[ Editorial ] Ukraine, Fateful Plain

One must never provide weapons to extremists. The time has come to halt all support to Ukraine, which has just jeopardized the foundation of global mutual nuclear security.

Ukraine! Ukraine! Ukraine ! fateful plain
Like a wave boiling in an overfull urn,
In your circus of woods, hills, and valleys,
Pale death mingled the dark battalions. ¹

President Volodymyr Zelensky expresses satisfaction with his drone covert operation, performed the day before new talks in Istanbul, asserting that 40 strategic bombers were destroyed across six Russian air bases: Engels (Saratov region), Belaya (Irkutsk region), Olenya (Murmansk region), Ukrainka (Amur region), and Dyagilevo (Ryazan region).

Only 6 aircraft were hit. This does not constitute a tactical success, given that Russia’s operational strategic bomber fleet includes approximately 70 aircraft—Tu-95MS and Tu-160—along with roughly 60 Tu-22M3s, and an additional hundred-or-so older aircraft held in reserve.

Intentionally undermining any prospect of peace and pulling NATO into a conflict with Russia? No better strategy could be devised. This appears to be Ukraine’s approach since the conflict’s outset.

Simultaneously, Mykhailo Drapaty, Ukraine’s army chief of staff, stepped down after Russian Kalibr missiles reduced a training facility to rubble. On the front lines, Russian forces advance as Ukrainian resistance weakens.

The gravity of Ukraine’s action is profound. Strategic bombers were positioned on open tarmacs, not in hardened shelters, due to an agreement requiring such aircraft to be visible for verification by other nuclear powers. The U.S. follows the same practice with its 76 B-52Hs under the Air Force Global Strike Command, stationed at Barksdale (Louisiana) and Minot (North Dakota).

‘Even if U.S.-Russia relations improve, the Start-II/SNV-III treaty, suspended in February 2023 and due to expire in February 2026, cannot be renewed in its current form: the air component of each nation’s nuclear triad will now be heavily protected and hidden, effectively reducing global nuclear arms control and ushering in serious consequences,' notes Oleg Nesterenko, a Russian analyst.

Ukraine has thus critically weakened global mutual nuclear security. This corrupt state, effectively governed by extremist elements, has made the world a significantly more dangerous place.

Targeting a part of Russia’s nuclear triad could invite a nuclear retaliation. Thankfully, Russia’s hypersonic capabilities provide a non-nuclear deterrent option. Zelensky, likely under intense pressure, remains hidden in a 'secret' bunker with his inner circle. An Oreshnik strike, perhaps?

To be clear: Ukraine lacks the ability to independently orchestrate such an operation . Who assisted ? Kyiv quickly stated the White House was not informed. That’s plausible; it’s unlikely Donald Trump would greenlight such a move before talks. Yet, for planning—not execution—NATO’s involvement seems evident.

Did European leaders urge Zelensky to act? Emmanuel Macron’s remarks from Singapore, again chiding Washington about a 'credibility test' if the U.S. fails to confront Russia, raise concerns.

The European 'coalition of the willing' lost Poland with Karol Nawrocki’s election as president yesterday. Only Emmanuel Macron, Keir Starmer, and Friedrich Merz remain as vocal hawks, each grappling with severe domestic political challenges. If they backed or encouraged Ukraine’s operation to pressure Washington, the fallout will be daunting. Starting with NATO’s dismantlement.

Never arm extremists, as they inevitably turn on their benefactors. The al-Qaeda lesson—created to fight Soviets in Afghanistan, only to attack the U.S. financial heart 20 years later—remains unheeded. Ukraine has lost this war. Russia will dictate terms, unchanged since its start: Ukraine’s neutrality, no NATO accession, and recognition of Russian control over Crimea and the four annexed regions. Will this attack on its nuclear triad drive Moscow toward Odesa and a link-up with Transnistria?

The ultranationalists, installed by the West in Ukraine in 2014, won’t stand down —post-World War II, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, backed by Anglo-Saxons and Germany, fought on until 1953. They’ll view defeat as a Western betrayal, potentially retaliating with terrorism. Picture an FPV drone hitting an airliner during takeoff or landing…

Soon, partitioning Ukraine—allocating territory to Poland and Hungary—may be warranted to secure Central and Western Europe. An outcome, for which European leaders should face legal accountability.

1. Free adapation of Victor Hugo’s Poem “L’expiation”, 1853.