Community Affairs Consultants

In the absence of any international military personnel assistance to defend against Russia's invasion of its sovereignty, Ukraine, sadly, stands alone. And according to news reports by CNN, referencing United States (US) intelligence sources, Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, could fall to Russia within one-to-four days.

Ukraine's dire predicament comes following its explicit stated desire eight-years-ago to have closer ties to the West and not Russia. Back then, thousands of Ukraine's youth stood at the Maidan, in Kyiv, following the ouster of a "Russian puppet" president, and they expressed to the world a full aspiration to be part of the West.

Today, as Putin forces inflict death and destruction over large swaths of independent Ukraine, those said youth from eight-years-ago and other Ukrainians are awakening to the stark reality that they again stand alone amid the reality that the US, Europe and the broader North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) will not provide troops to help defend Ukraine from Russian invasion.

So Ukraine stands alone. It stands alone to fight with whatever limited assets the West has allowed it to receive. Moreover, its fate and apparent inevitable fall to Russia was somewhat sealed yesterday, when US President Joe Biden re-affirmed that US forces will not be on the ground in non-NATO Ukraine. Biden did however spell out a series of strong additional economic sanctions on Russia as punishment for invading Ukraine.

While the Ukranian government, as reported, is seeking a meeting with Russia toward de-escalating the war, it would appear that any slim hope Ukraine harbored of becoming a NATO member would now be compromised for a declaration of "neutrality", thus handing Putin a summary victory over a developing democratic state.

If Putin should have his way with Ukraine, then he and other despots, via the inaction of the historic stalwarts of democracy, would become victorious in dealing yet another international blow against democracy. To stand for democracy and to aspire for the systems of western governments appear to be dangerous feats. The events of recent years in Ukraine, in Hong Kong, in Myanmar and elsewhere, affirm the afore premise. Goodluck Ukraine!