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" Ukraine only entered into armed conflict" This is such a disgusting formulation that I struggle to be civil when responding to it. Ukraine was invaded, both
by inglor_cz 2y ago
" Ukraine only entered into armed conflict"
This is such a disgusting formulation that I struggle to be civil when responding to it. Ukraine was invaded, both in 2014 and 2022. Saying that a victim of an invasion "entered into armed conflict" is like saying that a victim of a rape "had sex".
An invaded country can either capitulate outright (like Czechoslovakia in 1968), or fight back. Most countries, if their strategic position isn't catastrophic from the onset, tend to fight back: that is the whole point of having a military. And east of the former Iron Curtain, most nations would fight back just based on their terrible experience with former Russian control. From Finland to at least Georgia, "Never again" is the common sentiment.
(There are exceptions to this rule, like Slovakia and Hungary.)
"because they were promised support that never showed up"
Are you rewriting a very recent history? In the first weeks, the West was mostly treading lightly about the situation, because they were afraid of the Big Bad Bear. The German Foreign Minister told the Ukrainian ambassador Melnik in no uncertain terms that they were goners, and Germany sent them some old helmets, ffs. France's Macron had his head full of diplomatic-solution dreams that just never materialized, and sat on the phone to Moscow for weeks. Again, there were important exceptions like the UK or Poland, which started sending efficient help immediately, but the West as a whole only started taking support of Ukraine seriously when the Ukrainian army stopped the initial onslaught and pressured the Russian army north of Kyiv to withdraw. Only then it became clear that the Russians overextended themselves and that the country is not about to fall, at least not immediately.
"That's the whole point of sovereignity."
According to Putin, who really likes to speak about sovereignty, the whole point of sovereignty is to do whatever you want.