Ukrainian soldiers take part in air defense operation in Kupyansk district, Ukraine /Xinhua

Politics can be cynical, but could it be suicidal?

It seems that for Russia, being suicidal is its modus operandi. How a person in his sound mind proclaim a war of aggression and confront the whole world until his last soldier is gone, unless he is a mass-murderer, a Hitler-like figure of his own time?

For each European nation, the day when the bloodiest world war of the 20^th Century ended is a day of mourning, a day of sad and silent reflection, with the “never again” motto being a part of the European mindset since 1945.

This motto is deeply enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights — a true commandment for any politician, diplomat, community leader of good will and good sense.

“Never again” is something that inspired our predecessors to write one of the most important documents in the modern history.

“Everyone has the right to a nationality; everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression,” the declaration states.

Yet the unimaginable is now happening. Something incomprehensible for survivors of World War II. In fact, for survivors of any war, big or small, global or tribal, they’re always terrifying.

These days no one can say: “no to war” in Russia, as it is a crime under Putin’s regime. Just a few weeks ago, Russian activist Lyudmila Vasilyeva, an 84-year-old survivor of the siege of Leningrad in World War II, was fined by a court after protesting Russia’s war in Ukraine.

The charges related to a handwritten poster she held a few months before, which read: “People, let’s stop the war. We are responsible for peace on the planet Earth.”

Vasilyeva has long been a critic of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. She was detained several times in 2022, as Russia cracked down on criticism of its military aggression.

The case of Vasilyeva is particularly important, as she is a survivor of one of the longest and most terrifying sieges in modern history — the siege of Leningrad — when during World War II almost a million people died from hunger, cold and shelling by Nazi troops.

Now this woman publicly says to her government to stop its Nazi-like invasion. And Putin’s government fines her for “disrespect” of its policies.

This very May, Ukrainian cities were barraged with Iranian-designed Russian-produced kamikaze-drones, and a survivor of World War II, speaking against the modern unprovoked and unjustified aggression, was once again taken to court by Russian warmongers. Local Russian representatives sent to African readers convey the message of nostalgia for the victories of World War II, presenting their country as “victorious” in that terrible massacre. This is yet more fake news from Moscow, as Russia was never able to stand its ground alone and could only survive the invasion by being reinforced by 14 other republics of the then- Soviet Union and the its allies — the US, Great Britain, France and others.

They also seem to forget the most obvious truths about that war, which can easily be revealed by just googling “Molotov-Ribbentrop pact”.

For the country that at first decided to divide the world under the Soviet-Nazi pact, and then lost millions due to incompetent military commanders, it is a very strange moment in history to be boasting of.

Russian leadership, speaking of World War II, repeats the stance, “We can repeat this,” instead of “Never again”.

Russian leaders deny the very existence of our nation, as well as the right of freedom of opinion and expression in their own country, declared by the United Nations in the aftermath of World War II.

Russia, which started this new neo-imperialistic war with the purpose of restoring the Soviet Empire, has been threatening the world with its nukes. It never had a moral right to \dictate either the rules of war, or of peace.

Now it also has lost some of its physical capacity to do so.

On June 1, we did something unprecedented in the modern world’s history: Ukrainian defence forces destroyed about one-third of all the long-range Russian bombers that have launched missiles at Ukraine and threatened all of Europe and the rest of the world with Russian nukes.

The war is not over yet: Russians still deny our right to exist. They still disrupt global trade, sink grain bulkers and kill innocent civilians.

But the era of Russian domination in the skies is ending, thanks to the fierce resistance of Ukrainian forces and their inventive approach to modern warfare.

The monstrous ambition of a new totalitarian power to conquer the world is shrinking alongside with its arsenals.

“Never again” should become our motto, once and for all. And Ukraine is as strong and committed to this principle as ever.

H.E. Andrii Pravednyk is the Ambassador of Ukraine to the Republic of Kenya