The pressure is mounting on the outside world to intervene militarily

 

Wolfgang Hansson 

 

The pressure is mounting on the outside world to intervene militarily 

 

Published: Less than 2 hours ago 

 

Updated: Less than 2 hours ago 

 

NEWS

 

As the Russians withdraw from the Kyiv area, more massacres similar to the one in Butja will be revealed. More terrible pictures to reach the world. 

 

Pressure will increase sharply on Western leaders to intervene to stop Putin's senseless killing. 

 

But no one dares to ask for fear of what the answer will be. 

 

The international condemnation of the war crimes in Butja and elsewhere in Ukraine has reached hurricane strength. 

 

Virtually everyone seems to agree that these are heinous war crimes that must end. But few dare to address the important question of how. 

 

How will the outside world prevent Russia from continuing to kill and maim civilians in Ukraine? 

 

How will the outside world stop Russia from bombing hospitals, schools, daycare centers and residential areas? 

 

How long can the outside world just look on without intervening? 

 

Leaders such as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French Emmanuel Macron and US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken were quick to condemn and promise new sanctions against Russia. 

 

The problem is that sanctions do not help. Except possibly in the really long term. 

 

 

Russian troops are withdrawing from the Kyiv region. Photo: Vadim Ghirda / AP 

 

Also, how many more really effective sanctions are there to take? 

 

Apart from stopping all imports of Russian gas and oil, which would risk damaging Europe's economy as well. The war has been going on for over five weeks. For at least a month, Russia has focused its warfare on killing and injuring civilians in the hope that it will cause President Zelensky to capitulate. 

 

 Instead, Ukraine has continued to resist heroically. Something that triggered the Russian army to focus its war on civilians even more. 

 

It is not about the abuse of individual soldiers, but about a strategy drawn up in the highest place in Moscow. 

 

As the Russian troops withdraw from the northern suburbs of Kiev, more horrific abuses of the civilian population are soon revealed. We will eventually see the same from the besieged Mariupol where we know that thousands of civilians were killed. 

 

 

The pressure is increasing sharply on the leaders in the west. Photo: Michael Kappeler / AP 

 

 

Joe Biden and other leaders have said they do not intend to deploy any ground troops against Putin. Photo: Denis Balibouse / AP 

 

More sanctions will not force President Putin to change the war or withdraw his forces from Ukraine. On the contrary, we can expect new massacres as the Russians now shift the focus of their warfare to the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine. 

 

Abuses that previously happened in infamous places such as Srebrenica, Guernica, Treblinka, Grozny and Aleppo are now happening in Ukraine on a scale that we in Europe have not experienced since World War II or possibly the wars in the Balkans.

 

"That these murderers of Satan should be allowed to continue," once said the former Prime Minister Olof Palme about Spain's dictator Franco and others. A sentence that is just as relevant today.

 

 

 

10,000 soldiers in Russia March 22. Photo: AP 

 

I think most people feel the same anger and frustration over what is happening in Ukraine now. At the same time, we are helplessly forced to look at and feel like accomplices because we can not or do not want to intervene. 

 

It is said that the sanctions have already begun to bite the Russian economy. That's certainly true. But Putin does not care if the Russian people are allowed to make sacrifices as long as he can continue his war. If he can not get Ukraine, the country should be destroyed as much as possible. 

 

Sanctions will not stop the Russian president. No threat to the war crimes tribunal in The Hague either. He has already crossed that line and has nothing more to fear from the condemnation of the international community. He's already a pariah. 

 

 

Russia has focused its warfare on killing and injuring civilians. Photo: AP 

 

The only thing that can stop Putin is if someone physically expels the Russian army from Ukraine. 

 

And who will do it? 

 

The United States and NATO have the capability but do not want to. President Joe Biden and other leaders have said from the outset that they do not intend to deploy any ground troops or fighter jets in Ukraine for fear of a direct confrontation with Russia. 

 

At the same time, Western leaders say that Ukraine is not just fighting for its own country. They are fighting for the survival of liberal democracy in Europe and the world. Admittedly, Western Ukraine is helping with advanced weapons, real-time intelligence and humanitarian operations. 

 

 

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg and other leaders have warned that an armed operation by NATO could mean a third world war. Photo: Francois Len

But we are clearly not prepared to defend the liberal world order with our own military resources because Ukraine is not a member of NATO.  

Joe Biden, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg and other leaders have warned that an armed operation by NATO could lead to a third world war that would lead to even more terrible devastation and even worse abuses of civilians.  

They're probably right. But that does not stop the growing pressure on the Western world to intervene more forcefully to put an end to Putin.