World War III Around the Corner: Support for Ukraine Necessary to Stop the War

Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, a member of Ukraine's parliament is faced with managing the unimaginable levels of hardship that Ukrainians have been subjected to since Russia's invasion. She is of the opinion that the Western world needs to get actively involved in Ukraine's quest to stop Russia before it becomes too late.

Russia invaded Ukraine on the 24th of February, 2022. Since then, many people including governments and private organizations have been drumming up support for Ukraine. You’ve been active and on-ground, what would you say the current situation seems like for your country?

This is a cruel and bloody war that a Russian dictator has waged on us, and his country’s terrorist army is helping him to carry out his blood thirsty wish of erasing the Ukrainian nation from the map of the world. Their blitzkrieg turned out to be blitzfail, and I think that’s something that everybody both Putin and Putinist Russia, and the partners in the West have underestimated about Ukrainian people. Nobody expected that (a) our armed forces will be fighting back so fiercely and (b) that the Ukrainian society would mobilize itself so quickly and in some cases unfortunately, even barehanded Ukrainian citizens with Ukrainian flags are coming out against Russian tanks, against Russian military vehicles and trying to stop them.

So at this particular moment, unfortunately, the fighting and the bombing and shelling of Ukrainian citizens going on across the country, in many parts of it, starting from the south in Mariupol, in Mykolaiv, going down to Kharkiv, going to Sumy, to Chernihiv, to Kyiv obviously and in the outskirts of Kyiv, the situation is extremely worrisome. We see how people are not being allowed to evacuate by these occupying forces, and how people are being kept hostage. And, unfortunately, we already know some people that we couldn’t evacuate and save. It’s already 40 children that we know that are dead toddlers to adolescents. This is heartbreaking for everybody.

The country is responding with unity and that’s what is important. It’s about Ukrainians uniting around the defense of the country, around their motherland, around their homes, around their loved ones, and that’s what has to be understood. And I think we see in western Ukraine how people are trying to host everybody, who is fleeing from the eastern parts and from the central parts. At the same time, our people are organizing themselves in helping with humanitarian aid to go to the east and organizing themselves in helping people finding places where they can stay overnight, where they can get some shelter and so on.

How are your citizens holding up given the situation?

Obviously, in Kyiv, the situation is dire because, as in some other cities, there is less and less food. The bread and the eggs are becoming scarce commodity. There are very basic things that the people need in some towns and smaller villages around Kyiv. There is no electricity already because there are shelling, because they are ruining the electricity grids. And in some cities, there is no gas, because of the shelling of infrastructure. People definitely are under extreme stress all the time. I mean, psychologically, and physically, there you can feel already the exhaustion of people, but everybody is not only mobilized, but also very eager to work for the victory. Also, we are calling and everybody is rising to the occasion, like MPs we are working to make the situation better. Quite a few of my colleagues who know how to shoot have enrolled themselves in territorial defense, and those who are capable of doing something else, who have the managerial skills are trying to help with these humanitarian aid. Those who are capable of keeping in touch with the international colleagues and pushing on the agenda, and the priorities that we need today we are working with international community.

What active roles has the international community being playing?

Obviously, we are saddened by the fact that it takes so long for the major priority decisions that are of critical importance for us to be taken in the West. And we also very well understand again that this attack, this bloody war, is the result of the policies of appeasement, of the policies of not provoking Putin. That type of diplomacy where people were thinking that Putin can be trusted and his words matter. So, if we had gotten a sharp reaction from the West on the Russian attack in 2008 on Georgia, or if we have had serious and radical sanctions in 2014 when Russia grabbed Crimea and attacked east of Ukraine, and if we had been getting a fraction of the support that we’re getting at this particular moment from the West, I think we would not end up in this place where we are today. And I think that’s something everybody will still have to analyze and to extract the ‘lessons learned’ in order not to repeat such drastic, disastrous mistakes in the future.

But even now, we see the tectonic shift in the behavior of Western countries. You know, something that was not possible the day before yesterday is already happening today, like country’s changing their policies on actually being ready to provide military support to Ukraine, being ready to release additional sanctions against the Russian Federation. But still, we are lagging as the international community. I think we are lagging seriously behind from this proactive devastation that Putin is pushing on us and that’s what we are working on right now.

What are some of these decisive responses that you think should be pursued to make Russia suffer for invading Ukraine?

We’re working on an embargo on Russian oil and gas in the western countries. We should cut off all banks of Russian Federation from Swift, not just 15 percent of their banking system. Now, we are also working on those foreign companies that are still operational in the Russian Federation so that they would withdraw from there. We are working on additional sanctions, not only against oligarchs and close circle of Putin, but also for their children and families to be immediately kicked out from the safe haven that they have been in across Western countries and so on.

Besides that, the major priority and outcry of Ukraine today is a no-fly zone. At least if we can get air defense and airplanes, fighter jets that we would use to defend ourselves because we have shown the resolve, the courage, and the readiness to fight back. But we need reinforcement. We need additional military gear for the territorial defense starting from MANPADS to body armor to communication devices, to night vision goggles to boot ankles and so on. More than 100 000 people over this period of time have been enrolled in territorial defense, but they are naked. They do not have real weaponry and real protection gears to fight and to be really efficient. The people have the resolve, but that’s not enough. So that’s where our plea is right now with the Western communities.

Also, I think the tectonic shifts are happening on the international scene. And we will see how the international community and international organizations will have to be restructured and redefined in the future. And the unprecedented support of the UN General Assembly resolution on Russia, including the immediate and unconditional withdrawal from Ukraine, which was supported by 141 countries. I think it’s a huge support, but we have to follow up on that. We have to ensure that right now, as soon as possible, peacekeeping forces arrive Ukraine. Also the UN or the UN General Assembly has to take the decision to ban Russia forever from voting in the UN’s Security Council.

I think Russia’s diplomats have to be expelled from everywhere. It has to be an isolation because it’s a madman who is guiding this, but it’s not only the madman because the whole society has been filled with propaganda, and I am appalled by those physiological data that is suggesting that 60 or 70 percent of Russians support the war against Ukraine. They continue to spread their blatant across the world, by making up false stories of Ukraine working on nuclear weapons in secret. Ukraine has actually given up its third biggest nuclear arsenal in the world in 1994 for the sheet of paper that did not protect us. The Budapest memorandum gave us assurances of security and even the Russian Federation that has been attacking us signed it. We Ukrainians have never resorted to having not to even thinking of having nuclear weapons. We value and respect the international norms and laws and we have been keeping them. We’ll continue to be a peaceful nation, but obviously we will fight like hell on our own territory, for our land and for our cities and towns.

I would like to ask you more about this No-Fly Zone. Why do you think there’s still so much hesitation on this issue? And what are your hopes on its actualization?

The hesitation is there because NATO countries are afraid that if they will be flying their jets over our country, an unintended clash with the Russian forces will ensue and that means that NATO will become part of this conflict. Again, it’s a critical mistake that they’re making. The Third World War is already on, Putin will not be satisfied with Ukraine exclusively. If Ukraine falls, this war will spill over further and I am sure that if Ukraine falls, Putin will attack Moldova, he will attack Georgia and then he will attack the Baltic states, then he will try to attack those countries that are not in NATO like Sweden and Finland and he will just continue to wreak havoc. And that’s something that is still not believed by our colleagues from the West. That’s still something that they hope, they will not be hit by this crazy day, though, but they will, and the only possibility to stop him is right now in Ukraine. So the sooner we will get to this kind of tipping point where the thoughts of our international partners change, the less the death toll of Ukrainians and, we will have a minute chance of this war spilling over further.

How would you assess the international partners’ involvement? Which countries do you think are still hesitant? Also, how would you assess Georgia’s position? We know that Georgian society has been supportive, and they’re protesting the government’s inactive stance. But how is it viewed from your side?

We are working on all partners, NATO and EU members and those ones that share democratic values, but are not part of these organizations, like Japan, Australia, New Zealand and so on. And that has to be kind of coordinated effort for all of them to ensure that they are getting more military support to Ukraine and getting involved in the air defense with planes and really ensuring that we have a no-fly zone in place in Ukraine. We have to understand that Putin and Putinist Russia have not been losing their time over these last decades. They’ve been working with different politicians, different analytical centers, and also with the media, and they’ve been working through their propaganda channels in the West. So, they’ve been pouring money in so many countries in the West to prepare for a time like this. We have those so-called “Putinverstehers”, that are sowing the seed of skepticism towards the offering assistance to Ukraine, towards the real pushback with sanctions against Putin and Putinist Russia. So in every, probably in almost every single country, we have some of those people working actively although they are less in some places, but more elsewhere. This means that we have to work on and with all governments.

With regard to Georgia I am very grateful to the people of Georgia that are coming out, protesting, and supporting. We are saying we appreciate those huge manifestations that are happening in the country. I do understand the caution of the government because as I said, I understand also that it will be pouring further, but again, something that your government doesn’t understand is, if Ukraine falls, this war will be in your land. So, right now by helping Ukraine, by taking deliberate actions to help Ukraine and to stand with Ukraine, and to also participate in the sanctions, that means protecting Georgia at this particular moment. As Martin Luther King Jr said, “in the end we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” And I think that’s something that still has to be worked on with the Georgian government. I am in touch with quite a few of Georgian members of the Parliament, but I do not see the change yet in the policy of Georgia. They need to understand that the danger of not helping Ukraine is much bigger than the danger of helping Ukraine.

I don’t want to take a lot of time from you, so I will ask you one last question about the EU membership. What are your expectations? How do you assess the situation?

I think it the political step that the European Parliament has taken in supporting Ukraine. You know, to support the fast tracking of Ukraine in achieving the candidate member status in the EU. I do think that maybe it will also be the decision that will be taken by the member states of the European Council as a result of the assessments of the European Commission of the European Parliament and the political appeal. But obviously, we understand that we will need to be well prepared. An incredible amount of work has to be carried out both to restore the country and to transform so many things that have not been done, especially over the last three years.

This is a war against the Democratic world, and if someone believes that there is any basic value for human life, or respect to human life, everybody who believes in that, has to step in to help Ukraine to push back on Russia.