The US Caused the War in Ukraine, and Only the US Can End It

When the USSR dissolved in 1991, NATO reaffirmed its commitment against eastward expansion into former Soviet republics. Newly independent Ukraine made an agreement with Russia that they could maintain their military base in Crimea, where their Black Sea Fleet is stationed. In 1994, Georgia would become a founding member of the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). Three years later in 1997, the Russian-Ukrainian Friendship Treaty was signed, in which both countries pledged to respect the territorial integrity of each others’ borders, never declare war on each other, and to never use their territory to harm the security of each other. Ukraine also pledged to maintain its neutral stance in the interests of peace.

After Ukraine’s independence in 1991, Crimea’s parliament declared independence from Ukraine, and ratified a new Constitution which was subsequently rejected by Kiev. Eventually, a consensus was reached in which the Autonomous Republic of Crimea was taken back under Kiev’s jurisdiction, while still granting autonomy to Crimea and recognizing the Crimean Constitution drafted in 1992.

In 1997, Russia and NATO signed the Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation, and Security. For a brief moment, it seemed that NATO was interested in working together on a mutual security arrangement in Europe including and cooperating with Russia.

These hopes were dashed in 1999, when NATO invaded and bombed the former Yugoslavia, targeting pro-Russian forces and ethnic Serbs resulting in the deaths of thousands of civilians in the space of weeks—even bombing the Chinese embassy in Belgrade. Russia condemned these actions at the UN in the strongest possible terms. This marked the end of potentially meaningful cooperation between NATO and the Russian Federation for the foreseeable future.

NATO took this opportunity to antagonize Russia further, aggressively working to expand into Eastern Europe. Between 1999 and 2004, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia joined NATO.

In 2004, a week after Ukrainian president Victor Yanukovych was elected, the West organized a “color revolution” appropriately known as the “Orange Revolution” which removed him from power and installed Victor Yuschchenko; an opposition leader who almost immediately pushed for EU and NATO membership, and applied for loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). 

Four years later in 2008, NATO extended a “Membership Action Plan” to both Georgia and Ukraine, officially setting them on the course to eventual NATO membership. As Putin made it clear at the time, extending NATO membership to these two countries on Russia’s borders “would be taken in Russia as a direct threat to the security of our country.”

Later in 2008, John McCain and other US politicians traveled to Georgia to incite the right-wing government to violence against the majority-Russian breakaway state of South Ossetia. Thousands of refugees began fleeing over the border into Russia, creating a humanitarian crisis.

Over the subsequent three years, President Yanukovych became increasingly  frustrated as the EU rejected his application and the IMF wouldn't budge on its conditions. The conditions included:

• Selling off state-owned businesses and assets

• Ending pension payments and cutting Social Security

• Lowering the minimum wage

• Raising the retirement age

• Cutting education and healthcare funding and benefits

• Eliminating collective bargaining

• Allowing Western firms to exploit Ukraine’s resources and labor

While these terms are not unique (the IMF generally insists on these conditions when providing loans to developing countries), Yanukovych  viewed them as a total abdication of Ukrainian national sovereignty, which would have doomed the average Ukrainian to a life of misery and poverty for the benefit of multinational corporations. Previous IMF loans had also wreaked havoc on the national economy. After years of negotiations, Yanukovych ultimately refused the IMF “structural adjustment package”, once again setting the stage for Western-led regime change in Ukraine.

Over the coming months, US money began pouring into Ukraine through NGOs like the National Endowment for Democracy. These funds financed opposition groups and worked to destabilize the country. $5 billion was funneled into these regime-change efforts by the State Department and USAID alone.

In early 2014, a US-led coalition of western countries began an operation meant to depose Yanukovych by any means necessary. Working from the same playbook they used in Ukraine in 2004, they once again organized a “color revolution” by capitalizing on preexisting grievances, utilizing nationalist extremist forces to destabilize the country.

As Yanukovych’s brutal overreaction to the Euromaidan protests escalated, far-right groups funded, armed, and promoted by the West began fighting back. They seized government buildings, police stations, and even military bases. These forces drove tanks through Kiev emblazoned with Nazi symbols, and forced Yanukovych to flee via helicopter.

As the Maidan protests in Kiev sent the President into exile, anti-Maidan protests began to escalate around the country, particularly in majority-Russian speaking areas. In May, 40 anti-Maidan protesters — mostly ethnic Russians — were burned alive in a trade union hall in Odessa by neo-Nazis. Nazis shot people as they were jumping from windows to escape the flames, and survivors were beaten to death in the streets.

As the new coup government was being installed, Joe Biden, John McCain, Victoria Nuland and others traveled to Kiev and shook hands with neo-Nazis who led the movement to overthrow the democratically elected president. These leaders included the likes of Oleh Tyahnybok, head of the antisemitic neo-Nazi political party Svoboda (formerly the Social-Nationalist Party of Ukraine), who was awarded the Hero of Ukraine medal for his exemplary role in overthrowing the government, and the founder of the Azov Battalion,  Andriy Biletsky, who said in 2010 that the Ukrainian nation's mission is to "lead the white races of the world in a final crusade against Semite-led Untermenshen [inferior races]." Weeks later, Victoria Nuland (now Biden’s Under Secretary of State) was exposed in a leaked phone call as having approved appointments to the new coup government.

 After the coup, the new government accepted the IMF loan which Yanukovych had vetoed, and began massive auctions of state assets. Dozens of openly neo-Nazi and ultranationalist paramilitary organizations were subsequently inducted into the Ukrainian Armed Forces with official recognition, state funding, and arms. The most notorious of these include Azov, Aidar, Svoboda, Right Sector, Misanthropic Division, National Corps, C14, Ethnic National Union, and Patriots of Ukraine.

Over the coming months, civil unrest intensified as protests against the Maidan coup and the new Kiev government in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine continued. Neo-Nazi and ultranationalist militias began shelling civilian areas of the Donbass region, which is majority Russian-speaking. 

Kiev then moved to terminate pension and social security payments to all those living in the Donbass region. In response, the DPR used property seized from corrupt billionaires to pay people’s pensions and Social Security payments in both the DPR & LPR.

After the coup d’etat in Kiev, the people of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea dug in to defend themselves from the ultranationalists who took power in Kiev. Citizens militias and—allegedly—a few dozen Russian troops who were stationed at their existing military base in Crimea, seized government buildings and occupied military bases across Crimea without firing a single shot.

Shortly after this, a referendum was held in Crimea in which 89.5% of citizens on voting lists cast their votes, with 97% voting to rejoin Russia. As with the previous referendums in the DPR and LPR, this referendum was condemned as illegitimate by the Western powers, who refused to send international observers to oversee the referendum.

The new government in Kiev was busy. They banned books by Russian and Soviet authors, and outlawed Russian music in the media. The new government developed a curriculum for public schools which demonized their shared Soviet history, erased the history of resistance to fascism and glorified figures like Stepan Bandera and groups like his Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and the Ukraininan Insurgent Army (UPA) while white-washing, minimizing, or omitting their crimes—both of these explicitly antisemitic organizations collaborated with the Nazis while they were occupying Ukraine, and actively participated in carrying out some of the most egregious crimes of the Holocaust.

In May of 2015 Ukraine banned socialist symbols of any kind, with a corresponding 5-year prison sentence for sharing a socialist image or even singing the Internationale (with a 10-year mandatory sentence for members of any socialist organization doing the same). While this law also officially banned Nazi symbols, a corresponding law passed the same day glorified Nazi-collaborating antisemitic organizations like the OUN and UPA as “independence fighters”, and criminalized any criticism of their past misdeeds. Although the law also banned “Nazi symbols” like the Swastika, this aspect of the law has gone basically unenforced. Neo-Nazi symbols such as the Wolfsangel—used by the SS—and the Black Sun—created by SS leader Heinrich Himmler—remain the official symbols for groups such as Azov. Any positive reference to the Soviet period was made illegal, and dozens of Soviet monuments honoring the heroic sacrifices endured by the Red Army in fighting the scourge of fascism in Ukraine were vandalized, dismantled, and destroyed. Street names were even renamed if they were deemed to be too Russian-sounding.

While daily shelling of the Donbass region continued, diplomats from Ukraine, the DPR, the LPR, and Russia were meeting behind the scenes to negotiate a ceasefire. When the Ukrainian government advanced a “special law” in August of that year to facilitate implementation of the ceasefire agreement being drafted in Minsk, Svoboda and other far-right groups led violent clashes which left three Ukrainian soldiers dead and dozens wounded. 

Despite the efforts of the far-right to sabotage peace talks, the Minsk Agreement was finally signed by both parties in September, 2015. It called for a ceasefire in the Donbass and Ukrainian recognition of the DPR & LPR as autonomous regions within Ukraine. Less than 48 hours later, top officials in the Obama Administration issued provocative threats and accusations against Russia and Ukraine to evade implementation and violate the ceasefire.  At the same time, the CIA began covertly training an armed insurgency on the Donbass front in eastern Ukraine after Russia annexed Crimea. Meanwhile, Kiev continued its intense bombing campaign of the Donbass region. Refugees began fleeing to Russia by the tens of thousands. 

A month later, in September, Ukraine again hosted NATO war games near the front in the Donbass. Again, 20 countries took part in these war games, in a wildly provocative escalation.

Zelensky’s administration continued peace talks with Russia through January 2022. At a meeting with Russian counterparts, Ukraine’s representative declared that “the fulfillment of the Minsk Agreement means the country’s destruction”.

Shortly after that, Kiev massively increased its shelling of the Donbass and began massing troops, signaling an upcoming military offensive. On February 24th, The DPR & LPR again appealed to Russia asking for military assistance to repel the coming offensive by Kiev. This time, with a groundswell of support from the Communist Party, Russia recognized the DPR & LPR as independent republics, and began the “special operation” to neutralize neo-Nazi forces, officially siding with the Donbass in Ukraine’s ongoing civil war. As in Syria, Russia was now embroiled in a full-blown proxy war with the USA and its NATO lackeys.

Over the next two months, Zelensky began earnest negotiations to end the war. He wanted collective security guarantees not just from the West, but from Russia. In exchange, he promised to stop seeking membership in NATO.

These talks were cut short by threats by far-right groups in Ukraine — threats which were echoed by outlets like the New York Times, who said that Zelensky “would be taking extreme political risks even to entertain a peace deal” with Russia, as his government “could be rocked and overthrown” by far-right groups if he “agrees to a peace deal that in their minds gives too much to Moscow.” Just days after Zelensky attended peace talks in Belarus in early April, Boris Johnson visited Kiev and “urged” Zelensky not to negotiate with Putin.

The man who ran on a campaign of peace with the Donbass and Russia was slowly realizing that the neo-Nazi forces at home and the Biden Administration abroad will never tolerate any kind of negotiated peace. The Ukrainian people had been played.

The US and EU responded to Russia’s invasion with unanimous outrage and outpourings of solidarity with the Zelensky regime. Mainstream TV and print media began an unprecedented propaganda campaign to convince Americans that Russia’s invasion was entirely unprovoked, that NATO expansion and US imperialist meddling in Ukraine had played no role in prolonging and escalating the conflict, and that this 8-year war started on February 24, 2022 with Russia’s invasion—not in 2014 when the civil war began. 

Russia claims that it is “demilitarizing and denazifying” Ukraine. Western media calls this “absurd Russian propaganda.” Our TV and print media refer to Nazi units like the Azov Battalion as “freedom fighters.” We are told they are fighting for democracy and the future of the Western world. Our media insists that Russia is invading Ukraine because it’s an expansionist, imperialist power led by an autocrat — having nothing to do with the US, NATO, or Kiev’s prior actions. We’re told that Putin is simply unreasonable and deranged. Our media has absolutely failed us (while performing its intended function—namely, manufacturing consent for war—admirably).

So what does all this mean for the anti-war left? 

First, let’s get the facts straight: This war has been going on for 8 years. 14,000 were killed and as many as 39,000 wounded before 2022 according to the UN, one-third of which were civilians. After the coup in Kiev in 2014, Ukraine has become a puppet state of U.S. influence in the region. The US has been funneling them arms, training their armies, and influencing the privatization of their industry and resources for 8 years. Far-right ultranationalist and neo-Nazi ideology has become alarmingly mainstream in Ukraine, and the state has tolerated and supported these groups and tendencies.

Russia does have legitimate grievances in Ukraine which we would do well to consider. Their actions have been logical and predictable. In fact, the CIA predicted all of it. In 2008, CIA director William Burns said, in a classified document released by Wikileaks:

“Ukraine and Georgia’s NATO aspirations not only touch a raw nerve in Russia, they engender serious concerns about the consequences for stability in the region. Not only does Russia perceive encirclement, and efforts to undermine Russia’s influence in the region, but it also fears unpredictable and uncontrolled consequences which would seriously affect Russian security interests.

…A radical new expansion of NATO may bring about a serious political-military shift that will inevitably affect the security interests of Russia.

…Foreign Minister Lavrov stressed that Russia had to view continued eastward expansion of NATO, particularly to Ukraine and Georgia, as a potential military threat.

…While Russia might believe statements from the West that NATO was not directed against Russia, when one looked at recent military activities in NATO countries (establishment of forward operating locations, etc.) they had to be evaluated not by stated intentions but by potential.

…In Ukraine, these [strategic policy considerations] include fears that the issue could potentially split the country in two, leading to violence or even, some claim, civil war, which would force Russia to decide whether or not to intervene.”

So far, more than $54 billion has gone to support the proxy war in Ukraine. Adjusted for inflation, this is roughly one-third of the total amount of support given to the USSR during WWII while the USA and the Soviet Union were allied in opposing Nazism.

This aid includes military equipment, ammunition, logistical support, and battlefield intelligence (including Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite system). Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) troops, including many of the most infamous ultranationalist and neo-Nazi battalions, are also being trained by US and NATO military personnel in neighboring countries. The United States, which once heroically allied with the Soviet Union to fight Nazis, is now ironically aligning itself with the grandchildren of the Nazis to fight the grandchildren of the Soviets.

US politicians have repeatedly made it clear in interviews and press conferences that their stated purpose for dragging this war on indefinitely is that they are determined to weaken Russia by any means necessary; they are willing to let Ukraine fight to the very last Ukrainian, and for the country be totally devastated like Syria, if it means weakening one of its biggest geopolitical adversaries.

This war isn’t between Russia and the people of Ukraine. It’s a conflict which began as a war between Ukrainians — those who supported the coup government in Kiev, and those who supported the separatist movements  and who wanted nothing to do with the coup government they hadn't cast any votes for— and has escalated into a proxy war between Russia and the US and NATO, with NATO forces supplying Ukraine with 100% of its weaponry at the time of writing. The US military has actually given Ukraine so many weapons that its reserve stocks are nearly depleted.

The Biden Administration is willing to subject Ukraine to utter devastation to secure a dubious strategic geopolitical advantage, disregarding the countless Ukrainians that have and likely will continue to die in the process. Even in the rest of Europe not directly affected by the war, the cost of living is skyrocketing. Millions will suffer as they cannot afford to heat their homes this winter. And as with every escalation of conflict involving nuclear powers, the extinction-level horrors of thermonuclear war become increasingly likely.

We cannot allow this war to escalate any further. We need peace and we need it now! A negotiated peace settlement and an ending of US military support for Ukraine in this proxy war is an urgent necessity. It is urgent not just for the people of Ukraine, but for  Europeans who are suffering through economic fallout, and Americans who are funding this war with our tax dollars—tax dollars which could be fixing our dilapidated infrastructure, providing housing, healthcare, and education to those most in need. This war is immoral, and the goals of the US and NATO are indefensible. We stand at the brink of nuclear war, and for what? So a few Western capitalists can count their blood-stained lucre by the firelight of Ukrainian misery? So they can get filthy rich by looting Ukraine?

We say, enough!

NO WAR WITH RUSSIA! 

NO WAR WITH CHINA! 

NO WAR, PERIOD!