Key Takeaways:
Ukraine marks its 35th independence day on Aug. 24 with a fifth of its territory under Russian occupation, 12 years after Moscow's first assault and four years into an invasion that has killed tens of thousands.
Ukraine marks its 35th independence day on Aug. 24 with a fifth of its territory under Russian occupation, 12 years after Moscow's first assault and four years into an invasion that has killed tens of thousands.
"Ukraine's fight against Russian assault isn't an isolated regional conflict but a crucial defense of the Western democratic order," Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Ukraine's prime minister from 2014 to 2016 and chairman of the Kyiv Security Forum, and David Petraeus, the retired U.S. Army general and former CIA director, wrote in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece timed to the anniversary.
The milestone arrives with roughly 20 percent of the country occupied, millions of Ukrainians displaced and the conflict now in its 13th year since Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea and the war in the Donbas. The full-scale invasion launched in February 2022 has redrawn Europe's security map, pushed NATO to its eastern flank and forced a rearmament of the continent's defense budgets.
The anniversary is a test of Western resolve, Yatsenyuk and Petraeus argued, because the war is ultimately being fought against Europe and NATO on European soil. They called for clear paths to Ukraine's membership in NATO and the European Union, burden-sharing between Washington and its European allies, and a mobilization of the trans-Atlantic alliance to convince Moscow that Ukraine will never surrender.
The two authors framed modern Ukraine's independence as one of the great achievements of modern history, alongside the 250th anniversary of American independence, the establishment of the European Union and the reunification of Germany. They acknowledged the country's internal struggles — corruption, dysfunction and institutional pathologies inherited from the Soviet system — but argued those 35 years embody the hope that nations can achieve independence and justice.
The anniversary confronts Western leaders with hard truths about the conflict's trajectory. Yatsenyuk and Petraeus rejected the notion that the war can be brought to a sudden end, arguing the only genuine path to peace runs through Ukraine's victory and the maximum political, defense and societal mobilization of a united Europe and trans-Atlantic alliance.
They also warned against the assumption that Russia can alter its aggressive trajectory without accountability and atonement for its crimes. "Western leaders often act as though totalitarian regimes will embrace peaceful coexistence in response to Western concessions and passivity, but that will never happen," they wrote.
The authors argued that yesterday's methods cannot win today's war. Ukraine's defense innovation, engineering genius and societal resilience — enabled by support from European and NATO partners — are the model for how the West must respond to authoritarian aggression. "In an era of authoritarian aggression, the West must do more than provide weapons and aid," they wrote. "It must learn to be as determined and inventive as Ukraine."
The stakes extend well beyond Ukraine's borders. With 20 percent of the country occupied and the conflict in its 13th year, the outcome will shape Europe's security architecture for decades. The authors' prescription — NATO and EU membership for Ukraine, burden-sharing within the alliance and institutional reform of the EU to prevent Russia, China and their proxies from paralyzing European freedom — frames the anniversary as a pivot point for the entire Western order, with defense spending and energy security across the continent hanging on the result.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
