We Ukrainians are the only buffer between the cozy European theory that “Russia is weak” and reality.
If the Europeans don’t face reality now, they’ll have to confront it when these “weak” Russian divisions push past Ukraine, into Europe.
I was a presenter at the REbuild Ukraine event in Warsaw. I was explaining how, while under fire, Ukrainians are building shelters for schools, clearing rubble, and pouring new foundations. Because we cannot live inside ruins, but must live on in spite of them.
The participants would listen, come up to me, and tell me in hushed tones, as if admitting betrayal: “Very powerful… but we can only invest in dual-use technologies. Investing directly into military capabilities is too toxic for our current mandate.”
Europe, you have created a new religion. Its main dogma can be summed up as “don’t call things by their names, and they won’t exist.” It’s a kind of shamanism for the 21st century: if you start calling a munitions factory a “dual-use technology hub,” then [Russian leader Vladimir] Putin won’t notice.
Putin is not the one you are afraid of. You’re afraid of your own reflection in the mirror. Because to use the term “military spending” is to admit that Europe is already at war.
And then, you’d have to admit that for the past 30 years, you were not living in the real world, but inside your “End of History” illusion. That you disarmed, reduced your armies, built your businesses on cheap Russian gas and Chinese loans. That you raised an entire generation of politicians who only know how to negotiate, but don’t know how to win.
We’re defending your freedom some 400 kilometers east of Warsaw. And while you come up with ways to avoid calling this a war, we are dying in your stead.
For the fourth year in a row, your generals are repeating the same lullaby: “Russia is weak, its GDP is comparable to Italy’s. Its military is Soviet junk. They can’t even take Ukraine, how will they take on NATO?” And you listen to them and go back to sleep.
But Russia isn’t weak. Russia can muster millions of men, who know how to kill. Russia is a country that in three years’ time learned to produce more munitions than all of NATO countries combined. A country that has 6,000 nuclear warheads and a leader who has long since stopped being afraid to use them.
Russia didn’t fail to take Kyiv in three days because it’s “weak.” It failed because it ran up against us – against people who don’t ask permission to defend their homes.
It ran up against people who, in three days, created the biggest volunteer army in recent European history. Against people who came out against tanks with molotov cocktails, then Javelins, which you were reluctant to give us for a very long time.
Russia ran up against people who didn’t give up a single major city without battle; people who drove the occupiers out from the Kyiv and Kharkiv suburbs, from Kherson, and from the north of the country, after the rest of the world already buried us in their predictions.
We held, not because we had more tanks and aircraft. We held because for us, this is not a “conflict,” nor a “geopolitical crisis.” For us, it’s a question of whether we get to exist.
And while you calculated GDPs and “risks of escalation,” we simply decided that it’s better to die standing than live on our knees.
That is why Russia was stopped. That is why Russian troops haven't yet reached the heart of Europe.
I say again: we are the only buffer between your cozy theory about Russia's supposed weakness and reality. And the reality is, these “weak” Russian divisions would have no issue pushing past Ukraine and into Europe.
When this buffer breaks, your generals will be the first to say “Article 5 is a political decision.” Your politicians will be the first to start bargaining for neutral buffer zones.
And your soldiers will simply refuse to go into combat. Nobody will want to die for your cause because you weren't willing to make the sacrifice at a time when you could have stopped the enemy with relatively minor losses.
When Russian tanks advance on Suwalki and you are once again looking for "political solutions,” remember this moment.
Remember how you lied to yourselves about how “Russia is weak.” And how you calmly watched us die in your stead. By then, it will be too late to explain to your children why Warsaw is burning and NATO turned out to be a paper tiger.
You still have time to stop being so cynical.
For now, we are still holding the line.
By then, it’ll be too late.
