The Winners and Losers of the Russia-Ukraine War

Two months have passed since the outbreak of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the major question in the world media is about the winners and losers in this war.

What makes answering this question very difficult is the foggy state of the war and the misleading media war from Russia, Ukraine, and the West. Each side claims that it is the victor so far in this dirty war, like all wars.

Former British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain said, “In war, whichever side may call itself victorious, there are no winners, but all losers.” The content of this saying also applies to the Russian war against Ukraine.

However, both warring sides, Russia, and Ukraine, claim that they are victors in this war. Russia asserts that the war is going according to the plan laid down in advance. But it has not yet been able to achieve all the goals for which it has fought this war.

Moscow has failed to annex Ukraine or overthrow President Zelensky and designate a pro-Moscow government. But at the same time, it has achieved military victories in eastern and southern Ukraine by adopting a scorched-earth policy, which was accompanied by a massive destruction of infrastructure and a horrific displacement of civilians.

It seems that Moscow is heading to divide Ukraine and annex its east and south to Russia, after it has so far been unable to control the capital, Kyiv. On the other hand, Ukraine cannot defeat Russia through conventional warfare. But it appears that resisting the Russian advance and thwarting its efforts to seize Kyiv is considered a victory according to the official point of view in Kyiv.

However, the millions of internally and externally displaced personnel and the massive destruction inflicted on the infrastructure, economic and military in Ukraine is not deemed a loss according to the vision of the Ukrainian leadership.

The United States is regarded one of the winning players in the Ukrainian war, as the American leadership believes that Ukraine will gradually turn into a quagmire to drain Russia. This in itself is considered a triumph from the American point of view, regardless of the affliction inflicted on the Ukrainian people.

Therefore, Washington is making all its efforts to provide arms to the Ukrainian army to prolong the war and undermine any diplomatic efforts undertaken by Germany and France to end the war peacefully.

The Ukrainian crisis has emerged as a historic opportunity for Washington to improve its military image and strengthen its leadership position in NATO. Especially after several setbacks suffered by Washington militarily and diplomatically in several countries in which it intervened militarily, such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and Libya.

The bitter truth is that no matter how leaders attempt to convince their people that they are waging wars for them, the only losers from the war are the people, not the leaders. Especially for the great powers that do not get tired of expansion and domination.

We are all considered losers in this absurd war because it shows that we live in a world where the law of the jungle prevails, that is, the strong eat the weak or “The weak are meat, and the strong do eat” as David Mitchell says.

All international laws and human rights laws are nothing but ink on paper that the powerful do not abide by, and no one can force the great powers to abide by those laws.

The perpetual global peace between the powerful states that Kant talked about is a great illusion, and the permanent wars and the resulting grievances and calamities are, unfortunately, the bitter and orphan fact.