On February 24, 2022, Russia commenced the military invasion of its western neighbour, Ukraine. After three years of intense hostilities, both countries are literally bleeding all over. Actual numbers of dead and wounded are difficult to pin down amidst war propaganda. It is believed that both sides have suffered hundreds of thousands of military and civilian casualties and cities decimated by missiles and drones.

Russia currently occupies about 20 per cent of Ukraine, particularly the Russian-majority Donbas states of Donetsk, Kherson, Zaporizhia and Luhansk, in addition to the Crimea it already captured during the 2014 invasion. However, Russia has failed to make a quick work of overwhelming Ukraine as it had hoped because of the brave and stoic resistance of the latter, which has enjoyed generous financial and military support from the US-led North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, NATO, the European Union and the United Kingdom.

Following the recent change of regime in the USA, however, the narrative is taking on a different tone. America, which has reportedly spent $350 billion in funds and military aids to Ukraine, has just announced aid stoppage. President Donald Trump believes that giving away such a huge amount without extracting anything in return from Ukraine is unacceptable. He wants an immediate negotiated end to the war. He also wants the US to extract some dividends from Ukraine.

Ukraine’s leader, Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s recent visit to the Oval Office ended in a public fiasco, as he left  the White House over alleged “disrespect” of the country. However, Zelenskyy’s letter of apology and willingness to negotiate for peace is cooling tensions. Hope is rising for an end to the war.

This can only be possible if all parties to the crisis behave responsibly. NATO and Europe have to admit their blunder in violating their post-Soviet undertaking not to expand membership into the former Soviet sphere of influence. Within the past 20 years, seven former Communist countries – Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia, have joined NATO. It also is the ardent desire of Ukraine to become a NATO member.

Russia justifies its Ukraine invasion as an act of self-defence, while Europe and NATO see President Vladimir Putin’s military adventure as a replay of the Nazi Germany’s Adolf Hitler expansionism. Europe also feels justified to continue funding Ukraine’s resistance, and European leaders have expressed their readiness to send troops to Ukraine when necessary.

Should that happen, we may be on the threshold of a cataclysmic Third World War, with many of the belligerents on both sides brandishing nuclear arsenals. This must be avoided at all cost. This crisis cannot be solved through war. Negotiation is the only way out.

We condemn the violation of the territories of sovereign nations, and call on all belligerents to sheathe their swords and embrace dialogue.