The haunting wail of air-raid sirens urging people to shelter underground. The howl of warplanes. The crump of artillery. The death rattle of tanks. Civilians who have never held a weapon arming themselves with a gun to defend their homeland. War has returned to Europe.
And it has returned in a form and on a scale that many complacently thought could never again happen on our continent. A large and despotic power is hurling its military might at a smaller, democratic neighbour. At minimum, the Russian invasion of Ukraine aims to eliminate an independent, sovereign nation’s right to self-determination. Vladimir Putin’s onslaught is designed to prevent Ukrainians from choosing any other destiny than subservience to Moscow. At worst, he will satisfy his appetite to swallow up a country that he has mendaciously argued has no right to exist.
