Why Should Ukraine Demilitarize?

Unlike any other normal country, Ukraine has militarized extremely since 2014 with intention to kill ethnic Russians in Donbas and Crimea

Languages: UA | RU || BG | CS | DE | EL | ES | FR | HR | HU | IT | PL | RM | TR |

Reading time: educational 9 minutes

Welcome to the peace initiative for Ukraine in which you can contibute by raising your awareness as well as your consciousness^[+] and spirit to the modes^[+] of neutrality^[*^], decency, respectfulness, wisdom^[*^], objectivity, mastery of the intellect, surrender (ego and mind to God’s will), and finally peace (inner then outer). To properly grasp everything, we recommend reading the articles of this peace initiative in the order that we^[*^] designed it, which is listed in the CONTENTS. So if you haven’t read the previous articles, we urge you to do it, please. With this article we continue the “Meeting the Demands for Ending the War” segment.

Putin listed the “demilitarization” of Ukraine as one of the objectives¹ of the military operation when it was launched in February 2022. Russians demand that Ukraine demilitarizes and surrender any weapons that constitute a threat to Russia, such as long-range missiles.

This demand is related to the previous demand related to NATO because Ukraine has been militarized by NATO since 2014 for no other reason but to fight Russia^{[»][+][»][»]} or kill the Russians, which is why is Russia commonsensically demanding that.

As a winner of the war in Ukraine, Russia would be in a position to make the same demands that it did when it defeated Nazi Germany in 1945, when together with Allies (the US and the UK), Russia demilitarized and disarmed Germany. A complete disarmament and demilitarization of Germany^[+] meant that all aspects of German industry that could be utilized for military purposes were dismantled; all German military and paramilitary forces were eliminated; and the production of all military hardware in Germany was forbidden. Furthermore, German society was remade by repeal of all discriminatory laws from the Nazi era and by the arrest and trial of those Germans deemed to be "war criminals." The German educational and judicial systems were purged of any authoritarian, discriminatory, and military influences. Something along these lines is expected from Russia to impose on Nazi-like, discriminatory Kyiv government when Russia defeats it. NATO is also somewhat demilitarizing Ukraine by giving it less and less military aid to defend itself.

In June 2023, Kremlin clarified^[+] Ukraine's ‘demilitarization’ goal, stating that de facto this goal had been achieved. The Russian Armed Forces have largely knocked out Ukraine’s domestically produced weapon systems, forcing the country to rely on Western arms. Kremlin spokesman Peskov said that military aid to Kyiv makes Western countries “parties to the conflict,” making the situation in Europe “more tense and unpredictable.” All this motivates Russia to take “more decisive measures to ensure the safety of the people in Donbas and the safety of the Russian Federation”.

As part of Russian demilitarization of Ukraine, the Russian military continues to “systematically reduce the combat potential of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.”

So, in effect, after Russia demilitarized Ukraine, what it is doing since at least June 2023, Russia is demilitarizing NATO and doing it pretty successfully as many reports^{[+][+][+][+][+][+]} from NATO officials came about NATO stockpiles being depleted. After all, as we already explained, this is a NATO proxy war against Russia using Ukrainians as cannon fodder.

Putin showed^[+][ꚛ] the draft signed by both parties during the March 2022 peace talks, outlining both Russian and Ukrainian proposals regarding the size of Ukraine’s standing army during peacetime, as well as its equipment. Moscow proposed to cap the number of military personnel at 85.000 and the number of National Guard members at 15.000. Furthermore, Ukraine should be allowed to have 342 tanks, 1,029 armored vehicles, 96 multiple rocket launchers, 50 combat aircraft, and 52 “auxiliary” aircraft. The sides also exchanged proposals on capping Ukraine’s mortars, anti-tank weapons, and anti-air missile systems, among other equipment. 

Since Kyiv regime backed off from that peace deal, Russia was left with no other choice but to do it by force, so “demilitarization” is being done by grinding down the Ukrainian military on the battlefields.

The point Russia is making with this demand is for the OSCE states^[+] not to violate the legally binding commitments that they made, such as the Charter for European Security Organization for Security and Co-operation^[+] they signed at the OSCE Summit in 1999 and reconfirmed it in the 2010 OSCE Summit^[+]: They will not strengthen their security at the expense of the security of other States, including Russia. Strengthening Ukrainian security since 2014 with many OSCE states massively militarizing Ukraine to fight Russia^{[»][+][»][»]} came at the expense of Russian security, which was a huge violation of that treaty and international law.

By demilitarization, Russia means the elimination of all NATO influence on the Ukrainian military. NATO equipment cannot be part of Ukraine as Ukraine is not a NATO member. It must be either destroyed or turned over to the Russians or the NATO provider.

Russian concern is Ukraine’s use of NATO equipment to strike Russia and harm the Russians in Donbas, West providing weapons to Ukrainian neo-Nazi brigades and paramilitaries since 2014, as well as Ukrainian plans to create its own nuclear weapons. If Ukraine acquires long-range missiles and weapons of mass destruction, the situation in the region would drastically change for the worse, especially for Russians as Ukrainians have been extremely hostile to them ever since 2014. Russia had no choice but to react to this real danger by demanding Ukraine's demilitarization.

As peacemakers, we advise both Ukrainians and Russians to de-militarize by ceasing to use all foreign military aid. Domestic military production is acceptable but to acquire foreign military aid to kill the neighbors is unacceptable. There are other means to solve issues. Using violence is such an inhumane, uncivilized way of solving territorial disputes or any other problems, so no one should resort to such means other than for defense. In 2014, it was Ukrainians who started offensive and military attacks on Donbas²^[+] residents who opposed the new anti-Russian regime that banned their native language. Naturally, Russian ethnic minorities sought help from Russia, and as expected, Russia came to rescue first by diplomatic means for 8 years and when that didn't work, then they used military means.

In a new millennium, we are living in a more civilized world that has a tendency to remove borders and barriers rather than fight for them, a tendency to unite rather than divide, so all Slavs are invited to come together rather than fight.

As neutral and objective peace activists, we are asking for everything being equal and for everyone to be fair and to oblige to the Golden Rule^[+] – the principle of treating others as one wants to be treated. So, if Russians demand Ukrainians to demilitarize, then they should demilitarize, too! This is the principle of fairness. But, of course, it is too late for that now as winners make the rules.

This is how Russia is demilitarizing Ukraine because Kyiv refused the peaceful demilitarization deal in April 2022

To avoid a case of double standards and hypocrisy, and all things being equal, just as Russia has the right to protect its security, so does Ukraine, too. This is why Russia has been proposing a new security architecture in Europe, one in which NATO does not impose the rules but NATO dismissed it, which is why it is understandable that Russia then demands demilitarization of Ukraine.

In 1994, the West demanded de-nuclearization of Ukraine, which Ukraine had no other choice but to oblige. It was sealed by the Budapest Memorandum^[+][+] (on nuclear disarmament of Ukraine). The similar reasons that the West had for that apply now as well with Russia having the same concerns about corrupt, unresponsible Kyiv regime using arms to threaten Russia.

Thank you for reading this article and participating in this peace initiative by raising your awareness and, hopefully, your consciousness and spirit. To properly grasp everything, we^[*^] recommend reading the articles of this peace initiative for Ukraine in the proper order, which is listed in the Contents. So if you haven’t read the previous articles, we recommend that you do. When you are ready, please proceed to the next article in this “Meeting the Demands for Ending the War” segment: “Why Should Ukraine Denazify?”

1. Russian SMO objectives: prevent Ukraine from joining NATO, liberate ethnic Russians and facilitate them to freely speak Russian language (which Kyiv regime banned from 30 spheres of life), keep Crimea (as well as secure water and electricity supply for it along with a land-bridge to it), demilitarize not just Ukraine but also NATO (depleted its stockpiles^{[+][+][+][+][+][+]}), denazify Ukraine. See Russian demands here^[*^].

On top of it all, Russia has even taken most of the Ukrainian crown jewels – seized one-fifth of Ukraine^[+] (over 100.000 square kilometers) that historically belonged to Russia with all its natural resources. Apart from a military victory, Russia also won on all other levels, including on economic^{[+][+][ꚛ][+]} and geopolitical levels (87%^[+] of the world sides with Russia, BRICS expansion, multipolarity, de-dollarization, NATO's division^[+]). They also destroyed many US-funded biolabs in Ukraine, thwarted child & organ trafficking, crushed NATO's economies, inspired and empowered their allies in Africa and Middle east to decolonize themselves from NATO and Israel.

Russia gained at least $12,4 trillion^[+] worth of former Ukraine's energy, metal, and mineral deposits that before the conflict, in 2013, used to generate $43,3 billion a year^[+], not to mention all the agricultural profitable land, companies, factories, and industrial zones, as well as around 8 million of new tax-payers (Russians collect over $2 billion^[+] in tax revenues from four new regions every year) and labor power that will multiply with time.

2. Donbas^[+] is a coal mining region that was part of eastern Ukraine from 1922-2022 (now part of Russia) consisting of two Republics - Donetsk and Luhansk - where most residents have been Russians for centuries. In 2022, after Bolsheviks defeated the Ukrainian nationalists, Lenin gave that part of former Russian Empire with mostly ethnic Russian residents to the Soviet Republic of Ukraine under condition that it remains part of the Soviet Union and under Moscow governance (Kyiv administration) but in 1991, Ukraine violated that agreement by breaking off from the Soviet Union and from Moscow, and since 2014, Ukrainians had been demolishing all Lenin's monuments, therefore they have no rights to claim the territories he conditionally granted them. Since Ukrainians hate Lenin and Stalin so much that they demonize them, then in the Russian view^[+], it is only fair to give back all the land^[ꚛ] that Lenin and Stalin allocated to Soviet Ukraine, without even asking the locals’ permission (the majority were Russians in Donbas).