Adri Clements

Twenty years ago, around these very days, we barbarically destroyed with our own hands the last strategic bomber Ukraine inherited after the collapse of the USSR - as part of our obligations to our “partners”, who in return gave their “assurances” to respect peace, Ukraine’s territorial integrity, and the sovereignty of a disarming state. The same way, earlier, we dismantled and handed over nuclear weapons to Russia (and pledged never to restore our nuclear status), as well as an entire missile arsenal - which later, by Russia’s own hand, flew back into our cities as strikes. This was not the only factor behind Ukraine’s total disarmament and the collapse of its ability to defend itself as a military power. But today it is a bitter lesson that must be remembered: what unilateral disarmament “for the sake of peace” ultimately led to.