How Russia’s attack on Ukraine violates international law
PBS NewsHourMar 05, 2022
In his nightly address on Thursday, Ukrainian Pres. Volodymyr Zelenskyy revealed that an estimated 4.5M people across Kyiv, its outskirts, and nine other regions were facing rolling blackouts in the country. He also used the address to call on Ukraine's energy providers to be more transparent about planned blackouts to help tackle perceptions of unfairness.
Addressing the energy companies, Zelenskyy said: "Please be more active in explaining to people when and why you disconnect this or that street, this or that district. Now is the time for such microcommunications. People have a right to know." He added: "If someone stays without electricity for eight or ten hours, and everything is connected, including street lighting, across the street, then this is definitely unfair."
This invasion is an egregious violation of international law. Putin's ultimate aim is to restore the Soviet empire, even if it takes massive bloodshed and false pretexts such as calling the 2014 Ukrainian revolution after an election a "coup". This unprovoked attack is the latest chapter in Putin's Orwellian attempt to rewrite history.
NATO and the US have ignored Russia's security concerns by breaking its promise not to expand eastward in return for German reunification. These concerns are legitimate and taking them seriously would have avoided the Ukraine tragedy.
There is a 2% chance that Putin and Zelenskyy will meet to discuss the peaceful resolution of the Russian-Ukraine conflict before 2023, according to the Metaculus prediction community.