In his opinion, the main mistake is that we trusted our neighbor too much.
Ukraine too trusted its neighbor, with whom it signed the Budapest Memorandum, and did not care about its army.
This was stated by Minister of Defense of Ukraine Oleksiy Reznikov in an interview with Military Television.
The Minister believes that there would be no war either in Georgia or in Ukraine if in 2008 we were admitted to NATO. But thanks to the current partner Alliance, Ukraine will be able to defeat the aggressor.play video
Reznikov noted that Russia has become a prison for the peoples who are now there. Different nationalities and ethnic groups in the Russian Federation “perform the functions of Janissaries who rob and kill, in particular Ukrainians, in the form of Russian soldiers.”
“Today we are fighting for the survival of the country. We are reaffirming our right to independence. We have lived independently for more than 30 years, created an absolutely independent country within our borders, so today we may be paying more for not taking care of our army. The only a mistake that I can definitely name – we were very gullible to our neighbor, who concluded the Budapest Memorandum with us. This is an international agreement along with other guarantors. And we believed so much that we did not think that without caring about our army, we will have to take care of the enemy. Today we are catching up with you. We have a war of survival, and we will survive in this war, we will break the back of this Goliath,” Reznikov said.
The Minister added that Ukraine has been winning in the political field since the first days of the war. Thanks to the partner Alliance, the Ukrainian army will come to victory on the battlefield as well.
“The question is: when and at what cost? Today we have a chance to win faster and cheaper in terms of Ukrainian losses, thanks to the partner Alliance. I can testify that our partners are ready to work with us not only in the short term, but also in the medium and long term “, he added.
Reznikov also announced “good and positive news” for Ukrainians and the world this year.
(C)UNIAN 2022
I don’t think the Ukrainians were gullible when they signed the Budapest Memorandum. They knew even then that no Russians could ever be trusted. But they had a right to trust the other signatories: The US and UK. This trust was proved to be worthless when putler invaded in 2014. We did nothing. To compound that disgraceful inertia, we allowed the treacherous regimes of France and Germany; that had already blocked Georgia and Ukraine from Nato and gifted 20% of Georgia to putler, to stitch Ukraine up with Minsk 1&2.
The Budapest signatories (plus Poland and the Balts) are Ukraine’s only reliable friends. But we have not done nearly enough. Even when it became clear last year that putler was not only going to invade, but intended genocide, slavery and subjugation, we still did next to nothing.
Three divisions of fully mechanised combat troops, plus three squadrons of warplanes and a naval presence in the Black Sea would have seen putler off before he started his holocaust.
Even now, we refuse to fight putler directly, for fear of a nuclear exchange. This is the wrong policy and it must be changed.
We also need to address the Georgian question. Another country of people who want to be free, yet are forced to live under an illegitimate pro-putler regime that keeps itself in power putler style with sham elections.
At the time of the Budapest Memorandum, Ukraine was divided with many citizens wanting a strong alliance with Russia and others who wanted to be associated with the West. During the ensuing 25 years we were still divided, but the question of our independence I don’t believe was ever in question. Look at the Maiden revolution, 2014 where our citizens were dying for its freedom and now. As horrible as this war is, Ukrainians all over the world have rallied around our flag and are fighting for independence and freedom. And I believe once and for all, people throughout the world see the amazing history of Ukraine and not the bullshit put forward by the Russians and understand that the DNA of Ukrainians have absolutely nothing to do with the disgusting vermin.
I don’t think Ukraine was ever divided cap. Support for putler parties has never been more than 12-15% since independence. On average, 93% of Ukrainians voted for independence in 1991. Even Crimea voted for independence: the yes vote was 54%. Donbas was only slightly behind the national trend; it came in at 84%.
Great article from Kyiv Post on the history of the recent struggles from Ukrainian independence
https://kyivpost.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ba7e4c94c362fc11307fd8cf3&id=8e4dfa4dbc&e=ccaa42d6c8
Thanks for the informative look back.