DW P.

Producer and Film Director @ Ukraine Story | Documentary Filmmaker | Attorney | Journalist |

George Mason University – Antonin Scalia Law School 

Ukraine Story

Feb 24, 2025

An Open Letter to Mr. Waltz and Mr. Rubio

Dear Honorable Sirs,

Mr. Waltz, I stood with you in Normandy this last June for the 80th anniversary of D Day. You jumped from a C-47 over Mont Saint-Michel alongside two of my parachutist daughters.

Mr. Rubio, I have long respected and appreciated your courage and clarity.

I write to both of you not as a detractor, but as a friend who wants to see your success and hopes for a just end to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Both of you have previously defended Ukraine. Both of you have publicly recognized the evil of Russian aggression. Mr. Waltz, you even trained Ukrainians in 2019 on how to use Javelins against Russian forces.

Three years ago today, Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. I have friends whose family members were killed on this very day.

Today, February 24th, millions are grieving, not merely because of Putin, but specifically because of the United States and the validation your leadership team have given him by perpetuating a myth of moral ambiguity about the Russian invasion.

Left uncorrected, the posture presented this last week represent the single greatest foreign policy shift in the history of the U.S.. More importantly it projects a departure from a values based approach to freedom, to a transactional “might makes right” approach which both of you men have previously opposed.

I write with an appeal. That you would set the record straight, leaving no room for question that you stand on the side of the oppressed.

Let me acknowledge the challenges of serving any president. Your mission is to implement his policies, and I respect the complexities of that duty.

Yet, there are line that must never be crossed: absolving the greatest war criminal of the 21st century of responsibility for his invasion and his crimes is one.

Both of you appear to have crossed that line.

This is more than politics. It is about truth. In denying the victims of this war their history, their identity, and the righteousness of their cause, you have broken the hearts of the suffering.

On this solemn anniversary, I urge you to set the record straight. There must be no ambiguity about who is right and who is wrong in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

There are many mistakes from which one can recover. This is not one of them. This is fundamental. This transcends politics. It is a matter of conscience.

Will this radical ethical switch take place under your watch? Let it not be.

There are two things you can do immediately.

First, correct the errors. Then refuse to spread lies or half truths about President Zelensky and the war in Ukraine. Second, use your influence with President Trump for the same.

Both of you have long political careers ahead. I urge you not to leave this moment in history with any doubt about where you stand. In the greatest land war since World War II, there can be no room for moral equivalency.

Respectfully,

DW Phillips, Esq.
Ukraine Story

DW P comments on his own post :

Better for the United States to say nothing than subvert a document of truth, instead presenting to the United Nations a vomitous resolution welcomed by the Kremlin itself, which ratifies Russian crimes through its overt ambiguity. Mr. Rubio, you have pushed this, and this is yet another dagger in the side of the victims of Russian aggression, and mark of shame on our nation founded on the premise that “we are endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are the right to life….” Under your advocacy, America has chosen to side with those who hunt and murder children and the elderly for sport, rape teenage girls beside their mothers, torture and mutilate their captives and kidnap a 100 times as many hostages as Hamas did on October 7. Surely, we can do better.

US proposes its own UN resolution marking anniversary of war in Ukraine after refusing to back European statement

By Jennifer Hansler and Shania Shelton, CNN

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/02/22/politics/ukraine-war-us-proposes-un-resolution/index.html

Comment from :

Bill Kamps

Nice letter. Unfortunately neither of these guys will read it, and if they did they wont care what you think.

You would be more productive encouraging Europe and Ukraine to continue the fight regardless of what the US does.

Depending on the US for consistent support has not been a good idea. I could reference the women of Afghanistan as a recent example, but there are many more.

Europe and Ukraine together have the ability to turn back Russia, if they summon the will, and make a unified effort. Good luck with that.

Christopher J. Wajnikonis

President Zelensky is the ONLY adult in the room.

President Trump doesn’t understand this geopolitical situation, he never has
(neither did President Biden). Instead of making the effort to begin to understand, or to call upon one or more experts in the United States who do, President Trump has surrounded himself with a group of yes men and women and is resorting to bullying President Zelensky, for which he has no reason.

This is not a promising path. The deal that is being outlined would be M0R0NlC.

The first priority is NOT to make ANY deal. The first priority is:

• to stand up to Putin
  AND
• to put the U.S. in the position it deserves, the one that allows it to control this geopolitical situation.

Putting the U.S. on Putin’s leash, which seems to be the intention at the moment, is NOT THE JUSTIFIABLE POSITION FOR THE U.S. OR ITS PRESIDENT.

Putin must be put in a position FIRST where he MUST negotiate. No amount of diplomacy will do that. This can only be done with a MILITARY THREAT that is CREDIBLE IN PUTIN’S EYES, in a way that Putin has no doubt about. Putin only understands force, and only in the face of force will he yield.

A 100% defensive no-fly zone over Ukraine and its perimeter is the best way to do this, or at least start. It would likely cost us ONLY jet fuel, which Putin would have to pay back along with his reparations for Ukraine and his CAPITULATION ON UKRAINIAN TERMS.

There is no middle ground between capitulating to Putin now and FORCING PUTIN TO SURRENDER to us, hopefully, in a few weeks.

At this point, Putin is obviously delighted and the outlook does not look good for the U.S., Europe or Ukraine.