One Year of Russia-Ukraine War

Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow calls a “special military operation” to overthrow President Zelensky, seize the capital city of Kyiv, and spread denazification propaganda that was originally planned for a week, has been going on for a year already.

Ukraine's hostile resistance and defense has proven that it would not easily be defeated by Russia.

The victims? More than 14 million Ukrainians lost their homes, around 5 million people fled to other countries, more than 3,500 civilians, including hundreds of children, were killed and thousands more suffered serious injuries. Hundreds of thousands of people were also forcibly deported to Russian territory.

More than 5,000 sporadically fired Russian missiles have damaged hundreds of energy infrastructure units, 38,000 civilian settlements, 1,250 hospitals and 3,126 schools in urban and rural areas of Ukraine.

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Russia is spreading humanitarian terror in Ukraine.

Since the day of the Russian invasion (24/2/2022), many state leaders expressed their willingness to take action to end the war and restore peace to Ukraine. Some made mere statements, some suggested "freezing" the conflict and pursuing a "peace process" with no defined time period. Neither provided a real solution to stop the war. In general, these ideas require either Ukraine to surrender sovereign territory to the aggressor or delay the liberation of Russian-occupied territory.

This is the main reason why at the Group of 20 Summit on 15 Nov. 2022, in Bali, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky proposed a 10-point Formula for Peace solely to bring an immediate end to Russian aggression. The substance of this formula is universal, which can be viewed as a new international security architecture to restore Ukraine's freedom as well as "insurance" to maintain the peace, freedom and security of other countries.

Zelensky's 10 formulas

Here are Zelensky’s 10 formulas for peace.

One, security from radiation and nuclear, focusing on restoring the security of Europe's largest nuclear power plant in the city of Zaporizhzhia, which has been occupied by Russia since 4 March 2022.

This nuclear power plant has been repeatedly fired upon by Russian troops. The damage to this nuclear power plant has the potential to cause a nuclear disaster for all mankind. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) needs to take a role in resolving this problem, including establishing a demilitarization zone around the nuclear power plant and helping prevent attacks on nuclear power plants.

Two, ensure food security. This includes protecting and securing Ukraine's wheat and grain exports to poor countries. Thanks to the Black Sea Grain Export Initiative, Ukraine has again been restored as a guarantor of global food security and has contributed to restoring world food stability. However, Ukraine needs permanent provisions so it can export food and fertilizer without having to negotiate with Russia every 120 days.

Three, ensure energy security. This prioritizes limiting the price of Russian energy resources and helping Ukraine repair its electricity infrastructure, which was destroyed by Russian attacks, damaging nearly 50 percent of Ukraine's energy system.

Four, release all detainees and citizens who were illegally deported from Ukraine. The United Nations has gathered evidence of torture and other inhumane treatment of detainees. This problem should be resolved through direct negotiation. A much more difficult problem is the forced deportation of Ukrainian citizens, including children, who were taken by force from occupied areas of Ukraine to various parts of Russia under the pretext of "evacuation".

Five, implement the UN Charter and restore Ukraine's territorial integrity. Referring to Article 2 of the UN Charter, "All members in their international relations abstain from threatening or using force against the territorial integrity or political independence of other countries, or in any way contrary to the United Nations objectives." This is relevant to the current conflict and to the liberation of the territories Russia has occupied since 2014, the Donbass and the Crimean Peninsula.

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Six, the withdrawal of Russian troops and cessation of attacks. Russia must withdraw all its troops and military equipment from Ukrainian territory. Ukraine must regain control over all of its border areas.

Seven, enforce justice. A special court is needed to try war crimes committed by Russia. The UN human rights body needs to investigate allegations of gross human rights violations in the form of torture, rape and mass killings committed by the Russian military in the cities of Bucha, Irpin, Borodyanka, Izium and others.

Eight, tackle ecocide, namely by clearing mines and protecting the environment. Russian aggression has also had a very bad impact on the environment, millions of hectares of forest have been burned, millions of domestic animals have died, 50,000 dolphins have died in the Black Sea. Nearly 200,000 hectares of land in Ukraine has been contaminated with mines and live bombs.

Nine, prevent the escalation of war and repeat aggression by building a security system in the Euro-Atlantic region. Ukraine requests the implementation of the security guarantees in the Kyiv Security Compact to mobilize political, financial, military and diplomatic resources to defend the country, both to prevent external aggression and to protect Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity if a similar act of aggression occurs again.

Ten, confirm the end of the war. All parties must sign a document stating that the war has ended.

The formula above offered by Zelensky seems subjective of Ukraine's interests. Objectively, however, it cannot be denied that Russia is a threat to the countries around it that differ in their political and economic ideological directions, be it Georgia, Sweden, Finland, Moldova, or Romania, and of course, Poland.

World leaders need to continue negotiating Zelensky’s formula with Vladimir Putin, not to find a middle ground with Russia’s wants, but to first stop the war to uphold the rules of the UN Charter, which is a global agreement. There is no objective, logical argument that justifies Russia's aggression against Ukraine, a peaceful country much "smaller" than Russia that, in its history, has never threatened any other country, including Russia.

Only a matter of time

Russian aggression has negative consequences for world security, as well as in changing the world's political constellation.

It has disturbed energy and food supplies, and the world economy. Involving countries around the world, including Indonesia, in implementing the Peace Formula will make it possible to create a stable, just and sustainable peace. Zelensky's formula insists world countries to put pressure on Russia to stop its war. Peace will come only if Russia stops its attack and leaves the sovereign territory of Ukraine.

It seems Zelensky no longer wants a peace mediator. What Ukraine needs is real assistance from world countries in the form of weapons, energy, finance and human solidarity for Ukraine's struggle to defend its sovereign territory.

Indonesia is among the countries that approved the UN resolution to pressure Russia to stop its attack on Ukraine. Indonesia's stance is in line with the principles of international law and humanitarian interests.

The Ukrainian war is a series of the Russian empire’s long history of conquest from the 10th century until now, which has never been successful.

What Ukraine is currently fighting for is a humane battle against injustice, tyranny and state terrorism. After a year of Russia's war in Ukraine, the eyes of the world have been opened to the fact that Russia is not a world giant. Its military capabilities are no longer frightening to the world.

Wide international solidarity and support for Ukraine's struggle against Russia has made Ukraine more confident in facing Russia. By taking a close look at the map of how world countries are aligned in the Russia-Ukraine war, which has already passed one year, it is only a matter of time that Russia will leave Ukrainian territory. Why is that?

The Ukrainian war is a series of the Russian empire’s long history of conquest from the 10th century until now, which has never been successful.

I believe Ukraine will never give up. The slogan “Svoboda abo Smertv”, meaning “Freedom or death”, is now reverberating throughout Ukraine. The war will end only if Russia is willing to stop, it leaves Ukrainian territory or if Ukraine defeats Russia. There is no option for Ukraine to give up. Hopefully, there will be no tragic zero-sum game for world history.

KOMPAS/AGUS SUSANTO

Yuddy Chrisnandi

Yuddy Chrisnandi, Professor of political science at the National University, former Indonesian ambassador to Ukraine (2017-2021)

This article was translated by Kurniawan Siswo.