It’s Time the Free World, Together with Ukraine, Formulate a Common Strategy for Victory and Sustainable Peace

Appeal of Ukrainian civil society leaders to world leaders

As of late October 2024, uncertainty about the prospects for ending the over-10-year war in Europe remains a key factor in encouraging the aggressive behavior of Putin’s Russia and its allies. North Korea’s de facto entry into the war leaves no doubt about the global nature of the confrontation, in which a group of authoritarian states is trying to destroy the world order that is based on respect for international law and the inviolability of borders, and, instead, establish a new world order where the right of force dominates.

Ukraine has become the first battlefield for testing the ability of the authoritarian coalition to stop the process of building of independent states, which have chosen a democratic path. The victory of Russia and its accomplices, which can be formalized through the territorial division of Ukraine and the limitation of its sovereignty, will mean the final change in the world’s historical trajectory in favor of a global alliance of revisionist autocracies. Such a victory would have far-reaching devastating consequences for all who expect to live in a predictable and peaceful world.

The aggressor’s plans include not only restoring control over the once subordinate territories, recolonization, and enforced change of identity of millions of people. They also involve establishing a new world order, where borders will be determined by arbitrary force, and the legitimate aspirations and self-determination of entire peoples will be sacrificed to the so-called “multipolar world”. In fact, this will mean the forced division of the humankind between several dominant centers of influence.

The aggressor has a clear plan for victory, which has nothing to do with achieving sustainable peace. Instead, it relies on the forecasted weakening of the global democratic coalition, the erosion of the free world’s will to defend itself, and the readiness to sacrifice those who were the first to fall under the aggressor’s roller.

The key point of the aggressor’s calculation is its belief that the free world is unable to formulate and implement its own plan of victory. Although the states opposing the aggressor’s plans have enormous resource superiority, its calculation is based on the belief that this advantage will never be fully used – because of the lack of will, indecisiveness and fear of Russia losing. Moreover, this indecisiveness to support the Ukrainian victory allowed the aggressor to significantly intensify its subversive activities against European countries, including assassination attempts on their sovereign territories, sabotage of critical infrastructure, arson of military facilities, election interference, and so on.

It’s time to prove this calculation wrong. Together with Ukraine, leaders of the world’s countries that defend the values of freedom and dignity must agree on a strategy for a decisive and consistent response to the aggression, with the goal of a just end to the war in the near future.

In September 2024, Ukraine presented its Victory Plan, which involves the free world acting in solidarity to ensure due superiority over the aggressor and enforcing peace upon it. This plan can be the good basis for further dialogue, in which all countries interested in a just end to the war will participate. The next stage should be a joint strategy of the free world’s coalition, which will include military, political, economic and diplomatic components. The victory of Ukraine and the free world will mean the final defeat of Russia and its satellites in their neo-imperialist revisionist war.

Today, there are the preconditions to agree on a comprehensive action plan that will allow achieving tangible results on the battlefield, significantly reducing the aggressor’s economic potential, giving effective security guarantees to Ukraine, and providing for consistent coordinated diplomatic steps towards ending the war and achieving justice and sustainable peace. 

We, representatives of Ukrainian civil society, witness the unshakeable resilience of Ukrainian society in the face of the unprecedented challenges. Our assessment of the situation points to the fundamental possibility of a just end to the war, provided there is strategic certainty and coordinated decisive actions of those opposing the Russian aggression. The coalition of the free needs its own plan for victory.

Signatories: