February, 23 2023
By Olena Skomoroshchenko
Head of SDPU Secretariat,
International Secretary
Three hundred and sixty-fifth day of the War.
Today is the anniversary of our last, like all normal people, peaceful day. One long day of War began tomorrow. It's not even Groundhog Day, it's an order of magnitude worse, nothing can be compared to it. At first, during the first three days of the invasion, we counted time in hours, because reality changed every hour. Then all efforts were directed only to have time to do everything necessary in order to have a chance to live in the next hour. Then, after three days of this race, when the Blitzkrieg of the Russian Federation broke down due to the fact that the Defense Forces of Ukraine stopped their advance on Kyiv, the time began to count in days.
On the morning of February 24, I called the office of the General Secretary of the SI to inform them of what was happening. After all, as we now know, the advancing troops of the Russian Federation had, in addition to everything else, for example, the uniform for the parade of the Russian army on Khreshchatyk after lunch on the same day, as well as "shooting lists", in which my name was included the first thousand of those who need to be shot. Well, just in case I disappear without a trace.
It was very early in the morning at the SI Secretariat, almost still night, so at first no one could understand what I wanted and why it was so early. Then no one could believe, by the way, like us here in Ukraine, in the reality of this surrealism. However, due to the fact that we have known each other for many years and we have trust, they sincerely sympathized with me and told me that everything would be handed over to General Secretary Luis Ayala. A little later, the General Secretary of the SI called me and asked me to protect myself and keep him informed of what was happening.
Since I was not accepted into the Territorial Defense of Kyiv and I fell ill in general, I started writing Chronicles of the War for the General Secretariat of the SI every day. Anyway, lying in bed, I was unable to do anything else useful for the front, one of the components of which was the information front. And at that moment, each of the Ukrainians was looking for his place at the front, of which there were immediately too many to be needed in the formation. Therefore, the main reference point for all of us was the paradigm "Let's keep the line!" Obviously, thanks to this, we withstood the first blow on Ukraine and were able to organize resistance and defense.
Louis was right, it was very important to adequately inform the world about what was happening, because incredibly terrible things began to happen in Ukraine, which the civilized world in the 21st century cannot believe. The level of wild brutality that began to occur in Ukraine was beyond the limits of what was possible for a normal person.
Thus, almost until June, I wrote every day for the social-democratic family of the Chronicle of the War. Since June, when the world community finally realized the full nature of the phenomenon we are all dealing with, the acute and urgent need for them has disappeared. In particular, because other institutions appeared that compiled Daily Reports and analytics of the War, in particular, such as the Reports of British Intelligence or the American Institute for the Study of War. And the world's leading mass media at that time had also built a well-functioning information machine for correct coverage of what was happening in Ukraine.
Now, a year after the invasion, the War has entered its third phase. The first, which happened in June, was when the offensive of the invaders was finally stopped at the border between Lysiachansk and Siverodonetsk. Since then, having exhausted their offensive potential, the enemy's troops were forced to stand on the defensive and the second phase began. The second phase, from July to November 2022, consisted in the fact that the Defense Forces of Ukraine, having stopped the occupiers, seized the strategic initiative and, thanks to it, went into a counteroffensive. These were two brilliant and successful operations. One led to the almost complete de-occupation of the Kharkiv region in August-September 2022. The second led to the de-occupation of the entire right bank of the Kherson region with the liberation of the city of Kherson on November 11 inclusive.
Unfortunately, thanks to the cessation of arms supplies to Ukraine, this overwhelming advantage of ours, a strategic initiative, has been lost. Instead of supplying weapons, the leading players, our allies, who are waging this war, began to negotiate with Putin for three months. Now it is impossible to calculate how many Ukrainian lives - military and civilian - we paid for this. But because of this, the strategic initiative passed to the enemy, when it is the Russian troops who decide where and when to attack.
Thus, the course of the War entered the Third Phase of the positional stalemate. Of course, they are trying, using their strategic initiative, to advance, but they do not have enough strength and means for this. The only thing they managed to do as a result of such a widely announced terrible offensive was to take an urban-type settlement, which had 10,000 people before the invasion, called Soledar and several other villages around it. And that's all. After Soledar, the next milestone that needs to be taken in order to move on is Bakhmut. They have been storming Bakhmut since summer, since July, that is, for 7 months already. And all in the same positions. This is a positional impasse, as in the First World War, that is, the balance of forces of both sides. Then, in the First World War, this balance was disturbed due to the appearance of tanks on one of the sides. That is why we need tanks and aircraft to cover them on the march. That is why the Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine, Valery Zaluzhnyi, called the figure - 300 tanks and 500 BMPs - as our priority needs. These forces are sufficient to carry out ONE successful counteroffensive operation. And US President Joe Biden, while in Kyiv on February 20, 2023, said that the Coalition of Free Countries plans to provide the Defense Forces of Ukraine with 500 tanks and thousands of BMPs in the coming days, that is, not one thousand. Thus, we can conclude that forces and means are provided not only for one successful offensive operation, but for a whole series of consecutive offensive operations that will lead the War out of a positional impasse.
So, we can state that the anti-Putin Coalition, together with the command of Ukraine, has moved to joint planning of the War, first of all. Secondly, joint and consolidated preparation and provision of a number of operations necessary for the de-occupation of Ukraine. But the goal of this war for the leading players is not the de-occupation of Ukraine and not victory over Putin. For them, the purpose of the War is the reconstruction of the old world geometry and the construction of a new world economic, geopolitical and civilizational model.
The first stage of this reconstruction has already been completed. And this is not a stoppage of the Russian army, but a victory over neoliberal "pragmatists" who do not so much love Putin as put profit above values. By consistently pursuing this policy for years, they brought the economy of developed countries to negative growth. Actually, the victory over them in the global dimension took the form of victory over Putin's fans.
The Value Coalition has already moved to the second stage of building a new world. The Russian-Ukrainian War showed the inefficiency of the existing world tools and mechanisms, and their reform is planned in the summer, primarily the UN Security Council and the International Monetary Fund. As the result of the Second World War was the reformation of the League of Nations in the United Nations, and in general the creation of the Bretton Woods system, so the Russian-Ukrainian War should end with the creation of a new world system, which, perhaps, will be called Kiev instead of Bretton Woods.
But all this will make sense only if the Coalition and Ukraine win over the Russian Federation on the battlefield. It will be a victory in two or three stages:
The implementation of each of these three stages will take about 3 months, so if the allies do not again disturb the balance of power, detaining our weapons and giving the Russian Federation a chance to regroup and prepare again, then the war will most likely end in the summer-autumn of 2023.
Finally, a few words about us, the Social Democratic Party of Ukraine. We, like you, happened to live and work in the neoliberal era, where only "pragmatists" were successful. But in the post-Soviet space, this phenomenon has become even more severe. The savage who brought the bucket of gold teeth became "a respected partner who has a liquid resource." As a result, power in Ukraine was seized by oligarchic parties - branches of semi-business, semi-criminal groups. And today in the parliament of Ukraine, all parties without exception are exactly like that. But the Russian-Ukrainian war breaks not only the Putin regime, but also the alliance of your "pragmatists" with ours. And we believe that in the new era all over the world and in Ukraine only parties of values will be successful, including the SDPU.
Our main problem and need today (apart from weapons) is to help Ukrainians suffering from the War. Medicines, food, housing. However, all this can be bought in Ukraine, but the internal resources of civil society and the SDPU have been exhausted. We haven't asked for help in a year, but now it's time to turn to international solidarity. Including solidarity in our world family of socialists and social democrats. First, the Social Democrats went to fight for our freedom and yours. Not only ordinary members of the party, but also members of the top leadership of the party, for example, the heads of four regional organizations of the SDPU. They need help with equipment (bulletproof vests, thermal imagers, special uniforms, everyone has their own needs). Secondly, many Social Democrats became victims of the war, both military and civilian. Member of the Board of the Party, Deputy Chairman of the Trade Union of Atomic Workers of Ukraine Pavlo Prudnikov fought, was wounded in the spine and needs a complex operation. The head of the Donetsk regional organization of the SDPU, Leonid Khaitulov, was killed on the fifth day of the war. And they killed him not as a political leader. Russian soldiers shot at his car, although they saw that an elderly civilian was driving there. His family needs help. The leader of the Social Democrats of the city of Berdyansk, Svetlana Trush, was forced to leave her hometown and move to Kyiv, and the leader of the Social Democrats of Kharkov became a refugee in Belgium. And the list is huge, almost endless.
We believe in the victory of Ukraine, we believe in the victory of democracy. For decades, we have been fighting with our and your "pragmatists" neo-liberals. For a year now, we have been fighting against a country that is 3 times larger than Ukraine in terms of population, 14 times in territory, and 10 times in terms of GDP. And we did not count on anyone's help. But this year has exhausted all our reserves and our resources. Today we need your solidarity. First. We need moral and political support. During the year, many delegations came to Ukraine, including many socialists. But only one Western European always meets with the Ukrainian Social Democrats, and that is French Senator Jean-Yves Lecomte.
We propose and ask you to create an institution of Abbasadors of the Ukrainian Social Democracy. So that these people organize moral, political and material support for the Ukrainian social democracy, as well as for Ukraine as a whole. Second. We need financial support. The leader of the Social Democrats of the city of Berdyansk, Svetlana Trush, became a refugee, but overcame her difficulties and began to help others. Moreover, she has extensive experience in volunteer work. For example, since 2014, with the beginning of Russia's invasion of the Donbass, it has been collecting money and redeeming captured Ukrainian soldiers from collaborator militants. And today she created the Dobra Slava charitable foundation, which organizes assistance, including to the Ukrainian Social Democrats. Link to it:
The "GOOD GLORY" charitable foundation was created in Ukraine during the war for those people who personally encountered terrible evil and who are most in need of protection, help and care, showing humanity and kindness to them.
We are collecting funds for the purchase of essential goods, medical supplies and food for people affected by the Russian-Ukrainian war in Ukraine. After procurement, we distribute, deliver and distribute humanitarian aid to beneficiaries.
We highly appreciate every contribution sent to help and are sincerely grateful for the kindness and support that the World provides to Ukraine during the Russian-Ukrainian war!
We are convinced that with our participation in social initiatives and charity projects aimed at helping Ukrainians - you protect the world from evil.
Because war is an evil that tests the strength of not only those who find themselves in its epicenter - it challenges all civilized humanity in solidarity and commitment to the principles of humanism on which the modern world was built.
War destroys this world because it violates the fundamental and inalienable human rights to life and liberty - our common rights with you.
Therefore, each of your donations, reposts in support of meetings, or volunteer initiatives - this is a charitable mission that stands up for the protection of humanity.
And that is why your help to Ukraine is important!
Infinitely thanking all of you for your solidarity and support during this year, and for us - the endless day of War, and crossing this milestone in the year, I want to say:
"Let's keep the line!",
"Together to the victory of The Coalition of democratic countries over The Coalition of despots!
And exit to the internationally recognized borders of Ukraine in 1991!"