democratic and Russian authoritarian-imperial political visions are essentially mutually exclusive. That means that any ‘freezing’ of the conflict at this or that demarcation line will not lead either to a relief of tensions or to the establishment of sustainable peace. For Russia, such a freeze would primarily signal the weakness of the West and encourage further aggression and wars that spill the blood of Europeans and Americans. Sustainable peace will come only when, under the combined pressure of Ukraine and its allies, Russia faces a systemic crisis and the defeat of Putin’s regime. As proven by history, tyrannies are fragile,” the document reads.
The appeal notes that the acquisition of additional territories is not the main goal of the Russian Federation in this war, but only one of the intermediate goals. “Russia’s ultimate aim is to break the current world order. It seeks to regain its status of a superpower that acts arbitrarily and, by the right of the stronger, attacks neighbors, interferes in the affairs of other countries, commits terrorist acts, supports authoritarian regimes and illegally armed groups around the world … Ukraine, by reason of its history and geography, has become the next target on the way to realization of these revanchist intentions,” the authors of the document note.
They point out that the result of the strategy of appeasing the aggressor will be the collapse of years of efforts to limit the proliferation of nuclear weapons, and the influence of Russian media, cyber attacks, covert operations and interference in elections in democratic countries will undermine the world order.
On the other hand, an effective end of Russian aggression against Ukraine could be a solution to many problems of the democratic world. “Russia’s defeat in its war of aggression against Ukraine would reestablish the order based on rules and interdependence of responsible players. The security of global trade, global nuclear energy, and food security will be strengthened. Terrorist regimes and organizations around the world will lose Russian support and weaken,” the appeal reads.
“The forces defending peace, freedom, and human dignity must go on the offensive. Ukraine and the entire democratic world can only win together or give in and lose together. The illusion of peace at the cost of shame has repeatedly brought on a new war … But we understand that the price of war will be even higher if our allies are seduced by the illusion of stopping the war without addressing its causes. And this is not only for Ukraine, but for the entire world. That is why we urge our partners to look for a way not to appease the aggressor, but to win together. Evil cannot be appeased. It must be defeated and punished for the sake of a secure future of Ukraine, Europe, and the entire world,” the appeal says.