Professor Roman Sheremeta

April 16, 2025

Why Ukraine Fights

Recently, Elon Musk posed a haunting question on X: “Why are Ukrainians still dying?” He’s not alone in asking. A growing chorus of skeptics argues that Ukraine has no hope of victory against Russia — so why keep fighting?

The answer is simple, yet timeless: because freedom is worth dying for.

I first visited Ukraine just weeks after Russian forces were driven from the outskirts of Kyiv in 2022. The world had expected Ukraine to collapse within days. Instead, civilians — many with no military training — stood against one of the world’s most powerful armies and defended their capital. I walked the devastated streets of Bucha, where I saw the cost: civilians — elderly, women — tied up and executed. These weren’t soldiers. These were people whose only crime was being Ukrainian.
What I saw wasn’t just war. It was a declaration.

Ukrainians had looked into the eyes of subjugation and said “No.” No to tyranny. No to genocide. No to being pulled back under Russia’s imperial shadow. They chose to fight — not because it was easy or winnable in traditional terms, but because the alternative was unacceptable.
Some argue this war is only about four regions in eastern Ukraine, home to many Russian speakers. But that’s a dangerous distortion. This war didn’t start over disputed territory. It began with a full-scale invasion aimed at seizing Kyiv and toppling the Ukrainian government. Russia didn’t just send tanks to Donetsk. It sent them to the capital.

And let’s not forget: Russian-speaking Ukrainians are not asking to be “liberated.” Many are fighting and dying for Ukraine — their country — in uniform and out. The claim that this war is simply about protecting Russian speakers ignores the fact that under the Soviet Union, the Ukrainian language was outlawed, and Ukrainian identity actively suppressed. Russia’s current campaign is a continuation of that erasure.

Since that first visit, I’ve returned to Ukraine many times. From Kyiv to the front lines, I’ve seen the same thing: a nation of people — teachers, farmers, students, grandparents — fighting to remain free. This is not a divided country. It’s a united one.
And the threat to its survival is real. Thousands of Ukrainian children — including babies — have been abducted from occupied territories and sent to Russia. Many have been adopted by Russian families, stripped of their names, their language, and their history. This is not collateral damage. It’s a calculated effort to erase a nation.

History is full of moments when nations fought not because they were sure of victory, but because they knew what was at stake. In 1776, American revolutionaries faced the British Empire — the most powerful military force in the world — and still pledged “their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor” in the Declaration of Independence. In 1940, with Europe falling and Hitler’s armies approaching, Winston Churchill refused appeasement and rallied Britain with the words, “We shall never surrender.”

Ukraine’s war is not just about Ukraine. It is a defining test of whether the world still believes in the principles that underpin international order: sovereignty, the rule of law, and the rejection of conquest by force. If Ukraine falls, it won’t just lose its freedom. The idea that small nations have a right to exist — even next to larger, more powerful ones — will be dealt a devastating blow.
It is also personal. Ukraine is not just a neighbor of Russia. It is older than Russia. Kyiv was a thriving center of culture and trade when Moscow was still a forest outpost. The idea that Ukraine is somehow not a “real” country is not only false — it is the ideological basis for Russia’s war of destruction.

So yes, Ukraine continues to fight. Not because it is easy. Not because it is guaranteed. But because surrender would mean ceasing to exist as a free nation. And every day, Ukrainians are making the choice to stand and resist.

To those who wonder why they are still fighting, I offer another question: What would you do if it were your home, your children, your freedom, your nation’s survival — on the line?

Because for Ukrainians, it is.

John Spencer is chair of urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point.

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Pentagon officials have reached out to “an unspecified allied state,” urging them to halt their continued arms supplies to Ukraine. However, that country rejected the request.

Two comments here:

First, this development was entirely predictable. The U.S. administration’s plan to pressure Ukraine into capitulation is clearly failing. While the U.S. has cut all aid, European countries have stepped up their support. Now, the U.S. is shifting its pressure onto them, trying to force Europe to capitulate as well.

Second, the U.S. doesn’t have true “allied states” anymore. European trust in the U.S. has eroded significantly. Travel from Europe to the U.S. has plummeted. The European Commission has begun issuing burner phones and basic laptops to staff traveling to the U.S. — a precaution once reserved for trips to China — to “avoid the risk of espionage.”

Sources: The Economist, Financial Times

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North Korea has supplied russia with up to 6 million artillery shells, without which Moscow could not have sustained such an intense war effort.

Four russian cargo ships have been transporting containers filled with weapons, which are then delivered by train to ammunition depots near Ukraine. At least six shipments have been documented in 2025 alone.

One major destination for the North Korean weapons was Tikhoretsk. In September 2024, Ukrainian forces struck the depot there, destroying nearly 90% of the facility, including a large batch of ammunition that had arrived just days earlier.

During certain periods last year, North Korean shells accounted for the majority of munitions used by russian units — in some cases, even 100%.

At the end of February 2025, Ukraine’s military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov confirmed that North Korea was supplying about half of russia’s artillery needs.

In addition to shells, Pyongyang also sent multiple launch rocket systems, including 122mm MLRS compatible with Soviet equipment. North Korea has also supplied ballistic missiles and long-range artillery.

Source: Reuters

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President Zelensky commented on remarks made by the U.S. special representative, Witkoff, who claimed that the key to a peace agreement revolves around “five territories.”

Zelenskyy emphasized that Witkoff is discussing matters beyond his competence. After all, only Ukraine can decide the fate of its territories.

“Ukraine is a sovereign state, and all territories belong to the unitary state of Ukraine. Therefore, once again, only the people of Ukraine can speak about the territories of our state. And you know that for us, it is a red line to recognize any temporarily occupied territories as anything other than Ukrainian, and particularly as russian.”

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