Opinion: Putin's war was launched on a runway of lies
CNNFeb 25, 2022
At the annual Munich Security Conference in Germany on Friday — attended by roughly 40 heads of state, as well as politicians and experts from over 100 countries — Ukrainian Pres. Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged Western allies to speed up arms deliveries to Ukraine, warning that delays would play into Russian hands. "There is no alternative to speed, because it’s speed that life depends on," he said via video link.
The three-day conference, which typically invites leaders from states hostile or ambivalent toward the West, broke with tradition this year by not extending invites to representatives from Russia or Iran. However, China's foreign minister Wang Yi is set to give an address that will be closely watched to see how China portrays its relationship with Russia and its comments on Ukraine.
Putin's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine was launched on the pretext of multiple lies, including that Russian speakers in Donetsk were facing a "genocide" and that NATO expansion was a threat to Russia. America and the West must continue to push back against these falsehoods and protect Ukraine's sovereignty from Putin's anti-democratic aspirations.
Numerous diplomats throughout the years have warned that bringing Ukraine into the NATO sphere of influence was an unacceptable prospect for Russia and that it would lead to a conflict with disastrous consequences. Russia's concerns must be listened to if we're ever going to find a negotiated settlement to this tragic conflict.
There's a 1% chance that Ukraine will join NATO before 2024, according to the Metaculus prediction community.