Photo/Illutration Russian President Vladimir Putin and his defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, at the Kremlin in Moscow on April 21 (Provided by Russian Presidential Press Service via AP)

Two months have passed since Russian troops began invading neighboring Ukraine on Feb. 24.

The resulting humanitarian crisis, Europe’s biggest since World War II, shows no signs of ending soon.

In the face of that cruel reality, the international community is racking its brains over why this war, which benefits no one, started and why it has continued.

The most urgent priority is to halt the battles and save human lives.

In the southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol alone, 20,000 residents were reportedly killed. The death toll across the country remains unknown.

More than 5 million Ukrainians have left their country to seek refuge. The death toll of soldiers has likely exceeded 10,000 on each side, although actual figures are not available.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is solely to blame for the invasion. In the background is the political stagnation of Russia, where a de facto personal rule has lasted for two decades.

The latest crisis has shown there are no means available for restraining the leader of a major power when he grows dictatorial and goes berserk.

The international community is confronted with its most pressing post-World War II conundrum of how to build peace and security in the years to come.

Russian troops failed in their initial attempt to conquer Kyiv and are now stepping up their offensive with a focus on eastern Ukraine.

Prolonged battles would inevitably result in more devastation of Ukraine’s terrain and a further spread of civilian tragedies.

Putin’s mind may be on the May 9 Victory Day, which marks the 1945 Soviet defeat of Nazi Germany.

The Russian president is apparently tempted to boast his military “achievements” against the pro-Western administration of Ukraine, which he has likened to the Third Reich, on that historic date.

The invasion, however, defies the world order in a way reminiscent of Nazi actions and disgraces the history of the Soviet victory in World War II.

On the surface, Russia’s military action has received domestic support, but some intellectuals and business leaders of the country have come out against the war.

Russia could forcibly expand its occupation zones but only at an immense price. It will take Russia many years to regain the international confidence that it lost, and the nation will also continue to face resistance from Ukrainians and sanctions from other countries.

Human resources will flee Russia, inevitably causing its national strength to decline.

Putin, however, is not squarely facing the reality.

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer, who met with the Russian president, said after the talks, “He is now in his world.”

One is tempted to ask if Putin is steeped so deeply in anachronistic Great Russian chauvinism that he can no longer think level-headedly.

Before he was sworn in as president, Putin referred to the history of Soviet military crackdowns on liberalization movements in Eastern Europe, including the Prague Spring of 1968.

“The Russophobia that we are facing today in Eastern Europe is exactly the product of those mistakes,” he said at that time.

All available opportunities for dialogue should be used to convince Putin of the gravity of repeating the same error again.

We again call on U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and national leaders around the world to step up their diplomatic efforts to end the massacres and destruction.

--The Asahi Shimbun, April 24

Related News