The justifiable condemnation of Putin for killing Ukrainian civilians will not help the Ukrainians if we ignore the justifiable reasons that led Putin to go to war.

The heroism of the Ukrainians is commendable, but not their blindness to understand what motivated this war. They seem oblivious to the fact that it could have been prevented in the past, and could even now now be stopped immediately, if their country had avoided violating the status quo.

According to the American colonel, Putin's only ambition, which he has communicated to Ukraine and the West repeatedly over the last fifteen years, is: to let Ukraine continue to be neutral, without placing missiles on its borders against Russia.

It is worth paying heed to this, not because we are in favour of Putin's aggression. Not at all. But because we need to save the Ukrainians, not only from Putin's lethal incursion, but also from themselves. To save them from the illusion that Ukraine can suddenly place missiles arrayed against Moscow on the border with Russia , and expect Russia to surrender to this implicit declaration of war.

This savvy American officer knows what he is talking about. And we know that we all want peace for Ukraine. So, stop this bloody war by stopping violating the status quo. Simple.

Maintaining the status quo has worked between Russia, Ukraine and Europe for so long and so perfectly, don’t try to fix it. Stop all these precious Ukrainian lives being wasted so pointlessly. Return to the good old days of an independent, thriving Ukrainian country with rich history, a talented and happy population.

Not for or against Russia, not for or against Europe. Not against anybody. Only for Ukraine and for Ukrainians.