The red lines have long been passed

“900 days of courage” – we read as children about the Leningrad blockade, horrified by its duration, empathizing with those who had to go through it, shuddering at human atrocity – and not suspecting how capable we are of reproducing all this. When I say “we,” I do not mean exclusively those who speak the same language as me—there is no doubt that, under certain circumstances, the majority is capable of ordinary atrocity. This is evidenced by the entire experience of world history and famous psychological experiments.

Theoretically, the banality of evil should be counteracted by restraining international institutions, but only the lazy would not mock the effectiveness of the UN in this function, and adjustments can be made to the cooperation of major security players at any time, for example, unsuccessful elections.

The long-term war is exhausting, and everyone would like it to end. But it is obvious that the Russian side is not so close to the wall that this peace would be concluded on Ukraine’s terms. And concluding it on someone else’s terms is immoral. If only because we have all seen photographs of these children who were alive just yesterday – and we can roughly imagine who is firing rockets at residential high-rise buildings. Terrorism as it is.

A factory operating on the Russian street where I was born, quite far from Ukraine, was also recently hit by a Ukrainian drone. Which is completely logical: this plant produces weapons that kill Ukrainians. Everyone has the right to defend themselves – and today, for example, they used Biden’s parting gift for the first time – ATACMS missiles.

It is unknown how the peace treaty will turn out if it is concluded, and how temporary it will be. The intermediate results are known: huge human losses, lost territories and destroyed infrastructure of Ukraine; gigantic losses of the Russian army and people returning to Russia with traumatic experiences of war; released Russian criminals and imprisoned intellectuals; hundreds of thousands of war refugees and voluntary emigrants; economic losses of some Russian neighbors and gains of others, less important ones; the degradation of cultural ties and the rise of the defense industry. And much more, including, for example, the crossed out status of Russian as a language of interethnic communication and the victorious run of the political skating rink in the interests of Russian-speaking communities (if, of course, this word is applicable to them, taking into account all the introductions) in countries where Russians are a minority.

There are no easy solutions and there never will be. And no peace treaty looming on the horizon eliminates the need to strengthen borders and arm ourselves. At least for now. Remember the sacrifices that have already been made. Rely on the help of allies. Strengthening internal security is by no means the way the Estonian ruling coalition imagines it, which is aggravating the split with its decisions. To believe that this will end someday, and that fair retribution will overtake exactly those who are due.