Give Zelenskyy everything he needs. Now

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 14/03/2022 (920 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

On the Ides of March, a boundlessly brave man pleaded with Canada for help.

A mixed message from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Parliament, combining gratitude and reproach.

Canada has given. The world has given, unprecedentedly. But it’s not enough to temper the devastation raining down on a sovereign nation and its besieged people.

Because NATO won’t be drawn into a shooting war with the Russian invaders, that much has been made clear, even as civilian casualties mount, as cities and towns are laid to smoking ruin, a European country ravaged by bombardment as has not been witnessed since the Second World War.

No ground troops, no-fly zone rebuffed.

And that’s the rational response with WWIII an existential possibility.

But can the West really stand by as Russian forces bombard wide swaths of Ukraine, deliberately targeting the populace, civilian infrastructure, hospitals and schools and residential neighbourhoods? To avoid the possibility of broader suffering and destruction, how much actual suffering and destruction will we tolerate?

However blunted in its territorial incursions by valiant defence forces, Russia is eating Ukraine alive. And whether rational or not, Canada and its allies are letting it happen.

Imagine it, Zelenskyy urged over and over and over again — Cruise missiles striking Canadian cities, the CN Tower, and airports. Children slaughtered.

“Can you only imagine? Imagine that at 4 a.m. each of you, you start hearing bomb explosions, severe explosions.” Addressing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau directly: “Justin, can you imagine your children hear all these severe explosions … tens of other cities of your wonderful country, can you imagine that? Cruise missiles are falling down on your territory. And your children are asking you what happened?

“And you are receiving the first news which infrastructure have been bombed and destroyed by Russian Federation. And you know how many people have already died. Can you only imagine? What words? How can you explain to your children that full scale aggression happened in your country?”

As Zelenskyy spoke, there was another massive strike against Kyiv, under mandatory curfew. In blockaded Mariupol, over 2,300 civilians have been killed in a weekslong siege and, according to a senior aide to the president on Tuesday, about 20,000 people have fled the city.

It will get worse before it gets better, if indeed it can ever get better. So, will the international community really pre-emptively restrict its fraught options until President Vladimir Putin crosses a line and deploys chemical or biological weapons as feared?

Give Zelenskyy the damned planes.

The fighter jets that appeared a real possibility only last week, until U.S. President Joe Biden scuttled a three-way deal with Poland to bolster Ukraine’s defences by delivering MiG-29s and Soviet-era Su-27s¸ after initially indicating openness to make the scheme work. Jets that could have already decimated the sluggish Russian convoys pockmarking Ukrainian cities with shelling barrages, slow and bottlenecked on muddy roads, where Ukrainian-operated Turkish drones and ground troops with Javelin missiles have turned hundreds of Russian vehicles into burning husks.

Zelenskyy will make the same entreaty when he addresses the U.S. Congress on Wednesday. He is begging.

But if that is too grave a risk amidst a combustible powder-keg, if the MiGs Fulcrum jets and A-10 Thunderbolt II attack aircraft can’t close the skies — as some military experts assert — without directly provoking nuclear Armageddon, even with Ukrainian pilots at the controls, then at the very least provide Ukraine the sophisticated weaponry to protect itself.

More anti-aircraft missile systems and portable air defence systems to shield critical military and civilian infrastructure from Russian bombers flying at high altitudes — upwards of 200 Russian missions daily, according to reports — as well as long-range missiles fired from within Russia. It would likely take Ukraine military too long to learn how to use NATO anti-aircraft, apart from solving the technical issues of integrating them into its forces. But, as the European Council on Foreign Relations has noted, in a recent position paper, NATO could make available Soviet-era S-300 air defence systems from Slovakia and Greece. The Ukrainian army has successfully used S-300s against Russian aircraft and missiles many times.

The West can supply Ukraine with more anti-tank missile systems such as Javelins and Next Generation Light Anti-Tank Weapons, including ammunition. Those are the systems that have already destroyed hundreds of Russian tanks and upwards of 1,500 Russian armoured vehicles. More unmanned aerial vehicles. Accelerated training to use these systems. More transfer of small arms and armoured vehicles, putting those elements in the hands of even ordinary Ukrainians for enhanced territorial defence.

Medium to higher-tiered surface-to-air missiles, just the threat of them, can keep Russia’s combat aircraft from operating at medium altitudes or higher, in effect pressing them right into the range of shoulder-fired weapons. These have been brutally effective so far. Robust air defence assets — manoeuvrable, appearing and disappearing before traditional counterattacks, leveraged by radar guidance — have caused misery for the invaders.

Moral and humanitarian assistance is manifestly not enough. Diplomatic forays have cut no mustard with Putin. He understands only brute force.

“When we talk to our partners they say please hold on a little longer,” Zelenskyy told the House. “Some people like to talk about trying to avoid escalation. And at the same time, in response to our aspiration to become members of NATO, we also do not hear a clear answer.”

Clarity is possible, should be possible, even through the fog of a war that is playing out on our phones, in video of merciless attacks, and dispatches from hundreds of courageous reporters on the front lines — three journalists now among the dead.

“Sometimes we don’t see obvious things,” Zelenskyy continued. “It’s a dire straits but it also taught us to see who our real friends are over the last 20 days … I’m sure that you’ve been able to see clearly what’s going on.”

Apart from $960 million in financial assistance and $145 million in humanitarian aid, Canada has pledged more than $110-million military equipment for Ukraine, including Canadian-made air strike-targeting equipment. On Tuesday, Trudeau revealed that Canada has sanctioned another 15 Russian officials, even as the Kremlin announced that Trudeau himself, has been put on Russia’s “black list.”

“Every Russophobic attack, be it attacks on Russian diplomatic missions, airspace closures, or Ottawa’s actual severing of bilateral economic ties to the detriment of Canadian interests, will inevitably receive a decisive and not necessarily symmetrical rebuff,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a translated statement.

The “black list” extends to 313 Canadian officials, including almost every member of Parliament.

As Zelenskyy continues his beggar’s banquet virtual tour of Western capitals, praised to the heavens and rightly so, deluged with admiration, he’s nevertheless been spurned in what matters most — hardcore kinetic alliance, as the war crimes escalate.

“You’ve offered your help, your assistance, at our earliest request,” he said of Canada. “You supply us with military assistance, with humanitarian assistance, you’ve imposed serious sanctions. At the same time we see that unfortunately that did not bring the end to the war …

“We’re asking for more. Please take greater part in these efforts, Justin, and all of our friends of Ukraine. All friends of the truth. Please understand how important it is to close our air space from Russian missiles and Russian aircraft.”

Not just to save Ukraine, said Zelenskyy, but to protect Europe from the Russian threat.

Putin’s war-lust is insatiable, even as he’s failed to bring Ukraine to its knees.

It’s well beyond time for the rest of the world to get off ours.

Rosie DiManno is a Toronto-based columnist covering sports and current affairs for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @rdimanno