Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and former Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (2021–2024), Valeriy Zaluzhny, has congratulated Ukrainian military personnel on Defenders Day, emphasizing that the future of not only Ukraine but also Western democracies depends on them.
"Our defenders are doing the impossible in extremely difficult conditions, even when it seems there is no hope left. Ukrainians are making history and standing up to a much more numerical enemy with all its resources and technologies of killing. Veterans play a special role for the future—those who know the real price of war and peace, life and freedom, for which they had to give their most precious possessions. Veterans remind society that peace cannot be bought with business deals by selling part of freedom and the memory of those who fell for it," Zaluzhny wrote on Facebook on Thursday.
In his column for the 24 Channel website, he noted that Russia's war against Ukraine is unique in its causes and forms of waging, but even more important will be its consequences, "which we will get precisely because of the mistakes of all opponents, rather than through the implementation of policies and strategies."
"The uniqueness lies precisely in the stubborn reluctance to understand the cause-and-effect relationships of this war in order to avoid the ability to influence this outcome. Despite a wide circle of country leaders involved in this process, a unique marketing also survives. Despite the unapparent reluctance to see future actions, it continues to make money that literally falls from the sky of Ukraine, killing civilians every day. And, of course, despite obvious threats, no one is even thinking of talking about the modern version of industrialization—technologization," Zaluzhny wrote.
According to him, the fate of the war "has been snatched from the hands of strategists and thinkers and handed over to the soldier on the battlefield," who is no longer a hostage to political ambitions, but becomes a participant in a "semi-marketing process, where they try to conclude some deals that were relevant yesterday in order not to think about tomorrow." "And it is this soldier who is the driving force that can stop everything," the former Commander-in-Chief emphasized.
Zaluzhny also expressed surprise at the position of the UN as an institution designed to protect freedom. "An organization that not only still protects the rights of the aggressor country that kills daily, but also, as it turned out, an organization that is unable to protect this very freedom and independence... Ukraine, despite everything, especially international law and the desire of modern politicians, began to change the rules by force, because it had no other way... All these UN charters, Helsinki Accords, the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, the Budapest Memorandum and the associated non-proliferation treaty have ceased to act as safeguards against a possible outbreak of war—a Third World War," he stressed.
The diplomat emphasized that Ukraine does not trade, "and no diplomatic or business skills have anything to do with it, because the end of one war is the condition for the start of the next."
"It must be recognized that Ukraine's victory will be the victory of democracy. But this is difficult for some, because for this it is necessary not only to help survive, but also to fight. And it must begin with not being afraid to call the enemy an enemy, rather than a business partner... To lose the war to ourselves is also to lose civilization, by exchanging it, for example, for rare-earth materials for killer robots. Once and for all," Zaluzhny summarized.
