US won’t launch military strike against Russia unless Ukraine invasion declared a genocide, retired US Army major says
THE US and other NATO allies won’t strike back against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine unless Vladimir Putin is deemed to have committed a “genocidal act”, an expert says.
John Spencer, a retired US Army Major, told The Sun that it would take an “egregious war crime” and an international consensus that Putin had gone “too far” before another nation intervenes with force in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
With the senseless invasion now entering its third week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been pleading with Western leaders to implement a “no-fly zone” over Ukraine to bring an end to Russia’s relentless airstrikes and near-constant shellings.
So far, the US and NATO have denied Zelensky’s request, insisting that enforcing such a restriction would require them to potentially shoot down Russian aircraft, drawing them into a direct conflict with Russia.
Spencer said it is highly unlikely that any country would agree to implement the no-fly zone or put “boots on the ground” in Ukraine unless Putin’s invasion is declared a genocide.
“For any country to put fighters on the ground in Ukraine I think it would take some egregious war crime and…some kind of international agreement that Putin’s gone too far,” he said.
“I’m talking about genocide. I think in my personal opinion it would take some horrific atrocity on their part before we seen any kind of external military intervention.”
ZELENSKY CALLS ‘GENOCIDE’
Zelensky has already accused Russia of genocide, blasting the Putin-directed bombing of a children’s hospital and maternity ward in Mariupol on Wednesday as a “war crime” after three people, including a young child, were killed.
In a Telegram message, Zelensky accused NATO of “losing humanity” for failing to respond to the bombing.
“Direct strike of Russian troops at the maternity hospital. People, children are under the wreckage,” he said. “Atrocity! How much longer will the world be an accomplice ignoring terror?”
In a later message, Zelensky called the attack “final proof, proof of a genocide of Ukrainians taking place.”
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With no immediate end to the conflict in sight, Spencer said he fears the destruction in Ukraine will be “horrific”, estimating civilian casualties will reach the tens of thousands.
“You’re going to see flattened swaths of land on a World War II scale,” Spencer said. “I just think the civilian casualty numbers are going to increase exponentially, unlike we’ve seen in modern times.”
Russian artillery and rockets have been striking the capital city of Kyiv, and the other smaller cities of Kharkiv, Mariupol, and Chernihiv, at an increasing rate in recent days.
Officials in Mariupol say nearly 1,200 people have been killed during days of shelling in the port city that’s reported to be surrounded by Russian forces.
Volunteers were pictured burying the dead in a mass grave 25 meters long at one of the city’s old cemeteries.
‘NOT LOSING IS WINNING’
As the fighting continues, Russia finds itself increasingly isolated on the global political stage, with its economy sent plunging into disarray by a series of tough sanctions put in place by Western leaders.
President Joe Biden announced on Tuesday that his administration is banning Russian energy imports indefinitely. Huge Western companies like Apple, McDonald’s, and Coca-Cola have all also since ceased operations on Russian soil.
Putin was reportedly informed earlier this week that Russia’s economy could completely collapse by the summer, if not sooner.
Spencer suggested Ukrainian forces may simply have to “hold out” until such a time and focus on “not losing”, for “not losing is winning.”
“I think all the different things being done against Russia will have a compounding effect,” he said.
“This is just about Ukrainians holding out for all those things, for this international sanctions to hit the Russian economy, for the breakdown of the underequipped military forces that have been deployed in Ukraine, and for any potential political uprising inside of Ukraine.
“As I said, not losing is winning,” Spencer added.
“We see Putin facing resistance from the oligarchs. That’s all because the Ukrainians are resisting Russia and stopped them from achieving militarily what they want to do.”
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