The pretext, causes, and purpose of the Russia-Ukraine war
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All stories begin with something. This beginning usually disturbs the world balance. This way, the hero gets rid of something and is forced to go in search of the lost.
The beginning of the Ukrainian-Russian confrontation, the moment when the Ukrainian people lost peace and justice, can be considered on several levels: pretext, causes and purpose.
Pretext
A pretext is an event immediately preceding the conflict. This is the last argument of both sides. The pretext marks the transition from one state to another, the point of no return, in our case – the moment when a full-scale Russian attack on Ukraine became inevitable.
The pretext for the start of a full-scale offensive was the shelling of civilian infrastructure in the east of Ukraine. A week before the full-scale invasion, Stanytsia Luhanska [Ukrainian town near the border with Russia] was subjected to artillery shelling. A shell hit a kindergarten and a school, images of injured persons and destroyed buildings have appeared in the media. In Ukraine and Russia, the shelling was told differently.
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Ukraine claimed:
«On February 17, at 09:00 in the morning, Russian invaders opened fire on Stanytsia Luhanska. As a result of the shelling, a projectile hit the building of a kindergarten... Military personnel of the United Forces Operation [operation of the Ukrainian army against the DNR and LNR terrorist quasi-states, which took place until February 24, 2022] promptly evacuated the locals to shelter.» (Suspilne news).
The Russian media pondered «Where did the projectile fly from»:
«On Thursday morning, in the part of the Luhansk region under the control of the Ukrainian authorities, near the demarcation line, a kindergarten and a railway platform in Stanytsia Luhanska came under artillery fire. The headquarters of the United Forces Operation in Donbas (OOS) announced that... «on the part of the Russian occupation forces, 39 violations of the ceasefire regime were recorded»... The representatives of the LNR accused the armed forces of Ukraine of shelling in the morning…»
And subtitles:
«Where did the projectile come from…»
«What is said in Kyiv and Moscow…» (BBC news. Russia).
Russia’s reaction proved what position the state will take in the future – the strategy of questioning the statements of the Ukrainian authorities and the strategy of mirror accusations.
Read also: Whose side will the world take? Analysis of Putin’s and Zelenskyi’s speeches during the big war
At the Munich conference on February 19, Volodymyr Zelenskyi reprimanded the world [leaders] for their doubts:
«on the one side there is a kindergarten, and on the other side there is a projectile that hit it. On the one side there is a school, on the other side there is a projectile hitting the school yard. And next to it there are 30 children who go… no, not to NATO, but to school. Someone has physics classes. Knowing its basic laws, even children understand how absurd the statements that the shelling is carried out by Ukraine sound.» (Speech by the President of Ukraine at the 58th Munich Security Conference).
Causes
The causes of war are the context that determines how to interpret the precipitating event. The causes of war can be trends in the world, regional and local politics, those processes that made war possible might not have provoked it, but they could not prevent it.
The Ukrainian narrative singles out several reasons for Russia’s full-scale offensive.
1. The fragile system of global security, which was supposed to respond to the «impertinence» of Russia:
«First – the Balkans, then – Taiwan, now it may be the Caucasus... All these situations seem different, although they are united by one factor, namely: the global security architecture did not work. If it worked, there wouldn’t be all these conflicts… 2014 became a turning point. Then, in quite obvious situations – with Crimea, with Donbas, with the downed Malaysian Boeing – Russia avoided immediate and tangible responsibility, preserved business and political ties with the world...» (address by the President of Ukraine, August 3, 2022);
Read also: Zelenskyi versus evil: the antagonist in the Ukrainian narrative of war
«2008, 2014, 2022 – the wars that started in these years have a different scale and nature, but there is one meaning of what happened: regional and global security mechanisms did not work.» (Address by President Volodymyr Zelenskyi, 8 August 2022);
«many talks about the prerequisites of that war, about its consequences. About how that year’s refusal to provide Ukraine and Georgia with a NATO Membership Action Plan increased the audacity of the Russian leadership...» (Address by President Volodymyr Zelenskyi, 8 August 2022).
2. Impunity occupation of Crimea:
«we will not forget that the Russian war against Ukraine began with the occupation of Crimea. Russia has turned our peninsula, which has always been and will be one of the best places in Europe, into one of the most dangerous places in Europe... This Russian war against Ukraine and against all of free Europe began with Crimea and must end with Crimea – its liberation. (Address by President Volodymyr Zelenskyi, August 9, 2022).
3. Imperial ambitions of Russia:
«Russia wants to make it impossible for a neighboring country, which it sees solely as its colony, to be able to exist freely, to exist independently.
That is why the Russian army has already killed tens of thousands of our people, deported hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians to its territory.» (speech of President Volodymyr Zelenskyi at the Shangri-La Dialogue Asian Security Summit on June 11, 2022).
4. Fear against Ukraine:
By the way, one of the reasons why Russia started a war of aggression against Ukraine is their apprehension that we will become not just an industrial competitor for Russia, but a real substitute for it in many markets of many countries. (speech of the President at a meeting with the heads of big business during the opening of the New York Stock Exchange, September 6, 2022).
In the Russian narrative, the attack on Ukraine has other reasons.
1. The need to oppose «Western» agents who want to destroy Russia:
«in March 2021, Ukraine adopted a new military strategy. This document is almost entirely devoted to the confrontation with Russia, it aims to draw foreign states into a conflict with our country» (Address by the President of the Russian Federation on February 21, 2022);
«we also know that there has already been a statement that Ukraine is going to create its own nuclear weapon and this is not empty bravado» (Address by the President of the Russian Federation on February 21, 2022);
«the activities of the armed forces and special services of Ukraine are led by foreign advisers, we know this well» (Address by the President of the Russian Federation on February 21, 2022);
«The network of airfields modernized with the help of the Americans – Boryspil, Ivano-Frankivsk, Chuhuiv, Odesa, and so on – is capable of ensuring the transfer of military units in the shortest possible time. The airspace of Ukraine is open to the flights of strategic and reconnaissance aircraft of the United States, unmanned aerial vehicles that are used to monitor the territory of Russia» (Address by the President of the Russian Federation on February 21, 2022).
2. The desire to protect the Ukrainian people who are suffering from the Ukrainian government, which is managed by «foreign» agents:
«the meaning of the so-called pro-Western civilizational choice of the Ukrainian oligarchic power was and is not to create the best conditions for the well-being of the people, but to subserviently render services to Russia’s geopolitical rival» (Address by the President of the Russian Federation on February 21, 2022);
«the collapse of the Ukrainian economy is accompanied by the open robbery of the country’s citizens, and Ukraine itself was simply brought under external control» (Address by the President of the Russian Federation on February 21, 2022).
3. The duty to protect people from the genocide carried out by «nationalists and Nazis» who have seized power in Kyiv and are controlled by «foreign agents»:
a) «...genocide, to which almost 4 million people are subjected, and only because these people did not agree with the Western-backed coup in Ukraine in 2014, they opposed the elevated state movement in the direction of cave-like and aggressive nationalism and neo-Nazism (Address by the President of the Russian Federation February 21, 2022);
b) «it will save people from these sufferings, from this genocide – this is the basic, main reason, motivating stimulus and goal of the military operation that we started in the Donbas and in Ukraine, this is precisely the goal» (Putin’s speech at the concert-rally in Luzhniki 2022).
c) «the ruling elite in Kyiv constantly and publicly declares its reluctance to implement the Minsk set of measures to settle the conflict, is not interested in a peaceful solution. On the contrary, it is trying to re-organize a blitzkrieg in Donbas» (V. Putin’s return on February 21, 2022).
Purpose
Why is everything happening and how will it end? The stories envelop the complex events of our time with meaning, and thanks to a special structure, they determine what the finale will be. Such a structure is called a myth – stories about the events of the past that inspire today and determine the future. Not invented, but sacred.
The purpose of the hero is manifested in the connection that he will create between the past and the future. In the Ukrainian narrative, it consists of the following:
1. Save Ukraine:
«A new nation that emerged on February 24 at 4 am. Not born, but reborn. A nation that didn’t cry, didn’t scream, didn’t get scared. Didn’t run away. Didn’t give up. Didn’t forget... We are facing this day in different circumstances, conditions and even in different time zones, but with one goal – preservation of independence and victory of Ukraine!» (Greetings by President Volodymyr Zelenskyi on the occasion of Independence Day of Ukraine on August 24, 2022).
2. Unite the world:
«Yesterday the world was not united. COVID-19 clearly showed: it’s every man for himself. Ukraine has changed this in six months. All world history textbooks will have a section «Times when Ukraine united the world». When democracy grew teeth again. When tyranny receives an answer in the language it understands.» (Greetings by President Volodymyr Zelenskyi on the occasion of Independence Day of Ukraine on August 24, 2022);
«Although different societies will have a hard time in the winter, each society should know that after these 90 days, real security begins for decades from all those threats that are so painfully experienced now. When we endure all this, our neighbor will never be able to do anything to all of us. Russia has already embarked on the path of its historic defeat» (speech by President Volodymyr Zelenskyi at the YES annual meeting, September 10, 2022).
Russia sees its purpose differently:
1. Return the «historic lands of Russia»:
«...the preparation was openly held for the next punitive operation in Donbas, for the invasion of our historical lands, including Crimea. In Kyiv, they announced the possible acquisition of nuclear weapons...» (Speech of Vladimir Putin at the Victory Parade on May 9, 2022);
«the right... is based on historical unity, in the name of which the generation of our ancestors won, those who, from the origins of Ancient Rus’, created and defended Russia for centuries. Here, in New Russia, Rumyantsev, Suvorov, and Ushakov fought, Catherine II and Potemkin founded new cities, our grandfathers and great-grandfathers stood to their death here during the Great Patriotic War (Putin’s statement on the results of referendums on joining Russia, September 30, 2022);
love for Russia, and no one can destroy this feeling in us. That’s why both the older generations and the youth, those who were born after the tragedy of the collapse of the Soviet Union, voted for our unity (Putin’s statement on the results of referendums on joining Russia, September 30, 2022);
2. To guarantee the well-being of Russia:
«Today, you defend what fathers and grandfathers, great-grandfathers fought for. For them, the highest meaning of life was always the well-being and safety of the Motherland. And for us, their heirs, loyalty to the Fatherland is the main value, reliable support for the independence of Russia» (Vladimir Putin’s speech at the Victory Parade on May 9, 2022);
3. Revenge on Ukraine, which «forgot who it owes everything to»:
«Soviet Ukraine, which even in our days can be called Ukraine named after Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, he is its author and architect... Do you want decommunization? Well, that’s fine with us. But there is no need to stop halfway, we are ready to show you what real decommunization means for Ukraine» (Address of the President of the Russian Federation February 21, 2022);
4. Challenge the US:
«The United States, having declared victory in the Cold War, declared themselves the messengers of God on earth, who have no obligations, but only interests, and these interests are declared sacred. They seem not to notice that in recent decades new powerful centers have formed on the planet and are increasingly asserting themselves (Putin’s speech at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2022);
«They believe that the dominance of the West in global politics and economics is an immutable, eternal value. Nothing lasts forever» (Putin’s speech at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2022);
The driving force of both stories are the commandments of the ancestors.
In Ukraine, these are the words of poets:
«to know» and «to protect» always go hand in hand... To know our culture, to hear the Ukrainian word. Because in our culture, in our literature, in our poetry – there’s the answer. The answer of Shevchenko and Franko, Lesya Ukrainka and Stus, Symonenko and Honchar, Lina Kostenko and many others... The answer is why we will win» (The President of Ukraine congratulated preschoolers, schoolchildren and students on the start of the new school year, September 1, 2022);
We all know that victory will come. You all know that there will be victory. They stole part of your childhood, part of your youth... But you are free. You always will be. So be worthy of your will – and of our Ukraine.
And everyone holds heavy iron hammer,
And loud voice from top like thunder booms:
«Thou split this rock! Don’t let no cold, nor heat
To stop you! Endure the drudgery, and thirst, and hunger,
Because you are to break this rock apart!»
In Russia, they look back at the actions of princes, tsars, and the military:
«Today, the militias of Donbas, together with the soldiers of the Russian Army, are fighting on their land, where the soldiers of [Rus’ princes] Svyatoslav and Vladimir Monomakh, the soldiers of Rumyantsev and Potemkin, Suvorov and Brusylov, where the heroes of the Great Patriotic War – Nikolay Vatutin, Sydor Kovpak, Lyudmila Pavlychenko, stood to their death» (Vladimir Putin’s speech at the Victory Parade on May 9, 2022).
In contrast to the Ukrainian narrative, in which the meaning is determined by the poets who created it, the Russian narrative mythologizes military figures. Therefore, it is not surprising that the date of the start of the full-scale invasion «quite by chance» coincided with the birthday of a person symbolic for Russia:
«It so happened that the beginning of the operation coincided – completely accidentally – with the birthday of one of our outstanding military commanders, who was included among the saints – Fyodor Ushakov, who during his entire brilliant military career did not lose a single battle. He once said that these storms will go to the glory of Russia. That’s how it was then, that’s how it is today, and that’s how it will always be!» (Putin’s speech at the concert in Luzhniki 2022).
Translated by Vitalii Holich
The author’s column is a reflection of the author’s subjective position. The editors of «Tvoe Misto» do not always share the opinions expressed in the columns, and are ready to give those who disagree the opportunity for a reasoned answer.
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