Ukraine Should be Armed for Victory

When Russia invaded Ukraine eleven months ago did no one outside of Ukraine expect that the Ukrainians would be able to withstand the onslaught. However, they did and bravely so. Once the West realized that the Ukrainians were capable of defending themselves was the Western presumption that the West should help Ukraine with defensive capabilities but not with offensive ones. All along, the erroneous assumption was that this would eventually lead to a stalemate, a ceasefire and peace negotiations. It is clear that neither of the two sides is interested in a ceasefire; Ukrainian offensives are successful, Russian ones are certainly not. The West has already shifted paradigm once on Ukraine, now it is time to shift paradigm a second time and arm Ukraine offensively. This should include commence training Ukrainian pilots for F-16 fighter aircrafts. True, it will take two years before they are ready for the cockpit, but let’s be realistic, at this pace this war will probably go on for up to five years more. What the West can do however to alleviate civilian suffering is to substantially shorten this war by arming Ukraine with offensive capabilities. This war will end when the last Russian soldier has been kicked out from the last inch of occupied Ukrainian territory. Furthermore, this will force Moscow to abandon its strategy of becoming a superpower by conquering Europe and instead align with the United States and its Asian allies against China which covets Siberia and the rest of Russia as part of its long term plan for territorial expansion and Han colonization.