KYIV, Ukraine – Despite all the signs of Russia’s preparations for an invasion, Ukrainians did not want to believe it. The reason was extremely simple – Ukraine soberly assessed its own strength, the willingness of Ukrainians to resist, and realized that Russian aggression would end in a crushing defeat not only for the Russian Armed Forces, but for the Putin regime as a whole.

It was almost impossible to believe that Russian President Vladimir Putin would commit this suicide. Unfortunately, the Kremlin viewed the situation differently, and its mistake led to the largest military conflict in Europe since the Second World War. A conflict that has every chance of escalating into a nuclear one.

It is clear that, as with Nazi Germany seventy-seven years ago, the policy of constant compromise and peaceful coexistence with the aggressor only encouraged Putin to further violate international law. Having not received adequate punishment, neither after the war in Georgia in 2008, nor after the annexation of Crimea in 2014, nor after the outbreak of the war in Donbas, Putin decided he could continue the escalation from which the West would allow him to leave anytime without much loss. Probably, this would have happened if the Russian military aggression against Ukraine had not met with fierce resistance from the Armed Forces of Ukraine and all Ukrainians.

Now Putin has no way to win this war. The losses that Russia has already suffered in Ukraine are the largest in its modern history, and while maintaining the current dynamics over the next few weeks, it may become quite unacceptable for it. The huge support of Ukraine by the citizens of Western countries is forcing the leaders of these countries to increase economic pressure on Russia and increase military-technical and financial assistance to Ukraine. Russia’s military, economic and social collapse in such conditions is irreversible.

Unfortunately, Putin is not going to give up and is ready to continue the escalation. With his ground forces demoralized, disorganized, and virtually unable to carry out their task of capturing Ukraine, the Russian president has resorted to tactics of terror against Ukraine’s civilian population to force Ukrainians to surrender. The planned destruction of settlements and civilian infrastructure by missile strikes, air raids, and artillery strikes clearly proves this.

Kremlin propaganda has begun informational preparations for the population of the Russian Federation to use unconventional weapons against Ukraine. The use of tactical nuclear weapons against Ukraine is being seriously discussed. In order to justify such use, Russian propaganda is actively disseminating information about the alleged existence of biological weapons laboratories and nuclear weapons recovery programs in Ukraine, as well as about Ukraine’s alleged plans to attack the Russian Federation.

The readiness to move to nuclear escalation makes Putin the greatest threat to humanity in the history of the world. Recognition of this fact is difficult, but extremely necessary. The world is at war. Attempts by Western leaders to cling still to the lost peace are pathetic and dangerous. Change in Kremlin leadership in Moscow is no longer a matter of stopping the shelling of Kyiv and Kharkiv, Vinnytsia and Mykolayiv, Sumy and Mariupol. This is a condition of preventing the shelling of London and Washington, Paris and Berlin, Warsaw and Tokyo. Surely Vladimir Putin’s generals or other senior Kremlin officials realize that Putin has singlehandedly ruined Russia’s economy and international standing in the world.

Today, Ukrainians are not only destroying Russian troops on their territory, but are also organizing unprecedented anti-war and anti-Putin movements in Russia. The importance of this activity is indicated by Moscow’s panicked attempts to close its information space, ban social networks, block advertising on Google and YouTube, close international communications, and its intention to disconnect Russia from the Internet.

Despite all this, support for Putin in Russia is rapidly declining, and protests are growing. There is no doubt that Ukraine will be able to win on this front as well. The West can get involved in this process and make it faster, or take a passive position again, watching the bleeding Ukraine single-handedly eliminate the threat to all of humanity.